KONICA MINOLTA LABORATORY U.S.A., INC. Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20160142381 | DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT FOR EMAILS AND ATTACHMENTS - A digital rights management (DRM) method for protecting emails can apply different protection policies to different components of an email such as the message body and the attached digital files. While an email application of the client encrypts the entire email document including both the message and the attachments, a plugin module on the client obtains user input regarding the DRM policies to be applied to individual attachments and then transmits the encrypted email along with the information about the DRM policies for the individual attachments to a digital rights management server. The server first decrypts the entire email document, then applies the user-specified DRM policies to the attachments individually. The server re-composes an email and attaches the individually protected attachments, and transmits the email to the exchange server. | 05-19-2016 |
20160140328 | APPLICATION OF DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT TO EMAILS BASED ON USER-SELECTED EMAIL PROPERTY SETTINGS - A method for automatically applying digital rights management (DRM) to outgoing emails based on a color category of the email set by the sending user. A plugin module on the user's computer interacts with the email application to extract the color category setting for the email and converts it to a category ID recognized by the digital rights management (RMS) server. The RMS server determines the DRM policy corresponding to the category ID using an association table, and applies that DRM policy to protect the email before sending the email to an exchange server. When a recipient receives the email, the application program on the recipient's computer cooperates with the RMS server to determine whether the recipient is allowed to access the email based on the DRM policy that has been applied to the email. | 05-19-2016 |
20160127707 | COLOR CALIBRATION FOR PATHOLOGY SLIDES - A method and system for color calibration for digital microscopy includes obtaining an image of a stained sample and obtaining a desired stain type and density information. A synthesizing spectral absorption is determined based on the desired stain type and density, and a digital image is produced from the image of the stained sample based on a spectral absorption of the desired stain type, density, and a light source. The image is then outputted to a storage medium or display. The method also includes estimating a stain type used in the image of the stained sample, and estimating a density of the stained sample. | 05-05-2016 |
20160092417 | HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL LINE DETECTION AND REMOVAL FOR DOCUMENT IMAGES - A vertical and horizontal line detection method for document images includes generating multiple binary images from the input grayscale document image based on multiple binarization thresholds, detecting horizontal and vertical lines in each of the multiple binary images independently, and merging the detection results from the multiple binary images. The line detection process for each binary image include applying an opening operation using a vertical or horizontal line as the structuring element, and removing connected components that are not vertical or horizontal lines based on a stroke width analysis. The boundaries of the detected lines are obtained using horizontal and vertical projections. | 03-31-2016 |
20160086071 | HIGH CAPACITY 2D COLOR BARCODE AND METHOD FOR DECODING THE SAME - A 2D color barcode layout is disclosed. The barcode includes a 2D array of data cells, four corner locators, and border reference cells forming four borders between the corner locators that substantially surround the array of data cells. Each data cell and border reference cell has one of four primary colors (e.g. CMYK). Most border reference cells have the same size as the data cells, except for yellow ones which are longer. The border reference cells form a repeating color sequence along the borders, and are used during decoding to calculate (1) the channel offset (a spatial offset) of each primary color at different locations along the borders and (2) the reference (average) color values of each primary color. During decoding, the color values of each data cell is measured while taking into account channel offset which is calculated by interpolating the channel offset of the border reference cells. | 03-24-2016 |
20160086026 | REMOVAL OF GRAPHICS FROM DOCUMENT IMAGES USING HEURISTIC TEXT ANALYSIS AND TEXT RECOVERY - A graphic removal process for document images involves two stages: First, removal of graphics in the document image based on heuristic text analyses; and second, text recovery to recover some text that is accidentally removed during the first stage. The first stage uses a relatively aggressive strategy to ensure that all graphics components are removed, which also temporarily leads to the removal of some text; the lost text will then be recovered using the text recovery technique. The heuristic text analyses utilize the geometric properties of text characters and consider the properties of text characters in relation to their neighbors. The text recovery technique starts from the text that remain after the first stage, and recovers any connected component that is at least partially located within a pre-defined neighboring area around any of the text components in the intermediate document image. | 03-24-2016 |
20160078632 | DOCUMENT IMAGE COMPRESSION METHOD AND ITS APPLICATION IN DOCUMENT AUTHENTICATION - A method for compressing a bi-level document image containing text is disclosed. The document image is segmented into symbol images each representing a letter, numeral, etc. in the document. The symbol images are classified into a plurality of classes, each class being associated with a template image and a class index. Classification is done by comparing each symbol to be classified with template of existing classes, using a number of image features including zoning profiles, side profiles, topology statistics, and low-order image moments. These image features are compared using a tolerance based method to determine whether the symbol matches the template. After classification, certain classes that have few symbols classified into them may be merged with other classes. In addition, the template images of the classes are down-sampled, where the final sizes of the template images are dependent on the likelihood of confusion of the template with other templates. | 03-17-2016 |
20160048727 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RECOGNIZING AN OBJECT - A method, a system, and a non-transitory computer readable medium for recognizing an object are disclosed, the method including: emitting an array of infrared rays from an infrared emitter towards a projection region, the projection region including a first object; generating a reference infrared image by recording an intensity of ray reflection from the projection region without the first object; generating a target infrared image by recording the intensity of ray reflection from the projection region with the first object; comparing the target infrared image to the reference infrared image to generate a predetermined intensity threshold; and extracting the first object from the target infrared image, if the intensity of ray reflection of the target infrared image of the first object exceeds the predetermined intensity threshold. | 02-18-2016 |
20160034427 | PERSONALIZED DOCUMENT CONTENT AGGREGATION AND DOCUMENT ASSOCIATION IMPLEMENTED IN A DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - Methods for managing contents of multiple digital documents for individual users, to generate aggregated documents from multiple documents and/or create associations among multiple documents, based on the user's interactions with multiple digital documents. A document content aggregation method can, on a personalized basis, aggregate contents from multiple digital documents into an aggregated document based on a user's past interactions with the documents. The aggregation is based on a content importance score calculated from the user interaction pattern. A document association method can, on a personalized basis, create associations among multiple digital documents based on the user's past interactions with the documents. Two documents are deemed related if there is a user interaction pattern where the user interacts with both documents with a predetermined time interval from each other. When displaying one document, link icons are displayed to allow the user to directly navigate to the related documents. | 02-04-2016 |
20150379286 | CRYPTOGRAPHIC KEY - A method for managing a file, including receiving a request to encrypt the file, the request identifying a target location; determining a plurality of coordinates based on the target location; generating a cryptographic key based on the plurality of coordinates; generating an encrypted version of the file using the cryptographic key; and storing the encrypted version of the file. | 12-31-2015 |
20150379244 | DYNAMIC DOCUMENT DISPLAY PERSONALIZATION IMPLEMENTED IN A DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A method for displaying a digital document to a user where the display sequence of the pages of the document is personalized based on the user's past interactions with the document, such as viewing, annotating, editing, sharing, etc. on each pages. As user interacts with the document, the viewer application on the client computer reports the user interactions to a server. Through analytics, the server can decide the importance of individual pages and rank the pages accordingly, and sends page ranking information back to the client. The viewer application on the client can then render the document where pages are ordered based on the ranking, which reflects the user's interest in these pages. Different modes of reorganizing a document based on user interaction history are provided, so that the pages can be displayed in sequences based on the frequency of certain types of user interactions | 12-31-2015 |
20150362485 | BIOSENSOR HAVING DECOUPLED CAPTURE CHAMBER AND DETECTION CHAMBER, USING PARTICLE AGGREGATION AND SIZE-SEPARATION - A biosensor using a decoupled microfluidic device, which has a capture chamber and a detection chamber separate from and in fluid communication with each other. The sensing method is based on particle aggregation via homogeneous reactions, by employing microparticles having antibodies on their surfaces which can form aggregates through antigen mediation. Either size-separation or magnetic based separation is used to separate aggregates from single microparticles; the aggregates are later dissociated and the resulting single microparticles are counted to measure the amount of the antigen. Another biosensor uses a decoupled microfluidic device with a capture chamber and a detection chamber, and a 3-D structure in the capture camber to increase immobilized antibody concentration. Immunoreaction efficiency is improved by increasing the number of antibody per reaction volume in the capture chamber. | 12-17-2015 |
20150356277 | METHOD FOR AUTOMATING THE MANAGEMENT AND INTERPRETATION OF DIGITAL DOCUMENTS AND THEIR OWNERS RIGHTS METADATA FOR GENERATING DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT PROTECTED CONTENTS - A method for automating the management and interpretation of digital documents and their rights metadata to generate user access of a document protected by digital rights management (DRM), comprising the steps of a server obtaining a digital document and its associated rights metadata, the server interpreting the metadata to ascertain DRM useful information including identifications (IDs) of the document and its users and associated digital rights, and the server generating entries for a DRM database including policies associated with the document ID and users IDs based on the ascertained DRM useful information to enable DRM protection to the document. | 12-10-2015 |
20150347886 | HIGH CAPACITY 2D COLOR BARCODE AND METHOD FOR DECODING THE SAME - A 2D color barcode layout is disclosed. The barcode includes a 2D array of data cells, four corner locators, and border reference cells forming four borders between the corner locators that substantially surround the array of data cells. Each data cell and border reference cell has one of four primary colors (e.g. CMYK). Most border reference cells have the same size as the data cells, except for yellow ones which are longer. The border reference cells form a repeating color sequence along the borders, and are used during decoding to calculate (1) the channel offset (a spatial offset) of each primary color at different locations along the borders and (2) the reference (average) color values of each primary color. During decoding, the color values of each data cell is measured while taking into account channel offset which is calculated by interpolating the channel offset of the border reference cells. | 12-03-2015 |
20150347719 | DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IMPLEMENTED ON A SCANNER - In a digital rights management system where a scanner is connected to a rights management server, the process of applying digital rights protection is performed by the scanner, rather than the server, so that scanning and document protection can be done even when the server is not available. Upon scanning a document, the operator selects a rights management policy to be applied to the digital document. The scanner generates a document ID, embeds the document ID as metadata in the document, encrypts the document, and stores the document ID, policy ID of the selected policy, and encryption key as an entry in a local document-policy association table on the scanner. The scanner uploads the above information of the digital document to the server, which stores the information in a document-policy association table on server and uses it to perform document access control. | 12-03-2015 |
20150336132 | INTEGRATED ULTRASOUND TRANSDUCER - An ultrasonic transmitter includes a piezoelectric integrated thin film transistor (PITFT). The transistor includes a top gate electrode, a bottom gate electrode, and a piezoelectric layer. The piezoelectric layer generates vibrations in response to a voltage applied across the top gate electrode and the bottom gate electrode. The transistor includes micro-electrical-mechanical systems (MEMS) mechanically coupled to the PITFT. The MEMS includes a resonator that transmits ultrasonic pressure waves based on the vibrations. | 11-26-2015 |
20150323458 | NONCONTACT RAPID DEFECT DETECTION OF BARRIER FILMS - A method of detecting a defect in a barrier film. The method includes: coating the barrier film with a solution having a plurality of probes, where each of the probes has a nanoparticle; forcing a probe of the plurality of probes to penetrate the defect by applying a field to the barrier film, where the field induces an attractive power to the nanoparticles of the probes; applying an optical excitation (OE) to the barrier film; and identifying the defect in the barrier film based on an optical signal emitted, in response to the OE, by the probe forced to penetrate the defect. | 11-12-2015 |
20150317111 | MULTI-TIERED CONSTRAINT CHECKING FOR MANAGING PRINT JOBS - A method implemented in a print job management apparatus for processing print jobs in a multiple-printer print shop environment is described. When an operator manually assigns a print job to a printer, the print job requirements are compared with capabilities of the printer to detect any constraints (i.e. incompatibilities between printer capabilities and print job requirements). The job is printed if no constraint is detected. If a constraint of a first category is detected (e.g. incompatible color capabilities, paper size and type, layout, etc.), printing will not proceed and an error message is displayed. If a constraint of a second category is detected (e.g. inadequate finishing capabilities.), a warning message is displayed with a request for operator instruction regarding whether to proceed with printing. If the operator chooses to proceed, the job will be printed, and a banner page containing instructions regarding uncompleted job requirements is generated. | 11-05-2015 |
