Abstract: A system includes a processor which has access to a representation of model of activity, which includes workspaces. Each workspace includes domain hierarchies for representing an organizational structure of the collaborating users using the system, and initiatives hierarchies representing process structures for accomplishing goals. An interface permits users to view and modify the workspaces for which the user has access. Each user can have different access permissions in different workspaces. The domain and initiative hierarchies provide two views of the workspace objects without duplicating resources. A resource is a collection of shared elements defined by the users that give users associated with the workspace access to information sources. Users can define knowledge boards for creating reports based on information fields of the resources. The knowledge board is associated with a resource template from which the resource is created.

Abstract: An improved electric motor scooter includes: a front frame; a front wheel assembly coupled to the front frame and residing on a surface; a back frame; a back wheel assembly coupled to the back frame and residing on the surface; and a center pivot mechanism coupled to the front frame and the back frame. The center pivot mechanism includes a pivot and a folding axis around which the pivot rotates. The folding axis is not perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the scooter and is tilted from the longitudinal axis at an angle. A rotation of the pivot in a direction folds the scooter vertically from the surface and moves the back wheel assembly toward the front wheel assembly according to the angle. During the folding, the front wheel assembly and the back wheel assembly each remains on the surface as the pivot rotates.

Abstract: A versioned relational database system (VRDBS) in which versions of data contained in a relational database system are accessed by means of workspaces. Metadata in the VRDBS permits a workspace to have multiple parents. The multi-parented VRDBS performs operations including specifying that a workspace be made an additional parent of another workspace or that an additional parent be removed as a parent of the other workspace. The fact that a workspace may have multiple parents affects the manner in which merge and refresh operations are performed and the manner in which system-enforced constraints such as primary key constraints, unique key constraints, and referential integrity constraints are handled. The metadata for the VRDBMS includes a multi-parent graph for each workspace that has multiple parents. The multi-parent graph is used in the performance of the merge and refresh operations and in determining constraint violations.

Abstract: A technique for determining the modulation index of a frequency-modulated laser source from the absorption spectrum that is produced when light from the laser passes through an alkali metal vapor cell. The absorption spectrum contains a primary minimum and a number of satellite minima and the modulation index is determined using ratios of the minima. The technique is used to calibrate the laser source of a CPT frequency standard so that it operates at a desired modulation index. Ways are disclosed of using the technique to calibrate the CPT frequency standard either manually or automatically. The calibration may be done when the CPT frequency standard is built, when the frequency standard is initialized, or during normal operation of the CPT frequency standard.

Abstract: A database management system that has bitmap values in which set bits in a representation of a bitstring specify a set of objects whose definitions are built into the database management system. The database management system further includes user-accessible operations on the bitmap values. The bitmap values are represented by means of a mapping specifier that specifies a range of the set of objects and a representation of a string of bits that has been mapped onto the set of object specified by the range specifier. Objects containing bitmap values may be indexed by means of an index tree that includes summary bitmap values.

Abstract: Techniques used in an automatic failover configuration having a primary database system, a standby database system, and an observer for preventing divergence among the primary and standby database systems while increasing the availability of the primary database system. In the automatic failover configuration, the primary database system remains available even in the absence of both the standby and the observer as long as the standby and the observer become absent sequentially. The failover configuration further permits automatic failover only when the observer is present and the standby and the primary are synchronized and inhibits state changes during failover. The database systems and the observer have copies of failover configuration state and the techniques include techniques for propagating the most recent version of the state among the databases and the observer and techniques for using carefully-ordered writes to ensure that state changes are propagated in a fashion which prevents divergence.

Abstract: A repository server that makes stored copies of Web-accessible documents available at times when the documents themselves are inaccessible via the Web, because the server the document is located on is unavailable, because the server has removed or renamed the document, or because the server has replaced the version of which the stored copy is a copy with a different version. A client of the repository server may register a document in the repository server. The repository server makes a copy of the registered document and returns a repository URL for the copy to the client. The repository URL may be used to fetch the copy from the repository URL. Registration further relates the stored copy to its document URL, to an identifier for the stored copy, to a fingerprint that is a condensed representation of the stored copy's content and to a set of stored copies having similar content.

Abstract: The TABLE function mechanism available in a RDBMS is used to integrate RDF models into SQL queries. The table function invocation takes parameters including an RDF pattern, an RDF model, and an RDF rule base and returns result rows to the SQL query that contain RDF triples resulting from the application of the pattern to the triples of the model and the triples inferred by applying the rule base to the model. The RDBMS includes relational representations of the triples and the rules. Optimizations include indexes and materialized views of the representations of the triples, precomputed inferred triples, and a method associated with the TABLE function that rewrites the part of the SQL query that contains the TABLE function invocation as an equivalent SQL string. The latter technique is generally applicable to TABLE functions.

Abstract: Techniques used in an automatic failover configuration having a primary database system, a standby database system, and an observer for preventing divergence among the primary and standby database systems while increasing the availability of the primary database system. In the automatic failover configuration, the primary database system remains available even in the absence of both the standby and the observer as long as the standby and the observer become absent sequentially. The failover configuration further permits automatic failover only when the observer is present and the standby and the primary are synchronized and inhibits state changes during failover. The database systems and the observer have copies of failover configuration state and the techniques include techniques for propagating the most recent version of the state among the databases and the observer and techniques for using carefully-ordered writes to ensure that state changes are propagated in a fashion which prevents divergence.

Abstract: An improved resource allocation system comprising a reliability decision engine (323), which allocates the portfolio's assets as required for the desired reliability portfolio. The reliability decision engine including two reliability decision engines, a basic reliability decision engine (325) and a robust reliability decision engine (327). The use of robust optimization makes it possible to determine the sensitivity of the optimized portfolio. Scenarios can be specified directly by the user or automatically generated by the system in response to a selection by the user. Inputs (329, 331) are applied to basic the basic reliability decision engine (325) and inputs (311) are applied to robust reliability decision engine (327).

Abstract: An integrated circuit (203) for use in processing streams of data generally and streams of packets in particular. The integrated circuit (203) includes a number of packet processors (307, 313, 303), a table look up engine (301), a queue management engine (305) and a buffer management engine (315). The packet processors (307, 313, 303) include a receive processor (421), a transmit processor (427) and a risc core processor (401), all of which are programmable. The receive processor (421) and the core processor (401) cooperate to receive and route packets being received and the core processor (401) and the transmit processor (427) cooperate to transmit packets. Routing is done by using information from the table look up engine (301) to determine a queue (215) in the queue management engine (305) which is to receive a descriptor (217) describing the received packet's payload.

Abstract: A process control system that automatically monitors processes and performs activities based on conditions detected during monitoring. The information needed to do the monitoring and perform activities is contained in tables in a database system. The process control system may be configured by configuring entries in the tables. An administrative query table has records that define administrative queries. Each administrative query has associated with it a query to be executed on a table of process records that indicate statuses of the processes being monitored, a scope that defines a subset of the process records upon which the query is to be executed, a schedule from which a time of next execution of the administrative query can be computed, and an activity. The activity is a set of one or more actions.

Abstract: Techniques used in an automatic failover configuration having a primary database system, a standby database system, and an observer for preventing divergence among the primary and standby database systems while increasing the availability of the primary database system. In the automatic failover configuration, the primary database system remains available even in the absence of both the standby and the observer as long as the standby and the observer become absent sequentially. The failover configuration further permits automatic failover only when the observer is present and the standby and the primary are synchronized and inhibits state changes during failover. The database systems and the observer have copies of failover configuration state and the techniques include techniques for propagating the most recent version of the state among the databases and the observer and techniques for using carefully-ordered writes to ensure that state changes are propagated in a fashion which prevents divergence.

Abstract: Techniques for reducing commit latency in a database system having a primary database system and a standby database system that is receiving a stream of redo data items from the primary. The standby sends an acknowledgment for a received item of redo data before the standby writes the redo data item to a redo log for the stream. When a no more redo event occurs in the standby, the standby sets a “no data lost flag” in the redo log if the stream of redo data items has no gaps and all of the redo data items received in the standby have been written to the redo log. The database system may operate in a first mode in which an acknowledgment is sent as just described and a second mode in which an acknowledgment is sent after the redo data item has been written to the redo log.

Abstract: A tool implemented in a computer system for analyzing the performance of a set of investment opportunities (FIG. 2). The tool operates in a screening mode whose displayed results permit the user to compare performance of the investment opportunities over time (211) and in a fitting mode whose displayed results permit the user to compare performance of pairs of the investment opportunities with regard to diversity of risk (213). In the screening mode, the investments are compared with regard to a number of different metrics. Included in the metrics is the Hunter Ratio, a pseudo-reliability metric. In the fitting mode, the correlation coefficient and Blend Anxiety of the returns of pairs of investment opportunities are measured. The Blend Anxiety is computed using the covariance of the returns. A graphical user interface for the tool permits the user to select investment opportunities, asset classes, benchmarks, kinds of calculations, and periods of time over which the calculations are to be performed (201).

Abstract: Techniques for using gaze actions to interact with interactive displays. A pointing device includes an eye movement tracker that tracks eye movements and an eye movement analyzer. The eye movement analyzer analyzes the eye movements for a sequence of gaze movements that indicate a gaze action which specifies an operation on the display. A gaze movement may have a location, a direction, a length, and a velocity. A processor receives an indication of the gaze action and performs the operation specified by the gaze action on the display. The interactive display may be digital or may involve real objects. Gaze actions may correspond to mouse events and may be used with standard graphical user interfaces.

Abstract: A graphical user interface based method of configuring automatic failover from a primary database system to a standby database system that is coupled to the primary database system by a network. Also coupled to the network is an observer process that is independent of the database systems and that initiates the failover process. The observer periodically pings the database systems to determine whether a failover is necessary. The graphical user interface permits a user to specify the primary and secondary database systems, configure the observer, and specify conditions under which a failover may occur and to enable automatic failover. A failover context is created from the inputs to the GUI and stored in persistent storage belonging to the database systems. If the Observer's context is stale, the Observer fetches the database system's context.

Abstract: A middle-tier Web server with a queryable cache that contains items from one or more data sources. Items are included in the cache on the basis of the probability of future hits on the items. When the data source determines that an item that has been included in the cache has changed, it sends an update message to the server, which updates the item if it is still included in the cache. As disclosed, the data source is a database system and triggers in the database system are used to generate update messages. The data access layer determines whether a data item required by an application program is in the cache. If it is, the data access layer obtains the data item from the cache; otherwise, it obtains it from the data source. The Web application programs use global data set identifiers to identify data sets, while the cached data sets are identified by local data set identifiers.

Abstract: A process control system implemented in a database system that automatically monitors processes represented by process records in the database system. The monitoring is done by querying the process records. An administrative query table has records that define administrative queries which are repeatedly executed on the process records. Each administrative query has associated with it a query to be executed on the process records and an activity that is a set of one or more administrative actions. When an administrative query is executed, the activity is performed with regard to each of the process records of the result set. Among the administrative actions are administrative triggers. An administrative trigger specifies another administrative activity that is performed when the administrative activity to which the administrative trigger belongs is performed. The other administrative activity may perform a dynamic query.

Abstract: A digital system that may be used by children two years old and older. The digital system is contained in a child-proof case and has an upward-facing display with a touch-sensitive screen that is within easy reach of a child. Other I/O devices include proximity and motion sensors and a microphone, and there is also a loudspeaker. When a proximity sensor senses someone in the neighborhood of the system, it displays images on the display. A child may manipulate the images by touching them on the touch screen. Manipulations include selecting an image by touching it, “dragging” the selected image by moving the finger touching the image across the screen and “dropping” the image by lifting a finger from it, moving a selected image by touching another location on the screen and thereby causing the selected image to move to the touched location, removing an image from the screen by “throwing” it, i.e.