Abstract: A system including a DMA controller for dynamically varying the size of DMA transfers. The controller includes means for buffering data blocks from the device as they arrive and means for dynamically activating a DMA operation and for varying the amount of data transferred on a DMA operation depending on the recent arrival rate of data and the amount of data already buffered for DMA transfer.

Abstract: In a windows environment, a plurality of computer program applications use a common look-up table to allocate colors. When the common look-up table is full, a mechanism must be provided to determine which colors will be stored in the common look-up table. Several alternatives exist; the order of the alternatives can be specified by the user or application program. A first alternative will attempt to allocate colors in the common look-up table with the true image colors called for by the program. A second alternative uses a reduced set (reduced number) of image colors so that they will fit in the common look-up table. The image colors are regenerated from the reduced set through a dithering or error diffusion algorithm. A third alternative is to find the color in the common look-up table which is mathematically closest to the image color. If these alternatives are not used, a new look-up table can be created.

Abstract: A new event forwarding discriminator (EFD) EFD named the persistent/impervious event forwarding discriminator (PI EFD) is described herein. The PI EFD is monitored by the agent infrastructure in such a way that if the agent goes down, and thus the PI EFD goes down, the agent rebuilds or restores the PI EFD with all its attributes. The PI EFD immediately creates an event notification indicating a create PI EFD event has occurred. This event notification is of the type passed by the PI EFD to the manager. The manager then knows the poll its other EFDs at the agent and recreate them as necessary.To foil rogue managers, the PI EFD can not be deleted by other managers. Also, the PI EFD has limited attributes that can be changed. A rogue manager can only add himself to the destination list; it can not otherwise change the attributes of the PI EFD.

Abstract: Fly ash is thermally processed in electrically heated, closed pre-heat and combustion chambers. In the combustion chamber, the fly ash is tumble mixed to produce maximum combustion of carbon in the fly ash. Further, the tumble mixing is done while injecting air and oxygen into the tumbling heated fly ash. The tumble mixing is accomplished by feed screws. The screw shafts are hollow with air orifices at regular intervals. As a result, an oxygenated air mixture may be injected into the tumbling fly ash to aid the combustion of the carbon in the fly ash. The flow rates for air and oxygen, the temperature of the pre-heat chamber and the combustion chamber, and the ash flow rate (speed of feed screws) may be adjusted to obtain the proper combustion to get the desired Loss On Ignition (LOI) value for the fly ash. Spectrometers monitoring the color of the output of the fly ash may be calibrated to adjust one or more of the above variables.

Abstract: The fly height of read/write heads in multiple disk drives is dynamically adjusted to optimum fly height by a servo loop. The fly height is sensed in real time with a harmonic ratio fly height detector and compared to an optimum or reference fly height. The suspension system of each head is adjusted in accordance with the departure of the fly height of that head from the optimum fly height. The adjustment of the suspension system is accomplished by bonding a piezoelectric film to the flexible suspension arm carrying each head. The fly height is corrected for both radial and circumferential error as the head changes radial and circumferential position relative to the disk surface. The reference fly height, to which each head is moved by the servo loop, may be selectively changed in the fly height servo operation. This can be done to lift the heads away from the disk surface during track seek mode or disk drive sleep mode.

Abstract: Amplitude information is derived from a periodic waveform by digitally sampling the periodic waveform, filtering a digital harmonic signal out of the digital sample sequence of the periodic waveform, and computing the root mean square of the digital Mth harmonic signal over a predetermined number of successive samplings of the periodic waveform. The digital sampling is done at a rate such that there will be an integer number of samples "L" over the period of the first harmonic component of the digital sample sequence of the waveform signal. The root mean square value computation is simplified by selecting the sampling window width N and the harmonic M so that there is a predetermined relationship to a critical sampling number L given by the expression, L=(4MN)/(2j+1) where j=0, 1, 2, . . . . As long as this relationship is satisfied, the RMS value can be computed by summing the absolute value of selected digital amplitude values of the selected harmonic component of the digitized signal.

