Abstract: A method of organizing an acoustic model for speech recognition is comprised of the steps of calculating a measure of acoustic dissimilarity of subphonetic units. A clustering technique is recursively applied to the subphonetic units based on the calculated measure of acoustic dissimilarity to automatically generate a hierarchically arranged model. Each application of the clustering technique produces another level of the hierarchy with the levels progressing from the least specific to the most specific. A technique for adapting the structure and size of a trained acoustic model to an unseen domain using only a small amount of adaptation data is also disclosed.

Abstract: A spread spectrum digital screening mask and a method and system for digital screening a continuous tone image with the spread spectrum digital screening mask. The mask is characterized in the frequency domain by a function in magnitude independent of angle within a band of frequencies between a minimum frequency and a maximum frequency. The mask may be further characterized by its thresholded binary planes at each of a plurality of predetermined threshold values. The binary planes are characterized in frequency domain by magnitudes primarily distributed within the band of frequencies. For each binary plane, the number of pixels having one of the binary values divided by the total number of pixels in the binary plane equals a fraction determined by the predetermined threshold value of the binary plane divided by the maximum threshold value.

Abstract: A radiation sensitive material comprises particles including a water-insoluble heat-softenable core surrounded by a shell which is soluble or swellable in aqueous medium. The material also includes a radiation sensitive component which, on exposure to radiation, causes the solubility characteristics of the material to change. The material may be positive- or negative-working and may be coated onto a substrate from aqueous media to form a radiation sensitive plate which, after image-wise exposure, can be developed in aqueous media and then heated to cause the particles to coalesce and form a durable printing image.

Abstract: The method and device of the invention provides a measure of lung function at a preselected region of the lung by detecting and measuring light scattering following contact of the light onto lung tissue. Multiple parameters concerning the status of the lungs can be measured using a variety of wavelengths of light targeted at the lung tissue. In this way it is possible to determine regions of impaired lung function in patients with emphysema. The device utilizes an optical fiber, a light collection system and a spectral separation device to provide an image of the lung and to determine functional parameters such as gas exchange.

Abstract: Virtual disks are created in RAM having the characteristics of either a write through unit, a write deferred unit, or a repeat save interval unit, which identifies the mode of operation the virtual disk uses in the backup of its RAM data to a backing disk drive. A unit identified as a write through unit proceeds by writing the write I/O data to the virtual disk in RAM and immediately to the backing disk drive. A write through unit does not signal completion of a write I/O data until the data has been written to both the virtual disk in RAM and the backing disk drive. A unit identified as a write deferred unit proceeds by writing the write I/O data to the virtual disk in RAM and immediately from the RAM to the backing disk drive. A write deferred unit will signal completion of a write I/O data to the virtual disk in RAM only and does not wait for the backing disk write to complete.

Abstract: An anti-car-theft system incorporating solenoid locking devices and relays for disabling or locking a plurality of critical components of an automobile (such as the ignition, the steering, the brakes, the transmission and the hood), unless and until the system is deactivated by the entry of a security code into a control unit. To deactivate the system in a preferred embodiment, the owner first unlocks the driver's door by means of a keyless remote entry device. Once inside the automobile, the owner enters his or her security code into a keypad on the control unit, which is located inside the automobile. Upon proper entry of the security code, the system enables the car components previously disabled by the relays.

Abstract: A reading magnifier formed by a bundle of juxtaposed longitudinally tapered optical fibers having a viewing end and a flat base end. The flat base end is cut at a bias across the bundle of optical fibers such that a line normal to the flat base end forms an acute angle with the direction of orientation of the optical fibers. The viewing end of the bundle may also be cut at an angle relative to the optical fibers. The reading magnifier provides a cone of light admittance that is skewed at an angle relative to a cylinder normal to the flat base end. The tilted admittance cone may also be achieved by bending the bottom portion of a bundle of tapered continuous optical fibers.

Abstract: A garment, in one embodiment of the invention, reduces the risk of bone fracture of a human or animal subject due to impact forces on a vulnerable region having a bone part near the skin surface when the vulnerable region is proximate to a soft tissue region lacking a bone part near the skin surface. The garment has an arrangement for shunting a substantial portion of the impact energy from the vulnerable region to the soft tissue region, where such energy may be safely absorbed and/or dissipated. In a further embodiment, there is utilized a dilatent material that is relatively stiff near the time of impact and relatively fluid at other times. Related methods are also provided.

Abstract: A regulator including a movably, preferably hingedly, mounted member having a distal face, exposed to a reference pressure, and a frontal face, exposed to fluid passing through the regulator. Attached to the member is a structure that variably impedes fluid flowing through the regulator. The amount that this structure impedes the fluid flow varies as a function of the difference between the pressure of fluid on the frontal face of the member and the reference pressure. The impeder may be an integral part of the piston extending into the path of the fluid flowing through the regulator, or it may be a separate structure attached to the member. As the member moves in response to changes in pressure differential across the piston, each movable segment is displaced with respect to its corresponding fixed segment. As the corresponding segments are further displaced with respect to each other, the impedance to flow increases.

Abstract: A computer including an acoustically shielded hard disk drive. Exhaust vents are provided in the computer housing above a convectively cooled power supply. The power supply and, if necessary, a plurality of fans mounted inboard from the intake vents, move the air throughout the computer. The resulting computer produces no more than 25 decibels of noise when in operation. A sound absorption layer surrounds the disk drive assembly. A heat sink mounted exterior to the sound absorption layer is connected by a heat conductive path to the disk drive assembly so as to conduct heat from the disk drive out to the exteriorly mounted heat sink. The disk drive may be immediately surrounded by a fluid containing pouch and a metal bracket.