20150279225 | METHOD FOR INDIVIDUALLY CUSTOMIZING PRESENTATION OF FORUM POSTINGS IN A MOOCS SYSTEM BASED ON CUMULATIVE STUDENT COURSEWORK DATA PROCESSING - A method for managing a forum of a MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) system customizes the presentation of forum questions to each individual viewing student in a way that optimizes the likelihood of questions posted on the forum being answered by competent students. The system rates the students' academic abilities using information gathered from their activities on the MOOCs system. When a student browses the forum, the forum questions are sorted and presented to the viewing student in an order that takes into account the subjects of the questions and the student's academic ability in various subjects, so that questions on subjects in which the student excels are displayed near the top of the list of postings. The sorting may consider other factors including language, locale, past forum activities, and proximity of the questions posting time and the time period when the viewing student frequently accesses the forum. | 10-01-2015 |
20150279222 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ENHANCING INTERACTIONS BETWEEN TEACHERS AND STUDENTS - A method, computer program product, and a system for enhancing an interaction between a teacher and a student are disclosed, the method includes receiving video images of a region of interest from a plurality of multi-functional devices; comparing the video images of the region of interest received from the plurality of multi-functional devices; detecting differences in the region of interest of at least one multi-functional device in comparison to the region of interest of the plurality of multi-functional devices; and providing a signal to the at least one multi-functional device based on the detected difference in the region of interest. | 10-01-2015 |
20150279221 | METHOD FOR HANDLING ASSIGNMENT OF PEER-REVIEW REQUESTS IN A MOOCS SYSTEM BASED ON CUMULATIVE STUDENT COURSEWORK DATA PROCESSING - A method implemented in a MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) system for handling requests for peer-review of student's homework assignments. When a peer-review request is received, the system first selects as candidate reviewers a number of students who are about to become active on the MOOCs system, then calculates a peer-review matching score for each candidate reviewer. The score is based on language, academic ability on the subject of the homework, peer-review history, etc. of the students. The peer-review request is assigned to a relatively small number of candidate reviewers with top matching scores. After a number of completed reviews (grades) are received, the system determines whether a sufficient number of completed reviews having grades within one standard deviation are received. If so, a final grade is calculated from the grades within one standard deviation; and if not, the assignment process is repeated. This method promotes efficient and effective peer-review. | 10-01-2015 |
20150279220 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ANALYZING EXAM-TAKING BEHAVIOR AND IMPROVING EXAM-TAKING SKILLS - A method, a computer program product, and a system for analyzing exam-taking behavior and improving exam-taking skills are disclosed, the method includes obtaining a student answering sequence and timing to an examination having a series of questions; comparing the student answering sequence and timing with results from a statistic analysis of the examination obtained from a plurality of students; and identifying an abnormality in the student answering sequence and timing according to the comparison. | 10-01-2015 |
20150271383 | METHOD FOR GENERATING HDR IMAGES USING MODIFIED WEIGHT FUNCTIONS - An improved method for generating high dynamic range images by modifying the weight function used in conventional methods to weigh pixel values when combining multiple images in an input image set. Different weight functions, as functions of intensity, are used for different images (brackets). For darker brackets, a region near the high end of the intensity range is given higher weight values than a symmetrical region near the lower end of the intensity range; for brighter brackets, a region near the lower end of the intensity range is given higher weight values than a symmetrical region near the higher end of the intensity range. The weight function for the middle brackets are kept symmetrical but its function is non-zero at the two end points of the intensity range. This is effective for reducing chromatic artifacts for under- or over-exposed areas, in particular when ghost artifact removal is incorporated. | 09-24-2015 |
20150271211 | RIGHTS MANAGEMENT POLICIES WITH NONTRADITIONAL RIGHTS CONTROL - A method for managing rights management policies for user access and use of digital documents with nontraditional rights control in addition to traditional rights management services (RMS) based on digital rights management (DRM) policies assigned to respective digital documents and their users and stored in an RMS database, including the steps of: a server, upon receiving a user's request regarding a document protected by one or more DRM policies, determining whether the document has additional nontraditional rights control for the user; the server checking a nontraditional policy service (NPS) database, and validating the user's information with one or more NPS database entries of NPS policy extensions pertaining to the document and the user, where the NPS policy extensions amend the DRM policies with additional nontraditional rights control; and the server denying the user's request if the user's information cannot be validated by anyone of said one or more NPS database entries of the NPS policy extensions pertaining to the document and the user, or granting the user's request if the user's information can be validated by all of said one or more NPS database entries of the NPS policy extensions pertaining to the document and the user. | 09-24-2015 |
20150249779 | SMOOTHING OF GHOST MAPS IN A GHOST ARTIFACT DETECTION METHOD FOR HDR IMAGE CREATION - An improved ghost-artifact detection and removal method for high-dynamic range (HDR) image creation and related apparatus are described. A binary ghost map is first generated for each image of the multiple input images by a ghost-artifact detection process, where one of the binary values indicate ghost pixels and the other indicates non-ghost pixels. Each binary ghost map is smoothed to generate a continuous-tone ghost map, by changing the pixel value of each non-ghost pixel of the binary map to a ghost value between the two binary values. The ghost value is calculated using a monotonous function of the distance between the non-ghost pixel of the binary map and the nearest ghost pixel. Ghost pixels in the binary ghost map are kept as fully ghost pixel in the continuous-tone ghost map. This method helps to reduce visibility of artifacts at ghost boundaries without losing small detected ghost regions. | 09-03-2015 |
20150249774 | GHOST ARTIFACT DETECTION AND REMOVAL IN HDR IMAGE CREATION USING GRAPH BASED SELECTION OF LOCAL REFERENCE - In high dynamic range (HDR) image creation, a ghost artifact detection method divides the images (brackets) into multiple tiles, and selects one bracket for each tile as the local reference bracket. The local reference brackets are selected via optimization of an objective function which includes both a component that measures exposure quality of individual tiles and a component that measures correlation between neighboring tiles. The minimization can be realized by constructing a graph for the objective function and calculating a minimum cut of the graph using a graph cut algorithm. Graph examples for three and four image sets are given. Ghost artifact detection is then performed on a tile-by-tile basis by using the local reference bracket for each tile. Ghost maps are generated this way and used for HDR image creation. This method minimizes artifacts due to inconsistencies in local reference bracket selection in areas involved in ghost-inducing objects. | 09-03-2015 |
20150249771 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPROVING PRINTING EFFICIENCY IN THE PRODUCTION PRINTING ENVIRONMENT - A method and system for improving printing efficiency in a production printing environment, which includes a plurality of printers is disclosed, the method including: monitoring the plurality of printers via at least one server, wherein each of the plurality of printers are configured to provide a print job status to the at least one server; receiving an error message from at least one of the plurality of printers; selecting an operator from a list of operators assigned to the at least one of the plurality printers, wherein each operator on the list of operators is capable of fixing an error associated with the error message on the at least one of the plurality of printers; and notifying the selected operator to investigate the error message via a client device. | 09-03-2015 |
20150248560 | METHOD FOR SPECIFYING USER ACCESS RIGHTS FOR A DIGITAL DOCUMENT USING EXISTING RIGHTS MANAGEMENT POLICIES WITH MODIFICATIONS - A digital rights management (DRM or RMS) method allows the operator of a scanner, connected to an RMS server, to associate a digital document with user access rights that are different from the rights defined by any of the existing DRM policies on the server. The method allows the operator to choose one of the existing policies on the server, and modify the user access rights by granting rights to additional users and/or removing rights of some users that would be granted by that policy, to generate modified user access rights for a document without changing any existing policies or adding new policies. The server stores the document ID, polity ID and the user access rights (modified or unmodified) in a rights association table on the server. The method is also applicable when importing documents into the DRM system from sources other than scanners. | 09-03-2015 |
20150248378 | READABILITY ON MOBILE DEVICES - A method involves operating a mobile device including a screen. The method includes detecting, by the mobile device, an acceleration of the mobile device; receiving, by the mobile device and after detecting the acceleration, a request to access a document including multiple default settings; and modifying, in response to detecting the acceleration and receiving the request, a display of the document on the screen. | 09-03-2015 |
20150248195 | USER INTERFACE METHOD FOR MODIFYING A SELECTION LIST OF ITEMS TO ADD OR REMOVE ITEMS WHILE INDICATING ORIGINAL SELECTION - A user interface display method implemented on a computer-controlled device to allow an operator to define a list of selected items among a plurality of items available for selection. The operator starts by selecting a pre-existing list containing a number of selected items. A modified list is generated which initially contains the same items as the pre-existing list. The device displays all of the items available for selection, as well as first and second indications associated with each item initially in the modified list. Then, in response to operator inputs to add items to (or remove items from) the modified list, second indications are displayed (or removed from display) in association with the items to be added (or removed), without changing the display of any of the first indications and any of the plurality of items. The modified list is saved without changing the pre-existing list. | 09-03-2015 |
20150242650 | DOCUMENT CONTROL BASED ON COPYRIGHT PERMISSION WHEN PRINTING COMPILATION OF WORKS - A method for controlling copyright permissions when assembling multiple copyrighted works into a compiled file. The copyright permission level of each file is analyzed, either based on the copyright permission information present in metadata associated with the file or based on the digital file format of the file which reflects the permission level. The compiled file is assigned a permission level which is the same as or more restrictive than all of the permission level of the files in the compilation, and is generated in a format that enforces the assigned permission level. A notification may be displayed to the user to notify the use of the permission level assigned to the compiled file. | 08-27-2015 |
20150220490 | PROCESSING OF PAGE-IMAGE BASED DOCUMENT TO GENERATE A RE-TARGETED DOCUMENT FOR DIFFERENT DISPLAY DEVICES WHICH SUPPORT DIFFERENT TYPES OF USER INPUT METHODS - Method and system for processing a page-image based input document such as PDF and generate output documents, in a page-image based format or another format, which have a different layout than the original document. Certain contents in the original document removed and other contents are reorganized in this process. The method is used to re-target documents for different types of display devices, such as desktop and laptop computers, tablet computers, e-readers, smart phones, etc. When generating the output documents, the method takes into consideration the different form factors of the display devices as well as the different types of user input devices and methods such as touch screen (including different gestures used, whether stylus or finger is used for input, etc.), physical keyboard, mouse, etc. used by the targeted display device, so that each output documents is optimized for a particular type of display device. | 08-06-2015 |
20150216468 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REAL-TIME INSIGHT DETECTION USING EEG SIGNALS - A method, system and computer readable medium for detecting creativity in real-time are disclosed. The method includes sensing electrical activity along a scalp of a subject during a learning phase, the learning phase including presenting to the subject one or more tasks configured to generate electrical activity corresponding to cortical events that are likely to correspond to a creative type experience and cortical events that are likely to correspond to a non-creative type experience. Features from the electrical activity obtained during the learning phase are extracted to create a brainwave profile for the subject. Real-time electrical activity along the scalp of the subject is sensed during a performance of one or more real-time tasks, and the electrical activity of the subject is compared to previously recorded electrical activity using the brainwave profile for the subject to classify the electrical activity obtained during the performance of the one or more real-time. | 08-06-2015 |
20150212987 | IMMEDIATE INDEPENDENT RASTERIZATION - A method for rendering an electronic document (ED) includes: receiving a request to render the ED; initiating, by a main process thread, generation of a main display list (DL) for the ED; identifying, during generation of the main DL, a first self-contained graphical structure (SCGS) within the ED; generating, by the main process thread, a first auxiliary DL for the first SCGS; inserting a reference to the first auxiliary DL into the main DL; initiating, after completion of the first auxiliary DL, rasterization of the first auxiliary DL by a first rasterization thread; resuming, by the main process thread and during rasterization of the first auxiliary DL, generation of the main DL; and rasterizing, after completion of the main DL, the main DL based on a first pixmap generated by rasterization of the first auxiliary DL. | 07-30-2015 |
