This term refers to any type or bearing that has a rolling element that makes contact with a surface, be it a roller or a ball.

Example (asterisks for emphasis are mine):
[0016]Although the present invention can be applied to ***any type of rolling contact bearing assembly such as, for example, a ball contact bearing, a cylindrical roller bearing, a tapered roller bearing, a needle roller bearing, a self-aligning ball bearing or any other bearing*** and also to any type of bearing component parts such as, for example, an inner ring, an outer ring or rolling elements, the present invention is also applicable to, for example, a ball contact bearing, which makes use of a ball retainer, or a bearing assembly utilizing an inner ring, in which the ratio .delta./.sigma. is smaller than 4. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, results of experiments are presented for a ball contact bearing, in which a ball retainer is utilized and the bearing component part is an inner ring.

Read more: http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090169144#ixzz0s4urbYKP