Abstract: In a computer system having a power supply, processor, and additional subcomponents that are powered by the power supply, a method for estimating the total power requirements of the system under a variety of operating modes and configurations. In an exemplary embodiment, information concerning power requirements for each subcomponent under its operating modes is stored within non-volatile memory within the subcomponents. This information is accessed by the processor during the boot sequence, and if the information is not available, substitute information is provided. The compiled information is tabulated to compute the estimated total power requirement of the current hardware configuration. A display of this information, along with configuration selection rules, enables the user to select alternative operating modes and configurations and to show the resulting estimated power requirements.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for manually and automatically accessing a plurality of data records in a large scale data array, comprising placing alphanumeric and other visually distinctive indicia on the exposed surface of the data records to be manually accessed; displaying a list of data records to be accessed; issuing a command to a drive controller to indicate the desired documents and data records to be accessed; determining that a desired data record is in a data drive; automatically transferring the desired documents between the drive and a buffer; ejecting the data record from the drive or otherwise indicating to the operator that the transfer is complete; and updating the displayed list of data records to remove those that have already been accessed; all without requiring an operator to input any keyboard information during the accessing cycle.

Abstract: A method and system is disclosed for remote all-weather monitoring of civilian road traffic over large portions of a metropolitan region, using one or more microwave radar systems situated at elevated locations, such as high towers or pilotless aircraft. Pulse-Doppler waveforms provide, for each position of the radar beam, range-velocity maps of traffic over a number of selectable roadway sections, which maps are used to estimate the speed, density, and volume of traffic flow and to identify discontinuities in the flow which may be indicative of accidents or obstructions. In addition, a high-resolution wideband waveform can be included to provide detailed examinations of selected portions of the monitored roadway sections.

Abstract: A bubble device for simulating the flow of liquid through a transparent tube, the device including an upper reservoir, a lower reservoir, a bubble generation section, a bubble refining section and an interconnecting transparent tube containing a volatile liquid therein. When the lower reservoir is heated and the upper reservoir is cooled, the volatile liquid is driven from the lower reservoir by the presence of heated vapor of the volatile liquid. Eventually, the heated vapor expands to the bubble generation section whereby bubbles are generated and caused to pass through the bubble refining section to break up the bubbles into smaller bubbles which travel upward through the transparent tube. A control circuit is used to maintain a constant temperature differential between the upper and lower reservoirs in order to ensure the proper and continued operation of the device.

Abstract: In a bidirectional communication channel, the method and apparatus for determining directionality of communication signals using digital techniques. A plurality of independent signals are derived from the communication channel, which signals are analyzed to determine their relative phase(s). The relative phase(s) are then compared with a table of relative phases indicating the directionality of the original signals.