20150199400 | AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF VERIFICATION QUESTIONS TO VERIFY WHETHER A USER HAS READ A DOCUMENT - A method for automatically analyzing the text of a document to generate verification questions to be administered to a user as a quiz for the purpose of verifying whether the user has read the document. Syntactic analysis is applied to statements (e.g. sentences) in the text to automatically generate various types of verification questions, including fill-in-the-blank, true/false, and multiple-choice questions. Nouns and proper nouns in a statement may be used to generate fill-in-the-blank questions; numerical values may be used to generate fill-in-the-blank, true/false and multiple-choice questions; and verbs, adjectives and adverbs may be used to generate true/false questions. The questions may be generated dynamically for each user, or generated once, stored and used for multiple users. | 07-16-2015 |
20150197791 | ULTRA-RAPID AND SENSITIVE DNA DETECTION USING DNAZYME AND ON-CHIP ISOTACHOPHORESIS - A DNA detection method combines DNAzyme reactions and on-chip isotachophoresis (ITP). A mixture of sample containing a target DNA and a DNAzyme sensor which is either (1) a catalytic molecular beacon or (2) a binary DNAzyme and a probe is loaded into a trailing electrolyte (TE) reservoir of a microfluidic chip. In the presence of the target DNA, the catalytic molecular beacon or the probe is cleaved to generate a fluorescent fragment. Enhanced DNAzyme reaction occurs at the TE-to-LE interface. Fluorescent signal from cleaved catalytic molecular beacon or probe is detected either at the location where DNAzyme reaction occurs or at a separate location. In the latter case, the microfluidic chip has a separation region containing a capture gel or a sieving matrix which allows the fluorescent fragment to pass through but captures or traps the uncleaved catalytic molecular beacon or probe. | 07-16-2015 |
20150188903 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING A PASSWORD FOR AN IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A method and system for generating a password for an image forming apparatus is disclosed, the method includes the steps of: providing a password setting mode on the image forming apparatus configured to automatically generate a password for the image forming apparatus after the image forming apparatus is ready to operate for image formation; determining if the password setting mode on the image forming apparatus is enabled or disabled; confirming a status of the image forming apparatus being ready to operate for image formation; and if the password setting mode is enabled, automatically generating the password for the image forming apparatus after confirming the status. | 07-02-2015 |
20150186758 | IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE - A method for printing, including: receiving, by a printer, an electronic document (ED) including a requested font; determining, by the printer, that the requested font is not supported by the printer; identifying, by the printer, a substitute font for the requested font; and generating, by the printer and by using the substitute font as a replacement for the requested font in the ED, a hardcopy corresponding to the ED and including a name of the requested font and a name of the substitute font. | 07-02-2015 |
20150186713 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EMOTION AND BEHAVIOR RECOGNITION - A method and system for recognizing behavior is disclosed, the method includes: capturing at least one video stream of data on one or more subjects; extracting body skeleton data from the at least one video stream of data; computing feature extractions on the extracted body skeleton data to generate a plurality of 3 dimensional delta units for each frame of the extracted body skeleton data; generating a plurality of histogram sequences for each frame by projecting the plurality of 3 dimensional delta units for each frame to a spherical coordinate system having a plurality of spherical bins; generating an energy map for each of the plurality of histogram sequences by mapping the plurality of spherical bins versus time; applying a Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) algorithm on the plurality of energy maps to generate a single column vector; and classifying the single column vector as a behavior and/or emotion. | 07-02-2015 |
20150186353 | VISUAL CUE LOCATION INDEX SYSTEM FOR E-BOOKS AND OTHER READING MATERIALS - Visual indicators are added to each page or screen of an e-book display to provide a visual cue to help the user associate the visual cue with content of the book and go back to previously read contents using the visual cue. The visual indicators are icon-like graphic objects placed at a desired location on the page. They have shapes that are simple, easy to remember, and easily distinguished from each other. In one example, each visual indicator has an outline shape such as a circle, triangle, square, etc. which starts out empty with no fill. As the user moves forward in the book the current visual indicator is progressively filled with a pattern. Once the visual indicator is fully filled the next visual indicator is selected and the process repeats. The visual indicators are automatically generated for each page based on the position of the page within the e-book. | 07-02-2015 |
20150149774 | RIGHTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD INTEGRATED WITH EMAIL TRANSMISSION OF DOCUMENTS - A rights management system and method allow users to easily associate rights management policies with documents send via email from a client (e.g. a computer or scanner). The client transmits email recipient information, including the attention type (“to,” “cc” or “bcc”) for each recipient, to a rights management server. The server stores multiple rights management policies each specifying access rights (e.g. view, edit, print) granted to specified users, and stores an attention-right rule defining a correspondence between access rights and attention types. Based on the recipient information from the client, and applying the attention-rights rule, the server selects an appropriate policy or creates a new one if an appropriate policy does not exist, and transmits the policy, a document ID and an encryption key to the client. The client encrypts the document, adds metadata to the document, and sends the email with the attached document to a mail server. | 05-28-2015 |
20150095757 | CONVERTING ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS HAVING VISIBLE OBJECTS - A method involves managing electronic documents (EDs). The method includes receiving a first request to convert an original ED including a visible object from a first format to a second format; extracting, in response to the first request, multiple attributes in the original ED specifying the visible object and required to restore the visible object in the first format; generating, by converting the original ED from the first format to the second format, a converted ED including rendering data of the visible object that is grammatically native to the second format and that is necessary to render the visible object from the second format; and embedding the attributes extracted from the original ED into metadata of the converted ED. | 04-02-2015 |
20150095376 | MESSAGING ADMINISTRATION BASED ON DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT SERVICES - A method for servicing messages with digital documents accessed and displayed by a client application, including the steps of establishing a database of message queues each associated with one or more digital documents and containing one or more messages, and upon authorizing a user's request for accessing and using a digital document, providing a message queue associated with the digital document. | 04-02-2015 |
20150095356 | AUTOMATIC KEYWORD TRACKING AND ASSOCIATION - A method for automatic keyword tracking and rights association of digital document files, including the steps of: a computer server receiving an upload of a digital document file: the computer server applying a keyword tracking algorithm to the texts of the uploaded digital document file to gather content information of the uploaded digital document file by parsing each word in the document and keeping track of the number of occurrences of a set of keywords, and comparing the content information of the uploaded digital document file with content information of digital document files that have known rights-association, wherein a pre-defined list of words are excluded from the set of keywords; and the computer server determining whether one or more matching results from the digital document files with known rights-association exist, and if not, notifying the user, but if yes, presenting the one or more matching results to the user. | 04-02-2015 |
20150094585 | ULTRASOUND TRANSDUCER WITH POSITION MEMORY FOR MEDICAL IMAGING - An ultrasound transducer device and control system disclosed here have the capability of storing information regarding the position of the transducer at which one ultrasound image is taken during an initial scan, and using the stored information to guide an operator to return the transducer to the same position during a subsequent scan. During the first scan, skin patterns are detected by a sensor, such as an optical sensor, capacitive sensor, or ultrasound sensor, and stored. During the subsequent scan, skin patterns are detected again, and compared to the stored skin pattern. A guidance message is generated based on the comparison to guide the user to return the ultrasound transducer device to the same position of the first scan. | 04-02-2015 |
20150092978 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RECOGNITION OF ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR - A method for recognizing abnormal behavior is disclosed, the method includes: capturing at least one video stream of data on one or more subjects; extracting body skeleton data from the at least one video stream of data; classifying the extracted body skeleton data as normal behavior or abnormal behavior; and generating an alert, if the extracted skeleton data is classified as abnormal behavior. | 04-02-2015 |
20150092247 | PRINT MANAGEMENT IN PRINT-ON-DEMAND JOBS - A method for managing reproduction of a print generation of a document, where a machine-readable pattern of the original print has been previously generated and printed on the original print and containing document registration and management information of the original print. The method includes the steps of receiving a print-on-demand (POD) job order for producing a reprint of the original print, retrieving document registration information and print management information from the machine-readable pattern, authenticating the original print based on the document registration information, verifying reprint permission based on the print management information, generating a new machine-readable pattern for the reprint, maintaining a master machine-readable pattern on a digital form of the document or a data file for the document with updated information of the reprint, and completing the POD job order by producing the reprint with the new machine-readable pattern. | 04-02-2015 |
20150086112 | COLOR DOCUMENT IMAGE SEGMENTATION AND BINARIZATION USING AUTOMATIC INPAINTING - A method for separating foreground and background contents in a document image is provided. The method first computes a pixel-wise map of maximal local features (e.g., local variance, local contrast, etc.), which is binarized to generate a mask for potential foreground. In order to utilize color information effectively, the local feature map is computed using all color channels of the image. Then the background image is obtained by inpainting the mask regions from the non-mask regions of the original document image. Adaptive thresholding is applied to the difference between the original document image and the background image to obtain the binary foreground image. Post-processing of the binary foreground image can further remove undesirable elements. Finally, a more accurate background image can be obtained by inpainting the original document image using the binary foreground image as a mask. | 03-26-2015 |
20150069140 | FOUR DIMENSIONAL (4D) COLOR BARCODE FOR HIGH CAPACITY DATA ENCODING AND DECODING - A method for encoding and decoding color barcodes to increase their data capacity. The encoding steps include determining a shape, a foreground color and a background color for each data cell, wherein a combination of the shape, foreground and background colors for the data cell is chosen from a plurality of such combinations in accordance with a value of the digital data to be encoded; and coloring some pixels in the data cell with a foreground color and other pixels with a background color, in accordance with the shape, foreground and background colors for the data cell determined above. The decoding steps include segmenting the data cells, recognizing a shape, a foreground color of the shape and a background color of the data cell, and obtaining digital data from a combination of the shape and foreground and background colors in each data cell. | 03-12-2015 |
20150066804 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING A CUSTOMER SURVEY FOR AN IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A method and system for generating a customer survey for an image forming apparatus is disclosed, which includes generating an e-mail on the image forming apparatus addressed to one or more customers; forwarding the generated e-mail to the one or more customers, wherein each of the one or more customers is requested to complete a customer satisfaction survey; receiving answers to the customer satisfaction survey from the one or more customers; tabulating the answers to the customer satisfaction survey from the one or more customers to determine if the image forming apparatus has one or more complaints associated therewith; selecting a temporary solution for each of the one or more complaints on the image forming apparatus having a complaint ratio greater than a predetermined ratio; and implementing the temporary solution on the image forming apparatus. | 03-05-2015 |
20150063699 | LINE SEGMENTATION METHOD APPLICABLE TO DOCUMENT IMAGES CONTAINING HANDWRITING AND PRINTED TEXT CHARACTERS OR SKEWED TEXT LINES - A text line segmentation method for a document image containing printed text and handwriting, or document image containing skewed lines or printed text. Connected component (CC) are obtained for the document, and their bounding boxes and centroids are calculated. The CCs are categorized into three categories based on bounding box sizes: small objects, regular text objects, and large objects involving handwriting. The centroids of regular text objects are used in a cluster analysis to find the vertical centers of the N text lines. Then, each CC is classified into one of the N lines based on the vertical distance between its centroid and the vertical centers of text lines, and copied into to a corresponding object board. Extra spaces are removed from the object boards to obtain the line segments. The large object involving handwriting will be classified into one of the lines but absent from other lines. | 03-05-2015 |
20150052426 | REMOVAL OF UNDERLINES AND TABLE LINES IN DOCUMENT IMAGES WHILE PRESERVING INTERSECTING CHARACTER STROKES - A method for removing horizontal and vertical lines in a document image while preserving integrity of the character strokes that intersect the lines. For each detected horizontal line, a vertical run length profile is calculated. Areas of the run length profile having two adjacent peaks with a valley in between are detected, which correspond to intersections of the horizontal line with non-vertical lines. A first derivative curve may be used to detect such peaks and valleys. Areas of the run length profile with large run length value for consecutive pixel locations are also detected, which corresponds to intersections of the horizontal line with near vertical lines. The horizontal line is removed in areas outside of the intersection areas, while preserving pixels within the intersection areas. Vertical line removal may be done similarly. This template-free method can remove lines in tables, forms, and underline and extract handwriting or printed characters. | 02-19-2015 |
