Abstract: A Fast Walsh Transform (FWT) processor is disclosed, based on Good's factorization, which reduces the number of adder/subtractor units to (N/2), where N is the dimension of the FWT. The process time is equal to 2p clock cycles, where p=the 2's power of N. The clock period is determined by the delay times of the processor's internal devices (multiplexers, adder/subtractors, flip-flops), and can be minimized by using high speed complementary metal oxide semi-conductor (CMOS), or equivalent. The improvements in speed, and simplicity of implementation disclosed herein, offer performance and cost benefits in the field of digital cordless telephone technology.

Abstract: In a method for payment for services and/or goods, an apparatus with a data terminal device for reading and changing an amount value in a credit balance carrier and a security module provided with a first memory area and a second memory area is used, which is connected to the data terminal device via a communications channel. In a first transaction a usable amount is transferred from the credit balance carrier to the first memory area. During the purchase of the service and/or goods, a running cost amount for the service and/or goods, in a second transaction an unused amount is transferred from the first memory area to the credit balance carrier. In a third transaction the difference between the usable amount and the unused amount is transferred from the first memory area to the second memory area.

Abstract: A system for the control of couplings in the locking mechanisms or differentials of a drive train in an all-wheel-drive vehicle is disclosed. The drive train of a vehicle having at least two drive axles (4.times.4 vehicle) comprises, starting from the engine and transmission block 1, a power take-off with switchable coupling 2, a front axle differential with locking coupling 3, a rear axle differential with locking coupling 5, steering angle sensor 10, rotational speed sensors 11, status sensors 12 and actuators 13, 14, 15. The rotational speed sensors 11 are installed in proximity to the wheels 4, 6. To be able to automatically switch all the couplings in keeping with terrain conditions, a control system 18 having individual modules (21,24,25) for each coupling (2,3,5) is provided. The control modules (24,25) of the hierarchically lower couplings (3,5) also emit control signals for one or several hierarchically higher coupling(s) (2,5) before they actuate their own couplings (3,5).

Abstract: An on-chip ESD protection circuit for use in a submicron CMOS integrated circuit (IC) has been disclosed. The ESD protection circuit provides a high ESD failure threshold in a small layout area to protect the input stage of the submicron CMOS IC against ESD failure. The ESD protection circuit is formed by a PTLSCR1, PTLSCR2 devices and an NTLSCR1, NTLSCR2 devices. The PTLSCR1 or PTLSCR2 (NTLSCR1 or NTLSCR2) is formed by inserting a short-channel thin-oxide PMOS (NMOS) device into the lateral SCR structure. These MOS devices are used to reduce the turn-on voltage of the lateral SCR to below the gate-oxide breakdown voltage of the CMOS devices in the input stage. Thus these PTLSCR1, PTLSCR2, NTLSCR1 and NTLSCR2 devices perform full ESD protection without additional secondary ESD protection elements. The four modes of ESD, PS, NS, PD and ND, are one-by-one protected by the NTLSCR1, NTLSCR2, PTLSCR1 and PTLSCR2 devices respectively.

Abstract: A frame timing acquisition system and method are provided including a correlator for comparing a first fixed length subsequence of bits of a received bitstream to a predetermined sync word. A CRC check circuit is provided for, in response to the correlator determining that the first fixed length subsequence of bits matches the predetermined sync word, if a third fixed length subsequence of bits of the bitstream is a cyclical redundancy code parity word formed from a second fixed length subsequence of bits of the bitstream. A decision circuit is also provided for identifying boundaries of a frame of the received bitstream in response to the CRC check circuit determining that the third fixed length subsequence of bits is a cyclical redundancy check parity word of the second fixed length subsequence of bits. According to the inventive method and system, a sync word need be identified in only a single slot of the frame in order to acquire the frame timing.

Abstract: A method of frequency estimation is disclosed which uses a Fast Walsh Transform (FWT) in place of a conventional Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique. The inventive method is based on a linear relationship between the unknown signal frequency and the sequency of a Walsh function which corresponds to the sample of the FWT with maximum absolute value. The resulting discrete data is smoothed mathematically by a sequency interpolation process, which improves resolution and accuracy. The disclosed FWT method provides greater speed and simpler implementation than the prior FFT technique, since the FWT method follows one simple repetitive data flow pattern (additions only), while the FFT technique follows more complicated butterfly patterns (multiplications and additions).

Abstract: The vacuum cleaner nozzle of the present invention has a nozzle body with a suction pipe connecting piece and a bottom plate which closes off the nozzle body towards the bottom, whereby the bottom plate is provided with at least one flow channel open towards the bottom to allow air to flow into a suction channel centrally connected to the suction pipe connecting piece, said nozzle body being provided with sealing or closing elements which surrounds the flow channel at least in part. The nozzle body and the bottom plate are made in the form of a one-piece supporting base into which the flow channel or the flow channels and the suction channel are directly molded. The sealing or closing elements in the form of bristle strips and/or sealing lips are molded directly into the bottom plate and/or are pressed, injected or glued into it. This design reduces the number of components of the vacuum cleaner nozzle considerably so that a significant simplification is achieved with respect to manufacture and assembly.

Abstract: A closed crankcase emission control assembly for an internal combustion engine incorporates into a single compact unit a pressure control assembly, a filter and an oil drain check valve. The pressure control assembly has a gate whereon oily contaminated crankcase emission impinge and oil is separated. The separated oil is collected in a reservoir and returned to the crankcase. The pressure control assembly also has a variable orifice agglomerator which agglomerates particles in the contaminated crankcase emission to form larger particles. Thus, the pressure control assembly simultaneously regulates pressure, separates oil and agglomerates particles. The agglomerated particles are filtered by a filter which may be coarse and clogs less often.