Abstract: Method for setting the asynchronous transmission characteristics in a telecommunication equipment including a Serial Communication Controller (SCC) operating at different transmission rates, parity modes and numbers of bit per character. The method according to the present invention involves the step of setting the SCC at the higher communication rate in a none parity mode with a number of 8 bits per character. There is received a predetermined sequence of characters consisting in a succession of "Carriage Return" (CR) and "." characters. The method further involves the step of processing at least three received characters (CR, ., CR) involving the step of analyzing said received characters by comparing them with predetermined values simultaneous with the detection of parity errors, the processing step further involving the step of setting in responsive to the analyzing step, the SCC with the actual number of bits per character and the real parity mode which is used in the asynchronous transmission.

Abstract: A crane claw tilt switch in addition to a cable tension switch is used to prevent a crane claw from becoming entangled in its suspending cable. When the claw lands on the floor or some other object, it either comes to rest or starts to tilt. If it comes to rest, further lowering creates cable slack, operating the tension switch. If it starts to tilt, the tilt switch operates before the claw tilts enough to allow an arm of the claw to catch on the cable. In response to the operation of either switch, a system processor commands the claw to automatically raise, ensuring that it does not become entangled in its cable.

Abstract: A large mixing network is implemented by distributing the processing of digital audio data to multiple digital processing modules where each module has multiple digital signal processors. The data is multiplexed from all audio stations to all distributed processing modules. The task of transferring audio data between audio bus and distributed processing module (DPM) and the task of processing audio data at the DPM are performed in parallel. Further, the data is multiplexed in large bursts of samples to increase the efficiency of audio data processing by the digital signal processors at the DPM.

Abstract: A compact self-contained bedwetting alarm uses intermittent vibration to awaken the user. Sensors on the surface of the alarm enclosure sense the presence of urine and activate a low frequency vibration. The vibration is turned on and off by a timer so that the user is not lulled to sleep by the vibration. The alarm may be worn in close proximity to the source of urine. There are no external wires to entangle, and the position of the alarm close to the source of urine reminds the user to control the emission of urine when the alarm is on.

Abstract: Multiple versions of a given system command are run on a single operating system by using one command processing program per command irrespective of its version. Each version of the command has a command definition which has the same format for all counterparts of the command. A command analyzer program transforms the parameters of a command character string into the correct data form for its command processing program based on the command definition for that version of the command. Multiple sets of command definitions are placed in separate storage directories called libraries. The libraries are searched based on a version identifier to find the command definition for a command. The version identifier may be specified as a program attribute, entered interactively or entered by the system. Multiple programs written with different versions of commands may be run in conjunction with each other and the system will dynamically adapt to the version of each program as it is running.

Abstract: A bias current servo loop for a magneto-resistive recording head detects distortion in the read signal from the MR head, and adjusts the operating point for the head to minimize the distortion. The distortion is detected by monitoring the second harmonic of a digitized sample of the read signal. A running average of the digitized amplitude of the second harmonic is generated by a digital bandpass filter. The root mean square of the running average of the digitized amplitude of the second harmonic is estimated. The estimated RMS value is compared against a reference value indicative of minimum distortion and the difference between the estimated RMS value and the reference value is used to adjust the bias current.

Abstract: In a rigid magnetic recording disk, the magnetic properties, such as the coercivity, of a cobalt based, hard, magnetic alloy, such as a cobalt-platinum-chromium (CoPtCr) thin film magnetic recording layer, are controlled by providing a thin, sputtered, underlayer of a nonmagnetic, binary, chromium-tungsten (CrW) alloy whose major constituent is chromium, and preferably of a composition Cr.sub.88 W.sub.12 upon which the thin film magnetic recording layer is subsequently sputter deposited.