20150039990 | ELECTRONIC CONTENT MANAGEMENT WORKFLOW WITH DOCUMENT VERSIONING - A method for managing an electronic document (ED) using an electronic content management (ECM) system, including: receiving a submission comprising the ED; generating a unique identifier (UID), a first version number, and a first mapping linking the UID and the first version number to the ED; inserting a first symbol corresponding to the UID and the first version number into the ED; generating a first archived document corresponding to the ED and comprising the first symbol; distributing the first archived document; receiving a submission comprising a revised version of the ED from a user; generating a second version number and a second mapping linking the UID and the second version number to the revised version; inserting a second symbol corresponding to the UID and the second version number into the revised version; and generating a second archived document corresponding to the revised version and comprising the second symbol. | 02-05-2015 |
20150036173 | ELECTRONIC CONTENT MANAGEMENT WORKFLOW - A method for managing an electronic document (ED) using an electronic content management (ECM) system. The method includes: receiving, by the ECM system, a submission having the ED; generating an archived document corresponding to the ED; storing, by the ECM system, the ED and the archived document; distributing, by the ECM system, the archived document to multiple users including a first user and a second user; receiving, by the ECM system and from the first user, a first request for the ED; sending, by the ECM system, the ED to the first user in response to the first user having access rights to the ED. | 02-05-2015 |
20150036024 | GHOST ARTIFACT DETECTION AND REMOVAL IN HDR IMAGE PROCESSING USING MULTI-LEVEL MEDIAN THRESHOLD BITMAPS - A ghost detection method for high-dynamic range (HDR) image creation using multi-level median threshold bitmapping. At each of multiple levels, median threshold bitmaps (MTBs) are generated for each original low-dynamic range image. At each level, the MTBs of the multiple original images are compared to generate a ghost map for each original image which indicates the locations of ghost pixels in the original image. For each original image, the ghost maps generated at the multiple levels are combined to generate a combined ghost map. The multiple combined ghost maps can then be used in creating the HDR image, for example, by discarding pixels in an original image that are indicated by the corresponding combined ghost map as being a ghost pixel. | 02-05-2015 |
20150015902 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RETRIEVING PRINT MEDIA ATTRIBUTES FROM A PRINT MEDIA DATABASE SERVER - A method is disclosed managing at least one print media database server for print media attributes of print media, which includes hosting print media attributes for a plurality of image forming apparatuses on the at least one print media database server, and the at least one print media database server contains print media attributes for a plurality of print media; receiving, by the at least one print media database server, additional print media attributes from one of the plurality of image forming apparatuses; confirming accuracy of the additional print media attributes; and releasing, by the at least one print media database server, the additional print media attributes in the print media database to the plurality of image forming apparatuses after the accuracy of the additional print media attributes is confirmed, thereby sharing the additional print media attributes in the print media database among the plurality of image forming apparatuses. | 01-15-2015 |
20140349278 | NANOHOLE SENSOR CHIP WITH REFERENCE SECTIONS - A device and method for detecting and assessing the quantity of a biological, biochemical, or chemical analyte in a test sample using a simple light source and the naked eye are disclosed. In one embodiment, the device comprises a nanohole sensor chip with two sections, the first of which is a test section, upon which capture agents for a particular analyte are immobilized, and the second of which is a reference section, upon which capture agents conjugated with known quantities of the analyte are immobilized. In another embodiment of the invention, a nanohole sensor chip with a test section and a plurality of reference sections is disclosed. The sensor utilizes light intensity changes exhibited by Fano resonances in the nanoholes for detection of analytes, and allows comparison between the light intensity changes between the reference sections and the test sections for assessing the quantity of the analyte in the sample. | 11-27-2014 |
20140304987 | COATING LIQUID FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR USING THE SAME - A photovoltaic device and a method of making a photovoltaic device that includes a stack of layers, including a substrate and an electrode layer. The photovoltaic device includes a semiconductor light absorption layer that is formed on the stack by a coating liquid that includes a plurality of semiconducting particles. The coating liquid may also include a solvent and a plurality of additive molecules. The photovoltaic device also includes a transparent conducting layer disposed on the semiconductor light absorption layer and a grid electrode disposed on the transparent conducting layer. | 10-16-2014 |
20140298488 | METHOD FOR AUTOMATING THE MANAGEMENT AND INTERPRETATION OF DIGITAL DOCUMENTS AND THEIR OWNERS RIGHTS METADATA FOR GENERATING DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT PROTECTED CONTENTS - A method for automating the management and interpretation of digital documents and their rights metadata to generate user access of a document protected by digital rights management (DRM), comprising the steps of a server obtaining a digital document and its associated rights metadata, the server interpreting the metadata to ascertain DRM useful information including identifications (IDs) of the document and its users and associated digital rights, and the server generating entries for a DRM database including policies associated with the document ID and users IDs based on the ascertained DRM useful information to enable DRM protection to the document. | 10-02-2014 |
20140293134 | DISPLAY DEVICE ILLUMINATION - A method for displaying a main image includes: populating a plurality of image entries in a video frame based on the main image; selecting an image entry specifying a first color; determining a compensation entry of a plurality of compensation entries in the video frame associated with the image entry; selecting a second color based on the first color; setting the compensation entry to the second color; and outputting the video frame with the image entry and the compensation entry for display on a display device. | 10-02-2014 |
20140292997 | COLOR REPRODUCTION OF DISPLAY CAMERA SYSTEM - A method including: outputting, for display on a display device, a plurality of test patterns; obtaining, from a camera, a plurality of test images of a subject exposed to the plurality of test patterns displayed on the display device; generating a first color transformation based on the plurality of test images; and adjusting a color balance of the camera based on the first color transformation. | 10-02-2014 |
20140283124 | Method for Managing Access to Documents Protected by Digital Rights Management - A method for managing user access of a document protected by digital rights management (DRM), includes the steps of a server checking whether a user who is attempting to access a DRM-protected document has necessary rights to access the document, the server denying the user's access to the document if the user does not have the necessary rights to access the document, the server providing, if the user does not have the necessary rights to access the document, the user with an instant and pre-prepared prompt containing a unique identification (ID) of the document to direct and assist the user to complete required tasks for acquiring rights to the document, and upon completion of the required tasks by the user, the server granting the necessary rights to the user to access the document. | 09-18-2014 |
20140282842 | USER CENTRIC METHOD AND ADAPTOR FOR DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A method for managing users' digital rights to documents protected by digital rights management (DRM), comprising the steps of a rights management system (RMS) server receiving a request from a user for accessing a DRM-protected document, and the RMS server executing a user centric adaptor (UCA) module to check in a UCA database under the user's identification (ID) whether one of a limited number of predetermined policies of digital rights is added to the user's ID, whereas if the user's rights to the document is not revoked by deletion of a predetermined policy under the user's ID in the UCA database, then the UCA module does not block granting the user's request. | 09-18-2014 |
20140282118 | GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE DISPLAYING MULTI-BRANCHED BROWSING HISTORY TREE FOR WEB NAVIGATION - An improved web browser program and related web navigation method can store a browsing history having a tree structure with nodes on multiple branches. The browsing history tree is displayed in an area separate from, or partially overlapping, the area where the web page content is displayed. In the browsing history tree display, the nodes may be represented by thumbnails of the web pages, and the user can click a node to navigate to that page. In one embodiment, when a web page is a search result page meeting certain criteria and contains multiple search hit links, the web browser program automatically (without user initiation) accesses each search hit link to downloads its content (without actually displaying the page in the browser winder), and generates a thumbnail based on the downloaded content. The multiple thumbnails generated this way are added to the browsing history tree display. | 09-18-2014 |
20140280347 | Managing Digital Files with Shared Locks - A method for managing the access and use of digital files stored in a file storage networked with multiple servers, including the steps of: a requesting server among the multiple servers that desires to access and use a file stored in the file storage sending to the other servers of the multiple servers a query containing an identification (ID) of the file; each of the other servers receiving the query checking an internal lock list to ascertain whether the file ID is listed therein, if listed then returning a failure message to the requesting server, but if not listed then returning a success message to the requesting server; and the requesting server determining from all returning messages whether a failure message exists, if exists then not to access and use the file, and sending repeated queries at a predetermined time interval, but if not exist then access and use the file, and sending a notice to all other servers when finishing using the file. | 09-18-2014 |
20140279933 | Hashing Schemes for Managing Digital Print Media - A method for managing digital files, including the steps of generating a main hash for a new file, searching for a matching main hash of any existing file in storage, if a matching main hash is found, then stop from further processing the new file, but if no match is found, then generating a sub-hash for a sub-part of the new file, and searching for a matching sub-hash of any existing file in storage; if no match of the sub-hash is found, then processing the entire new file and saving the processed new file in the storage, if a matching sub-hash for a sub-part of an existing file is found, then processing only the remaining part of the new file that is not the sub-part for which the sub-hash is generated, and retrieving the matching sub-part of the existing file; and saving the processed remaining part of the new file and the retrieved sub-part of the existing file in storage as a combined digital file. An alternative process uses component and composite hashes generated for the component parts of digital files for detecting duplicates. | 09-18-2014 |
20140279706 | PRINT-ON-DEMAND AUTHORIZATION AND RETRIEVAL FOR THIRD PARTY PRINT SHOPS USING STANDARDIZED TWO-DIMENSIONAL BARCODE LOOK-UP - A method for managing printing a hard copy of a work from a digital copy of the work, including the steps of a content provider of the digital copy of the work dynamically generating a standardized two-dimensional barcode when the digital copy of the work is produced for a user acquiring rights to the digital copy of the work, the barcode containing a unique URL of the content provider and being embedded in a portion of the digital copy of the work where digital rights management protection is omitted; and a print shop scanning the barcode from the digital copy of the work provided by the user to be readily linked to the content provider, and obtaining authorization and royalty information for printing the hard copy of the work for the user. | 09-18-2014 |
20140270573 | METHOD FOR BACKGROUND REMOVAL IN BINARY DOCUMENT IMAGE BY ESTIMATING LINEARITY OF IMAGE COMPONENTS - A method of processing a binary document image to remove non-text elements including long straight lines. The method uses a least squares method to fit the pixels of an image component to a line, and then use the coefficient of determination as a measure of linearity of the image component. For each image component, the line fitting and the coefficient of determination are performed twice, once on the original pixel coordinates and once after the image component is rotated 45 degrees. The higher one of the two calculated coefficients of determination is used to determine whether the image component is a straight line. If it is, and if the line is longer than a certain length, it is removed from the document image as a non-text element. | 09-18-2014 |
