Abstract: An approach is provided for minimizing dings and dents on the side of a vehicle. A protective apparatus includes telescopic members attachably engaged on the edges of a door of a vehicle, wherein the height of the apparatus is adjustable.

Abstract: A remote keyless entry system and method is described, in which a keyless entry vehicle key fob can be toggled between a guest mode and a driver-specific mode. When the key fob is in the guest mode, the key fob transmits no driver-specific identification to a receiver located in the vehicle, so that customizable vehicle settings are changed to predetermined default or guest mode settings. When the key fob is in the driver-specific mode, the key fob transmits a driver-specific identification to the receiver, so that customizable vehicle settings are reset to driver-specific customized vehicle settings.

Abstract: A method of and a system (10) for providing a jackpot award for a plurality of gaming machines (40) are disclosed. The system (10) gaming machines (40) linked by at least one venue jackpot controller (300) to a central jackpot controller. The method includes increasing a jackpot value by an amount corresponding to a predetermined percentage; randomly determining whether to award the jackpot value; and randomly awarding the jackpot value to a selected gaming machine (40) associated with a selected venue jackpot controller (300) when jackpot award conditions are met.

Abstract: Mass deployment of snapshots is fostered by allowing collections of snapshots, called refresh groups, to be defined by a template. The template allows for a parameterized snapshot definition query or other DDL text to be defined, so that user-specific or site-specific values can be substituted into parameters to create different objects. Furthermore, off-line instantiation of snapshots is provided, so that the data for an entire suite of front office applications can be stored. on a floppy disk, magnetic disk, CD ROM, or other transportable computer-readable medium.

Abstract: A device and method for extending the lifetime of a battery of a tire pressure sensor disposed in a tire are described, in which the battery can be recharged through the valve stem of the tire. The device includes an electrical power source and an electrode adapted to be coupled to the valve stem and supply power from the electrical power source to the valve stem.

Abstract: A system and method for analyzing data is described, in which an application programming interface (API) is provided to permit an online analytical processing (OLAP) application to manipulate data and queries in model close to the business model the OLAP application was designed to support. A data server is provided to translated between the object-oriented representation and the native database query format. In one embodiment, a multidimensional virtual cursor is implementation to further simplify the logic of the OLAP application.

Abstract: Objects that are managed within a run-time environment are stored on N-bit aligned addresses. Due to the alignment restriction, the N least significant bits of a reference to an object are available for storing information about the storage properties of the object. This information is extractable by fast register operations. The storage properties can include the lifetime, format, and contiguity of the object, or a combination of these properties. If the run-time environment implements a generational garbage collector, the reference tags are used to encode whether or not the object is recently allocated.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for referencing unshared memory in a run-time environment is provided. In one example of the invention, a method is provided for accessing a first object in unshared memory referenced by a second object in shared memory. Pages are allocated in a contiguous virtual address space. One of the pages is assigned to unshared memory. At least one of the other pages is assigned to shared memory, the second object having a reference to the first object, the reference being stored one of these other pages. A pointer is masked to the second object to produce a masked pointer. The first object is accessed based on the masked pointer.

Abstract: A version control system is described for use in connection with a database management system to facilitate versioning of a database table, the system including a database table and a version control module. The database table comprises a plurality of records, each record including at least one data field for storing user data and at least some of the records including a version control field including version control information. The version control module is configured to, in response to a user query related to the database table and related to a version, generate an augmented query for processing by the data base management system, the augmented query relating to the user query and the version control information.

Abstract: A system and method for selectively viewing temporal row data in a consistent read-implemented database are described. Committed transactions effecting row data changes to a database are tracked and a stored system change number is assigned upon each committed transaction. Rollback segments for uncommitted transactions are stored. Each rollback segment stores a transaction identifier and transaction table entries containing ordered row data values reflecting the database changes. The database is transitioned into successive consistent versions responsive to each committed transaction at a journaled commit time. The transaction table entries are maintained for a user-definable retention period following the commit time of each committed transaction. A queried selection of row data values from the database is performed as of a query time occurring prior to the commit time of at least one committed transaction.

