Abstract: A display apparatus is characterized by having a display panel for displaying an image, a light source for supplying light to the display panel, and a flat-surface lighting surface member which has a lighting surface emitting light, radiated from the light source, as flat-surface light while being arranged with the display panel. A housing contains the display panel, the light source, and the flat-surface lighting surface member. The housing further includes a window through light passes the flat-surface lighting surface member and leaks to the outside.

Abstract: A user-oriented database query system, comprising user management means; device management means; control means for identifying a user, receiving a database query request and appended parameters, converting the database query request into a database query command; query agent means for submitting database query command at suitable time and receiving the query results; query recording means for storing the database query request, the appended parameters, the query command, the query time and the query results; wherein the control means further determines a receiving device, converts the query results into a form acceptable by the receiving device and sends the query results thereto, and terminates the query after the acknowledgment of the success of sending.

Abstract: The present invention describes a device and a procedure for the user-controlled release of chip-card functions in particular through the input of authentication data. The input of the authentication data takes place by way of an input device of a mobile chip-card reader, particularly one designed as a pocket chip-card reader. The authentication data are checked in the chip-card on the basis of a reference list. If the authentication data agree with the reference-data, a function stored in the non-volatile memory of the chip-card is released. The released function can be specified by number, time and period of validity. The chip-card can then be used in a terminal in accordance with the specified release. The present invention thereby guarantees in a simple manner, that authentication data cannot leave the area under the control of the user's chip-card.

Abstract: A method, encoded in a logic medium, is provided which determines a carrier-frequency offset in an output signal of a transmission system. Such a transmission system uses a periodic training sequence having an associated spectrum. A measured spectral characteristic of an overall channel and an ideal spectral characteristic are given as inputs. The method comprises (a) determining a frequency shift in the overall channel characteristic by obtaining a spectral characteristic of the measured channel, and (b) utilizing the amount by which the measured spectral characteristic is shifted with respect to the ideal spectral characteristic to estimate the carrier frequency offset.

Abstract: For a network with a distributed hierarchical broadcast architecture, a method for efficiently and reliably distributing data content and remotely managing the storage of content. Both the distribution and the storage management methods are rule-based, utilizing network resources in an efficient manner. Simple and reliable mechanisms are provided for ensuring both data integrity and control over storage utilization. At each stage throughout the network hierarchy, content is distributed to nodes in the subsequent stage based on rules. The rules may be modified at each stage. Only one device in the hierarchy is required to maintain detailed information of the storage characteristics of storage devices and content therein in stages which are subsequent to it in the network. The recipient device owner specifies a set of preferences which may be used for local filtering, or which the owning (or other) entity may use to select data which targets the client's interests.

Abstract: A system and method for providing at least one hidden markup attribute to convey additional information to target recipients. At least one hidden markup attribute is included in a communication from a server. When a browser at a client/user location receives the communication with the at least one hidden markup attribute, the browser will be able to decode the hidden markup attribute portion of the markup only if it has a correct render key. The render key may be predefined and exchanged between the server and the client. Alternatively, the render key may be communicated to the client with the hidden markup attribute communication. The latter scenario is useful when a server must dynamically calculate the render key based upon the client's capabilities (e.g., discovered during the establishment of communication between the entities). A server may alternatively have a generic default render key for all users.

Abstract: An illuminating-light controller includes a light modulator for projecting light on a corresponding area by tilting a reflecting surface. A first light source emits a first light that is projected on the corresponding area by illuminating the first light to the reflecting surface of the spatial light modulator being tilted at a first angle. A second light source for emits a second light that is projected on the corresponding area by illuminating the second light to the reflecting surface of the light modulator being tilted at a second angle. Still further, included is a control section for controlling the first light emitted from the first light source and the second light emitted from said second light source.

Abstract: A method for achieving agreement among n participating network devices to an agree-value in a network is disclosed. The method proposes an optimistic approach to the consensus problem, whereby the number t of faulty devices is less than n/3. It is distinguished between an optimistic and pessimistic case. In the pessimistic case, a fallback agreement protocol is performed that reaches the same agree-value as the method in the optimistic case outputs.

Abstract: A discrete pattern, formed by dots discretely arranged in two dimensions, is provided wherein the dots included in a rectangular area having a longitudinal length of Lx and a transverse length of Ly satisfy expression (1), D≦0.13N−1 15  (1) (in expression (1), N denotes the number of dots included in a predetermined area, and D is obtained by expression (2), wherein A(x,y) defines the number of dots, of a total of N dots, included in a rectangular area for which a line segment extended from reference coordinates (0,0) to an arbitrary coordinate point (x,y) is a diagonal line), [Ex.

Abstract: This invention relates to optoelectronic transceivers used in optical communication systems, and in specific to an optical transceiver configured for transmission and reception of optical signals or rays within an asymmetrically shaped optical profile. The invention provides a transceiver for communicating optical rays through relatively-positioned, shaped lenses while preventing the saturation of a photodetector by an adjacent LED, thereby avoiding any idling of the communication system, minimizing the transceiver's size, and isolating the optical profiles for optimum transmission and reception of optical rays. The transceiver may operate in a half duplex mode, while being capable of operating without additional modifications in a full duplex mode.

