Abstract: A tool for stripping center conductors of subminiature coaxial ribbon cable and preparing it for connection to connectors or other components comprises a base, a holding fixture movably mounted on the base, and a vertical assembly mounted over the holding fixture. The vertical assembly contains holding, conductor cutting, forming and insulation cutting blades. In operation, the holding blade is lowered to hold a portion of the cable's insulation. The cutting blade cuts any extra length of conductors. The forming blade forms the drains so that they extend perpendicularly from the rest of the ribbon cable. The insulation cutting blade cuts insulation from the center conductor.

Abstract: Relates to arrangements for utilizing an originating caller's customer network identifier (ONI) to provide special treatment of a call, especially one that terminates outside the caller's network. The ONI is recognized in an originating switching system and is transmitted in an initial address message (IAM) to the terminating switching system for serving the call. In the terminating switching system, the ONI is used to screen the call for special treatment such as denied termination, denied termination for collect calls, or direct completion to a principal of a principal-secretary group. The ONI is also used for screening for use of originating services for members of a network. The originating or terminating switch can also query a data base to obtain screening data.

Abstract: In a telecommunication switching system the telecommunication software is implemented by means of independent software components referred to as objects. The objects communicate with each other by messages and symbolic names only. A runtime system includes a runtime linker which registers the systems components and records a data pointer to the components data. To communicate with another object, a source object transmits an executable expression, called a message, to the runtime system. The message includes the symbolic name and the identity of the method of the destination object. The runtime system serves only a single processor or group of objects and calls the destination object, by means of the identity of the method and the data pointer if the destination object is within the group of objects served by the runtime system. In the case a destination object is located on another processor, the runtime system will broadcast the message to other processors.

Abstract: A telecommunication network having a switching system connected to a called station by a line that provides notification to a called party of information relating to an incoming call. This information generally consists of the called number, but may also include an extension or other code. The called party identification is delivered to the called telephone station set during the silent period after ringing, or, advantageously, before ringing starts. A signal (e.g., FSK) is sent to the called telephone station set shortly before the ringing signal is sent to the called station. A converter at the customer premises receives the FSK signal and demodulates it. A control unit connected to the converter then causes the called DN to be displayed, may cause a distinctive ring to be made, or take other action depending upon its program.

Abstract: A system and method that controls potential overload of packet switches when the packet switch has multiple packet streams with different priority levels. A counter is associated with the higher priority packet stream, so that when the counter reaches a predetermined number, the higher priority packet stream is disabled, so that the lower priority packet stream may be processed. When the counter reaches the predetermined number, interrupts are disabled, thus inhibiting processing of the higher priority packet stream. Advantageously, a predetermined number of polled packets are processed before interrupts are enabled.

Abstract: A shared tuple method for storing data in a database which supports modification of view relations without causing anomalous changes to logically unrelated tuples in the same or other relations. A generated key is generated by the database which uniquely identifies data in a child tuple. As a result, virtual parent relations are referenced by an original primary key, but has its underlying attribute values stored in one or more secondary relations whose access is gained through stored generated keys. The application interface is unaffected, because the system transparently pieces together the virtual relation from the primary and one or more secondary relations.

Abstract: A system and method to provide voice enhancement circuits on a voice path on an individual basis, without having in-line circuits inserted into the lines or trunks. The enhancement circuit is inserted within one or more of the switches. This system comprises a switching system having a switching fabric and a central control, wherein the switching fabric includes several extended time slot interchange (XTSI) units connected to a time multiplex switch. The extended time slot interchange unit has approximately twice the capacity of a standard time slot interchange unit. Such XTSI is connected to voice enhancing circuits, which the TSI may then switch enhancement circuits into a call path. A method of setting up a call according to this invention includes routing the call to a switch, routing the call in the switch into an XTSI, which routes a call through the enhancement circuit, and then back through the XTSI.

Abstract: A face plate with an elastomeric, electrically-conductive gasket to provide electromagnetic radiation and control air flow for a front panel of an electronic equipment frame. The metallic face plate has a plurality of edge surfaces which are capable of providing electrically conductive contact with the frame wherein one of the edge surfaces has the gasket. The gasket is an electrically-conductive contact with the face plate and an adjacent face plate which forms a thermal seal and an electrically-conductive surface.

Abstract: A method for memory reclamation for object-oriented program-controlled systems with real-time constraints. Resource reclamation, commonly called garbage collection, in object-oriented systems is segmented into discrete, real-time bounded segments. Scheduling of the segments is controlled so that garbage collection is unobtrusive to the system, while memory resources are reclaimed at approximately the same rate as they are allocated. Objects referenced from other objects are checked via an incremental mark/sweep method. Objects referenced from stacks are also accounted for. If a stack cannot be swept for object references in one real-time segment, the stack is copied into a save area and swept during one or more subsequent real-time segments.

Abstract: A system and method which can complete a call to a specific Inmarsat subscriber ship. When a call arrives at a gateway switch, a test is made to determine if the called ship is in the gateway's local database. If it is, then a current region code is retrieved from the database and substituted for the dialed code for call processing. A call is then placed to the ship. If the call can be completed, the call is processed normally. If the call cannot be completed because the ship cannot be located in the selected region, then the call is automatically retried to each of the other regions, in a predetermined order. The local database in the gateway switch will be updated whenever a call is completed whether the call was originated or terminated at the mobile terminal.

