Abstract: Disclosed are a method, a system and a device for the transmission of multimedia streams via telecommunication lines. Especially, the disclosure relates to information transfer in video or audio teleconferences. The invention provides a scale of priorities for active transmission of the streams, wherein the priority status of each stream is changed dynamically with respect of attributes of substreams of the multimedia streams. Only the streams with the highest priority levels are actively transmitted.

Abstract: A protocol for achieving atomic multicast in a parallel or distributed computing environment. The protocol guarantees concurrency atomicity with a maximum of m-1 message passes among the m server nodes of the system. Under one embodiment of the protocol, an access component message is transferred to the server nodes storing data to be accessed. The first server node of the plurality generates a token to be passed among the accessed nodes. A node can not process its request until it receives the token. A node may pass the token immediately upon ensuring that it is the current expected token.

Abstract: In a communication switch with input and output queueing, which handles different priority classes of traffic (e.g. video and audio applications with a high priority, and file transfers and e-mail as low priority traffic), the invention provides a timed shut-off mechanism at each input queue. This mechanism is activated when an input queue attempting to transmit low-priority traffic gets a backpressure signal. The mechanism interrupts further attempts to transmit low priority traffic for a predetermined period of T switching cell cycles. Hence, during the shut-off periods, the output queue is only used by the high priority traffic. Therefore, the performance of the high priority traffic is preserved.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for displaying data on a computer display system. More specifically, with this invention location information of data from an application program is converted to location information for displaying data within a number of contours on a display device. With this invention display data for a logical display area on a first contour is converted to display data for a plurality of contours, where each of the later contours is a logical section of the former contour. More importantly, this conversion is transparent to the application program. The second display data is then displayed on the display device of the computer system.

Abstract: A cathode ray tube display having reduced electric field emissions comprising a cathode ray tube 100, an element 200 for detecting modulations in the final anode voltage of the CRT, the signal not being directly dependent on the deflection driving means 115. A matching network 205 provides phase and gain correction to the signal from element 200, amplification means 210 receives the signal from network 205 and an emission means 215 radiates a cancelling electric field dependent on the modulations detected by said element 200.

Abstract: A multiple position camera apparatus and method for a three-dimensional computer controlled telepresence camera system useful in surrogate travel type applications. In one embodiment, it enables a telepresence application provider to form multi-view application specific stored image sequences from up to six orthogonally positioned cameras. It furthermore enables a telepresence user to subsequently retrieve for remote viewing particular subsets of the available image sequences and/or groups of sequences via a monitoring and display system. A viewing procedure provides the user with the ability to proceed spatially and/or contiguously along any camera to camera direction. It further uses a wire cage to enable the definition and setting of the field of view of each camera.

Abstract: A system for identifying the authorized receiver of any particular copy of a document. More specifically, each particular copy of a document is fingerprinted by applying a set of variations to a document, where each variation is a change in data contents, but does not change the meaning or perusal experience of the document. A database associating a set of variants to a receiver is maintained. Thus any variant or copy of that variant can be traced to an authorized receiver.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for playing the same video game by a number of players at remote locations over a telephone network. More specifically, a video representation of the game played by a number of video game players stored at each of the player locations. The control signals representing the actions of the players are then transmitted to a single one of the locations where the control signals are sequenced. The sequence control signals are then stored in a queue wherein the video game is played at each of the locations by synchronously reading the control signals from each queue at each of the locations and sending them to corresponding ports of each video game at each location.

Abstract: A translator (300) for generating a tool (315) for a modifying data on a chip card (10) or for a communicating with the chip card (10) is proposed, the translator (300) receiving as input data a description (310) in a card definition language provided for that purpose, said description (310) comprising information about objects on the chip card (10) which are described with the use of constructional instructions. The translator (300) comprises a means for generating an internal list of attributes (320) from the information about the objects in the description (310), there existing for each object at least one entry (330) in the internal list of attributes (320).

Abstract: A method and apparatus to create, distribute, sell and control access to digital documents using secure cryptographic envelopes. An envelope is an aggregation of information parts, where each of the parts to be protected are encrypted with a corresponding part encryption key. These encrypted information parts along with the other information parts become part of the envelope. Each part encryption key is also encrypted with a public key, and these encrypted part encryption keys are also included in the envelope. The envelope also includes a list of parts where each entry in the list has a part name and a secure hash of the named part. The list is then signed with a secret key to generate a signature, which is also included in the envelope. The signature can be verified using a second public key associated with first secret key, and the integrity of any information part in the envelope can be checked by computing a second hash and comparing it with the corresponding hash in the list of parts.