20140270526 | METHOD FOR SEGMENTING TEXT WORDS IN DOCUMENT IMAGES - A word segmentation method for processing a document image applies clustering analysis to the spacing segments of a line. The spacing segments are generated by thresholding a one-dimensional vertical projection profile of the line. Taking advantage of the bimodal distribution of spacing length distribution of text lines, a k-means clustering algorithm is used, with the number of clusters pre-set to two, to classify the spacing segments as either character spacing or word spacing. Moreover, k-means++ initialization is used to enhance performance of cluster analysis. The clustering result such as cluster centers and compactness is used to prune single-word text line, single table item, etc. The locations of the word spacing segments are then used to segment the line of text into words. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268243 | SECURE APPROVAL PROCESS - A method for obtaining one or more signatures on a document is disclosed, which includes: inputting information of a requestor and one or more approvers into an image forming apparatus and requesting signature approval on one or more documents; generating an e-mail from the image forming apparatus to the one or more approvers; forwarding the generated e-mail to the one or more approvers, wherein the one or more approvers can approve or reject the request for the signature approval from the requestor, forwarding the approval or rejection from each of the one or more approvers to the remote server upon selection of an approval or a rejection icon, and processing the approval or rejection of each of the one or more approvers on the remote server and generating a notification on the remote server, which is forwarded to the image forming apparatus. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268216 | Printing Method and Apparatus for Dividing Each of the Two or More Print Jobs into a Plurality of Sub-print Jobs - A method of managing plural print jobs is disclosed, the method includes receiving two or more print jobs on an image forming apparatus; dividing each of the two or more print jobs into a plurality of sub-print jobs for printing by a print engine of the image forming apparatus; determining an estimated processing time and an estimated delay to print time for each of the sub-print jobs; managing the printing of each of the two or more print jobs based on the estimated processing time and the estimated delay to print time for each of the sub-print jobs by determining a printing priority for the two or more print jobs based on a printing sequence, which reduces down time of the print engine of the image forming apparatus; and printing the two or more print jobs based on the determined printing priority. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268214 | PRINTING METHOD FOR HANDLING A PRINT JOB - A method of managing a print job is disclosed, the method includes receiving a print job on an image forming apparatus; calculating an estimated processing time and an estimated delay to print time for each page of the print job; processing each page of the print job when the estimated processing time for a page of the print job and the estimated delay to print time for the page of the print job are equal; sending each of the processed pages of the print job to a print engine associated with the image forming apparatus for printing; and printing each of the pages of the print job on the image forming apparatus upon receipt by the print engine. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268199 | PDF File Preview Manipulation - A method for manipulating digital files, including the steps of processing all pages of a document from a remote server to generate page images for online displaying of the images, displaying a preview of the page images of the document on a local computer connected to the remote server via a network, temporarily saving information of a user modification, changing only the preview of the page images on the local computer according to the user modification without modifying the document itself on the remote server, and if the modification is confirmed, retrieving the saved information of the user modification and modifying the document according to the user modification. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268196 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CALIBRATING A PAPER SENSOR TO ACCOUNT FOR MEDIA HOLES - The image forming device includes an image forming section in which an image is formed on the prepunched paper; a paper feed path through which paper is fed to and from the image forming section during a process in which an image is formed on the paper; one or more sensors arranged along the paper feed path to monitor a flow of the prepunched paper as it is fed through the paper feed path; and a processor for receiving signals from the sensors and map data of the prepunched paper, and for analyzing the signals and the map data to determine if there is a paper jam along the paper feed path, wherein the map data indicates locations of all holes, cut-outs, and notches formed in the prepunched paper. A method of using the image forming device is also disclosed. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268188 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADJUSTING AN IMAGE TO BE PRINTED ON A MEDIUM THAT WILL BE EMBOSSED - A system adjusts an original image for printing on a location on a medium that will be bossed after printing the adjusted image on the medium. The system comprises an interface for receiving information concerning a bossment to be implemented on the medium after printing the adjusted image on the medium; and an adjustor that makes an adjustment to the received image based on the information received by the interface. A method for operating the system is also disclosed. | 09-18-2014 |
20140267883 | METHOD OF SELECTING A SUBSET FROM AN IMAGE SET FOR GENERATING HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGE - A method for selecting an optimum subset of images from a larger set of images for optimal HDR image creation. For each of the set of images, an exposure quality map is computed by assigning, to each pixel of the image, an exposure quality value based on the pixel brightness value of that pixel. A suitable exposure quality function, typically reflecting the properties of the imaging device, is used for this purpose. Then, for each possible subset of images, the exposure quality maps for the images in the subset are combined using a max operation to generate a combined exposure quality map for the subset. An average pixel value of the combined exposure quality map of the subset is then calculated and serves as a quality score. The subset of images processing the highest quality score are used to generate the HDR image. | 09-18-2014 |
20140242559 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EEG-BASED TASK MANAGEMENT - A method and system are disclosed for determining a task for a subject, which includes sensing electrical activity along a scalp of a subject; characterizing a mental state of the subject based on the electrical activity of the subject; comparing the mental state of the subject with a pre-defined task list to select a task for the subject based on the mental state of the subject; and assigning the task to the subject based on the comparison of the mental state of the subject and the pre-defined task list. | 08-28-2014 |
20140233048 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RETRIEVING PRINT MEDIA ATTRIBUTES FROM A PRINT MEDIA DATABASE SERVER - A method of managing at least one print media database server for print media attributes of print media is disclosed, the method includes hosting print media attributes for a plurality of image forming apparatuses on the at least one print media database server, and wherein the at least one print media database server contains print media attributes for a plurality of print media from one or more manufacturers; receiving, by the at least one print media database server, additional print media attributes from either of the one or more manufacturers and one of the plurality of image forming apparatuses; confirming accuracy of the additional print media attributes; and enabling, by the at least one print media database server, access to the additional print media attributes in the print media database from the plurality of image forming apparatuses, after the accuracy of the additional print media attributes is confirmed. | 08-21-2014 |
20140145936 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR 3D GESTURE BEHAVIOR RECOGNITION - A method for 3D gesture behavior recognition is disclosed, which includes detecting a behavior change of one or more attendees at a meeting and/or conference; classifying the behavior change; and performing an action based on the behavior change of the one or more attendees. Another method, system and computer readable medium for 3D gesture behavior recognition as disclosed, includes obtaining temporal segmentation of human motion sequences for one or more attendees; determining a probability density function of the temporal segmentations of the human motion sequences using a Parzen window density estimation model; computing a bandwidth for determination of a median absolute deviation; updating the Parzen window to adapt for changes in the motion sequences for the one or more attendees; and detecting actions based. | 05-29-2014 |
20140081115 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ON-LINE DECISION MAKING SUPPORT - A method for on-line decision making support, which includes sensing biological signals of a subject upon detection of a decision making process during a performance of a task, and recording biological activity of the subject. Upon completing the decision making process, the recorded biological activity is released to a data processing system for analysis, which compares the recorded biological activity with a profile model for the subject and calculates a confident value for the recorded biological activity against the profile model for the subject. If the confident value does not meet a predefined threshold, a post-processing procedure is performed, wherein the predefined threshold represents a desired performance of the subject on the task. | 03-20-2014 |
20140078524 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RECOGNIZING TAB SHEETS AND DISPLAYING ONE OR MORE SETS OF TABS SHEETS ON A GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE - A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having a computer readable code embodied therein for displaying one or more sets of tab sheets on a graphical user interface, the computer readable program code configured to execute a process, which includes inputting attributes of one or more sets of tab sheets into an image forming apparatus. The attributes of the one or more sets of tab sheets are converted into a thumbnail image. Upon selecting tab paper in a paper media menu on a graphical user interface, the thumbnail image of the one or more sets of tab sheets is displayed. A set of tab sheets is then selected for insertion into a print job, and the print job is sent to the image forming apparatus for printing. | 03-20-2014 |
20140077705 | ADAPTIVE LIGHTING SYSTEM WITH LOW ENERGY CONSUMPTION - A method for designing a lighting system, including: obtaining a selection of a color temperature (CT); obtaining, for the CT, a first spectral power distribution (SPD) corresponding to a low value color rendering index (CRI) and having a first plurality of peak wavelengths; obtaining, for the CT, a second SPD corresponding to a high value CRI and having a second plurality of peak wavelengths; and identifying a plurality of common peak wavelengths shared by the first SPD and the second SPD, where the lighting system includes a first plurality of light sources corresponding to the plurality of common peak wavelengths and a second plurality of light sources corresponding to a plurality of remaining peak wavelengths of the second plurality of peak wavelengths, and where the lighting system activates the second plurality of light sources in response to an event. | 03-20-2014 |
20140072219 | DOCUMENT IMAGE BINARIZATION AND SEGMENTATION USING IMAGE PHASE CONGRUENCY - A method is described for binarizing a gray scale document image, in particular, a document image containing both text and non-text contents. Phase congruency maps are calculated from the gray scale image, and used to segment the text and non-text areas of the gray scale image. The phase congruency maps are also used to extract long lines such as table lines, which can be optionally removed from the image. The text and non-text areas of the gray scale image are divided into image patches; for the text areas, connected components obtained from the phase congruency map are used to generate image patches, so that each image patch contains a text character. The image patches are binarized individually using individual threshold values, and then combined to generate a binary image of the gray scale image. The method can also be used for purposes of OCR or document authentication. | 03-13-2014 |
20140027504 | MULTI-LAYER BARCODE FOR PRINT ON DEMAND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT - A document management method, including the steps of gathering data of a multi-page document for a first layer barcode, encoding the gathered data for the first layer barcode, writing the first layer barcode on at least one page of the document, deriving key information of the document from the gathered data; and for at least one other page of the document, gathering data of the at least one other page for a second layer barcode, encoding key information of the document and the data of the at least one other page for the second layer barcode, and writing the second layer barcode on the at least one other page of the document, such that the at least one other page of the document has its respective second layer barcode. | 01-30-2014 |
20140016150 | SYSTEM AND METHOD TO STORE EMBEDDED FONTS - A method for managing a font, including: receiving, by a printer, a first electronic document (ED) identifying the font and embedding a plurality of attributes of the font; determining, by the printer, that the plurality of attributes of the font is not stored on the printer; storing, by the printer, the plurality of attributes of the font extracted from the first ED in a font storage unit; and generating, by the printer and based on a layout of the first ED, a hardcopy of the first ED having a first printed value in the font. | 01-16-2014 |
20140016142 | PRINTING THE IDENTITY OF UNSUPPORTED FORMATTING ATTRIBUTES - A method for printing documents, including: receiving, by a printer and from a device, an electronic document (ED) having a first formatting attribute and a second formatting attribute; determining, by the printer and during a layout of the ED, that the first formatting attribute is supported by the printer and that the second formatting attribute is unsupported by the printer; generating, by the printer and based on the layout, a hardcopy of the ED according to the first formatting attribute and having a printed value identifying the second formatting attribute. | 01-16-2014 |
20130332315 | METHOD AND RELATED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ONLINE AND PRINTING ON-DEMAND COMPILATION OF WORKS WITH CUSTOMER SELECTABLE PRINTING OPTIONS - A method and related computer program product for customizing price-related options for printing a compilation of works, including the steps of: compiling the compilation of works; setting different options for customers to print the compilation of works with different prices; and allowing a customer to change one or more of the options to print the compilation of works with a price based on the customer's needs and budget. | 12-12-2013 |
20130329965 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DOCUMENT AUTHENTICATION USING KRAWTCHOUK DECOMPOSITION OF IMAGE PATCHES FOR IMAGE COMPARISON - A document authentication method employs Krawtchouk decomposition to analyze and compare document images. When printing an original document, the original document image is segmented into image patches, which preferably correspond to individual symbols of the document. Krawtchouk decomposition is applied to each image patch. The image patches are classified into image patch classes using their Krawtchouk coefficients. The locations of all image patches belonging to each class are obtained and stored along with the Krawtchouk coefficients for each class. When authenticating a target document, the same segmentation, Krawtchouk decomposition and classification steps are applied to the target document image, and the locations of all image patches belonging to each class are obtained. The image patch classes and the locations of image patches belonging to each class for the original and target document image are compared to detect alterations present in the target document. | 12-12-2013 |
20130286424 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PRINT RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Systems and methods consistent with some embodiments presented provide methods for print resource management. In some embodiments of methods for print resource management print data comprising PDL data may be parsed to identify reusable resources in the print data. The reusable resources may be converted to a common internal format and stored. In some embodiments, reusable resources may be rendered to obtain a rendered version of the reusable resource, which may be stored. In some embodiments, the stored rendered version or a rendered form of the stored formatted version of the reusable resource may be used in a bitmap image for a page whenever the reusable resource is referenced during the creation of the bitmap image for the page. | 10-31-2013 |
