Abstract: The selector circuit rapidly steers an event from a single input to one of two outputs depending on the binary value of a data signal controlling the selector, where events are received at an event input. A selection value, placed at a control input causes the selector circuit to steer the event to one of the outputs. For each change of value at the event input, one or the other of the outputs will change. Which output changes is determined by the selection value applied to the control input. The selector circuit uses variable or dynamic capacitances at the outputs to control which one of the outputs changes in response to an input event. Each node of the selector circuit includes a true line and a complement line. Pass gates are used to either couple the true lines of the outputs together or to couple the true line of each output and the complement line of the other output.

Abstract: A programmable multi-scheme clocking circuit supports multiple applications. In one implementation, the clocking circuit includes multiple clock sources such as a crystal oscillator, a RC oscillator, an internal oscillator, and an external clock. Each of the clock sources can be enabled by a respective control signal. A multiplexer couples to the clock sources and provides a clock signal from one of the clock sources as the output clock signal. External support circuitry (e.g., external tank circuits) for some of the clock sources (e.g., the crystal oscillator and the RC oscillator) can be coupled to the clocking circuit through one or more device pins. The pins to support the crystal oscillator, the RC oscillator, and the external clock signal are shared so that no additional device pins are required.

Abstract: A debugging system according to the present invention includes a decompiler that provides information to a table generator, which generates a line number map and a symbol table, each of which corresponds to an executable file being decompiled. In a specific embodiment, hooks into specific operations performed by the decompiler trigger the table generator operation. A debugging information program can be hooked into a decompiler to generate the debugging information and modify the source code output by the decompiler. For example, the program can be hooked into the decompiler to monitor when the decompiler inserts or deletes source statements, generates line numbers for source lines, or assigns variable names to variables encountered in the executable code.

Abstract: A character animation system executing on a computer. The system provides a simple, efficient and powerful user interface that allows the user to specify complex animations of multi-legged characters by placing footprints on a surface. A compiler automatically generates a natural looking animation based on the footprints. Motions such as walking, running, jumping, etc. are easily animated depending on the way footprints are placed. The user is able to create new footprint patterns and modify existing patterns. Footprint blocks on a timeline are used to specify the time duration that each foot is in contact with a footprint. The user may specify keyframes in the animation sequence that allow more complicated body movements to be incorporated with the footprint based animation.

Abstract: A communication system and method includes unums distributed over at least a single presence and including a selected plurality of ingredients. An unum is established by creating ingredients at the level of its interface and attributes; and at the level of its implementation; and interconnecting ingredients into presences and unums. Communication between ingredients is accomplished within a single presence, across an unum boundary within an agency, or within a single unum across a presence boundary. Trust boundaries are established between presences and unums to establish a predetermined level of communications security in messaging between ingredients.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for improving a text image represented as a bitmap in a digital system. Character instances in the bitmap image are recognized and categorized according to their character type. The instances are used to derive a prototype character for each character type. The prototype character is an average of the instances, thus providing for cancellation of extraneous marks in the bitmap image. The prototype character is substituted for each character instance of its type in the bitmap image thus providing for uniformity of characters in a regenerated version of the original bitmap.

Abstract: A memory interface is provided between a processor and a memory subsystem which is capable of multiple concurrent transactions or accesses. The interface between the processor and the memory carries read and write operations as well as "barrier" operations, where a barrier operation signals the non-reorderability of operations. In one variation, the memory interface is an interface to one or more memory mapped input/output (I/O) devices or computational devices.

Abstract: A trajectory and a footprint of a hypothetical pen are each divided into sequences of segments, each segment having a slope associated therewith. The segments of the footprint form a closed sequence and those of the trajectory form a sequence with a beginning and an end. Each of the two approximate envolvents of the thick line are calculated in the same way, from the trajectory segments and the footprint segments. An envolvent is initialized to include the first segment of the trajectory starting at an appropriate offset from the trajectory start point, followed by zero or more footprint segments and then followed by the next trajectory segment until each of the trajectory segments are concatenated. In determining how many footprint segments to concatenate before concatenating the next trajectory segment, the slopes of the last concatenated trajectory segment and the next trajectory segment are compared to the slopes of the footprint segments.

Abstract: An apparatus and method is provided for obtaining message context information regardless of whether or not the sender includes context information, such as full name, address, telephone number, etc. The context can be stored separately from a message and retrieved when the message is read by a recipient when requested. The context might be stored in an indexed database or repository using either a key field provided by the sender or using the fields present in the message for other purposes. The latter approach is useful for finding context information in legacy messages and messages where the sender has taken no action to supply context information. If a key field is not provided by the sender, the "From:" and "Organization:" header fields can be used. In order to populate the database or repository, the domain name portion of the "From:" header field can be used as an index into a "whois" search and the "Organization" name can be passed to a telephone book search engine.

Abstract: A Web agency is interposed between a Web client and a Web server to transform the requests from the Web client prior to sending the requests on to the Web server, to transform the document returned from the Web server prior to sending the document on to the Web client, and to store state information about the user of various Web clients connected to the Web agency. The Web agency can be transparent to, and independent of, the Web client and the Web server. The Web agency might be used as a peripheral agency, a personal service agency or a document server. One such Web agency is a printer server which transparently renders documents. For hypertext documents, the rendering process includes generating machine-readable link references.

