Abstract: The invention provides a method for figurines to form and join a network of figurines by setting them near other figurines, by activating them via a power switch, or by placing them in communication with a central hub. A communications path using radio or IR frequency is used to form the network, such that only one figurine can transmit data while the others receive data at any time. Once the network has been formed, the figurines can formulate behaviors based on the attributes, requests, and actions of the others. These behaviors are based on the data transpired between the figurines and can include meaning of spoken words, current state, etc. Each figurine has a personality controlled by its internal data, which also controls its relationships with others. Each figurine can spontaneously create a speech or action based on the reply given by another coupled with data stored within its databank.

Abstract: The present invention provides a multi-channel tunable filter and methods for making such a filter. In one embodiment, the filter comprises a bank of gratings imprinted into a filter material, such as Lithium Niobate. In another embodiment, the filter comprises a bank of gratings imprinted on a thin-film filter. An optical read-head comprising a pair of lenses is configured to pass light from within an optical fiber carrying multiple wavelengths through an appropriate grating to extract or drop a specific wavelength. To ensure continuous data transmission, the filter is tuned to a wavelength by configuring the read-head to move in a hitless manner. In one embodiment, the gratings are recorded by the interference of two beams. A first plane wave reflects off a first mirror stack and a second plane wave reflects off a second mirror stack. In another embodiment, the gratings are recorded by a phase masking method.

Abstract: A method of writing information to a synchronous memory device by examining a present word of N bits to be written, where each bit has a high or low value. The present word is compared to a previous word also having N bits to identify the number of bit transitions from a low value to a high value of vice versa. The present bit is inverted when the number of bit transitions is greater than N/2. To avoid the need for having an extra bit accompany data bytes to indicate the presence or absence of inversion, the present invention takes advantage of a data mask pin that is normally unused during writing operations to carry the inversion bit. Non-inverted data is written directly into the memory device while inverted data is first inverted again before writing to storage locations, so that true data is stored in the memory device.

Abstract: A clamp device designed for use in the motion picture industry where there is a need for temporarily mounting and supporting various lighting and other hardware on or from available surfaces and fixtures without marring them. The clamp device basically includes a fixed jaw attached to one end of a threaded shaft and an adjustable jaw which is movably mounted on the threaded shaft. A threaded adjustment member is coupled to the adjustable jaw to control the position of the jaw along the threaded shaft. Both jaws are configured to accommodate a multiplicity of variously shaped surfaces and structural members on which they are designed to be mounted.

Abstract: The present invention is a hybrid sealing technique. According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, an unsealed lamp body is heated and a partial pinch seal is performed on a first side of the lamp body at an outer junction area. Then, a shrink seal is applied which completes the sealing process at the first side of the lamp body by sealing an inner junction area on the same side of the lamp body. The present invention retains the benefits of the shrink seal, but alleviates the difficulty associated with holding the electrode assemblies in place when performing a traditional shrink seal. In addition, the machine which holds the electrode assemblies in place is greatly simplified.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and apparatus for accessing and using services and applications from a number of sources into a customized application. The present invention accomplishes this through an entity referred to as a web service. The web services architecture maintains a directory of services available to provide processing or services, along with the location of the services and the input/output schemas required by the services. When a request for data or services is received, appropriate services are invoked by a web services engine using service drivers associated with each service. A web services application is then generated from a runtime model and is invoked to satisfy the request, by communicating as necessary with services in proper I/O formats. In one embodiment, the web services application provides responses in the form of HTML that can be used to generate pages to a browser.

Abstract: The invention is a method and apparatus for compression of binary data. The signal is used before modulation to increase the effective transmission rate by compressing it prior to being encoded onto a magnetic tape or other storage media. The transition bits of the data have a bit period no smaller than the smallest bit period without increasing the maximum frequency. However, non-transition bits have a bit period smaller than that of the transitioning bits. Since there is at least one full bit period between any two transitions, the maximum frequency is unaffected and is used for synchronization. Noise in a transmission is masked using bit period information, and since no other transition can be valid until at least the transition bit period has passed, noise occurring before passage of the transition bit period does not result in an error.

