Patents Assigned to EPFL
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Publication number: 20110223217Abstract: An encoding/decoding apparatus and method using a low-density parity-check code (LDPC code) is disclosed. Basic column group information, serving as a set of information regarding positions of rows with weight 1, is extracted from a reference column in each column group of a predetermined parity-check matrix. Column group information transforms the positions of rows with weight 1 into positions whose lengths are within a required parity length. A parity-check matrix is generated according to the generated column group information. Data is encoded or decoded based on the generated parity-check matrix.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 24, 2009Publication date: September 15, 2011Applicant: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)Inventors: James Brandon Dixon, Jeffrey A. Hubbell, Conlin P. O'Neil, Melody Swartz, Diana Velluto
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Publication number: 20110217804Abstract: A method for fabricating a micromirror in a wafer, including the steps of: depositing and etching layers forming two arms; etching the wafer such that in the back face only a thin portion of the wafer remains in the region of formation of the micromirror and the arms; performing an anisotropic etch, such that the thin portion remains only in the areas of the micromirror and the arms; and performing an isotropic etch to remove the thin portions under the arms, the etching step for forming the arms being performed following their shape and so as to form holes traversing the arms, the holes being positioned at edges of the region separating the micromirror and the wafer on both the side of the micromirror and the side of the portions of the wafer remaining after the anisotropic etching step. The invention also concerns the micromirror.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 24, 2008Publication date: September 8, 2011Applicant: ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL)Inventors: Nicolas Abele, Faouzi Khechana, Philippe Renaud
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Patent number: 7995599Abstract: A method to provide reliability, power management and load balancing support for multicore systems based on Networks-on-Chip (NoCs) and to efficiently implement architectural support for this method by introducing complex packet handling mechanisms is achieved by modifying the basic network interfaces attached to the cores of multicore computation systems. It also proposes policies to leverage the proposed hardware extensions. This aim is achieved with a method to manage the load of peripheral elements within a multicore system comprising several processing units accessing peripheral elements through a NoC, each processing unit and peripheral element attached to a Network Interface in charge of formatting and driving the packets sent to or received from the NoC, wherein, while considering at least two peripheral elements having a similar function, the Network Interface dedicated to a first peripheral element reroutes the incoming packets to a second Network Interface dedicated to a second peripheral element.Type: GrantFiled: March 27, 2009Date of Patent: August 9, 2011Assignee: Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (EPFL)Inventors: Federico Angiolini, David Atienza Alonso, Giovanni De Micheli
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Publication number: 20110190789Abstract: The system comprises at least three anchors (2,2?,2?) intended to be attached to the patient and equipped with markers (5,5?,5?), an insertion guide device (6) with an insertion guide (7) intended to be attached to said anchors (2,2?,2?), an external calibration device (8) with at least three calibration markers (10,10?,10?) corresponding to said markers (5,5?,5?) and a planning and imaging software. The planning and imaging software is used to determine the position of a target point in the patient with respect to the markers (5,5?,5?), the calibration device is used to calibrate and orient the insertion guide (7) of the insertion guide device (6) mounted on said calibration markers (10,10?,10?) using the determination of the software before the insertion guide device is mounted on said markers (5,5?,5?) attached to the patient.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 5, 2008Publication date: August 4, 2011Applicant: ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL)Inventors: Jean-Philippe Thiran, Claudio Pollo
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Publication number: 20110175611Abstract: A method for sample preparation for magnetic resonance measurements using Hyperpolarization by Dissolution Dynamic Nuclear Polarization, involves preparation of frozen beads of a first kind containing paramagnetic substances in addition to the solute under investigation; insertion of the frozen beads into a polarizing magnet; creation of enhanced polarization of nuclei in a magnetic field; heating of the sample to room temperature; transfer of the sample to an MR magnet; and carrying out an MR measurement. In addition, frozen beads of a second kind containing a reducing agent are prepared and inserted into the polarization magnet together with the frozen beads of the first kind. By this method, longitudinal and transverse relaxation times in NMR are extended and free radicals in hyperpolarized solutions are eliminated.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 12, 2011Publication date: July 21, 2011Applicants: Bruker BioSpin AG, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)Inventors: Sami Jannin, Pascal Mieville, Geoffrey Bodenhausen
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Publication number: 20110169978Abstract: The present invention relates to a functional optical coherent imaging (fOCI) platform comprising at least one active camera unit (ACU) comprising a coherent and/or a partially coherent light source, and means for spectral filtering and imaging a selected body area of interest; an image processing unit (IPU) for pre-processing data received from an ACU; at least one stimulation unit (STU) transmitting a stimulation to a subject; at least one body function reference measurement unit (BFMU); a central clock and processing unit (CCU), with interconnections to the ACU, the IPU, the STU, for collecting pre-processed data from the IPU, stimuli from the STU body function reference data from the BFMU in a synchronized manner; a post-processing unit (statistical analysis unit, SAU); and an operator interface (HOD.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 10, 2008Publication date: July 14, 2011Applicant: ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL)Inventors: Theo Lasser, Dimitri Van De Ville, Erica Martin-Williams, Marcel Leutenegger, Iwan Maerki, Michael Friedrich, Martin Villiger