Abstract: A method to reduce the power dissipation of a system by omitting an unnecessary CPU throttling operation in a power management apparatus that performs the CPU throttling operation. A power management apparatus 10 is constituted by an event detecting section 12 to detect an event in a system, an activity detecting section 14 to decide whether the system is in a busy state or in an idle state by checking whether or not there is activity in the system, and a clock control section 16 to execute CPU-clock control. The control section 16 does not perform an unnecessary CPU throttling operation, by stopping the CPU throttling operation when the system is in the idle state and performing the CPU throttling operation only when the system is in the busy state. With this, the power dissipation of the system can be considerably reduced.

Abstract: A system and method for describing and managing media assets comprising a two-pronged solution: (1) a Digital Library to provide a centralized repository of the media assets and (2) a standard description scheme that will allow interoperation of a variety of tools and processes required for managing media assets. In the invention, a description scheme is provided that addresses information needed for managing media assets independent of their type. In addition, the invention provides a description scheme for logical collections of media assets. The media asset management description scheme may be based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML), to ensure maximum interoperability.

Abstract: A mechanism for inter-process communication (IPC) redirection is defined that enables flexible and dynamic management of IPC paths. In some cases, it is desirable to interpose a process on a communication channel. There are a number of uses of such interposition, ranging from auditing communication to capturing requests for a debugger to authorizing operations expressed in the communication. Prior IPC mechanisms typically do not enable dynamic and flexible interposition. Either interposition is ingrained in the process identity or is done in an ad hoc manner (e.g., by inserting code into the kernel). An IPC mechanism is defined that enables a communication from a source to a destination to be arbitrarily redirected. Services, called redirection controllers, are defined that are able to specify the redirections for IPC paths.

Abstract: The invention pertains to an improved method for generating ALU instruction sequences for performing integer multiplication. The invention analytically helps to find an optimal sequence of shift, add and subtract instructions for performing integer multiplication by trying to add or subtract all powers of 2 less than the integer multiplier itself and then trying to factor evenly the resulting sum or difference by that power of 2 plus or minus one. If each such resulting factor value factors by a power of 2, the corresponding factor set is a favorable one for generating an optimal ALU instruction sequence.

Abstract: An intelligent local client agent can passively keep track of the state of network intermediaries, and can allocate network traffic according to different policies. In addition, an optional management platform running on a policy server provides an active network monitor of intermediaries and implements administrative policies. Under the present invention, an intermediary-aware application (e.g., a browser) will be configured to use the local client agent instead of an intermediary. The policy server can remotely load configuration information into a running client agent to provide administrative constraints or state changes. At each client agent, the intermediary servers (e.g. SOCKS servers) are ranked into tiers, so that several servers in the top-rated tier can be used concurrently to provide better performance. When the performance of a server degrades, its tier rating is lowered, and thus it may be avoided. Administratively defined tiers can be used to reserve resources for mission critical applications.

Abstract: A method of monitoring the performance of a CTI enabled business application for a call center is described. The method comprises the steps of acquiring telephony network information such as an Automatic Number Identification from the telephony network when a telephone call is made to the call center and searching for information stored by the business application such as the customer name which is associated with the ANI from the telephony network. This search is made at the beginning of the call and the customer name is stored with ANI in a call log. Additional information associated with the call such as an order taken during the call is searched for after the call is completed and this additional business information is also stored with said telephony information in the call log.

Abstract: Under the present invention, a small cache is used for the selective buffering of devices of a heterogeneous striping group (i.e., striping group made of devices with unequal capacities) to match the load on each device to its capacity. The inventive caching algorithm utilizes a device map, or disk map, and applies a cache distribution factor for each device of a group to determined how to selectively buffer blocks read from different devices of a striping group; thereby placing different loads on the different devices of a striping group in accordance with their capacities.

Abstract: In the liquid crystal display 10, consisting of a first substrate (12) and a second substrate (14) facing each other, either or both of the first substrate (12) and the second substrate (14) is/are disposed in a non-display region, the spacers 18 consisting of a photosensitive resin regulating the cell gaps 16 between both substrates 12 and 14, and liquid crystal 20 sandwiched between the first substrate (12) and the second substrate (14), either a dynamic hardness value or a plastic deformation hardness value is within a fixed range.

Abstract: Systems involving generation of a complex node representation of a PNNI peer group are provided. Use is made of a set of restrictive costs, such as a transition matrix, defining the restrictive costs of paths between pairs of border nodes of the peer group. The complex node representation generation method is based on the group evolution process of the logical group representation of a peer group, and use is also made of the spanning tree representation of a network. Complex node representations generated by the disclosed methods are optimal in that they contain the minimum possible number of exception bypasses.

Abstract: A jumper (60) is provided as a control input means for switching operation modes of a CardBus controller (42). Also, a bidirectional bypass path (40A, 66, 58A) is provided in parallel with the controller. When a passthrough mode signal (64) from the jumper exhibits an inactive state, the controller is enabled for operation and the bypass path is disabled for operation, thereby to cause the controller to be operated in its normal mode. On the other hand, when the passthrough mode signal exhibits an active state, the controller is disabled for operation and the bypass path is enabled for operation, thereby to cause predetermined signals on PCI bus signal lines (40A), or signals on CardBus signal lines (58A) corresponding with the predetermined signals to be output on the CardBus or PCI bus as they are via the bypass path. In order to inspect transactions on the PCI bus, a PCI bus analyzer or exerciser is connected to a PC card slot (44A), to which the bypass path is connected.