Patents Represented by Attorney Thomas P. Dowd
  • Patent number: 6471627
    Abstract: The present relates to the heat shrinkable thermoplastic materials which are used as roll covers. The heat shrinkable materials used for the roll covers include only ultra high melt viscosity polymers, having a melt viscosity too high for conventional melt processing, such as TFM and UHMWPE, rather than the conventional FEP or PFA.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2002
    Assignee: Fluoron, Inc.
    Inventors: Frank M. Chapman, Randall F. Chapman
  • Patent number: 6003033
    Abstract: A system that allows a user to describe a tree or a set of trees in a table, and the system automatically generates a data structure corresponding to the tree or the set of trees in memory in accordance with the description. The system interprets a table with one or more columns wherein each of the node attributes given to a node are entered, allocates a memory area to each of the nodes, sets data on the attributes given to the node, and generates pointer data indicating the connections of the memory areas. The hierarchy of the nodes and the sequence of nodes linked immediately below the same node are determined on the basis of the sequence of rows corresponding to the nodes and levels assigned to the nodes in the table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 1992
    Date of Patent: December 14, 1999
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Tomio Amano, Akio Yamashita, Hiroyasu Takahashi
  • Patent number: 5525828
    Abstract: Silicon-VLSI-compatible photodetectors, in the form of a metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector (MSM-PD) or a lateral p-i-n photodetector (LPIN-PD), are disclosed embodying interdigitated metallic electrodes on a silicon surface. The electrodes of the MSM-PD have a moderate to high electron and hole barrier height to silicon, for forming the Schottky barriers, and are fabricated so as to be recessed in the surface semiconducting layer of silicon through the use of self-aligned metallization either by selective deposition or by selective reaction and etching, in a manner similar to the SALICIDE concept. Fabrication is begun by coating the exposed Si surface of a substrate with a transparent oxide film, such that the Si/oxide interface exhibits low surface recombination velocity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 1994
    Date of Patent: June 11, 1996
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ernest Bassous, Jean-Marc Halbout, Subramanian S. Iyer, Rajiv V. Joshi, Vijay P. Kesan, Michael R. Scheuermann, Massimo A. Ghioni
  • Patent number: 5501787
    Abstract: A system for making porous silicon on blank and patterned Si substrates by "immersion scanning", particularly suitable for fabricating light-emitting Si devices and utilizing an open electrolytic cell having a cathode and an opposing anode consisting of a Si substrate on which the porous silicon is to be formed, both disposed, with their opposing surfaces in parallel, in an aqueous HF solution electrolyte contained in the cell. The substrate anode is mounted to be movable relative to the electrolyte so as to be mechanically cycled or scanned in and out of the electrolyte at a programmable rate during anodization. The uniformity, thickness and porosity of the resulting anodized layer on the substrate are determined by the scanning speed, number of cycles, current density, and HF-based electrolyte parameters of the system, and the Si substrate resistivity, conductivity type, and crystal orientation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 26, 1996
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ernest Bassous, Jean-Marc Halbout, Subramanian S. Iyer, Vijay P. Kesan
  • Patent number: 5458756
    Abstract: A system for making porous silicon on blank and patterned Si substrates by "immersion scanning", particularly suitable for fabricating light-emitting Si devices and utilizing an open electolytic cell having a cathode and an opposing anode consisting of a Si substrate on which the porous silicon is to be formed, both disposed, with their opposing surfaces in parallel, in an aqueous HF solution electrolyte contained in the cell. The substrate anode is mounted to be movable relative to the electrolyte so as to be mechanically cycled or scanned in and out of the electrolyte at a programmable rate during anodization. The uniformity, thickness and porosity of the resulting anodized layer on the substrate are determined by the scanning speed, number of cycles, current density, and HF-based electrolyte parameters of the system, and the Si substrate resistivity, conductivity type, and crystal orientation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 1994
    Date of Patent: October 17, 1995
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ernest Bassous, Jean-Marc Halbout, Subramanian S. Iyer, Vijay P. Kesan
  • Patent number: 5414423
    Abstract: A system and method involving a statistical conditioning technique that improves the coding efficiency in compression systems which have unstable statistical properties by conditioning the probability estimate for a given model context on prior decisions for that context thus enlarging the conditioning decision set. Instead of extending the model context by increasing the range of prior decisions in the pixel neighborhood, each model context is expanded into a set of two contexts which are the actual coding contexts. For a given probability estimation model context, the selection of a coding context index is done on the basis of the previous coding decision (1 or 0) for that model context. Thus, if a model context is assigned an index A, the coding context would be assigned an index 2*A +D(A)', where D(A)' is the previous (immediately preceding) binary decision for model context A; the decision of which coding context to use turns on whether the model context was used most recently for coding a 1 or a 0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 1993
    Date of Patent: May 9, 1995
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: William B. Pennebaker
  • Patent number: 5414469