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Patent number: 7968839Abstract: The invention relates to an optical tweezer device including at least one light source and one three-dimensional optical trap, said optical trap comprising one focusing micro-mirror which is adapted to reflect and focus at least a portion of the light emitted by said light source.Type: GrantFiled: July 25, 2007Date of Patent: June 28, 2011Assignee: Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (EPFL)Inventors: Fabrice Merenda, Johann Rohner, René Salathe
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Publication number: 20110121421Abstract: In previously known imaging devices as in still and motion cameras, for example, image sensor signal response typically is linear as a function of intensity of incident light. Desirably, however, akin to the response of the human eye, response is sought to be nonlinear and, more particularly, essentially logarithmic. Preferred nonlinearity is realized in image sensor devices of the invention upon severely limiting the number of pixel states, combined with clustering of pixels into what may be termed as super-pixels.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 9, 2009Publication date: May 26, 2011Applicant: Ecole Polytechnique Federate de Lausanne EPFLInventors: Edoardo Charbon, Luciano Sbaiz, Martin Vetterli, Sabine Susstrunk
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Publication number: 20110124985Abstract: The invention relates to a viscosimetric sensor for monitoring an analyte level in a patient or in body fluids ex vivo. In particular, the invention relates to a sensor for monitoring analytes, such as glucose levels in a patient. The sensor comprises at least two hermetically closed chambers (2a, 2b), including an activation chamber and a measuring chamber, containing a sensitive fluid (3), the chambers communicating with each other through at least one microchannel (5), and a semi-permeable barrier (4) allowing the analyte to enter or leave the chambers. Each said chamber comprises at least one flexible membrane (6, 7) configured for antagonistic variations of the volume of the chambers.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 14, 2009Publication date: May 26, 2011Applicant: ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL)Inventors: Eric Meurville, Jean-Michel Sallese
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Patent number: 7932404Abstract: A dye sensitized solar cell, comprising a-heteroleptic polypyridil complex of Ru, Os or Fe. The donating ligand has an extended conjugated n-system increasing the light absorbance and keeing the LUMO energy level higher than that of the anchoring ligand. A compacting compound whose molecular structure comprises a terminal group, a hydrophobic part and an anchoring? group may be co-adsorbed together with the dye on the semi-conductive metal oxide layer of the photoanode, forming a dense mixed self-assembled monolayer.Type: GrantFiled: July 29, 2005Date of Patent: April 26, 2011Assignee: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)Inventors: Shaik Mohammad Zakeeruddin, Cédric Klein, Peng Wang, Michaël Graetzel
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Publication number: 20110066098Abstract: The device comprises at least an inlet tube for the passage of fluid to be drained, said tube being connected to a chamber wherein said chamber comprises rotating means for adjusting the flow rate in said tube.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 23, 2007Publication date: March 17, 2011Applicant: ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL)Inventor: Nikolaos Stergiopulos
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Publication number: 20110055521Abstract: Customisable embedded processors that are available on the market make it possible for designers to speed up execution of applications by using Application-specific Functional Units (AFUs), implementing Instruction-Set Extensions (ISEs). Furthermore, techniques for automatic ISE identification have been improving; many algorithms have been proposed for choosing, given the application's source code, the best ISEs under various constraints. Read and write ports between the AFUs and the processor register file are an expensive asset, fixed in the micro-architecture—some processors indeed only allow two read ports and one write port—and yet, on the other hand, a large availability of inputs and outputs to and from the AFUs exposes high speedup. Here we present a solution to the limitation of actual register file ports by serialising register file access and therefore addressing multi-cycle read and write.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 24, 2007Publication date: March 3, 2011Applicant: ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL)Inventors: Laura Pozzi, Paolo Ienne Lopez
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Publication number: 20110029161Abstract: This present invention describes a novel vision-based control strategy for autonomous cruise flight in possibly cluttered environments such as—but not limited to—cities, forests, valleys, or mountains. The present invention is to provide an autopilot that relies exclusively on visual and gyroscopic information, with no requirement for explicit state estimation nor additional stabilisation mechanisms.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 18, 2010Publication date: February 3, 2011Applicant: EPFL-SRIInventors: Jean-Christophe Zufferey, Antoine Beyeler, Dario Floreano
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Publication number: 20110022600Abstract: A method of data retrieval from a data repository in response to a query having either list of keywords and/or list of attribute-value pairs, the method comprising the steps of: providing an inverted index generated from the data repository, the inverted index indicating the attribute with which each term is encountered in each entity when such an attribute is available; retrieving data from the inverted index by searching said inverted index based on said attribute-value pairs or keywords; providing scores to entities. A method of forming an inverted index from a data repository and a search engine for retrieval of data from a data repository is also provided.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 22, 2009Publication date: January 27, 2011Applicant: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne EPFLInventors: Saket SATHE, Gleb Skobeltsyn
