Abstract: A method and device are provided for efficient switching of multipoint packets in an output request packet switch, the multipoint packets being switched from a plurality of input ports to a plurality of egress ports where at least one packet is to be delivered to at least two destination egress ports.

Abstract: An automatic frequency control loop structure utilizes a dual selection automatic frequency control unit which is coupled to a differential phase unit and a coherent phase unit to provide a frequency corrected received signal output for efficient tracking of frequency offset drift; and a much lower probability of loss of automatic frequency control loop lock. Thus, a signal from a coherent carrier recovery process provides additional benefit by utilization in adjusting frequency offset tracking performance.

Abstract: A satellite communication system (SCS)(100) and method (300) are provided that provide a geographically co-located user assignment system. For unit-to-unit communication, each group of subscriber units is instructed to operate in a half-duplex unit to unit mode. The geographically co-located user assignment system comprises an assignment unit (201), a storage unit (203), and an instruction unit (205) such that a first subscriber unit (204) initiates unit to unit communication with at least a second subscriber unit (206, . . . ) in the first subscriber unit's user group utilizing a multiple access channel assigned to that group by transmitting on an assigned satellite downlink frequency of the multiple-access channel on a push-to-talk basis.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method (500), device (400), microprocessor (500) and microprocessor memory (400, 500, 600) for instantaneous preemption of packet-switched data from a user that has won contention for a channel and for transmitting on a time slot, by higher priority traffic type data or voice in a TDMA communication system having a central access manager and a plurality of subscriber units. Before transmitting a packet on an uplink channel, the subscriber unit first selects a time slot and contends for channel access on the time slot. Upon gaining access to the uplink channel, the subscriber unit begins transmitting segments of a data packet on the selected time slot, suspending transmission when a higher priority user gains access to the time slot and, where decoding fails, suspending transmission for the time slot. The subscriber unit continues to transmit on the selected time slot until the packet ends.

Abstract: The multi-equipment routing method (700) and master station (400) include customized virtual ports that are selected by a polling unit in accordance with a link address header that identifies a matched secondary station to which the data message is to be delivered such that a network equipment type (NET) is also automatically identified. The routing method and master station provide for customizing functions typically found in layers 1-3 of the open systems interconnections OSI model such that a communication may occur between network of different equipment types, such as systems network architecture-type (SNA-type) and non-SNA type equipment.

Abstract: The present method (200,300, 400) and device (500, 600, 700) modify phase two of the format set forth in the V.34 Recommendation of the International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector to prevent premature disconnection of calls between a call modem and an answer modem. The method and device efficiently ensure connection of the call for high speed data transmission over voiceband channels, by modification of one of: a phase preliminary to phase one and phase two. One implementation, in the answer modem, includes transmitting a signal having first information, followed by a Signal S comprising of aguard tone and a signal S1, wherein an energy of a predetermined guard tone is greater than an energy of a predetermined range of frequencies of the Signal S1; and continuing transmitting and receiving in accordance with the modified V.34 operation.

Abstract: Complexity of an audio compression system is reduced by initially allocating some bits to frequency subbands. The initial bit allocation is based on historical signal-to-mask ratio information for the audio compression system. The remaining bits are allocated to frequency subbands based on psychoacoustic parameters of the audio being encoded.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method (100, 200) and a device (300, 400, 600) for containing and concealing errors which occur in a transmitted video bitstream. Utilizing a plurality of predetermined scanning patterns, particular macroblocks are chosen per frame to have their intensity information encoded and transmitted. This approach provides an efficient method to limit the degradation to the visual quality of a video sequence decoded from a bitstream corrupted by an extended error burst. Concealment of areas within a video sequence that are affected by short error bursts and/or random errors is achieved by estimating the corresponding lost macroblock information from the remaining uncorrupted macroblocks. That is, for each lost macroblock a prediction of the intensity information is generated through the use of a motion vector from a neighboring uncorrupted macroblock.

Abstract: A method and system for estimating the motion within a video sequence provides very accurate estimates of both the displacement vector field, as well as, the boundaries of moving objects. The system comprises a preprocessor (102), a spatially adaptive pixel motion estimator (104), a motion boundary estimator (106), and a motion analyzer (108). The preprocessor (102) provides a first estimate of the displacement vector field, and the spatially adaptive pixel motion estimator (104) provides a first estimate of object boundaries. The motion boundary estimator (106) and the motion analyzer (108) improve the accuracy of the first estimates.

Abstract: The present invention provides a device and method in multi-access communications system for reliably receiving burst transmissions from users in the presence of narrow band interference. The adaptive interference suppresser incorporates adaptive elements that are updated using a predetermined adaptation algorithm. These adaptive elements are stored in memory at the end of the burst transmission for reuse in receiving a next burst transmission.

Abstract: A method of displaying at least one reading metric in an electronic book includes reading machine-readable data from a machine-readable storage medium installed in the electronic book. The machine-readable data is representative of text of a book. At least one page of the text represented by the machine-readable data is displayed using the electronic book. A reading pace of a user is monitored over the at least one page, and the reading pace is displayed by the electronic book. An amount of the book which can be read at the reading pace during a remaining powering time for a battery which powers the electronic book can also be displayed. An estimated completion time for a portion of the book can be calculated and displayed based on the reading pace.