20130268462 | METHOD AND RELATED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ONLINE AND PRINTING ON-DEMAND COMPILATION OF WORKS WITH PER OBJECT PRICING FOR COPYRIGHT METADATA - A method and related apparatus for producing a compilation of works, including the steps of generating an excerpt from a work that has an associated original copyright metadata, creating an additional copyright metadata with per object pricing for objects of the excerpt, and associating the original copyright metadata and the additional copyright metadata with the excerpt. | 10-10-2013 |
20130262323 | METHOD AND RELATED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ONLINE AND PRINTING ON-DEMAND COMPILATION OF WORKS WITH AUTOMATIC COPYRIGHT VERIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION - A method of verifying intellectual property rights of a compilation of works generated for print on-demand (POD) purchase, including the steps of compiling the compilation of works, and before making the compilation of works available for purchase, automatically verifying intellectual property right of each of the works compiled to ensure legitimate distribution of the compilation of works. | 10-03-2013 |
20130258373 | DETERMINING IF A RECEIVED FAX IS AN AUTO-REPLY FOR A TRANSMITTED FAX - A method implemented in a fax machine for analyzing a received fax to determine whether it is an auto-reply fax. Auto-reply faxes are handled differently from other faxes to avoid unnecessary printing. The analysis method includes: determining whether the sender of the received fax is the same as the receiver of a fax sent by the fax machine within a predefined time period in the past; determining whether the received fax contains only one or two pages; extracting text from the image of the received fax using OCR; and detecting the presents of certain keywords in the extracted text which indicate an auto-reply or received status. These determination and detection results are combined to determine whether the received fax is an auto-reply. Auto-reply faxes may be saved but not automatically printed, or forwarded to an email box of the sender of the original fax, etc. | 10-03-2013 |
20130258362 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CHANGING PHYSICAL PAGE PROPERTIES IN A PRITING APPLICATION - A method for changing physical page properties in a large format printing application on a client device, the client device having executable instructions for creating a print job for producing a printout of an image. The steps include selecting the image for the print job; selecting a logical page size for the printout of the image; dividing the logical page size into a plurality of physical pages based on a selected medium; selecting at least one physical page from the plurality of physical pages and changing at least one print property on the at least one physical page; and adjusting the at least one print property on adjacent physical pages to the selected at least one physical page to avoid a sudden change in image quality and/or image appearance of the image in the printout. | 10-03-2013 |
20130258361 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CHANGING PHYSICAL PAGE PROPERTIES IN A POSTER PRINTING APPLICATION - A method for changing physical page properties in a large format printing application on a client device, the client device having executable instructions for creating a print job for producing a printout of an image, which includes the steps of: selecting the image for the print job; selecting a logical page size for the printout of the image; dividing the logical page size into a plurality of physical pages based on a selected medium; and selecting at least one physical page from the plurality of physical pages and changing at least one print property on the at least one physical page. | 10-03-2013 |
20130254244 | METHOD AND RELATED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ONLINE AND PRINTING ON-DEMAND COMPILATION OF WORKS WITH TYPE DESIGNATION FEATURES - A method for managing files for producing a compilation of works. The method includes the steps of obtaining a file of a work to be compiled in the compilation of works, specifying a type designation to the file or a portion thereof, and rendering special treatment of the file or the portion thereof according to the type designated to the file or the portion thereof when producing the compilation of works. | 09-26-2013 |
20130254243 | METHOD AND RELATED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ONLINE AND PRINTING ON-DEMAND COMPILATION OF WORKS WITH EXCERPTS HANDLING FEATURES - A method and related apparatus for managing files for producing a compilation of works, including the step of obtaining a complete file of a work to be compiled in the compilation of works, selecting a portion of the complete file as a separate excerpt file to be compiled in the compilation of works, and independently managing the complete file and the excerpt file for producing the compilation of works. | 09-26-2013 |
20130254174 | METHOD AND RELATED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ONLINE AND PRINTING ON-DEMAND COMPILATION OF WORKS WITH SHARING AND OWNERSHIP TRANSFER FEATURES - A method and related apparatus for managing files for producing a compilation of works, comprising the steps of obtaining a file of a work to be compiled in a booklet by a first user, sharing the file or sharing or transferring part of whole of the booklet created by the first user with a second user, and selecting by the second user to accept or reject the sharing of the file or the sharing or transferring of the booklet by the first user. | 09-26-2013 |
20130254056 | HYBRID PURCHASE METHOD FOR PRINTED AND ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION OF COMPILATION OF WORKS - A method for controlling rights for purchasing and using a compilation of works, including the steps of compiling the compilation of works, obtaining rights to use the compilation of works in different formats, setting different options for a user to purchase the rights to use the compilation of works in different formats, and allowing a user to purchase the rights to use the compilation of works with different options such that they may be exercised based on the user's needs. | 09-26-2013 |
20130250339 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING AND PROCESSING RECEIVED FAX DOCUMENTS TO REDUCE UNNECESSARY PRINTING - A method implemented in a fax machine for analyzing and processing received fax documents to identify unwanted faxes. The method applies a content based analysis to textual contents extracted from the fax by OCR, and applies an image pattern analysis to the image of the fax, as well as a statistical analysis based on past analysis results and user actions of faxes from the same sender. An overall relevance value is calculated based on the above analyses and is used to determine whether the received fax is unwanted. For unwanted faxes, the fax machine either prints the fax using a low quality printing mode, or save the fax in a memory without printing it. The user may subsequently perform various actions on the fax document, such as printing, reprinting, forwarding, deleting, etc. Such user actions are recorded as a part of the statistical information used in the statistical analysis. | 09-26-2013 |
20130249920 | IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE - A method for processing an electronic document (ED) using a page rendering device (PRD), including: identifying, within the ED, a slide including an animation sequence of a plurality of objects; generating, based on the slide, a first frame lacking the animation sequence and including a first object of the plurality of objects; generating, based on the slide, a second frame lacking the animation sequence and including a second object of the plurality of objects; and placing, by the PRD and during a rendering the ED, the first frame on a first page. | 09-26-2013 |
20130194623 | PRINTING AN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT USING A PRINTER AND A MOBILE DEVICE - A method for printing an electronic document (ED) using a printer and a mobile device, including: receiving, by the printer, a request to print; generating, by the printer, a unique identifier (UID) in response to the request, where the mobile device sends a print job associated with the UID and the ED to a print server over a network; sending, by the printer, the UID to the print server; receiving, by the printer, the print job from the print server in response to sending the UID; and printing, by the printer, a hardcopy of the ED based on the print job. | 08-01-2013 |
20130188497 | METHOD AND SYSTEM HAVING AN APPLICATION FOR A RUN TIME IPV6 ONLY NETWORK - A system, method, and computer readable medium are disclosed that facilitates an IP network environment. The system includes a computer device having a software module running on an operating system of the computer device, the software module (a) establishes an IP network criteria for incoming and outgoing packets for the computer device; (b) retrieves the incoming and outgoing packets to determine if an IP address for the incoming and outgoing packets meet the IP network criteria; (c) if the IP address for the incoming and outgoing packets meets the IP network criteria, forwards the incoming packets having the IP address to a network layer, which is under or part of the operating system of the computer device and forwards outgoing packets to a network connection; and (d) if the IP address for the incoming and outgoing packets does not meet the IP network criteria, drops the incoming and outgoing packets. | 07-25-2013 |
20130179475 | MANAGING THE ASSOCIATION OF DOCUMENTS AND THEIR COPYRIGHTS FOR GENERATING AND PRINTING COMPILATION OF WORKS - A method and program for managing the association of works and their copyrights for producing a compilation of works, including the step of obtaining works to be compiled having copyright metadata associated with each work of the works to be compiled by searching for works to be compiled, retrieving copyright metadata of the works to be compiled, and associating copyright metadata to each work of the works to be compiled, and the step of re-associating copyright metadata of a work with a user's own digital file of the work. | 07-11-2013 |
20130179370 | REPRODUCING COPYRIGHTED WORKS WITH CONTENTS EXTRACTION - A method and program for reproducing copyrighted works with contents extraction to reduce copyright costs, including the steps of designating contents of a copyrighted work desired to be reproduced, extracting into a digital file portions of the copyrighted work containing the designated contents, editing the extracted portions if a format of the digital file allows for such editing to change a quantitative basis for calculating copyright fees for reproducing the desired contents of the copyrighted work, and calculating copyright fees for reproducing the desired contents of the copyrighted work based at least in part on the changed quantitative basis. | 07-11-2013 |
20130174280 | DOCUMENT CONTROL BASED ON COPYRIGHT PERMISSION WHEN PRINTING COMPILATION OF WORKS - A method for controlling copyright permissions when assembling multiple copyrighted works into a compiled file. The copyright permission level of each file is analyzed, either based on the copyright permission information present in metadata associated with the file or based on the digital file format of the file which reflects the permission level. The compiled file is assigned a permission level which is the same as or more restrictive than all of the permission level of the files in the compilation, and is generated in a format that enforces the assigned permission level. A notification may be displayed to the user to notify the use of the permission level assigned to the compiled file. | 07-04-2013 |
20130170749 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DOCUMENT IMAGE INDEXING AND RETRIEVAL USING MULTI-LEVEL DOCUMENT IMAGE STRUCTURE AND LOCAL FEATURES - An image based document index and retrieval method is described. During document indexing, each source document is analyzed to generate index information at document, page, region and unit levels. Region and unit level index information is generated by segmenting each text region into units, constructing unit length or unit density histograms, and analyzing the units in a few most frequent bins of the histogram. The index information and the source document images are stored in a database. During document retrieval, a target document is analyzed to generate target index information in the same way as during document indexing. The target index information is compared to stored index information in a progressive manner (from higher to lower levels) to identify source documents with index information that matches the target index information. Fuzzy logic is used in the comparison steps to increase the robustness of the document retrieval. | 07-04-2013 |
20130161396 | FOUR DIMENSIONAL (4D) COLOR BARCODE FOR HIGH CAPACITY DATA ENCODING AND DECODING - A method for encoding and decoding color barcodes to increase their data capacity. The encoding steps include determining a shape, a foreground color and a background color for each data cell, wherein a combination of the shape, foreground and background colors for the data cell is chosen from a plurality of such combinations in accordance with a value of the digital data to be encoded; and coloring some pixels in the data cell with a foreground color and other pixels with a background color, in accordance with the shape, foreground and background colors for the data cell determined above. The decoding steps include segmenting the data cells, recognizing a shape, a foreground color of the shape and a background color of the data cell, and obtaining digital data from a combination of the shape and foreground and background colors in each data cell. | 06-27-2013 |
20130161395 | FOUR DIMENSIONAL (4D) COLOR BARCODE FOR HIGH CAPACITY DATA ENCODING AND DECODING - A method and program for encoding and decoding color barcodes to increase their data capacity. The encoding steps include determining a shape and a color for each data cell to encode digital data, wherein a combination of the shape and the color for the data cell is chosen from a plurality of combinations of shapes and colors in accordance with a value of the digital data to be encoded, and coloring a subset of the plurality of pixels in each data cell in accordance with the shape and the color for the data cell determined above. The decoding steps include segmenting the data cells in a color barcode, recognizing a shape formed by a subset of pixels in each data cell and the color of the shape, and obtaining digital data from a combination of the recognized shape and color in each data cell. | 06-27-2013 |
20130161387 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING PRINTED DOCUMENTS WITH INVISIBLE PRINTED CONDUCTIVE PATTERNS AS SECURITY FEATURES FOR DETECTING UNAUTHORIZED COPYING AND ALTERATIONS - Methods of generating a secured printed document on paper or other medium by printing a security layer made of a transparent conductive material over the ink/toner layer that forms the visible content of the document. The security layer is printed using a transparent conductive material such as transparent conductive toner or ink and is invisible to human eyes. In one embodiment, the transparent conductive material contains a pattern that forms a radio frequency (RF) transponder circuit which has an RF antenna and a digital memory storing security data, which can be read out and used to authenticate the document. In another embodiment, the pattern forms a memory circuit without an RF antenna. In yet another embodiment, the transparent conductive material is patterned but does not form a functional circuit, and the electrical properties of the security layer such conductivity and/or capacitance are used to authenticate the document. | 06-27-2013 |