    Abstract: A system and method for processing a stream of video image data so as to create a video representation that multiplexes data corresponding to resolution or bitstream scales. This representation is such that the identity of the basic MacroBlock (MB) structure of the MPEG-1 ISO standard is preserved across all resolution and bitstream scales, e.g. by scaling across four levels of resolution. A MacroBlock is associated with a series of attributes which contribute to the amount of overhead data incorporated in an MPEG-1 compressed data stream, so that by preserving the MacroBlock identify across multiple resolutions and bitstream scales, these scales can share this overhead, thus requiring it to be included only once in the data stream. Preserving the MacroBlock identify also simplifies significantly the derivation of motion estimation vector data for all resolution scales other than the highest resolution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 1991
    Date of Patent: May 9, 1995
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Cesar A. Gonzales, Dov Ramm, Eric Viscito
  • Patent number: 5381557
    Abstract: A device serving as a barrier and trap for ticks, other arachnids, insects and other small crawling creatures, which is to be worn around the limb of a user, i.e., the leg(s) and/or arm(s), depending on the area(s) of potential exposure. It comprises a band fitted about the limb and an adhesive surface on the band for trapping the crawling creatures, thus preventing them from gaining access to the parts of the body that are past the point on the limb where the device is fitted. The device also comprises a shield structure to protect the adhesive surface in the form of a lip member extending from one end of the band and having an integral shielding surface opposite the adhesive surface with spacing means to prevent the lip member from sticking to the adhesive surface while spacing it therefrom to permit free access of crawling creatures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 1993
    Date of Patent: January 17, 1995
    Inventors: Susan H. Luria, Neil S. Luria
  • Patent number: 5378651
    Abstract: A system and method for growing low defect density epitaxial layers of Si on imperfectly cleaned Si surfaces by either selective or blanket deposition at low temperatures using the APCVD process wherein a first thin, e.g., 10 nm, layer of Si is grown on the surface from silane or disilane, followed by the growing of the remainder of the film from dichlorosilane (DCS) at the same low temperature, e.g., 550.degree. C. to 850.degree. C. The subsequent growth of the second layer with DCS over the first layer, especially if carried out immediately in the very same deposition system, will not introduce additional defects and may be coupled with high and controlled n-type doping which is not available in a silane-based system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 1993
    Date of Patent: January 3, 1995
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Paul D. Agnello, Detlev A. Gruetzmacher, Tung-Sheng Kuan, Thomas O. Sedgwick
  • Patent number: 5345549
    Abstract: A computer-utilizing security system and method involving a collection of personally selected strong-reaction sensory and/or historical multimedia-type cues in combination with a related set of structured information. The cue combination is submitted by one or more individuals to be authorized to access a secure environment, so that when a multimedia cue along with a set of queries contained in and regarding the related information are presented for gaining entry to the secured environment, an authorized individual may readily respond to the queries with correct reactions based on strong personal recall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1992
    Date of Patent: September 6, 1994
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Arthur Appel, Michael A. O'Connor
  • Patent number: 5290358
    Abstract: System and method for controlling the thickness profile of deposited thin film layers over three-dimensional topography are disclosed, wherein low pressure chemical vapor deposition conditions are employed with the reactant beam collimated and chosen to impinge at a specific angle onto the surface, such that the reactive sticking coefficient s.sub.r with the deposition surface is <1. Compared with conventional approaches, this method permits new shapes of the deposited thin film layer to be achieved over topography (such as trenches), including (i) tapered rather than re-entrant shapes (i.e., thicker at bottom rather than at top), (ii) enhanced sidewall and/or bottom coverage of trench structures (cf. the top surface), (iii) voidless, seamless filling of trench or via structures even at high aspect ratio (depth/width), and (iv) asymmetric sidewall coverage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 1992
    Date of Patent: March 1, 1994
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Gary W. Rubloff, Julian J. Hsieh
  • Patent number: 5231484
    Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for implementing an encoder suitable for use with the proposed ISO/IEC MPEG standards including three cooperating components or subsystems that operate to variously adaptively pre-process the incoming digital motion video sequences, allocate bits to the pictures in a sequence, and adaptively quantize transform coefficients in different regions of a picture in a video sequence so as to provide optimal visual quality given the number of bits allocated to that picture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1991
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1993
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Cesar A. Gonzales, Eric Viscito
  • Patent number: 5227330
    Abstract: A system and method for growing low defect density epitaxial layers of Si on imperfectly cleaned Si surfaces by either selective or blanket deposition at low temperatures using the APCVD process wherein a first thin, e.g., 10 nm, layer of Si is grown on the surface from silane or disilane, followed by the growing of the remainder of the film from dichlorosilane (DCS) at the same low temperature, e.g., 550.degree. C. to 850.degree. C. The subsequent growth of the second layer with DCS over the first layer, especially if carried out immediately in the very same deposition system, will not introduce additional defects and may be coupled with high and controlled n-type doping which is not available in a silane-based system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 1991
    Date of Patent: July 13, 1993
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Paul D. Agnello, Tung-Sheng Kuan, Thomas O. Sedgwick
  • Patent number: 5222214
