Abstract: A safety steering column which is adjustable in its axial direction whereby pyrotechnically driven steering column retraction is provided for a positioning of a safety steering column in its axial direction, to move it away from the driver in case of an accident. Furthermore, a safety system incorporating such a safety steering column and a motor vehicle so equipped that can distinguish between different drivers regarding weight, size and belted condition; the system providing alternative safety measures depending on the driver's needs for protection.

Abstract: According to this invention a battery testing device is provided. Such device activates a shortening between the battery poles using a predefined electronic circuit (in order to maximize the battery's energy potential) for a time period of 10-50 ?sec. In a subsequent time period of ˜100-200 ?sec, the loading is slowly decreased until the voltage returns to an open circuit voltage UOC. During the testing process, the voltage and the battery current are measured. The measurements are stored at the device database, to be later used in an algorithm for checking battery conditions.

Abstract: A physically secure processing assembly is provided that includes dies mounted on a substrate so as to sandwich the electrical contacts of the dies between the dies and the substrate. The substrate is provided with substrate contacts and conductive pathways that are electrically coupled to the die contacts and extend through the substrate. Electrical conductors surround the conductive pathways. A monitoring circuit detects a break in continuity of one or more of the electrical conductors, and preferably renders the assembly inoperable. Preferably, an epoxy encapsulation is provided to prevent probing tools from being able to reach the die or substrate contacts.

Abstract: Methods and devices are provided for repairing a damaged contact pad that is located on a first surface of a printed circuit board and connected to a via that passes through the circuit board. According to the method, a countersink hole is created in the first surface of the printed circuit board in a location that is substantially centered on an axis passing through the via, and a replacement structure is inserted into the countersink hole. The replacement structure has a stem portion, a head portion, and a shoulder portion that connects the stern and head portions, with the angle of the shoulder portion substantially matching the angle of the shoulder of the countersink hole. The stem portion of the replacement structure is permanently attached to sidewalls of the via so as to electrically couple the head portion of the replacement structure to the via.

Abstract: A surface mapping and generating device which has devices for the process and/or cost optimization, in particular raw material recovery devices, an automatic control of the intensity of a used laser light, devices for carrying out a calibrating procedure by evaluating overlap errors at matching points, devices for archiving especially three-dimensional data of the jaw and/or for modeling the bite position of the upper and the lower jaws, devices for the optimized preparation of at least one dental stump for the production and placement of a dental prosthesis thereon and/or devices for taking into consideration the bite position of the upper and lower jaws.

Abstract: A system, method, computer program product, and data management service that allows any comparison operation to be applied on encrypted data, without first decrypting the operands. The encryption scheme of the invention allows equality and range queries as well as the aggregation operations of MAX, MIN, and COUNT. The GROUPBY and ORDERBY operations can also be directly applied. Query results produced using the invention are sound and complete, the invention is robust against cryptanalysis, and its security strictly relies on the choice of a private key. Order-preserving encryption allows standard database indexes to be built over encrypted tables. The invention can easily be integrated with existing systems.

Abstract: A method, system, and computer program product to transfer data between two application data structures by copying a data gather scatter program (DGSP) from an exporting process address space where a first data structure is located, to a location in shared memory visible to an importing process address space; assembling a parameter set identifying the data structure; starting a data gather scatter-redistribution machine (DGS-RM) in an importing process space where a second application data structure is located; passing the first parameter set, the DGSP copy, and a second parameter set identifying a second application data structure and a second DGSP to the DGS-RM; and creating master and worker stack machines. The master stack machine identifies a contiguous chunk of the first data structure.

Abstract: Materials, devices and methods for the treatment of congestive heart failure are disclosed. In these methods, the volume of the left ventricle is reduced, thereby increasing the efficiency of the pumping action of the heart. Volume reduction is accomplished by introduction of biocompatible materials into the wall of the left ventricle, or into the ventricle itself. Also disclosed is a method for ventricular geometry reduction wherein flexible, elastic bands are attached to the external surface of the heart to affect a decrease in the volume of the left ventricle. Other disclosed devices include catheters and elastic bands that are usable in these treatments. Finally, disclosed is a device having an anchor disposed proximate the heart's apex, a plurality of petals, and a tensioning band secured to at least one of the petals.

Abstract: A memory device or a logic device that uses an electronically scannable multiplexing device capable of addressing multiple bits within a volatile or non-volatile memory cell. The multiplexing device generates an electronically scannable conducting channel with two oppositely formed depletion regions. The depletion width of each depletion region is controlled by a voltage applied to a respective control gate at each end of the multiplexing device. The present multi-bit addressing technique allows, for example, 10 to 100 bits of data to be accessed or addressed at a single node. The present invention can also be used to build a programmable nanoscale logic array or for randomly accessing a nanoscale sensor array.

