Abstract: A novel radio frequency transponder (tag) with a minimum of components and connects is thin and flexible because these components and connects can be unsupported by a substrate layer. This is accomplished by using a conducting leadframe structure not only as a connection medium but also as a circuit element, i.e., the transponder antenna. In various preferred embodiments, the leadframe is mechanically positioned and fixably attached to a circuit chip so that the leadframe (antenna) is self supporting. A protective coating can be added where the leadframe is attached to the circuit chip. Further a protective surrounding can envelops the entire leadframe antenna, circuit chip, and, if provided, the protective coating.

Abstract: When migrating legacy database systems to a new database system the relationships between tables need to be preserved. Also, base tables and their children have to maintain their relationship. A database system which creates a system generated unique key is stored with the data which is loaded. To enable load, search, and retrieval to be efficient a data remapping function is defined which uses the system generated key to maintain the relationships which were maintained by a unique key in the legacy systems.

Abstract: Using a graphical user interface (GUI), users manipulate, organize, classify, and/or arrange icons by having the icons be consolidated in priority-control icons (PCI) containing regions. Regions may be on icons, windows, or other graphical objects. For example, when an icon representing a process is dragged close to a region on a PCI, the priority of that process is changed. The priority value depends upon to which region on the PCI a process is dragged.

Abstract: Communication of information between the inside and the outside of an electrically conducting enclosure is performed through the use of a frequency selective surface on the electrically conducting enclosure, which permits passage of electromagnetic waves at particular frequencies, but prohibits waves of other frequencies from penetration. Thus, one or more objects contained within the electrically conducting enclosure, which include radio frequency tags attached to the objects containing information about the objects, may be monitored or interrogated by the transmission of an electromagnetic wave at the permitted frequency through the frequency selective surface. With such a system, control and inventory of enclosed objects may be performed while the EMI shielding function of the electrically conducting enclosure is maintained.

Abstract: A reference storage process populates a data structure so that the data structure contains all of the molecular structures and/or rigid substructures in the database classified according to attributes of tuples. In a preferred embodiment, the tuples are derived from sites (e.g. atomic sites) of the molecular structures and the attributes can be derived from geometric (and other) information related to the tuples. The attributes are used to define indices in the data structure that are associated with invariant vector information (e.g. information about rotatable bond(s) in skewed local coordinate frames created from tuples). These representations are invariant with respect to the rotation and translation of molecular structures and/or the rotation of substructures about attached rotatable bond(s). Accordingly, the invariant vector information is classified in the data structure with the respective tuple attributes in locations determined by the index derived from the respective tuple.

Abstract: Using this invention, more than one variable that is shared in a multiprocessing environment can be updated atomically. Each computer processor operating in the multiprocessing environment contains more than one reservation register which, along with this novel method, are used to place reservations on each of more than one shared variable. During the execution of a program, a plurality of shared variables can be reserved, each by its respective reservation register. A reservation is placed on a shared variable by means of a special instruction. The reservation register keeps track of: the address of the shared variable that it is reserving, the value of the modified results that are to be updated in the shared variable address, whether the variable has been updated, whether the reservation is valid, and whether the processor containing the reservation register has a privilege to update the shared variable.

Abstract: The present invention is a magnetic sensor used with one or more frequency band pass filters and a logic circuit that produces a ("critical") signal that is used for enabling and disabling an external electronic circuit, e.g. a computer circuit. The magnetic sensor produces a signal when excited by an externally applied alternating current (ac) magnetic field. The external ac magnetic field can comprise one or more frequencies, each of which induces an electrical signal at the respective frequency in the sensor. Depending on the linearity of the sensor, one or more harmonic frequencies of the signal frequencies can also be induced in the sensor. One or more bandpass filters is connected to the magnetic sensor and each of the bandpass filters is tuned to filter the signal to select filtered signals, from the output of the sensor. A logic circuit is activated by one or more of the filtered signals or a combination of one or more of the signal frequencies.

Abstract: The present apparatus is a mobile shopping cart that can automatically keep track of objects selected and carried in the cart and provide a customer using the cart information like the total price of the items carried. The cart has a radio frequency cart base station with a cart antenna connected to a radio frequency cart transceiver. Various novel embodiments of the invention produce a radio frequency field within the shopping cart that is used to communicate with radio frequency tags on objects carried in the cart. The tags contain information about the respective carried object to which the tags are attached. A program function executed by the cart circuit and/or computer controls the cart transceiver to interrogate radio frequency tags within the radio frequency field, i.e. inside the cart to gain information about the carried objects. Tags on objects external to the cart are not interrogated.

Abstract: The behavior of entities with common characteristics is profiled using fuzzy logic. First, behavior characteristics, or indicators of a target behavior, are determined. Norms and fuzzy sets are established for each behavior characteristic and then fuzzy logic is used to develop a series of scores. A behavior profile is developed from a collection of scores, and is organized either linearly or in a hierarchy, that can be used to compare the degree to which an entity within a peer group is, or is not, associated with a set of behavior characteristics relative to others in the same peer group. The number and organization of the behavior characteristics in the profile is expandable and the importance of characteristics can be weighted.

Abstract: In a scheduling system, events and/or groups of events are checked at a scheduling time to insure that certain fixed conditions associated with the event(s) are satisfied. The events are also checked at one or more times, between scheduling time and a performance time (when the event(s) are to be performed), called "prepare to perform time(s)." At the prepare to perform time(s), certain dynamic conditions and/or data associated with the events are checked to determine whether the dynamic conditions are satisfied. If the dynamic conditions are satisfied, the event(s) are confirmed for performance. If one or more of the dynamic conditions are not satisfied, the event(s) are modified. Events can be modified by cancelling, altering or postponing. When an event(s) is modified, a notification can be sent out. Further, a modification of a event(s) can cause modifications to one or more subsequent events in the event group (propagation.