Abstract: The present invention provides a device, method and system of noise injection to maximize compressed audio quality while enabling bitrate scalability. It includes at least one of an encoder and a decoder. The encoder includes a zero detection unit, coupled to receive a frequency domain quantized signal, for determining a control signal that indicates whether noise injection is implemented and a normalization computation unit, coupled to receive at least unquantized signal values and the control signal, for determining a normalization term in accordance with the control signal. The decoder includes a zero detection unit, coupled to receive a frequency domain quantized signal, for determining a control signal that indicates when noise injection is active and a noise generation and normalization unit, coupled to receive a normalization term and the control signal, for generating, normalizing, and injecting a predetermined noise signal where indicated by the control signal.

Abstract: The system and method provide for efficiently resolving collisions in an environment where a transmitting device cannot hear collisions without a headend control station/control device, i.e., master, repeating transmission of all upstream frames in the downstream direction. This invention also prevents additional collisions from occurring between a device that is retransmitting and a device that is transmitting a packet for the first time. Further, the present invention allows continued utilization of a channel by other devices while contending devices are processing collision resolution procedures.

Abstract: The method and device of the present invention provide for efficient error correction in a packet radio system by 1) eliminating wasted bandwidth due to the unnecessary retransmissions that occur as a result of lost positive acknowledgments, 2) occupying less downlink bandwidth than a scheme requiring positive acknowledgments, and 3) minimizing packet delay by providing two levels of error correction at the datalink layer.

Abstract: The present invention is method, rate controller, and system for preventing overflow and underflow of a decoder buffer in a video compression system. First, a plurality of quantized video bits is received from an encoder (102). The plurality of quantized video bits correspond to a video frame type. Then, a virtual buffer is created, in a rate controller, to model fullness of a decoder buffer, based on the quantized video bits, to produce a virtual buffer fullness (104). A quantization stepsize estimate is finally determined, in a rate controller, based on at least a first predetermined target bit allocation, the video frame type, and the virtual buffer fullness (106). The quantization step size estimate will prevent the overflow and underflow of a decoder buffer.

Abstract: The method and system implement a black-out timer to schedule intermediate network topology updates in coordination with a predetermined periodic network topology update timer to minimize redundant topology updates. Topology update scheduling in accordance with the present invention provides a significant enhancement to the efficiency of topology updating.

Abstract: Text may be converted to audible signals, such as speech, by first training a neural network 106 using recorded audio messages 204. To begin the training, the recorded audio messages are converted into a series of audio frames 205 having a fixed duration 213. Then, each audio frame is assigned a phonetic representation 203 and a target acoustic representation 208, where the phonetic representation 203 is a binary word that represents the phone and articulation characteristics of the audio frame, while the target acoustic representation 208 is a vector of audio information such as pitch and energy. After training, the neural network 106 is used in conversion of text into speech. First, text that is to be convened is translated to a series of phonetic frames 401 of the same form as the phonetic representations 208 and having the fixed duration 213. Then the neural network produces acoustic representations in response to context descriptions 207 that include some of the phonetic frames 401.

Abstract: An electronic book includes a book-shaped housing having a first housing member pivotably connected to a second housing member to open and close in a book-like manner. A touchscreen displays a page of the text represented by the machine-readable data. A user-initiated event selecting a portion of the text is received by the touchscreen. The touchscreen displays the portion of the text in a highlighted form. The processor stores an indicator of the portion of the text to be highlighted in the removable machine-readable storage medium to remain with the text when the removable machine-readable storage medium is removed from the electronic book.

Abstract: A reusable housing receives a memory card containing a machine-readable storage medium to interface with a device having a PC card interface within a PC card slot. The memory card has a plurality of connection points for externally accessing the machine-readable storage medium. The reusable housing includes a housing member which removably receives and retains the memory card. The housing member has an exterior dimensioned to allow insertion thereof in the PC card slot. A PC card connector is positioned on the housing member to interface with the PC card interface when the housing member is inserted in the PC card slot. The reusable housing further includes an interface which receives the plurality of connection points when the memory card is received by the housing member and connects the plurality of connection points to the PC card connector to facilitate communication between the machine-readable storage medium and the PC card interface.

Abstract: A method and system provide efficient resolution of transmission collisions in a simultaneous channel access communication environment. At least a first Master device and a plurality of Slave devices utilize the steps of: (1) transmitting, by the plurality of Slave devices upon receiving a contention poll from the first Master device, information to the Master device, wherein transmissions of the Slave devices provide a collision; (2) selecting a subset of Slaves allowed to retransmit following the collision, by the first Master device using a collision resolution poll in accordance with a predetermined depth first tree search technique; and (3) retransmitting, by the subset of Slave devices, the information to the Master device, and, where another collision is obtained, recycling to step 2 and repeating steps 2 and 3 until all collisions are resolved.