Abstract: Example methods and apparatus to a controller of a local control loop having a field device and a sensor configured in a closed-loop control system are disclosed. The controller is wirelessly coupled to a control system wherein the controller and the control system execute complementary control over the field device.

Abstract: A video game system (or other data processing system) can visually identify a person entering a field of view of the system and determine whether the person has been previously interacting with the system. In one embodiment, the system establishes thresholds, enrolls players, performs the video game (or other application) including interacting with a subset of the players based on the enrolling, determines that a person has become detectable in the field of view of the system, automatically determines whether the person is one of the enrolled players, maps the person to an enrolled player and interacts with the person based on the mapping if it is determined that the person is one of the enrolled players, and assigns a new identification to the person and interacts with the person based on the new identification if it is determined that the person is not one of the enrolled players.

Abstract: A video game system (or other data processing system) can visually identify a person entering a field of view of the system and determine whether the person has been previously interacting with the system. In one embodiment, the system establishes thresholds, enrolls players, performs the video game (or other application) including interacting with a subset of the players based on the enrolling, determines that a person has become detectable in the field of view of the system, automatically determines whether the person is one of the enrolled players, maps the person to an enrolled player and interacts with the person based on the mapping if it is determined that the person is one of the enrolled players, and assigns a new identification to the person and interacts with the person based on the new identification if it is determined that the person is not one of the enrolled players.

Abstract: Embodiments are disclosed that relate to the use of identity information to help avoid the occurrence of false positive speech recognition events in a speech recognition system. One embodiment provides a method comprising receiving speech recognition data comprising a recognized speech segment, acoustic locational data related to a location of origin of the recognized speech segment as determined via signals from the microphone array, and confidence data comprising a recognition confidence value, and also receiving image data comprising visual locational information related to a location of each person in an image. The acoustic locational data is compared to the visual locational data to determine whether the recognized speech segment originated from a person in the field of view of the image sensor, and the confidence data is adjusted depending on this determination.

Abstract: An extension to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol that utilizes reserved bits in the OHCI Endpoint Descriptors to signal which root hub port(s) should transmit the data. Typically, all ports transmit (broadcast) data. The present invention encodes transmission information that can be used by the hardware to effectively control which port(s) need to be tri-stated. However, by setting, the “on” bits for all the ports, the present invention retains standard USB functionality. Also provided is a method to increase the bandwidth of low speed devices connected to the USB bus by increasing the data payload for such devices.

Abstract: Techniques and mechanisms providing a visual indication of ordinal ranks of objects in an ordered list. When an object is selected for the ordered list, an ordinal rank for the object within the ordered list is determined and a visual indication of the ordinal rank is rendered to a user interface.

Abstract: A method for fabricating wafers is provided that uses a potassium-based oxidizer in the presence of hydrofluoric acid as the chemical etchant for etching the wafer edge. The potassium-based chemical etchant is preferably potassium permanganate KMnO4 that is mixed with hydrofluoric acid such that the ratio of hydrofluoric acid to potassium permanganate is between 2:1 and 4:1. The method for fabricating wafers initially divides a crystal ingot into a plurality of wafers before grinding the wafer edge to size and shape the wafer. The wafer can then be subjected to alkaline cleaning and acid etching. After a polysilicon layer is deposited on the wafer for gettering purposes and a silicon dioxide back seal layer, if any, is deposited, the wafer is then etched with the potassium-based chemical oxidizer in the presence of hydrofluoric acid to oxidize and remove the polysilicon layer and any silicon dioxide layer from the edge. The wafer is then rinsed and thermally annealed prior to undergoing edge polishing.