Abstract: Amplification and synchronization of photon pulses in optical computing chips is accomplished by placing parametric amplifying devices at predetermined spatial locations in the light conductive paths that make up the optical circuits in the chip. The laser pumping signal for the parametric amplifiers is clocked by a system clock which also clocks the generation of the data photon pulses in the optical circuits. By synchronizing the arrival of a pumping pulse with the arrival of the photon pulse at a parametric amplifier, the data pulse can be amplified, reshaped and resynchronized. The pumping pulse can be directed to the spatially located parametric amplifiers on the chip in a number of different ways. The chip could be masked except for the parametric amplifiers, and the entire chip could be illuminated by the pumping laser though collimating lens. If the chip is not masked, then pumping light must be directed only to the parametric amplifiers.

Abstract: A composite continuous surface rail is constructed by combining a load-bearing support rail divided into segments to allow for thermal expansion with a continuous surface rail that slideably engages the support rail and spans any number of support rail segments. The continuous top or surface rail includes a running rail and an expansion rail. The expansion rail is provided to absorb thermal expansion of the running rail while continuing to provide a continuous composite rail surface. The surface rail and/or support rail may be electrified. An electrified running rail and expansion rail will provide an electrified composite rail with electrical continuity.

Abstract: In a process for manufacturing a rigid magnetic recording disk, the disk's rigid substrate member is subjected to a force that produces plastic deformation in a manner so as not to remove material therefrom. In this way, the disk is provided with a surface topography that contains a controlled texture, for example in the area of the disk's start/stop track. In an embodiment of the invention, an ultrasonic probe and a disk shaped substrate member are placed in close proximity within a container that holds a fluid abrasive slurry, i.e. a suspension of hard particles in a liquid. Operation of the ultrasonic probe, as the substrate member rotates, causes the slurry to texture an adjacent portion of the substrate member by means of plastic deformation and in the absence of material removal from the substrate member. Operation of the probe thus provides texturing of the disk at an inner diameter track area thereof, for example in the disk's start/stop area.

Abstract: A composite continuous surface rail is constructed by combining a load-bearing support rail divided into segments to allow for thermal expansion with a continuous surface rail that slideably engages the support rail and spans any number of support rail segments. The continuous top or surface rail includes a running rail and an expansion rail. The expansion rail is provided to absorb thermal expansion of the running rail while continuing to provide a continuous composite rail surface. The surface rail and/or support rail may be electrified. An electrified running rail and expansion rail will provide an electrified composite rail with electrical continuity.

Abstract: An implant injector for animals is adjustable for implant insertion depth. The distance, that the injector needle or cannula, extends past the nose of the injector is adjustable. The insertion depth adjustment is accomplished by moving the nose of the injector relative to the tip of the cannula that extends past the nose. In addition to adjusting the insertion depth, the cannula or needle, may also be rotated to a plurality of positions relative to the injector handle.A spring loaded plunger, when released by a release button, will push the implant out the end of the cannula as the operator withdraws the cannula from the animal. The release button is designed as a safety trigger to avoid premature activation of the plunger during insertion of the needle.Needles, or cannulas of various diameters and lengths, may be interchanged in the injector.

Abstract: A composite continuous surface rail is constructed by combining a load-bearing support rail divided into segments to allow for thermal expansion with a continuous surface rail that slideably engages the support rail and spans any number of support rail segments. The continuous top or surface rail includes a running rail and an expansion rail. The expansion rail is provided to absorb thermal expansion of the running rail while continuing to provide a continuous composite rail surface. The surface rail and/or support rail may be electrified. An electrified running rail and expansion rail will provide an electrified composite rail with electrical continuity.

Abstract: The magnetic properties of a cobalt based, thin film, magnetic recording layer are controlled, independent of controlling the process for depositing the magnetic layer itself, by the introduction of process compatible dopant gases into an argon atmosphere during the vacuum deposition (i.e. a sputtering process or an evaporation process) of a chromium based underlayer upon which the magnetic layer is subsequently deposited. The same or a different dopant may also be introduced into the magnetic layer. The process compatible dopant gases described contain oxygen, nitrogen and/or carbon, and mixtures thereof, and include the group purified air, oxygen, nitrogen, a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor.