Abstract: A computer system and method utilizes depth perception on a graphic display to enhance the visualization of functional information, such as variables of an electrical circuit. A parallax shift is computed for the functional information and displayed against a background of a schematic of the circuit. This enables the values of the circuit variables to be represented by depth on the display.

Abstract: The invention provides a new production scheduling system. The system includes a technique that utilizes a knowledge base system to dynamically schedule production of parts on a plurality of manufacturing machines. The schedule is updated dynamically to conserve synergism with the changing plant environment. The schedule is created to conform with predefined rules to conserve constraints imposed by the machinery to create parts of different specifications. The rules may be hard in that they may be specifiable in mathematical terms or they may be heuristic and soft in that they may be allowed to be relaxed as determined by operators who have learned from experience with the production machinery. Finally, the invention allows interactive monitoring and adjustment of the schedule by an operator including selective seeding of the schedule.

Abstract: A multi-dimensional, multi-nodal routing mechanism is described for relaying information from node to node using a header consisting of route descriptor bits. Each node's receiver/transmitter pair changes states as the information is guided to the destination node. The message is propagated over several nodes simultaneously to traverse the nodes and reach the destination node quickly. When the final node is reached, all alternate communication routes are freed.

Abstract: A system for detecting and resolving conflicts between a plurality of aircraft or other objects on potentially conflicting trajectories in space. A two-dimensional graph generated on a processor-controlled display depicts the trajectory of one of the aircraft and creates particles that have identical velocity as the particular aircraft of interest. Each particle is at a different initial position from all other particles (in the sense of mathematical physics, a field is defined). That is, motion constraints are defined in terms of particles with specific characteristics and a algorithms for conflict avoidance are constructed by selecting a given particle which satisfies all of the constraints.

Abstract: An interface circuit for providing an interface with the parallel data bus that transfers information in a multiple of formats. The interface includes a control circuit that receives or sends control signals from or to the parallel bus to regulate the data transfer and to specify one of the plurality of formats. An addressing circuit, connected to the control circuit, is provided for computing addresses for each of the data received or sent according to the specified format. An accessing circuit connected to the bus, control and address circuits is provided to store or retrieve data from or to the bus according to the computed data addresses. This interface provides a means to serialize data when, in one format, the first word of a data transfer is provided on one part of the data bus but, in a second format, the first data word is provided on another part of the data bus.

Abstract: The detection of DTMF tones is improved in a three-step process: first testing even-numbered samples; then testing odd-numbered samples, and finally testing for tone quality (time interval and frequency stability).

Abstract: An improved technique for processing large amounts of information and displaying that information graphically. The graphic display focuses attention to suspect areas employing colors and shading techniques to quickly focus the user's attention to problem areas. Multidimensional objects clearly convey global information concerning circuits employing millions of networks of electrical characteristics.

Abstract: Method for determining the baud rate of a data stream by comparison of captured data to known autobaud characters. Samples are received from the communication device and stored in memory until a set of the samples are accumulated. Then, a sample clock is divided in half and the odd numbered samples are compared to a set of known autobaud characters. If a match occurs, then the sample clock is assumed to be correctly synchronized with the incoming serial data stream. If a match does not occur, then the even samples are recirculated and eight more samples are collected. The sample clock is again divided in half and the odd numbered samples are compared to the set of known autobaud characters. If a match occurs, then the sample clock is assumed to be correctly synchronized with the incoming data stream. These steps are repeated until an autobaud character match is found or an error situation is determined.

Abstract: In a switching system interconnecting transmission links (21-i, 23-i) on which circuit switched (CS) and packet switched (PS) information is transferred, a switch fabric (11) is provided which interconnects a plurality of input ports (15-i) to a plurality of output ports (19-i). The information arriving on incoming links is converted in switch adapters (13-i) to uniform minipackets, each having a routing address designating the required output port. The switch fabric consists of parallel equal switching slices, e.g. binary routing trees (71), which transfer in a non-blocking manner each minipacket from its input port to one output port in response to the routing address. Collecting means (73, 75) are provided at each output port for accepting the minipackets arriving from the different input ports.