    Abstract: An image processing system adaptable to pattern recognition that can serve any image width using a minimum of additional hardware by constructing a line buffer using a RAM and filling the RAM with image data while repeating the RMW (Read-Modify-Write) operation. To increase the processing speed, data packing of the line buffer (RAM) is performed on a multiple-bit basis rather than a bit-by-bit basis, that is, the number of bits written into the line buffer by one RMW operation is increased, for example, to 2, 4, or 8, so that the processing speed can be increased accordingly. An appropriate mask processing system is disclosed for processing the data so packed in the line buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 1990
    Date of Patent: June 22, 1993
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshinao Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 5210602
    Abstract: A system and method for improving the quality of the output of a full-color image on a reproduction device, such as a display on a monitor or printout from a printer, that only consists of a small number of colors in comparison to the number of colors represented by the input signals. The disclosure involves specifying a new quantization method for multi-color images, rendered with orthogonal or separable color image palettes, that takes advantage of the calculations done by error diffusion. Accordingly, the image input signals are processed using the quantization error generated by one color component of a given pixel to influence the quantization of subsequent color components of the same pixel, and in such a way that the color image, so rendered, appears less grainy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 1991
    Date of Patent: May 11, 1993
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Frederick C. Mintzer
  • Patent number: 5155478
    Abstract: A system for converting selected M gray levels in a K-gray scale to M identifiable levels in an N-gray scale, where K>N.gtoreq.M. A first table is created in which the respective M gray levels of the K-gray scale are mapped to different levels in the N-gray scale, which levels have the relative order and magnitude of their brightnesses in the K-gray scale, and using this first table, a second table is created in which the M gray levels in the N-gray scale are mapped to their corresponding M gray levels in the K-gray scale on a one-to-one basis according to the first table. Using the second table, any M gray levels in a K-gray scale can easily be converted to ones in an N-gray scale on a one-to-one basis with the relative order and magnitude of the brightnesses of those M gray levels being maintained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 1989
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1992
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuo Sekiya, Yuichi Shiraishi
  • Patent number: 5146551
    Abstract: A method for generating a circular or elliptic arc on a digital display, especially adapted for use in a scan conversion painting system. A modified DDA method has been provided, whereby each of the intersections between scan lines and curves concerned is represented by a single point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 1986
    Date of Patent: September 8, 1992
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Atsushi Miyazawa
  • Patent number: 5142681
    Abstract: The present invention relates to apparatus and method for translating computer programs in an application from an array source language--having attributes of APL--to a scalar target language. In particular, source language primitive functions--which can be used in different cases--are represented by archetypes having code that is selectable based on applicable case(s). In determining which case (or cases) applies, each program is re-structured into a sequence of simple source language expressions and a static analysis is performed. The static analysis, which includes a shape analysis of arrays in a program, provides information useful in determining cases for archetypes and for determining whether code generated for a particular simple expression may be beneficially merged with code generated for another simple expression.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1990
    Date of Patent: August 25, 1992
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Graham C. Driscoll, Donald L. Orth
  • Patent number: 5133986
    Abstract: A high-efficiency, low-temperature, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system for growing or depositing various types of thin films on substrate surfaces, or etching such surfaces, using substrates of materials such as silicon, plastic, etc. The system uses a hollow-cathode-effect electron source with a surrounding confining electrode to create a plasma at the substrate surface to insure that the density of reactive species is both enhanced and localized at the substrate surface thus causing the rate of growth of the films, or the etch rate, to increase so that the process can take place at much lower temperatures and power levels. A particular embodiment involves the growing of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a:Si:H), at room temperature, on silicon using a tubular reactor containing a cylindrical electrode lining the inside of the reactor walls acting as a counter electrode for an rf-powered, substrate-supporting electrode near the center of the reactor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 1990
    Date of Patent: July 28, 1992
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph M. Blum, Bruce Bumble, Kevin K. Chan, Joao R. Conde, Jerome J. Cuomo, William F. Kane
  • Patent number: 5099440
    Abstract: The present invention relates to computer apparatus and methodology for adapting the value of a probability of the occurrence of a first of two binary symbols which includes (a) maintaining a count of the number k of occurrences of the first symbol; (b) maintaining a total count of the number n of occurrences of all symbols; (c) selecting confidence limits for the probability; and (d) when the probability is outside the confidence limits, effectuating a revision in the value of the probability directed toward restoring confidence in the probability value. The number of allowed probabilities is, optionally, less than the total number of possible probabilities given the probability precision. Moreover, an approximation is employed which limits the number of probabilities to which a current probability can be changed, thereby enabling the probability adaptation to be implemented as a deterministic finite state machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 1990
    Date of Patent: March 24, 1992
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: William B. Pennebaker, Joan L. Mitchell