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Publication number: 20110001475Abstract: A method for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements, includes creation of enhanced polarization of nuclei of a first kind within a sample in a magnetic field at cryogenic temperatures and transfer of the polarised sample to room temperature. The enhanced polarization of nuclei of the first kind is thereby transformed into long-lived states (LLS) of nuclei of a second kind and these LLS are sustained. The LLS is at least partially converted into observable magnetisation and an NMR or MRI measurement is carried out. The method allows one to extend the time needed between hyperpolarised magnetisation and NMR detection.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 30, 2010Publication date: January 6, 2011Applicants: Bruker BioSpin AG, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)Inventors: Paul Romeo Vasos, Arnaud Comment, Riddhiman Sarkar, Sami Antoine Jannin, Geoffrey Bodenhausen
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Publication number: 20110001477Abstract: A method for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of a sample comprises preparation of the sample and carrying out an NMR spectroscopy measurement. Preparation includes excitation of long lived coherences (LLC) between the singlet state S0 and the central triplet state T0 of nuclei of the sample. The thermal equilibrium Boltzmann distribution (Iz+Sz) is thereby transformed into a difference (Iz?Sz), which is flipped to the transverse plane, and irradiation of the sample with an rf-field is initiated. The LLC is sustained by maintaining the rf-irradiation during an interval t1 and the LLC is converted into observable magnetisation by interrupting the rf-irradiation. The method allows nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurements with improved spectral resolution.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 30, 2010Publication date: January 6, 2011Applicants: Bruker BioSpin AG, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)Inventors: Paul Romeo Vasos, Riddhiman Sarkar, Puneet Ahuja, Geoffrey Bodenhausen
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Publication number: 20100314861Abstract: This invention discloses new methods and security devices for authenticating documents and valuable products which may be applied to any support, including transparent synthetic materials and traditional opaque materials such as paper. The invention relates to parallax moire shapes which occur in a compound layer consisting of the superposition of specially designed and possibly geometrically transformed s-random base layer and s-random revealing layer with a small gap between them. The base and revealing layers are formed respectively by base layer element shapes and revealing layer sampling elements positioned at s-random locations, where the base layer locations and the revealing layer locations are strongly correlated. When tilting the compound layer or changing the viewing angle, a parallax moire intensity profile of a chosen shape is seen moving in the superposition, thereby allowing the authentication of the document.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 15, 2009Publication date: December 16, 2010Applicant: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)Inventors: Isaac Amidror, Roger D. Hersch
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Publication number: 20100292978Abstract: A method and apparatus to produce a net list of gates and Flip-Flops for one algorithm in order to find the best compromise between power consumption, speed and silicon surface by using a two step process. First the algorithm is written for a processor that has no restrictions in terms of number and size of register, core, operations set, memory handler and instructions. The program assembly of this processor fits into a two-dimensional table. To increase speed, the tables are configured to place the program operation in as many columns as possible, and to reduce silicon the tables are configured to place operations in a single column with many rows. The second stage consists of converting this virtual processor with its program tables into an HDL file ready for synthesis.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 14, 2009Publication date: November 18, 2010Applicant: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)Inventor: Marc Gandar
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Publication number: 20100278707Abstract: A method for separating and recovering silicon debris from sawing waste is characterized in that it includes the following steps:—treating the sawing waste so as to deoxidize the silicon debris in a manner that reduces their surface energy,—applying to the sawing waste thus treated a flotation method using a flotation liquid and a nonoxidizing flotation gas, and—recovering the silicon debris at the surface of the flotation liquid.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 4, 2008Publication date: November 4, 2010Applicant: ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL)Inventor: Patrik Hoffmann
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Patent number: 7807453Abstract: Device for the in vitro culture of cells comprising: a planar deformable substrate (3) with a culture surface (4), substrate deforming means for modifying the size of said culture surface (4), characterized by the fact that it furthermore comprises: substrate holding elements (5) which are located near the periphery of said culture surface (4), a frame (6,8) surrounding and directly or indirectly fixing said substrate holding elements (5), in such a way as to allow microscope viewing of the culture surface (4) and to avoid mechanical parts directly above or below the culture surface (4), said frame (6,8) being adapted to move said substrate holding elements (5) away from the center of said culture surface (4).Type: GrantFiled: January 4, 2006Date of Patent: October 5, 2010Assignee: Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (EPFL)Inventors: Thomas Quinn, Hicham Majd