Abstract: A search query is applied to documents in a document repository wherein the documents are organized into a hierarchy. A search engine searches the hierarchy to return documents which match a query term either directly or indirectly. A specific embodiment of the search engine organizes the query term into individual subterms and matches the subterms against documents, returning only those documents which indirectly match the entire search query term and directly match at least one of the query subterms.

Abstract: A process and system for distributed garbage collection in a distributed network includes transmission of a root request message tagged with a unique identifier from a suspect node to all nodes of the suspect node's inverse reference graph looking for a rooted (persistent) object. Objects respond to the root request message with an affirmative or disregard response (indicating a root or coupling to a root) tagged with the same identifier or that no relevant garbage collecting information is available from a particular branch. The suspect node, in the absence of any affirmative responses, is identified as obsolete (garbage) and may be collected. Other objects having the same identifier are identified and/or collected as garbage as well.

Abstract: An custom page server is provided with user preferences organized into templates stored in compact data structures and the live data used to fill the templates stored local to the page server which is handing user requests for custom pages. One process is executed on the page server for every request. The process is provided a user template for the user making the request, where the user template is either generated from user preferences or retrieved from a cache of recently used user templates. Each user process is provided access to a large region of shared memory which contains all of the live data needed to fill any user template. Typically, the pages served are news pages, giving the user a custom selection of stock quotes, news headlines, sports scores, weather, and the like. With the live data stored in a local, shared memory, any custom page can be built within the page server, eliminating the need to make requests from other servers for portions of the live data.

Abstract: A local host computing system, a remote host computing system as connected by a network, and service functionalities: a human interface service functionality, a starter service functionality, and a desired utility service functionality, and a Client-Server-Service (CSS) model is imposed on each service functionality. In one embodiment, this results in nine logical components and three physical components (a local host, a remote host, and an intervening network), where two of the logical components are integrated into one Remote Object Client component, and that Remote Object Client component and the other seven logical components are deployed among the local host and remote host in a manner which eases compatibility and upgrade problems, and provides an illusion to a user that a desired utility service supported on a remote host resides locally on the user's local host, thereby providing ease of use and minimal software maintenance for users of that remote service.

Abstract: A hypertext browser displays hypertext pages and indicates draggable elements on the page being viewed. The browser also displays drop targets and detects when a user selects a draggable element and drops the draggable element within a drop target. The browser and/or the server to which it is connected examine a class relation matrix having entries for intersections of draggable element references and drop target references in which a matrix entry at an intersection of the draggable element and drop target is identified and used for performing an action which is a function of the matrix entry.

Abstract: For a step-scanning Fourier transform spectrometer comprising an interferometer, a detector, and a digital signal processor (DSP), a method for measuring a response of a sample to multiple modulations is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of utilizing the DSP to measure a phase modulation angle and a sample modulation angle; obtain an interferogram that corresponds to a calibrated static sample response by using the measured phase modulation rotation angle; obtain another interferogram which corresponds to the calibrated dynamic sample response by using both the measured phase and sample modulation rotation angles; and computing one or more spectra from the interferograms which indicates the calibrated response of said sample to the multiple modulations.

Abstract: A simplified VCR programmer provides only the essential input controls required for programming a VCR to perform timer activated recording of television programs. The invention performs seven day single event programming including weekly recording or Monday through Friday (M-F) daily recording. This simplified VCR programmer includes directly manipulable input controls for setting the record start time including AM or PM, the record stop time and the day of the week. The VCR programmer also includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) that displays the correct time and day of the week, and an infrared (IR) transmitter for transmitting the manufacturers' record codes and stop codes stored in the VCR programmer. The real time clock on the LCD is set by three push-button switches to set the day, hour and minute of the clock. A test push-button switch tests the record code function by sending out the stored record codes to the VCR receiver.

Abstract: Objects are represented in a coordinate space which is twice scanned by scan lines, once in one direction and then once in another direction. At each scan line, a list of line segments is generated, where each line segment represents the intersection of the projection of a polygon and the scan line. The segments are then examined to determine which are visible segments, using the z values of the end points of the segments. The visible segments of a scan line are compared to the visible segments of a previous scan line or an accumulation of visible lines, and if the end points of a visible segment taken from a polygon differ by less than a threshold amount, the lines formed between end points in one scan line and the adjacent scan line are considered to be visible lines. Where the two scans are a horizontal scan and a vertical scan, the threshold amount for vertical scans is the distance between horizontal scans and the threshold amount for horizontal scans is the distance between vertical scans.

Abstract: Markup language news posting is provided by imbedded headers pointing to markup language component files which are either directly included as attachments or indirectly included by universal resource locators included in a header of a posted file. A fallback message is included with the posted file so that the article is intelligible to readers which are not markup language aware. Markup language electronic mail messaging is accomplished in a similar manner.

Abstract: A processor interface chip and a maintenance diagnostic chip are provided coupled with two microprocessors designed to be run in tandem. The processor interface chip includes logic for interfacing between the microprocessors and a main memory, logic for pipelining multiple microprocessor requests between the microprocessors and main memory, logic for prefetching data before a microprocessor issues a read request, logic for allowing a boot to occur from code anywhere in physical memory without regard to the microprocessors' fixed memory location for boot code, and logic for intelligently limiting the flow of interrupt information over a processor bus between the microprocessors and the processor interface chip.