Abstract: A controller, in accordance with a preferred embodiment provides, in a specified region of first television picture generated by a first digitally compressed video signal, an overlay of a second picture embodied in a second video signal. The controller includes an I-frame buffer for storing updated macroblock pixel data in I-frame format derived from the second signal. The controller also has a matte mask storage register for storing data that identifies the specified region by means of macroblocks. A matte substitution processor is in communication with the matte mask storage register and has as an input the first signal and provides an overlayed output; the controller inhibits transmission to the output of any macroblock, of the first signal's data stream, lying in the specified region. It also functions to substitute for such macroblock a corresponding macroblock from the I-frame buffer.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for acoustic analysis of bone are disclosed which provide measurements of transient spectral or temporal characteristics using signal processing techniques, wherein ultrasonic bone index value measurements are derived so as to minimize differences among successive measurements taken of the same individual and to maximize differences in measurements taken of different individuals and provide outputs indicating the condition of bone.

Abstract: An improved method for generating a spoken message is of the type formed by (i) first recording speech and (ii) then utilizing the recording so as to obtain at least one carrier, each carrier having at least one fixed part and at least one open slot, and then (iii) inserting an argument into each open slot. The improvement involves applying a prosody transplantation technique to the recording in order to obtain a sequence of phonetico-prosodic parameters for each carrier; identifying in each sequence sections of phonetico-prosodic parameters corresponding to the argument of each open slot; and substituting each of the sections by open slot data comprising at least position information indicating the position of each open slot.

Abstract: This invention is composition comprising a highly purified, substantially endotoxin-free polysaccharide preparation suitable for use as a parenterally administered pharmaceutical, and the method for producing the composition. The process produces a substantially endotoxin-free polysaccharide composition using a size separation technique in which the low molecular weight impurities are removed first, with a subsequent separation of the endotoxin from the polysaccharide, again, by size separation. Suitable size separation techniques include gel fitration, or more preferably, ultrafiltration. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the polysaccharide arabinogalactan is first ultrafiltered using a 10,000 dalton membrane; the low molecular weight impurities (<10,000 da) are discarded.

Abstract: A system generates an alarm at one unit of the system when a second unit of the system is more than a predetermined distance from the first unit. The system has a first transceiver unit with a first transmitter for transmitting a first reference signal having a phase with respect to a reference source, and a first receiver for detecting a second reference signal having a phase which bears a relationship to that of the first reference signal. There is a second, portable, transceiver unit with a second transmitter for transmitting the second reference signal after receipt of the first reference signal. The first transceiver unit includes a distance resolver for determining the distance between the two transceiver units from the phases of the first and second reference signals, and an alarm, responsive to the distance resolver, for generating an alarm signal if the distance between the two transceiver units is more than a predetermined amount.

Abstract: A cable system in which a plurality of non-interactive channels occupy a first group of carrier frequencies and a plurality of pseudo-channels, each assigned to an information service from a plurality of information services, are carried by a second group of carrier frequencies. A tuner is controlled by a processor in response to a channel selector. If the selected channel number represents a non-interactive channel the tuner is set to that channel. If the selected channel number is a pseudo-channel representing an interactive service, the tuner is set to an assigned carrier frequency in the second group of carrier frequencies. The assigned carrier frequency is provided from a cable control mode to a data receiver at the subscriber's television interface controller. Channels are selected from a single numerical sequence of channel numbers.

Abstract: An intraarticular drill guide having a cannulated guide shaft and a sliding shaft mounted for both reciprocal movement and axial rotation. A hook attached to the distal end of the sliding shaft is provided for locating against a bone positioned between it and the cannulated guide shaft. The drill guide has a handle for pulling back on the sliding shaft to force the tip of the hook into the far side of the bone.The method of the invention involves pressing the cannulated guide shaft against a bone through an arthroscopic portal. The sliding shaft with a hook at its end is inserted into the joint. Pulling back on the sliding shaft holds the bone between the hook and the cannulated guide shaft. A drill is operated through the cannulated guide shaft. A tissue repair is completed in accordance with the invention by passing suture ends through the tunnel that is drilled and tying them about a button anchor. The button anchor of the invention is bioabsorbable made from polyglactic acid.

Abstract: A regulator for maintaining a constant partial vacuum in a region, such as in a piece of process equipment or a fume hood. The regulator includes a path, through which fluid passes from the region to the vacuum source, and a movably mounted piston having a frontal face, which is exposed to fluid in the path, and a distal face, which is exposed to a reference pressure, such as the pressure of the environment in which the equipment is located. The piston is disposed in the path so that the piston may constrict the path at a constriction point. Fluid in the path upstream of the constriction point exerts a pressure on the frontal face of the piston that tends widen the path at the constriction point. The piston is mounted so that the weight of the piston exerts a force on the piston in a direction that tends to widen the path at the constriction point. A force is exerted on the piston, preferably by a spring under compression, in a direction that tends to narrow the path at the constriction point.

Abstract: An improved system for administration of license terms for a software product on the network, having an arrangement, for tracking software product usage, with one of the computers acting as a license server. This arrangement permits the license server (i) to identify the current set of nodes that are using the software product, (ii) to handle license data concerning conditions under which usage of the software product is permitted at any given node, and (iii) to determine whether at any given time the conditions would be satisfied if a given node is added to this set of nodes. The software product may thus include instructions to interface with the license server to cause enforcement of the license terms. The improvement, in one embodiment, to the system includes a policy server database maintained on each node, containing data specifying conditions under which usage of the software product is permitted on the corresponding node.