Abstract: In a computer network, user input is used to control the bandwidth used by particular applications. Data is sent from either a data source computer or an intermediate computer (e.g. dial-up server) to a client computer according to the user input. The allocation of bandwidth may be managed from the client computer, data source computer, or intermediate computer. The user may set a limit on the baud rate used by particular applications.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing flexible magnetic tape having a permanently structured magnetic characteristic which varies from place to place in two different directions in the plane of the tape, includes:—a) coating a flexible substrate with a slurry having anisotropic magnetic particles; b) moving the substrate and slurry coating relative to a first magnetic field having a field strength which varies with time in a first direction, thereby selectively orienting the particles in areas spaced apart in a first direction; c) subsequently moving the substrate and slurry coating relative to a second magnetic field having a field strength which varies with time in a second direction making an oblique angle with the first direction, such that the magnetic particles are selectively oriented in spaced areas in both the first and further directions, and d) solidifying the slurry to fix the particles in place.

Abstract: A receiver of a frequency-modulated signal is provided. The receiver includes a frequency-transposition unit for lowering the frequency of the frequency-modulated signal, and a digital demodulator for regenerating a digital signal from the frequency-transposed signal. The frequency-transposition unit includes a local oscillator for generating a local oscillator signal used in lowering the frequency of the frequency-modulated signal. The frequency-transposed signal is sampled in the digital demodulator at the rate of a sampling signal, and the sampling signal is generated by the local oscillator of the frequency-transposition unit. In a preferred embodiment, the local oscillator includes at least one frequency-divider circuit that delivers the sampling signal. Also provided is a method for regenerating a digital signal from a frequency-modulated signal.

Abstract: An integrated electronic circuit with at least at least one passive electronic component and at least one active electronic component. The passive electronic component is formed within an insulating material disposed on a substrate. The active component is formed within a volume of substantially single-crystal semiconductor material disposed on top of the passive component.

Abstract: A boundary scan tester is provided for testing logic devices. The boundary scan tester includes a boundary scan register, a data decompressor, a data compressor, and a derived boundary scan register. The boundary scan register registers the applied test vectors and test responses of a logic device, and the data decompressor is coupled to an input of the boundary scan register for decompressing the applied compressed test vectors. The data compressor is coupled to an output of the boundary scan register for compressing the test responses, and the derived boundary scan register is coupled to an input of the decompressor and an output of the compressor for storing and shifting in/out the compressed test vectors and test responses.

Abstract: A system, method, and computer program product for establishing multi-party VoIP conference audio calls in a distributed, peer-to-peer network where any number of nodes are able to arbitrarily and asynchronously start or stop producing audio output to be mixed into a single composite audio stream that is distributed to all nodes. A single distribution tree is used that has optimal communications characteristics to distribute the composite audio signal to all nodes. An audio mixing tree is established and maintained by adaptively and dynamically adding and merging intermediate mixing nodes operating between user nodes and the root of the single distribution tree. The intermediate mixing nodes and the root of the single distribution tree are all hosted, in an exemplary embodiment, on user nodes that are endpoints of the distribution tree.

Abstract: A system, method and computer readable medium for capturing data during a print process. In an embodiment of the present invention, the method on a computer system includes observing a print command issued by an application. Next, a spool file in a condensed format, such as Extended Metafile Format (EMF), is written to a disk in response to the print command. This spool file read, and subsequently an output file is generated based on information in the spool file. The output file is written in EMF format if the output file contains image information. If the output file does not contain image information, the output file is written in text format. Then, the output file is modified to conform to a template. Lastly, the output file that was modified is sent to an output destination, such as a printer.

Abstract: An integrated device is provided that includes a non-volatile memory having an addressing parallelism and a data parallelism, and a communication interface for interfacing the memory with an external bus. The external bus has a transfer parallelism lower than the addressing parallelism and the data parallelism. The communication interface includes control means for executing multiple reading operations and/or multiple writing operations on the memory according to different modalities in response to corresponding command codes received from the external bus. Also provided is a method of operating such an integrated device.

Abstract: The invention proposes a method of managing an electronic circuit of the type comprising a memory (EEPROM) for the storage of confidential information, the method comprising masking variations of the electrical current (I) consumed by the electronic circuit, during a fraction of the time only (ti-tj), at least during the portion(s) of time during which an instruction bearing on confidential data is executed, and notably an instruction for reading out from the memory (EEPROM).

Abstract: A method of making bibs wherein an elongated web of absorbent paper is laminated with an elongated web of plastic film to form a laminated web by embossing the absorbent paper and heat sealing the embossed area with the plastic film. The embossed areas are in the form of an array of spaced areas of a predetermined geometry. A stripe of an adhesive is applied along an edge of the laminated web of absorbent paper and plastic film on the plastic film side thereof. The stripe of adhesive is covered with a release tape. The laminated web is severed transversely at predetermined longitudinal intervals to form individual bibs, which are collected.