Abstract: Various appliances linked up by a bus that can transmit video data form the system, and functionality modules themselves connected to the bus form certain appliances. A command enables to select functionality modules in various appliances at a time, to command the switch-on of these modules and to establish exchanges of data between these modules. A substantially virtual appliance may thus be formed by the combination of functionality modules that are found in separate appliances.

Abstract: The invention relates to a transponder provided with an integrated circuit, an antenna, and a first capacitor provided with a dielectric and a first and a second capacitor electrode, which transponder comprises a stack of layers, i.e.: a first layer of a dielectric material, a first patterned electrically conductive layer of which the antenna forms part, a second layer of a dielectric material, and a second patterned electrically conductive layer. The invention further relates to an appliance provided with a transponder which comprises an integrated circuit, an antenna, and a first capacitor.

Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for transmitting TDMA packets between interactive terminals and a head station using a transmission medium. The system includes an iterative method for determining an optimal sampling instant by computing the average amplitudes only for a predetermined number of the input samples, determining a maximum of the average amplitudes of these samples, deriving an approximation of the optimal sample using the maximum, repeating the average amplitude computation for input samples between the approximation and a neighboring sample whose previously computed average amplitude is the largest, and comparing of the result of each average amplitude computation with a previously computed maximum corresponding to the previous approximation for deriving a new approximation of the optimal sample.

Abstract: In an electronic system for the transmission of data between a number of stations, sub-system operation can be achieved by a suitable choice of signal levels and wake-up levels, so that some of the stations can communicate with one another while other stations are in a sleep mode in which power is saved.

Abstract: The invention relates to a communication method and a terminal (500) for use with such a method. The method uses at least two interconnected terminals (402, 404), at which input data from associated participants is captured. The input data comprises at least video and/or audio data. A monitoring unit (530) derives activity information about the participants from the input data. The monitoring unit (530) is either located in one terminal (402) for centrally deriving the activity information, or present in all terminals (402, 404) for, at least partly, deriving the activity information locally. The activity information is subsequently visualized in the form of tables and/or diagrams or by manipulating the windows in which the participants are displayed. Also this visualization step can be performed only at a central terminal (402) or at the terminal of each participant (402, 404). The activity information comprises for instance talking time and a number of key strokes of the participant.

Abstract: A data processor has a cache memory with an associative memory for storing at least a first and second groups of associations between a respective main memory addresses and cache memory locations. At least one cache memory location is dynamically assignable to different ones of the groups for use in associations of the assigned group. When an instruction indicates a main memory address a group is selected group for finding the cache memory location associated with the main memory address. In an embodiment, the processor accesses streams of addresses from iteratively computed main memory addresses. Each stream has its own group of associations of addresses from the stream with cache memory locations assigned to that group. The remaining cache memory locations are accessed with set associative mapping. Thus, cache memory locations can be assigned to different streams on an “as needed” basis and the remaining cache memory locations can be used for non-stream addresses.

Abstract: A network communications system comprises a plurality of configurations of user stations (16, 18, 20, 22, 24), each with respective processing and display capability. From a plurality of service provider host systems coupled via data network such as the Internet, one host server (10) has at least some of the system users and their respective user station or stations registered as client stations. Each registered client station of a single user is arranged to access network services via the host server (10), with the host server arranged to format data to be sent to any of the client stations of said single user according to a pre-stored format for that user.

Abstract: The invention relates to a data transmission device between two separate lines. This device comprises a real terminal (TRA, TRB) and a virtual terminal (TVA, TVB) associated with each of the lines. The state of a real terminal is that of the associated line. The state of a virtual terminal indicates whether the associated line is transmitting or able to receive a data. Each real terminal associated with a line controls the state of the virtual terminal associated with the other line by means of a control signal (COM), while said virtual terminal controls the state of its associated real terminal (CTRL), and accordingly of the line. A virtual terminal associated with a receiving line receives the control signal (COM) coming from the real terminal associated with the other line and inhibits (INH) the real terminal associated with this receiving line. The inhibited real terminal of the receiving line accordingly is no longer capable of sending a control signal (COM) as long as the other line is transmitting.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method of photochemically producing a vertical interconnect between a first and a second thin-film microelectronic device in an vertical interconnect area which comprises an overlap of a stack of a first electrically conducting area, optionally an organic electrically semiconducting area, an organic electrically insulating area comprising adapted photoresist material and a second organic electrically conducting area, wherein the organic electrically insulating area is removed within the overlapping area and substituted by an electrically conducting area which is extended from at least said first or said second electrically conducting area. The method is useful in the manufacture of electronic devices, preferably integrated circuits, consisting substantially of organic materials.