Abstract: In many business applications, data about a client is created and entered on an agent's data terminal during a teleconference with the client. Often, it is necessary to transfer the client to a specialist during the course of the conversation. This invention describes a method of selecting the optimal phone extension, based on balancing agent load, from a group of phones to transfer the call and the data terminal information associated with the call to. A Computerized Branch Exchange (CBX) is used to transfer the call and pass a host program the phone source extension and the destination extension for the transfer. The host program looks up the source and destination extensions in a phone to terminal file and determines the network address of the data terminals involved and transfers the appropriate host application terminal display to invoke a transfer of display information.

Abstract: In many business applications, data about a client is created and entered on an agent's data terminal during a teleconference with the client. Often, it is necessary to transfer the client to a specialist during the course of the conversation. Alternatively, it is necessary to allow multiple parties to access information together to respond to a client's needs. This invention describes a method of sharing the call and the data terminal information associated with the call with a plurality of phone extensions and their associated data terminals. This capability facilitates shared access to information. A plurality of Computerized Branch Exchangers (CBX) are joined via a network means to facilitate the transfer of the call and pass a host program the phone source extension and the destination extension for the transfer.

Abstract: In many business applications, data about a client is created and entered on an agent's data terminal during a teleconference with the client. Often, it is necessary to transfer the client to a specialist during the course of the conversation. This invention describes a method of transferring the call and the data terminal information associated with the call to any available phone extension with an associated data terminal. A plurality of Computerized Branch Exchanges (CBX) are joined via a network means to facilitate the transfer of the call and pass a host program the phone source extension and the destination extension for the transfer. The host program looks up the source and destination extensions in a phone to terminal file and determines the network address of the data terminals involved and transfers the appropriate host application terminal display to invoke a transfer of display information.

Abstract: A pitch detector to adjust long term prediction in a pulse excitation speech coder. A residual signal r(n) is first derived from the speech signal s(n) by short term filtering. Then, r(n) is processed to calculate a prediction error signal e(n) which is subsequently pulse excitation encoded. The processing of e(n) entails prediction of a residual by measuring a pitch related factor M, employing two steps. First calculating a coarse M value through peak clipping and sign transition detection, and then adjusting the M value by autocorrelation--calculations about the roughly spaced peaks.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for detecting and analyzing errors in a communications system is described. The method employs expert system techniques to isolate failures to specific field replaceable units and provide detailed messages to guide an operator to a solution. The expert system techniques include detailed decision trees designed for each resource in the system. The decision trees also filter extraneous sources of errors from affecting the error analysis results.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for detecting and analyzing errors in a communications system is described. The method employs expert system techniques to isolate failures to specific field replaceable units and attempts to restore the failing unit to service by removing it from service, resetting the resource and returning it to service if it passes retesting. The expert system techniques include detailed decision trees designed for each resource in the system. The decision trees also filter extraneous sources of errors from affecting the error analysis results.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for detecting and analyzing errors in a communications system is described. The method employs expert system techniques to isolate failures to specific field replaceable units and attempts to restore the failing unit to service, if the system will not be adversely affected, by removing it from service, resetting the resource and returning it to service if it passes retesting. The expert system techniques include detailed decision trees designed for each resource in the system. The decision trees also filter extraneous sources of errors from affecting the error analysis results.

Abstract: In many business applications, data about a client is created and entered on an agent's data terminal during a teleconference with the client. Often, it is necessary to transfer the client to a specialist during the course of the conversation. This invention describes a method of transferring the call and the data terminal information associated with the call to any available phone extension with an associated data terminal. A Computerized Branch Exchange (CBX) is used to transfer the call and pass a host program the phone source extension and the destination extension for the transfer. The host program looks up the source and destination extensions in a phone to terminal file and determines the network address of the data terminals involved and transfers the appropriate host application terminal display to invoke a transfer of display information. The host application sends the data terminal information to the destination data terminal display in conjunction with the transferred phone call.