Abstract: A system and method that controls node congestion in a packet switching network by allowing the congested node to seize control of transmission on the packet switching network and not relinquishing control until it has drained its buffer of the backlog of packets. In response to the node's buffer reaching a predetermined occupancy level, the node requests from the network's arbiter for exclusive transmission rights on the network. When the node receives transmission rights, the node continues to process packets in the buffer. When the occupancy of the buffer reaches a second predetermined threshold, the node releases the transmission right, and thus permits other nodes to transmit packets to it (and to other nodes) again.

Abstract: A locator device for monitoring the location of subjects, usable in conjunction with a database system connected to a wireless network, wherein the database system causes a polling signal to be sent periodically to each of the subject's locator devices in the area. The locator device includes a wireless transceiver to receive the polling message and, in response, query a location determination device for the current location of the device. This location is then sent back through the wireless network to the database. The database determines from a record on that particular subject where that subject is supposed to be at that time. If the subject being monitored is not within the area where he or she is supposed to be, then the database may automatically contact law enforcement officials.

Abstract: A system and method for restoring an operating N module redundant NMR) processors when one or more processors is in an out-of-service state. This NMR system comprises N processors each having an individual memory system. An interconnection network is configured to receive data from all N processors, and N voters are connected between the interconnection network and each of the N processors to receive data from the interconnection network and vote on data destined for the N processors. Writes of data from the active processors are rerouted to the interconnection network. Advantageously, there are registers in the interconnection network corresponding to each processor. These registers receive the data from their corresponding processors, and then send the data to all of the voters. The data is voted on and sent to all N processors. Thus, the memories of the out-of-service processors are restored with the active processors while the active processors continue to operate.

Abstract: A network ACD that, when one switch in the network has blocked services, distributes calls to another switch with available services; wherein such distribution is based on information stored in each switch. The stored information comprises a list of switches within the network wherein an availability status is associated with each service, and an availability status of a trunk connecting the initial switch and the other switches in the network. Each switch sends an updated status to the other switches via a signaling network whenever a service changes status.

Abstract: A hashing database system that efficiently handles collisions comprises a list of data blocks divided into a plurality of stages, each of which is geometrically smaller than the preceding stage. The key of the data to be stored or retrieved (the "desired key") is hashed and, along with the stage number, used as an input into a staging algorithm to derive an offset into the list. One or more data blocks in the list surrounding the hashed-to data block are checked to determine whether the key field in the data block matches the desired key. If the keys match, then the desired data block is found. If the desired key is not found, then the hashed key is again used as an input into a staging algorithm along with the stage, and a new offset is derived and used as an index into the next stage of the index list. These steps are repeated until the key is found or the last stage is reached.

Abstract: A two-pass classification system and method that post-processes HMM scores with additional confidence scores to derive a value that may be applied to a threshold on which a keyword verses non-keyword determination may be based. The first stage comprises Generalized Probabilistic Descent (GPD) analysis which uses feature vectors of the spoken words and the HMM segmentation information (developed by the HMM detector during processing) as inputs to develop a first set of confidence scores through a linear combination (a weighted sum) of the feature vectors of the speech. The second stage comprises a linear discrimination method that combines the HMM scores and the confidence scores from the GPD stage with a weighted sum to derive a second confidence score. The output of the second stage may then be compared to a predetermined threshold to determine whether the spoken word or words include a keyword.

Abstract: An apparatus for cutting labels or other material in a program-controlled plotter comprising a blade affixed in a shaft which, in turn, is rotably held in a shell which can be mounted in a plotter. Advantageously, the blade is mounted so that the cutting point is not on axis with the center line, but trails slightly so that when the direction of travel is changed, the blade rotates to adjust to the new cutting direction.

Abstract: A system for relaying CDMA packetized data from a cell site or sites to a destination speech processor. The CDMA packetized data, is received at the cell site and is sent in its packetized form along with a destination address to a packet switch. A packet handler at the packet switch receives the CDMA data packets and forwards them on a packet bus. If the destination speech processor assigned to that call is connected to the packet bus, it recognizes its own address and processes the data packet.

Abstract: A conference bridge that receives speech data in the form of data packets, and transmits data in the same form, without transforming the data in the conference bridge. The conference bridge according to this invention includes a plurality of inputs that have speech detectors that detect the presence of speech data. The speech detectors report the presence of speech to a controller. The controller causes data packets from one of the inputs detecting speech to be replicated for all outputs. If there is speech at more than one input at a time, then a decision is made as to which input to replicate. Advantageously, the decision is based on who is the loudest speaker. Further, the data that is replicated is not sent to the output for the originator in order to prevent echo.

Abstract: A system and method for delivering packetized data representing radio signals to and from cell sites, and to and from a destination point via a fast packet network. Each cell site includes an interface for packetizing the radio signals and transmitting the packetized data to its destination. The destination could be a delivery point at a switch connected to the telephone network, which then converts the packetized data into a form usable by the telephone network. Alternatively, the destination point could be another cell site, which then depacketizes the radio signal and retransmits the radio signal to another wireless communication device without connecting to the telephone network.