Abstract: The invention provides a system for data access in a packet-switched network, including a sender/computer including an operating unit, a first memory, a permanent storage memory and a processor and a remote receiver/computer including an operating unit, a first memory, a permanent storage memory and a processor, the sender/computer and the receiver/computer communicating through the network; the sender/computer further including device for calculating digital digests on data; the receiver/computer further including a network cache memory and device for calculating digital digests on data in the network cache memory; and the receiver/computer and/or the sender/computer including device for comparison between digital digests. The invention also provides a method and apparatus for increased data access in a packet-switched network.

Abstract: The description relates to securely and autonomously synchronizing data on geographically distributed computers. Data is distributed from a central server to geographically distributed clients. In another embodiment, data is encrypted and securely transmitted over a computer network. It uses the Secure Sockets Layer protocol to secure transmitted data. The data is transmitted via the Internet. Data is distributed in real-time. Data is provided to a user as the data updates without the user making a specific request for updated data. Portions of data are made available to only authorized users. An administrator sets permissions to control which data is transmitted to a user. The transmission of data is secure in both directions. Data transmitted to a user from a central location is secure and data transmitted to a central location from a user is secure. Data is securely transmitted to a user independent of the platform on the user's machine.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method and apparatus for heat pipe cooling of an excimer lamp. In one embodiment, a heat pipe is used to dissipate heat from an excimer lamp. The heat pipe is in direct contact with at least one electrode of the excimer lamp. In one embodiment, heat is transferred through the heat pipe to a cooling point that is electrically isolated from the lamp. In one embodiment, dissipation of heat from the cooling point is done by conventional means. In one embodiment, the heat pipe is on the inside of the lamp. In another embodiment, a heat pipe is attached to the outside of an excimer lamp. In another embodiment, two heat pipes are used, one on the inside and one on the outside of an excimer lamp. In yet another embodiment, a heat pipe is used with a flat lamp.

Abstract: The present invention provides an arc path formed in a lamp body. In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention, the lamp body has a plurality of closely spaced, parallel vanes which form an arc path. In one embodiment, the lamp body comprises a bottom and top plate, and a front and back sealing member. The bottom plate may be a flat plate which can be made of quartz or other suitable material. The plate has a plurality of vanes machined into it out to its edges. Alternatively, the vanes may be separate and sealed onto the bottom plate. The top plate is sealed to the bottom plate. The front and back sealing members are sealed to the plates to complete the seal of the lamp body. In another embodiment, the bottom plate is a solid block of quartz or other suitable glass material, which can have the vane pattern machined onto it stopping short of the edges. The solid block is then sealed at the top and outside edges by the top plate, without the need for front and back sealing members.

Abstract: The present invention is a class of circuits named asynchronous pulse logic (APL) circuit and designing methods for such circuits. APL replaces two of the four-phase handshakes in QDI circuits with pulses, thus breaking the timing dependencies that cause performance problems in QDI circuits. Since the pulse length in APL varies so little, it can be assumed constant. This assumption frees designers from needing to consider the effects of the inputs and outputs on the pulse length, which means timing properties can be verified locally. One embodiment of the present invention is a class of circuit design called the single-track-handshake-asynchronous-pulse-logic (STAPL), which serves as a new target for the compilation of CHP (Communication Hardware Process) programs. In one embodiment, a five-stage pulse generator is used to create a 10 transition count cycle circuit. Advantages of STAPL include a simplified solution to the charge-sharing problem and less loading from p-transistors.

Abstract: The present invention is a programming language method called Pipeline Language 1 (PL1) and its associated compiler system for generating logical circuit designs. The semantics allow the implementation to add more slack than exists in the specification, aiding the design of slack-elastic systems. In PL1, the value probe and peek are the most basic operations: receiving a value is done by first using the peek, and then acknowledging it as a separate action. Another embodiment is a PL1 compiler comprised of a technology-independent front-end module and a technology-dependent back-end module. It parses the input, converts it into BDD expressions, checks determinism conditions, generates BDD expressions for assignments and sends and converts the BDD expressions to unary representation. The back-end compiler module is technology-dependent, meaning that different back-end modules generate different circuit design types (e.g. QDI and STAPL).