Abstract: A radiofrequency identification tag has a semiconductor chip with radio frequency circuit, logic, memory circuits, and further includes an antenna that is mounted on a substrate. The antenna may be used by the chip to modulate an incident RF signal to transfer information to a base station. The antenna comprises one or more lengths of thin wire that are connected directly to the chip by means of wire bonding. The chip and antenna combination can be sealed with an organic film covering.

Abstract: Windows, icons, or TV channel selections can be conveniently moved between multiple monitors controlled by a single device such as a computer. The monitors may be cathode ray tubes (CRTs) for liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Inter-monitor movement is achieved using a "transport" region into which icons, windows, or TV channel selections are moved on a particular monitor. Once in this region, the icons, windows, or TV channel selections transport from the current monitor to a second monitor. In instances where a large number of icons are used, this is a means for consolidating, managing, and displaying them in an organized way.

Abstract: A transponder is disclosed comprising a resonant RLC circuit with one or more components that can be connected or disconnected non-destructively using switches that respond to an externally applied magnetic field. The switching in or out of the components causes a change in the resonant frequency of the original RLC circuit that is detected by the base station sweeping a carrier signal through a range of frequencies to detect a returned signal that changes when the carrier signal frequency matches the resonant frequency of the resonant circuit/tag. The resonant frequency changes when one or more of the circuit components is connected or disconnected. Each switch transfers at a unique magnetic field intensity so that electrical contact is achieved at a predetermined value of an externally applied magnetic field. The detected changes are used to create a code that is used to pass information from the resonant circuit/tag to the base station.

Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for selecting certain subgroups of radio frequency (RF) tags for querying, communicating, and/or identifying by a base station. The base station sends commands to a group tags within a RF field of the base station. The tags use control logic to determine whether or not they meet certain criteria sent out by the commands. This may cause the tags to change state which either prevents or allows a given tag to participate in an identification process. In this way, a given subgroup(s) of tags meeting certain criteria can be selected for querying, communicating, and/or identifying.

Abstract: A radio frequency (RF) tagging system is used to monitor vehicles passing through an area access to one or more vehicle storage area(s). One or more of the vehicles stored in the storage area is equipped with a RF tag which has vehicle ID information about the vehicle stored in a tag memory contained on the tag. The tag communicates with a base station when passing through the area accesses, (entering or leaving). A central and preferably one or more remote computers accesses status information that might include vehicle identification, customer, lot identification, time of day, and vehicle and lot status. The information is used in security or marketing functions. The security function can include a paging system for sending alarms and/or messages to a manager or security personnel. The marketing function can include determining how long or how many times different makes an model of vehicle are chosen by customers for test drives.

Abstract: An image processing system segments an object from the background of a scene by controlling a light source to illuminate the object more in one scene image than in another scene image. The two scene images are captured by an image input device and are then compared. The part of the image that experienced an increase in intensity is segmented as corresponding to the object. The image input device and the light source can also be placed in an opaque enclosure with an opening through which the input device can view and the light can illuminate the object. By placing the enclosure the correct distance away from the object, the effects of ambient light on the image are removed. Object glare is removed by a polarizing filter system.

Abstract: To archive information, a phrase or sentence describing the information, typically expressed in a natural language and conforming to the rules of a grammar (like a natural language grammar) is used to create a structured index which also conforms to the natural language grammar. The structured index has structure because the words in the index have a function and a relationship among each other as determined by the grammar. The index is combined with a location pointer of information to be cataloged, preferably multimedia information, to form a matched pair, i.e., a structured index and a segment (or a pointed to a multimedia object). The matched pair is stored in a database for later retrieval. Retrieval is based on parsing a query into a query structure that is identical or similar to the structured index.

Abstract: A diode modulator which is not part of the rectifier power supply circuit of an RF Transponder is controlled by the transponder electronic logic and memory circuitry to conduct RF current from a second terminal to a first terminal of the RF Transponder antenna in a first state of the transponder electronic circuitry, and does not conduct appreciable current in a second state of the transponder electronic circuitry, thereby changing the loading of the RF Transponder antenna between the first state and the second state of the transponder electronic circuitry, and thereby changing the intensity of the RF radiation backscattered from the RF Tag. The present invention has further advantages that the same diode used as a modulator can also be used in the transponder receiver circuit.

Abstract: During the execution of an object-oriented program, an execution model extracts information from events in an event stream to create a dictionary of (stored) "communication records." These communication records represent communications to or between objects. A client program permits a user to query the records of the dictionary to access information and gain a better understanding of the program's execution. Different dictionary structures for storing information can be used to represent the communication records for these communications. Moreover, in alternative preferred embodiments, the dictionary can be arranged in various hierarchical structures. By providing different dictionary structures, the invention is flexible enough to accommodate many types of user queries.

Abstract: This invention includes a consensus protocol, a broadcast protocol and a fault tolerant computer system created by using the two protocols together in combination. The protocols and system use the minimum number of processors to create a system tolerant of concurrent processor crash and byzantine failures. The protocols are subject to certain validity conditions. The system in the state of consensus is guaranteed to have all non-faulty processors in agreement as to what action the system should take. The system and protocols can tolerate up to t total number of processor failures, no more than b of which may fail in the byzantine mode.