Abstract: An X-ray film development device performs development, fixing, rinsing, and drying processes while transporting an exposed X-ray film. A rinsing unit is provided with a light source, which illuminates the X-ray film during transportation, and a reading unit, which receives the passing light and reads an image recorded on the X-ray film. The image signal from the reading unit is processed by a display device (CRT, LCD, etc.), and the film image can be provided to the doctor or patient without waiting until the film dries.

Abstract: A version control system is described for use in connection with a database management system to facilitate versioning of a database table, the system including a database table and a version control module. The database table comprises a plurality of records, each record including at least one data field for storing user data and at least some of the records including a version control field including version control information. The version control module is configured to, in response to a user query related to the database table and related to a version, generate an augmented query for processing by the data base management system, the augmented query relating to the user query and the version control information.

Abstract: A version control system is described for use in connection with a database management system to facilitate versioning of a database table, the system including a database table and a version control module. The database table comprises a plurality of records, each record including at least one data field for storing user data and at least some of the records including a version control field including version control information. The version control module is configured to, in response to a user query related to the database table and related to a version, generate an augmented query for processing by the data base management system, the augmented query relating to the user query and the version control information.

Abstract: A garment made from three layers of flexible material dimensioned to surround respective joints, body parts or the complete body, except for the entire face, of a wearer. The garment alleviates or reduces pain from certain forms of arthritis, especially osteoarthritis and can delay the onset of such conditions. The garment also can prevent hypothermia and reduce adverse effects from exposure to reduced temperatures.

Abstract: An approach for testing an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) cell for a threshold voltage is provided. A voltage lower than a source voltage that is associated with a read operation is applied to the gate of the EPROM cell. A signal is read out from the EPROM cell when the voltage is applied to the EPROM cell. The signal is used to calculate the threshold voltage of the EPROM cell.

Abstract: Lazy evaluation is used for resolving references to recreatable external objects. A recreatable external object is an object whose state can easily be deallocated and later reconstituted or “activated” based on a much smaller sized descriptor. In one embodiment, a run-time external reference is used that specifies an index into a value array that holds the actual reference and a descriptor array. If the value array entry at the index is null, then the corresponding entry in the descriptor array is used to activate the external object and a reference to the activated external object is cached in the value array.

Abstract: A version control system is described for use in connection with a database management system to facilitate versioning of a database table, the system including a database table and a version control module. The database table comprises a plurality of records, each record including at least one data field for storing user data and at least some of the records including a version control field including version control information. The version control module is configured to, in response to a user query related to the database table and related to a version, generate an augmented query for processing by the database management system, the augmented query relating to the user query and the version control information.

Abstract: Replication for front office automation involves the use of snapshots that are instantiated on laptops, in which refreshing the snapshots is driven from a master site with a high-performance protocol. All of the necessary snapshot metadata for performing the snapshot refreshes is stored at the master site, so that the laptop only needs to send a single refresh request. In response to the refresh request, the master site reconciles the differences between the master tables and the laptop's snapshots and transmits the differences to the laptop, reducing the necessary network traffic for updating a snapshot to a single round trip.

Abstract: Mass deployment of snapshots is fostered by allowing collections of snapshots, called refresh groups, to be defined by a template. The template allows for a parameterized snapshot definition query or other DDL text to be defined, so that user-specific or site-specific values can be substituted into parameters to create different objects. Furthermore, off-line instantiation of snapshots is provided, so that the data for an entire suite of front office applications can be stored on a floppy disk, magnetic disk, CD ROM, or other transportable computer-readable medium.

Abstract: An invariant numeric reference format is defined in a run-time environment for both run-time and storage use. A numeric reference to an object encodes the location of the object as an integral offset from an implicit machine pointer. In environments where the size of contiguous virtual memory segments is limited, objects are stored in a number of fixed-size contiguous chunks in virtual memory called pages. A page-offset numeric reference includes an offset and a page number, which is used to index a page map that contains a page pointer to the beginning of the page. Page-offset numeric references are dereferenced by adding the offset in the numeric reference to the page pointer obtained from the page map based on the page number in the numeric reference.