Congestion management and latency prediction in CSMA media
US Patent 8,943,219
January 27, 2015
A facility for congestion management and latency prediction is described. In various embodiments, the facility sums a series of fractional transmission delays wherein each fractional transmission delay is measured as a probability of a failed transmission attempt multiplied by the cost of the failed transmission attempt, and provides the sum.
Resume point for digital media playback
US Patent 8,942,549
January 27, 2015
A system (and method and computer readable medium) are disclosed for configuring a digital media device to resume playback of content stopped at a first digital media playback device to resume at a second digital media playback device. The configuration detects a stop in play of content stored on a digital media storage device and determines digital media playback preference selections for the content played on the first digital media playback device. The configuration generates a playback preference file and determines a stop location for content, the stop location corresponding to a resume point for the content on the second media playback device. The configuration writes the playback preference file and the stop location to the digital media storage device.
Systems and methods for making and using improved leads for electrical stimulation systems
US Patent 8,942,810
January 27, 2015
A method for manufacturing a lead includes forming an elongated multi-lumen conductor guide defining a central stylet lumen and a plurality of conductor lumens arranged around the stylet lumen. The multi-lumen conductor guide is twisted to form at least one helical section where the plurality of conductor lumens each forms a helical pathway around the stylet lumen. Each of the helical pathways of the at least one helical section has a pitch that is no less than 0.04 turns per centimeter.
Apparatus, systems and methods for storing program events in an enhanced history buffer
US Patent 8,942,538
January 27, 2015
Enhanced history buffer systems and methods are operable to temporarily store program content for program events. An exemplary embodiment receives program content corresponding to each of the plurality of program events, generates a unique discrete program content file in the enhanced history buffer for each of the plurality of program events, and stores the received program content for each of the plurality of program events in the associated one of the discrete program content files. Each discrete program content file begins at a known starting location in the enhanced history buffer and ends at a known ending location in the enhanced history buffer.
Devices and methods for brain stimulation
US Patent 8,938,308
January 20, 2015
A device for brain stimulation that includes n lead having a longitudinal surface; at least one stimulation electrode disposed along the longitudinal surface of the lead; and at least one recording electrode, separate from the at least one stimulation electrode, disposed along she longitudinal surface of the lead.
System and method for securing an implant to tissue
US Patent 8,936,622
January 20, 2015
A system and method for securing a medical implant within a patient. The method comprises disposing an anchor element around the implant, the anchor element including a pair of tabs each including an eyelet, and a flexible intermediate portion between the tabs, wherein disposing the anchor element around the implant includes positioning the implant within the intermediate portion and folding the anchor element such that the tabs contact one another and the eyelets aligned. The anchor element is positioned at a desired implantation position with the tabs positioned proximate soft tissue of the patient. The method further comprises inserting a distal tip of a fixation element delivery tool through the eyelets and into the soft tissue, the fixation element including at least one tissue anchor and an adjustable suture arrangement coupled to the tissue anchor. The at least one tissue anchor is deployed from the delivery tool and into the soft tissue of the patient. The delivery tool is withdrawn from the soft tissue and the eyelets of the anchor element, and the adjustable suture arrangement is tightened to secure the anchor element against the soft tissue.
Network addressable storage controller with storage drive profile comparison
US Patent 8,935,567
January 13, 2015
Embodiments are directed towards a controller that provides individual network accessibility to a storage drive. The controller may include a first connector operative to couple with a storage-drive connector, a second connector operative to couple with a backplane connector of a multi-storage-drive chassis, memory, and processor. The controller may convert communication received through the first connector into an Ethernet protocol for output through the second connector, and convert communication received through the second connector into a storage-drive protocol for output through the first connector. A physical shape of the controller may fit adjacent to the storage-drive connector and occupy less space than is bounded by peripheral edges of an end of a separate housing of a storage drive coupled to the storage-drive connector. The controller may manage power provided to the storage drive and may coordinate with other controllers to manage power-up sequences of multiple storage drives.
Methods and systems for organizing information
US Patent 8,935,254
January 13, 2015
Embodiments are directed towards organizing heterogeneous information items as nodes within a graph structure and/or a category, where each information item is implemented as a folder and each information item may be in more than one folder. An information management application residing within a computing device enables a user to integrate various information items of various types and sources using a many-to-many relationship for each information item. Information items include notes, events, contacts, geo-coordinates, hyperlinks such as Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), and messages (including emails, text messages). The application further allows the user to perform a variety of activities on the structure(s) and the information items, including, but not limited to creating an information item, creating one or more structures or relationship between information items, managing various views of the structure(s), and modifying the structure(s).
Disparity correction for location-aware distributed sporting events
US Patent 8,934,995
January 13, 2015
Various embodiments facilitate location-aware distributed competitions. In one embodiment, a system facilitates a distributed sporting event that includes multiple players traveling over non-uniform courses that are remote from one another. The system includes a manager that receives state information, such as location information, from client devices used by each of the players. The manager then transmits location information for each of the players to the client devices, which are each configured to present a graphical representation, such as a map annotated with the locations of each of the players. The system corrects for disparities between the non-uniform courses traveled by the players, for example by mapping a location on a course traveled by a first player to a location on a course traveled by a second player. Various mechanisms for establishing the mapping between non-uniform courses are also described.
Visual presentation of speaker-related information
US Patent 8,934,652
January 13, 2015
Techniques for ability enhancement are described. Some embodiments provide an ability enhancement facilitator system (“AEFS”) configured to determine and present speaker-related information based on speaker utterances. In one embodiment, the AEFS receives data that represents an utterance of a speaker received by a hearing device of the user, such as a hearing aid, smart phone, media player/device, or the like. The AEFS identifies the speaker based on the received data, such as by performing speaker recognition. The AEFS determines speaker-related information associated with the identified speaker, such as by determining an identifier (e.g., name or title) of the speaker, by locating an information item (e.g., an email message, document) associated with the speaker, or the like. The AEFS then informs the user of the speaker-related information, such as by presenting the speaker-related information on a display of the hearing device or some other device accessible to the user.