Abstract: An efficient micro architecture for motion estimation is proposed. It achieves better time and area performance over the existing structures. Through pipelining and effective manipulation of 2's complement arithmetic, the adder complexity is kept to its lowest, while speed for a combined subtraction, absolution and accumulation operations is made as fast as a carry-save addition (CSA).

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for reducing waiting time jitter in a pulse-stuffing multiplexer of a communications network. The data of a lower rate signal, that is plesiochronous with a higher rate signal into which the lower rate signal is to be multiplexed, is written into an elastic buffer in accordance with a write signal that is derived from the data of the lower rate signal. The data is read out of the elastic buffer in accordance with a read signal which is locally generated. A comparison circuit forms the phase difference between the write and read signals. A justification circuit generates a justification signal with pulses corresponding to the instances where the phase difference exceeds a dynamically randomly varying threshold. The pulses of the justification signal, in turn, regulate the reading out of the data of the lower rate signal from the elastic buffer.

Abstract: A pressure control apparatus for adjusting the brake pressure in a braking system of a vehicle comprises a reservoir in which a pressure fluid is stored, an outlet through which the pressure fluid is discharged, at least one brake cylinder of the braking system, inlet and outlet valves through which the pressure fluid is supplied to and discharged from the brake cylinder, and a digital controller which controls the opening and closing of the inlet and outlet valves to minimize the deviation between an actual value and a command variable. The digital controller comprises individual controllers associated with the inlet and outlet valves. The individual controllers operate in accordance with a changeable PIDD.sup.2 control formula. The digital control further comprises a three-stage controller connected downstream of the individual controllers and adjustable low pass filters for the inlet and outlet valves. A pressure phase detector determines the current pressure phase to be set (i.e.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for producing an electrostatic image is disclosed. A thin layer of hydrophobic particles is coated on the surface of the charge bearing member which can be a photoconductor or a dielectric. The hydrophobic particles may also be used on the developer roller which applies the toner. A liquid toner made substantially of a hydrophilic liquid, such as water, and suspended pigment binders is used. The invention is applicable to both one and multiple color systems.

Abstract: A mandibular retractor which is inserted intraorally has a retractor blade shaped to retract the cutaneous region laterally away from the mandible. The retracting blade also has an aperture which allows surgical instruments to be inserted through an incision in the cutaneous region, through the aperture, and to the mandible. The retractor allows a surgeon to retract with one hand and view the surgical site by looking down in to the mouth. The surgeon's other hand is free to operate surgical instruments such as a drill or screwdriver.

Abstract: In a roll stand, more particularly a cluster roll stand, having guard plates (15, 21) which are disposed opposite one another in pairs above and below the strip (B) processed in the roll stand in the run-in zone (E) and run-out zone (A) of the roll stand and which extend into the roll stand substantially as far as the stand working rolls (1, 8) supported by supporting rolls (2-6a, 9-13a) and/or undriven supporting rollers, the lower guard plates (21) each being connected to the lower member (14) of the stand pivotably around a pivot (22) disposed axis-parallel with the working rolls (1, 8), the objective was to improve the protective effect of the guard plates (15, 21), while at the same time reducing expenditure on the lifting means required to lift the upper working roll (1).

Abstract: An aqueous liposome system which contains at least one phospholipid and selectively a non-toxic organic solvent. In addition to the at least one phospholipid the liposome system contains at least one phospholipidic charge carrier.

Abstract: A lens segment used in passive infrared motion detectors is disclosed. A preferred embodiment has semi-circular rings separated by grooves. The semi-circular rings are offset about a separation axis passing through their centers or optical axes. The separation axis effectively divides the lens segment into two subsegments causing projection of two cross-sectional areas of coverage, one offset from the other. This increases the size of the projected cross-sectional area of coverage preventing a rodent near the lens from substantially filling the projected cross-sectional area of coverage, thus avoiding detection of the rodent.

Abstract: A balanced wire resistor has two interconnected windings with different temperature coefficients. The electrical resistance of the wire resistor is determined only by the resistance values of the two windings. In a process for the production of the wire resistor, the wire length of a first winding of the newly to be wound wire resistance is calculated by using the measured wire length, as well as measured resistance values of the previously wound wire resistor. The wire length of a second winding of the newly to be wound wire resistance is determined by using the two measured wire lengths of the two windings, as well as measured resistance values of the previously wound wire resistor.

Abstract: A vibration control apparatus that can impart stabilized self-induced vibration without amplitude changes even under changes in ambient temperature is disclosed. When the apparatus is used with a vibrating gyroscope, detection accuracy is increased without temperature dependence of detection sensitivity on input angular velocity. The vibration control apparatus imparts self-induced vibration to a vibrator which has a pair of piezo-electric elements on the side surface of a vibration member having a resonance point. The vibrator is given self-induced vibration while the combined current value of the respective currents flowing through the pair of piezo-electric elements is held fixed. A drive signal output circuit outputs a drive signal applied to the pair of piezoelectric elements and has a voltage gain with a temperature dependence corresponding to the temperature dependencies of the equivalent resistances of the vibrator.

Abstract: An FIFO is provided which has two synchronous ports that may operate asynchronously to one another. The FIFO design is unaffected by gate delays, and is therefore especially useful in an integrated circuit where gate delays may not be easily controlled (such as a standard cell or gate array design.) In the FIFO, a write counter controlled by a write clock outputs a write address and a read counter controlled by a read clock with a different frequency outputs a read address. Synchronization circuits are provided to synchronize the read address to the write clock and the write address to the read clock. The synchronized read and write addresses are used to generate full and empty indicators for the FIFO and an occupancy level for the FIFO.