20130136345 | CREATING A LUMINANCE EFFECT USING AN ICC PROFILE - A method for creating a luminance effect, including: obtaining a source image in a red-green-blue (RGB) color space; obtaining a luminance effect parameter; generating an international color consortium (ICC) device link profile based on the luminance effect parameter; and converting the source image in RGB color space to a final image in RGB color space using a color conversion function with the ICC device link profile. | 05-30-2013 |
20130136344 | CREATING A DUOTONE COLOR EFFECT USING AN ICC PROFILE - A method for creating a duotone color effect from a lightest color and a darkest color, including: obtaining a source image in a red-green-blue (RGB) color space; obtaining a lightest color RGB tuple and a darkest color RGB tuple; generating an international color consortium (ICC) device link profile based on the lightest color RGB tuple and the darkest color RGB tuple; and converting the source image in RGB color space to a duotone image in RGB color space using a color conversion function with the ICC device link profile. | 05-30-2013 |
20130086384 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR POWER MANAGEMENT USING ICMPv6 OPTIONS - A method and system that facilitates power management over an IPv6 network connection is described. A first host having an application creates a power management option for managing power management settings of one or more second hosts, which is in network communication with the first host. A neighbor solicitation request is sent with the power management option to the one or more second hosts, wherein the power management option requests the power management settings of the one or more second hosts. A table of the power management settings for each of the one or more second hosts is generated from the responses received from the neighbor solicitation request, and the power management settings are applied to the one or more second hosts. | 04-04-2013 |
20130085891 | METHOD FOR FACILITATING PURCHASE OF VARIABLE PRICED ITEMS AND RELATED APPARATUS - A system is described for facilitating purchase of copyrighted works, in particular, works that may be offered for variable prices depending on the purchaser's characteristics. A server interacts with multiple digital content repositories as well as users. The server stores user characteristics information in user accounts, and uses such information to obtain best prices for users for the contents they request. If additional user characteristics information is request by some repositories before offering a price, the server interacts with the user to obtain such information. The server automatically selects the best price among those offered by the repositories, and completes the purchase transaction. | 04-04-2013 |
20130085448 | CATHETER GUIDANCE SYSTEM - A catheter guidance system and method for guiding a catheter through the bloodstream of the patient's cardiovascular system in a medical procedure. The catheter has a front tip with a heating element for slightly heating a media surrounding the front tip in a blood vessel of the patient's cardiovascular system, and two temperature measuring elements located adjacent to and in front and behind the heating element respectively for measuring temperatures in the media at their respective locations. A guidance device is coupled to the catheter for converting the heating power and temperature measurement signals to digital signals, processing the digital signals, and displaying guidance information indicative of the location of the front tip of the catheter relative to the blood vessel wall of the patient's cardiovascular system. The guidance information may be shown by an intuitive traffic light type display. | 04-04-2013 |
20130084004 | IMAGE PROCESSING OF DATA FROM SCANNED DISPLAY - A method for image processing a two-dimensional (2D) code, including: obtaining an image by scanning a screen displaying the 2D code using a plurality of pixels, where the image includes multiple hard edges corresponding multiple spaces on the screen between the multiple pixels; identifying a pixel pitch of the screen; reducing the multiple hard edges by applying a filter based on the pixel pitch to the image; and generating, after reducing the multiple hard edges, a binary image including the 2D code by applying a threshold function to the image. | 04-04-2013 |
20130083351 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING PRINT ON DEMAND JOBS BY MAINTAINING CUSTOMER ORDER RECORDS WITH CONTENT IDENTIFICATION OF PRINTED ARTICLES - A method and system for managing print job through a process that includes the steps of receiving a print job order for printing a multiplicity of articles, processing the multiplicity of articles to create an identification (ID) for each article, and determining whether an article ID stored in a database matches any of the new IDs of the multiplicity articles. If a matching article ID does not exist, then keeping the article and storing the ID of the kept article in the database. If a matching article ID exists, then removing the article from the print job, and repeating the above steps until all of the multiplicity of articles are processed accordingly. When printing the job, only the remaining articles are printed. | 04-04-2013 |
20130083349 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING PRINT ON DEMAND JOBS WITH REMOTE CACHE - A method and system for managing print job through a process carried out by an online web-store server. The process includes the steps of receiving a print job order by a web-store server, and checking a remote cache via a network to determine whether a PDF file is stored therein. If the matching PDF file does not exist, then the server generates a new PDF file containing the sequence of articles and transmits the new PDF file to the print server, and saves the new PDF file in the remote cache. If the matching PDF exists, then the stored PDF is retrieved from the remote cache, and the print server uses the retrieved PDF file to print the print job without the web-store server creating the new PDF file or transmitting the new PDF file to the print server. | 04-04-2013 |
20130083347 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PHYSICALLY SECURING A HOST DEVICE - A method for physically securing a first host device upon a detection of a change in an external environment. The method includes initializing the first host device, the first host device having an application, which performs the following steps: creates a neighbor cache table for monitoring a network connection between the first host device and one or more second host devices; monitors the external network connections between the first host device and the one or more second host devices; and upon determining a change in an external environment between the host device and the one or more second host devices, securing the host device from processing jobs and/or requests from the one or more second host devices. | 04-04-2013 |
20130083337 | WIRELESS PRINTING FROM A DEVICE OUTSIDE THE NETWORK - A method for printing an electronic document (ED) using a multifunction printer (MFP), including: obtaining, by the MFP, an image by scanning a screen of a mobile device displaying a graphical code having a unique identifier (UID) of a print job associated with the ED; extracting, by the MFP, the UID of the print job from the image; sending, by the MFP, the UID of the print job to a print server over a first network operatively connecting the MFP and the print server; receiving, by the MFP and in response to sending the UID, the print job associated with the ED over the first network; and printing, by the MFP, a hardcopy of the ED after receiving the print job. | 04-04-2013 |
20130083217 | SCANNING ACTIVE ILLUMINATION MEDIA - A method for obtaining an image of an actively lit medium (ALM) using a capture device and an illumination source, including: calibrating the capture device for dark signal non-uniformity (DSNU); determining a final exposure value and a final gain value by executing at least one scan of the ALM using the capture device with the illumination source extinguished; and generating the image by scanning, with the illumination source extinguished, the ALM using the capture device set to the final exposure value and the final gain value. | 04-04-2013 |
20130082541 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALIGNING CONDUCTORS FOR CAPACITIVE WIRELESS POWER TRANSMISSION - A method of aligning a wall conductor with an organic light emitting diode (OLED) panel conductor is disclosed. A transmitter device having a capacitive conductor and a receiver device having a capacitive conductor in proximity to the capacitive conductor of the transmitter device. The capacitive conductors of the transmitter device and the receiver device are aligned using an alignment indicator, which indicates that at least one edge of the capacitive conductor of the receiver device is in alignment with the capacitive conductor of the transmitter to optimize a transfer of power between the capacitive conductors. | 04-04-2013 |
20130082540 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALIGNING CONDUCTORS FOR CAPACITIVE WIRELESS POWER TRANSMISSION - A method of aligning a capacitive wireless power transmission system, the method comprises: providing a transmitter device having a capacitive conductor; positioning a receiver device having a capacitive conductor in proximity to the capacitive conductor of the transmitter device; and aligning the capacitive conductors of the transmitter device and the receiver device with one another using a display panel on the receiver device to optimize a transfer of power between the capacitive conductors. | 04-04-2013 |
20130063745 | GENERATING A PAGE OF AN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT USING A MULTIFUNCTION PRINTER - A method for generating a page of an electronic document (ED). The method includes: receiving, by a multifunction printer (MFP), a print job having the ED; identifying, by the MFP and after receiving the print job, a location in the ED for placing an item; prompting, by the MFP and after receiving the print job, a user for the item; obtaining, by the MFP and after receiving the print job, the item from an input device operated by the user; and printing, by the MFP and based on the print job, the page by placing the item at the location. | 03-14-2013 |
20130050762 | SMALL AIO (ALL IN ONE) PRINTER THAT USES EXTERNAL STORAGE FOR THE PURPOSE OF PAPER COLLATION - A method implemented in a data processing system including an image forming apparatus for producing a print job, which includes the steps of: (a) receiving data representing a document to be printed in the print job; (b) receiving job information about the print job; (c) determining if the job information includes an instruction to print multiple copies of the document in a collated order; (d) forwarding the data representing the document to be printed in the print job to an external storage unit when multiple copies of the document in collated order have been requested; (e) retrieving the data from the external storage unit; and (f) printing the multiple copies of the document in collated order. | 02-28-2013 |
20130031460 | USING A COMMON INPUT/OUTPUT FORMAT TO GENERATE A PAGE OF AN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT - A method for generating a page of an electronic document (ED), including: obtaining a common input/output (I/O) format of the ED, where the common I/O format comprises the properties, the objects, and fields corresponding to the objects; populating, during a first layout by a layout engine and based on the properties, the fields in the common I/O format of the ED with coordinates; and generating, from the common I/O format of the ED, the page by placing the objects on the page according to the coordinates. | 01-31-2013 |
20130007582 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING OUTER SHADOWS AND REFLECTIONS - A method for rendering a page, including: obtaining an electronic document (ED) identifying a main object and multiple shadow parameters; determining a main bounding box surrounding the main object on the page; creating a main brush including the main object; calculating a shadow bounding box based on the main bounding box and at least one of the multiple shadow parameters; creating a shadow brush by applying a shadow transformation matrix to the main brush, where the shadow transformation matrix maps the main object to a shadow defined by the multiple shadow parameters; inserting, into a main display list for the page, a set of instructions to: paint the shadow bounding box with the shadow brush; and paint the main bounding box with the main brush. | 01-03-2013 |
20130003129 | METHOD FOR PROCESSING HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGES USING TONE MAPPING AND WCS COLOR TRANSFORMS - A method for processing a high dynamic range (HDR) image for printing. Tone mapping is first applied to the input image to map the colors, to find an optimized range of brightness values, and to scale the color to place colors inside the optimized range (in-range colors) into a device color space (e.g. sRGB), but without clipping colors outside of the optimized range (out-of-range colors). The scaled colors are then converted to the color space of the output device (e.g. CMYK) using WCS (Windows Color System) color transform, where the in-range colors are processed using a optimized transform and the out-of-range are processed using a sequential transform. A mapping from the original color space to the converted color space for all colors in the image is stored in a lookup table (LUT), and the input image is converted to the output image using the LUT. | 01-03-2013 |
20130003111 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR NETWORK DIAGNOSTICS WHICH SHOWS POSSIBLE CAUSES ON A DISPLAY OF AN IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A method of detecting and displaying network status for an image forming system having an image forming apparatus and a printer controller. The method includes the steps of connecting the printer controller with the image forming apparatus through a first line which a client sends a print job to the printer controller and a second line which transfers the image data. Upon detection of a failure in network connectivity through the first line, transmitting messages from the printer controller and image forming apparatus to the printer controller and the image forming apparatus. The messages sent and received by the printer controller and the image forming apparatus are gathered and based on the gathered messages received and not received by the image forming apparatus and the printer controller, a cause of the failure is detected. | 01-03-2013 |
20130003103 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THIRD PARTY AUTHENTICATION OF WEB-BASED PRINT-ON-DEMAND REQUESTS - A system and program implement a process for allowing users of third party vendors to access print shop applications without separate authentication. The process includes the steps of creating a query-string having identification information of a third party vendor and authentication information of a user of the third party vendor. The query-string is created in response to the user's access to the third party vendor's web-site, and is contained in an inline frame and encrypted. Upon receiving the encrypted query-string sent from a third party vendor server to a print shop server, the query-string is decrypted. It is then determined whether the user has an existing account on the print shop server. If the user has an existing account, the user is automatically logged into the print shop server so that the user may access and use any print-on-demand applications on the print shop server without manually inputting user authentication information on the print shop server. | 01-03-2013 |