Abstract: An environment is emulated in a host environment. Output generated in the emulated environment is displayed in a window of the host environment. The emulated environment's output is in the form of Postscript commands that map to the entire screen. The host environment emulates the Postscript commands and maps the output to a window. Input associated with the window is retrieved by an event driver running in the host environment. Each instance of input is referred to as an event. Each event is translated into an event of the emulated environment by an event driver. A translated event is stored in shared memory for access by a window server. The event driver notifies the window server that one or more events are queued in shared memory. The window server processes the queued events by, for example, transmitting the event to an application running in the emulated environment.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and apparatus for mobile lightning protection. In one embodiment of the present invention, a lightning interception rod is positioned above a vehicle. In one embodiment, the rod connects to four down-conductors to conduct the current supplied by the lightning towards the ground. In one embodiment, the four down-conductors are positioned in a rectangular configuration. In one embodiment, down-conductors are covered by a insulating material. In one embodiment, the insulating material is a 3 mm thick layer of polymer. In one embodiment, one or more chains are attached to the vehicle and allowed to contact the ground. In one embodiment, two chains are attached to the vehicle. One chain is positioned at the front of the vehicle and another chain is positioned at the back of the vehicle.

Abstract: Unlike prior art synchronizers and asynchronous arbiters that produce glitches in their outputs, the present invention provides a failure-free synchronizer that can sample an arbitrary and unstable inputs while maintaining zero probability of system failure. In particular, the invention addresses the synchronization failure problem and the lack of a metastable state in prior art synchronizers. Prior attempts have shown that the conditions rex and rex (where re is the control input and x is the data input) cannot be arbitrated. To overcome this, embodiments of the present invention introduce explicit signals a0 and a1 to hold the values rex and rex, respectively. One embodiment is a fast synchronizer. It has four main components—an input integrator, an inverting component, a SEL component and an output filter. Another embodiment of the present invention is a safe synchronizer that meets the strictest QDI design requirements. Other embodiments use a standard arbiter and a killable arbiter for arbitration.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of providing commands to a command memory where a graphics processor will have commands available for execution as long as there are commands available. The command memory includes a first indicator to identify the command location most recently accessed by the graphics processor. A second indicator identifies the number of commands locations available to write commands based on the most recently accessed command location. As a result of the invention, the application processor only checks the availability of space to write commands after it has written enough commands to fill the command memory. On the graphics processor side, the command memory is never empty unless the graphics processor executes and consumes instructions faster than the instructions are written. It is also possible to associate a graphics mode with each address range. In this way, mode can be indicated without specifically sending mode information with each command.

Abstract: A method of writing information to a synchronous memory device by examining a present word of N bits to be written, where each bit has a high or low value. The present word is compared to a previous word also having N bits to identify the number of bit transitions from a low value to a high value or vice versa. The present bit is inverted when the number of transitions is greater than N/2. To avoid the need for having an extra bit accompany data bytes to indicate the presence or absence of inversion, the method takes advantage of a data mask pin that is normally unused during writing operations to carry the inversion bit. Non-inverted data is written directly into the memory device while inverted data is first inverted again before writing to storage locations, so that true data is stored in the memory device.

Abstract: The present invention provides an entropy coding scheme using an adaptable prefix code. The prefix code is a binary representation of the algorithm used to compress and decompress the data. There are prefix zeros that represent the number of significant binary digits that follow the first one. According to one embodiment, this scheme works on both positive and negative integers and encodes lower order integers with a smaller length of codeword. In another embodiment, the zero integer is encoded as a special case with the shortest codeword. In yet another embodiment, the present scheme is preferred by data sets that are clustered about zero, such as image data sets that have been transformed via a wavelet transform or a discrete cosine transform.

Abstract: The present invention provides a DBD lamp used in fluid treatment systems, where the irradiated fluid is used as a low voltage outer electrode instead of a metallic wire mesh. This fluid is in direct contact with the lamp envelope which acts as a two-fold advantage. First, the fluid acts as a strong built-in cooling source. This allows the lamp to be driven at high voltage without forced cooling. Second, the replacement of the wire mesh as the outer electrode by fluid as well as the sleeve eliminates the absorption of radiation from the outer surface of the DBD-driven light source which more than doubles the efficiency of the DBD-driven light source. The inner high voltage electrode remains in the center of the coaxial tube assembly and provides high voltage across the gas to generate excimer formation.