Abstract: This invention provides a method and apparatus for providing easily adaptable and select transmission and reception rates between a number of clients and a server. With this invention a broadband signal is transmitted/received from the server to the clients, who individually may need to receive/transmit only a small portion of the composite signal. More specifically, this invention uses discrete multiple tone coding to provide the easily adaptable and selected transmission rates to the clients.

Abstract: A method of delievering data in a wireless communications network using a combination of collision sensing and collision avoiidance protocols. More precisely, if there are no hidden nodes detected in the network, a collision sensing protocol is used; however, if there are hidden nodes, then a collision avoidance protocol is used. This invention also deals with methods of determining the presence or absence of hidden nodes.

Abstract: A video game cartridge that can be plugged into a video game machine to enable a user to request and play a video game for a predetermined number of video frames. The cartridge has a receiver for receiving the video game program and the predetermined frame count in response to a request from the user. The program and frame count is then stored in a memory of the cartridge. Finally, the cartridge has a counter which changes its value when the user is actively playing the video game program. The counter ceases to change its value when the user is not playing the video game program. When the counter reaches a predetermined limit, the user is no longer authorized to play the video game program.

Abstract: A method of dynamically allocating bandwidth of channels to cells in a communications cellular network according to user demand. Groups of cells are formed so as to minimize interference within each group, and a particular channel is assigned to each of the groups. The bandwidth of each channel then is dynamically allocated by time division to each of the cells in the assigned group according to user demand in each of the cells thereof.

Abstract: This invention discloses a method and apparatus for acquiring and maintaining a cellular wireless communications subnetwork on an Ad Hoc basis, where mobile units within a cellular network communicate with each other using only a single communications channel of the entire cellular wireless communications network.

Abstract: This invention is an arbitration scheme for a token-based communications medium which is intended for use when there are timing deadlines for transactions on the medium. Initially knowledge of the expected workload is used to determine for each module its priority as well as the limit on the duration of time lower priority modules can be permitted to use the medium between request and completion of a transaction for this module. A count is maintained for each module of the number of data units that has been transferred on the medium by lower priority modules since the time this module last requested the medium. A module can transmit a selected number of data units if it has the token and the count of none of its higher priority modules has reached a corresponding limit.

Abstract: A highly sensitive optical receiver where one terminal of the photodiode of the receiver is connected to a negatively biased amplifier while the other terminal of photodetector is connected to a positively biased amplifier, where such connections automatically bias the photodiode and use the current from both terminals (anode and cathode) of the photodiode. This invention also provides an optical receiver which has a DC cancellation circuit to eliminate the biasing voltages in the final output signal.

Abstract: This invention describes how commercial silicon-on-insulator material can be used to fabricate both wavelength filters and wavelength-selective photodetectors. The silicon-on-insulator substrates have a buried silicon dioxide layer and a thin top silicon layer and are manufactured for high speed electonics applications. However, in this invention, the thin silicon layer is used as the core of a waveguide and the buried silicon dioxide as a lower cladding region. Another cladding layer and a low index waveguide is fabricated on the commercial substrate to form an asymmetric waveguide coupler structure. The added low index waveguide and the original thin silicon layer form the two waveguides of the coupler. Since the the two waveguide materials have very different indices of refraction, they are only phase-matched at one wavelength. Thus for a given thickness of materials, only one wavelength couples between the two waveguides.

Abstract: A servo control loop for tuning a center frequency of a tuning device to a desired frequency. More specifically, the dynamic range and response time of the servo loop are improved by closing the loop when the sign of the dither signal is such that the center frequency of filter would move towards the desired frequency when the loop is closed and by shifting the phase of the residual dither so that it adds at least partially in phase with the dither signal. The two components thus added are used to supply the control signal for the tuning device.

Abstract: A method for use in a single cell of a wireless communication system of the type having a leader station that coordinates communication among a plurality of remote stations that are in the cell. The method applies to systems that use slow frequency-hopping radios and a Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) type protocol. In this context, the method allows a remote station to initially acquire the frequency-hopping pattern and time base of the leader station and to maintain frequency synchronization in the face of control information loss due to radio transmission effects (e.g., interference, noise or multipath fading). In the acquisition phase, the remote station actively generates probe messages that are sent to the leader station so as to rapidly achieve frequency synchronization with the leader station.