20130003088 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RETRIEVING PRINT MEDIA ATTRIBUTES FROM A PRINT MEDIA DATABASE SERVER - A method of determining print media attributes of print media, which includes the following steps: obtaining information from a package of print media using an image recognition system associated with the image forming apparatus; sending the information via a network connection to at least one print media database server for determination of print media attributes for the package of print media; determining the print media attributes of the package of print media by matching the information obtained from the image recognition system to a print attribute database hosted by the at least one print media database server, the print attribute database containing print media attributes for a plurality of print mediums, which are available to a plurality of image forming apparatuses; and sending the print media attributes for the package of print media to the image forming apparatus, which generates printer configuration settings for the print media. | 01-03-2013 |
20130003086 | METHOD FOR PROCESSING HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGES USING TONE MAPPING TO EXTENDED RGB SPACE - A method for processing a high dynamic range (HDR) image for printing. Tone mapping is first applied to the input image to map the colors from the original color space to an extended RGB space without scaling or clipping of colors. The colors are then converted to a device-independent color space such as Jab, and scaled (normalized) in that space. Then, image-based gamut mapping is performed in the Jab space to map the gamut of the image to the gamut of the destination device. The colors are then converted to the color space of the destination device (e.g. printer) and outputted. | 01-03-2013 |
20120331423 | METHOD FOR NAVIGATING A STRUCTURE OF DATA USING A GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE HAVING A LOOPED HISTORY CHAIN - An improved navigation method implemented as a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI has navigation tools to allow a user to navigate to different locations of a structure of data. The GUI stores a history chain containing a sequence of nodes including a first node and a last node, each node represents a location the user has previously navigated to. The GUI moves backward or forward along the history chain in response to a back or forward command from the user. When a current node position in the history chain is the first (or last) node and a back (or forward) command is received, the GUI moves to the last (or first) node of the history chain, thereby forming a looped history chain. | 12-27-2012 |
20120327439 | METHOD FOR SELECTING INTERPRETERS FOR PDF DIRECT PRINTING - A method implemented in a printer for PDF direct printing. The printer includes a PDF interpreter such as APPE (Adobe PDF Print Engine), and at least one other interpreter also capable of interpreting PDF data, such as a PostScript interpreter. The printer automatically selects either APPE or the PS interpreter or both to interpret a PDF document. If the PDF document is PDF/VT, PDF/X-4 or later, then APPE is selected. If the PDF document is not one of these versions but contains transparency data, APPE is selected to interpret the pages containing transparency data, and the other pages may be interpreted using the PS interpreter. If the PDF document is not one of the above versions and contains no transparency data, the PS interpreter is selected. Other factors such as the busy status of the interpreters may be considered in making the selection. | 12-27-2012 |
20120251154 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PRINTING ON PRE-PRINTED MEDIA AND LETTERHEAD MEDIA - A method for managing the printing of documents on pre-printed media, which includes the steps of: receiving a print job representing a document to be printed; detecting an orientation of a pre-printed media being fed into an image forming apparatus; processing the print job for printing based on the orientation of the pre-printed media; and printing the print job on at least one sheet of the pre-printed media | 10-04-2012 |
20120250053 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR HANDLING SUB-JOBS - A method of managing a plurality of print jobs executed by an image forming apparatus, which includes: processing a plurality of sub-print jobs that constitute a print job for printing by the image forming apparatus; assigning the plurality of sub-print jobs to a print job management module; managing the processing of each of the sub-print jobs with the print job management module, wherein the print job management module determines based on an estimated time for processing of each of the sub-print jobs, if the print job should be printed first sheet to last sheet with each of the sheets face down or last sheet to first sheet with each of the sheets face up; sending the processed sub-print jobs to a print queue for printing in an order according to the determination result by the print job management module; and printing the plurality of sub-print jobs in the print queue. | 10-04-2012 |
20120250051 | SCAN BACK CONTROL OF STACKED RECEIVED FAXES - A method of selectively printing facsimiles on an image forming apparatus, the method includes the steps of: receiving incoming facsimiles on the image forming apparatus, each of the incoming facsimiles having one or more pages; printing at least one page of each of the incoming facsimiles; storing an entirety of each of the incoming facsimiles in a memory of the image forming apparatus; selectively printing incoming facsimiles by scanning the at least one page on the image forming apparatus to retrieve the entirety of a selected incoming facsimile from the memory of the image forming apparatus; and printing the entirety of the selected incoming facsimile. | 10-04-2012 |
20120246565 | GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR DISPLAYING THUMBNAIL IMAGES WITH FILTERING AND EDITING FUNCTIONS - An enhanced graphical user interface (GUI) for displaying a main document image and multiple thumbnail images, with filtering functions to allow the user to display selected pages as thumbnail images. In particular, the GUI is implemented in a Make Ready program used in a print shop to manipulate documents before printing. Each page of the document being processed by the Make Ready program is assigned one of multiple processing phases (or processing status values), depending on whether any editing changes are required, and whether any required changes have been made or all required changes are completed. The operator can selectively display pages of a certain phase as thumbnail images, and use this display to make editing changes to the pages. The program automatically updates the phase assignment for a page after changes are made to it. The operator can also manually update the phase of a page. | 09-27-2012 |
20120243785 | METHOD OF DETECTION DOCUMENT ALTERATION BY COMPARING CHARACTERS USING SHAPE FEATURES OF CHARACTERS - A document alteration detection method compares a target image with an original image by comparing character shape features without actually recognizing the characters. Bounding boxes for the characters are generated for both images, each enclosing one or more connected groups of pixels of one character. The bounding boxes in the original and target images are matched into pairs. Addition and deletion of text is detected if a bounding box in one image does not have a matching one in the other image. Each pair of bounding boxes is processed to compare their shape features. The shape features include the Euler numbers of the characters, the aspect ratio of the bounding boxes, the pixel density of the bounding boxes, and the Hausdorff distance between the two characters. The two characters are determined to be the same or different based on the shape feature comparisons. | 09-27-2012 |
20120243031 | GPU ACCELERATED COLOR ANALYSIS AND CONTROL SYSTEM - A graphic processing unit (GPU) accelerated image analysis and control system and method for implementing a process of managing parallel processing algorithms on one or more GPU devices. An exemplary embodiment of the process includes the steps of configuring the multiple GPU devices to enable multiple applications to be executed by the GPU devices, the multiple applications being used for GPU accelerated image analysis, assigning the multiple applications to the multiple GPU devices in accordance with the configurations of the multiple GPU devices, and having the multiple GPU devices execute the assigned applications in parallel, thereby performing the GPU accelerated image analysis. When a multi-GPU model is enabled on two or more GPU devices assigned to a printing application, a GPU distribution algorithm is invoked for performing the GPU accelerated image analysis simultaneously on the two or more GPU devices. | 09-27-2012 |
20120229857 | MOVING LABELS IN GRAPHICAL OUTPUT TO AVOID OVERPRINTING - A method for rendering a drawing, including: identifying fixed objects (FOs) having footprints within the drawing; identifying moveable objects (MOs) having locations within the drawing associated with the footprints; identifying, within a coarse pixel array (CPA), coarse pixels corresponding to the footprints; setting the coarse pixels corresponding to the footprints to an occupied status; selecting a MO having a first location; identifying a first set of coarse pixels in the CPA corresponding to a first frame of the MO; determining that at least one coarse pixel of the first set of coarse pixels is in the occupied status; generating a second location for the MO; identifying a second set of coarse pixels in the CPA corresponding to a second frame of the MO; setting the second set of coarse pixels to the occupied status; and rendering the drawing by placing the MO at the second location on a page. | 09-13-2012 |
20120229517 | APPROXIMATING FONT METRICS FOR A MISSING FONT WHEN SUBSTITUTING AN AVAILABLE REPLACEMENT - A method for rendering an electronic document (ED) using a page rendering device, including: identifying, within the ED, a text stream and a requested font for the text stream, where the text stream has a plurality of characters; identifying a resident font supported by the PRD as a substitute for the requested font; generating a plurality of scaled characters by scaling the plurality of characters in the resident font; and rendering, by the PRD, the ED by placing the plurality of scaled characters on a page. | 09-13-2012 |
20120218594 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FULFILLING A CUSTOMER'S PRINT JOB NEEDS BY SELECTING AND ASSIGNING THE PRINT JOB TO ONE OR MORE QUALIFIED PRINTERS FROM A GROUP OF PARTICIPATING PRINTERS - A system and method for fulfilling a customer's print job needs through a process carried out by an online platform. The process includes the steps of receiving the print job with particular requirements from the customer, and retrieving from database profiles of a multiplicity of participating print shops to determine which print shop or print shops can handle the print job by matching all of the particular requirements. If it is determined that there is one print shop suitable to handle the print job by best matching all of the particular requirements, then assign the print job to the one suitable print shop. If it is determined that more than one print shop is needed to handle the print job, then split the print job and assign the split print job to a plurality of suitable print shops that together can best match all of the particular requirements of the print job. | 08-30-2012 |
20120198384 | GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE PRESENTING A UNIFIED VIEW OF A MAIN DOCUMENT IMAGE AND THUMBNAIL IMAGES - A GUI layout for displaying a main document image and multiple thumbnail images in a more space-efficient manner. One unified pane displays both a selected page of the document in a main image area and multiple thumbnail images each corresponding to a document page. The thumbnails and the main image area do not overlap. In some embodiments, the thumbnails include multiple groups of thumbnails having different sizes. When a user selects a thumbnail image, the corresponding document page is displayed in the main image area. The pane is provided with functions that allow the user to integrate the page viewing and selection process and to customize the pane, such as: scrolling of the thumbnail images, moving the document content displayed in the main image area, changing the physical size of the main image area, changing the zoom size of the document content in the main image area, etc. | 08-02-2012 |
20120198381 | GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE PRESENTING A UNIFIED VIEW OF A MAIN DOCUMENT IMAGE AND THUMBNAIL IMAGES - A GUI for displaying a main document image and multiple thumbnail images in a more space-efficient manner. One unified pane displays both a page of the document as a main image and multiple thumbnail images each corresponding to a document page. At least some of the thumbnail images overlap with the main image, with the main image displayed either as a transparent image (transparent display mode) or a solid image (solid display mode) in front of the overlapped thumbnail images. When a user selects a thumbnail image, the corresponding document page is displayed in the main image. The use may switch between the two display modes. In the transparent display mode, overlapped thumbnail images are visible and selectable, and the main image is not editable. In the solid display mode, overlapped thumbnail images are not visible and not selectable, and the main image is editable. | 08-02-2012 |
20120194852 | METHOD OF MANAGING PLURAL PRINT JOBS BY USING A PRINT JOB GROUP LIST - A method of managing a plurality of print jobs, which includes the steps of: receiving a plurality of print jobs from one or more client devices, each of the plurality of print jobs having one or more print job attributes; creating a print job group list of the plurality of print jobs before the plurality of print jobs is processed by a printer controller; processing the plurality of print jobs on the printer controller for printing by an image forming apparatus; and printing one or more of the plurality of print jobs based on a printing sequence generated from the print job group list. | 08-02-2012 |
20120166805 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EXCHANGE MULTIFUNCTION JOB SECURITY USING IPV6 NEIGHBOR DISCOVERY OPTIONS - A method that facilitates exchange multifunction job security using IPv6 Neighbor Discovery, which includes generating a job on a first node, the first node having a software module, which creates at least one security option for the job; sending a neighbor solicitation request with the at least one security option to a second node; receiving the neighbor solicitation request on the second node, the second node having a software module for processing the neighbor solicitation request with the at least one security option; sending a neighbor advertisement to the first node; receiving the neighbor advertisement from the second node to obtain a job identifier for the job; and if the job identifier for the job is obtained, processing the job on the first node. | 06-28-2012 |
20110149348 | DETERMINING DOCUMENT AUTHENTICITY IN A CLOSED-LOOP PROCESS - A document authentication method uses a watermark added in a printed document to detection possible alterations made to the document after it was printed. First, a visible watermark in the form of a dot pattern is overlapped with an original digital image. The watermarked image is printed out as a halftone image at a first resolution. The watermark in the printed document appears as a light gray shade. Later, the printed document is scanned back using a grayscale scan at a resolution higher than the first resolution. In the scanned image, altered areas would appear flat (lacking intensity variation) whereas unaltered areas will have relatively large density variations due to the watermark dots and the fact that the image was halftone printed at a lower resolution. Alternations are detected by identifying flat areas within the image using a combination of flat block detection and a multiple thresholds method. | 06-23-2011 |