Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm Peter Verdonk
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Patent number: 6389072Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing and encoding video data is presented that allocates available bandwidth, and hence image quality, in dependence upon the relative speed of motion of objects in a sequence of images forming the video data. Fast moving objects are allocated less quality, or precision, than slower moving or stationary objects. In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the quantization step size is dependent upon the magnitude of the motion vector associated with each block in each frame of a video sequence. In a further embodiment of this invention, the quantization step size is also dependent upon the location of each block in each frame, providing more precision to a central area of each frame. To reduce computational complexity, a motion activity map is created to identify areas of higher precision based upon the location and motion associated with each block.Type: GrantFiled: December 23, 1998Date of Patent: May 14, 2002Assignee: U.S. Philips Corp.Inventors: Shing-Chi Tzou, Zhiyong Wang, Janwun Lee
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Patent number: 6381613Abstract: A data processing apparatus configured as a browser (70) is described for use with a distributed database management utility (72) which handles the accessing of data defining virtual environments via the Internet/World Wide Web (74). Both browser (70) and management utility (72) maintain copies of data files obtained via the Web and passed to the browser, with a memory management stage (80) detecting when apparatus memory reaches a predetermined level of fullness. Based on a stored and system-updated table (84) identifying the passing of data files from management utility to browser, the memory manager (80) identifies which of the management utility held copies of the files to delete in order to create memory space.Type: GrantFiled: November 9, 1998Date of Patent: April 30, 2002Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventors: Richard D. Gallery, Michael K. Verhagen
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Patent number: 6356288Abstract: A software agent is a functional part of a user-interactive software application running on a data processing system. The agent creates a user-perceptible effect in order to mask latency present in delivery of data to the user. The agent creates the effect employing cinematographic techniques.Type: GrantFiled: December 22, 1997Date of Patent: March 12, 2002Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventors: Martin Freeman, Yevgeniy Shteyn
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Patent number: 6349307Abstract: An information organization and retrieval system that efficiently organizes documents for rapid and efficient search and retrieval based upon topical content is presented. The information organization and retrieval system is optimized for the organization and retrieval of only those documents that are relevant to a given set of predefined topics. If a document does not have a topic that is included in the given set of topics, the document is excluded from the provided service. In like manner, if a document includes a topic that is specifically banned from the provided service, it is excluded. In this paradigm, the provider purposely limits the scope of the provided search and retrieval services, but in so doing provides a more efficient and effective service that is targeted to an expected user demand.Type: GrantFiled: December 28, 1998Date of Patent: February 19, 2002Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventor: Doreen Y. Chen
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Patent number: 6339779Abstract: A method of garbage collection and data processing apparatus embodying the same. Within a heap memory, data objects are accessed via respective pointers carried by memory stacks; the memory is periodically swept to mark, for each object, a count of the number of extant pointers thereto from any source and, on detection that an object's count has reached zero, deleting that object. To permit concurrency of mark and sweep operations, a pair of reference count fields are maintained for each object: one holds an ongoing pointer count for the present mark operation and the other holds the value for the preceding one. At the conclusion of each mark operation, the mapping of counts into fields is reversed. An objects count is taken as zero, and the object deleted, when both counts are zero.Type: GrantFiled: June 23, 1999Date of Patent: January 15, 2002Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventor: Richard J. Houldsworth
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Patent number: 6338073Abstract: A data processing method and apparatus are described for mark-sweep garbage collection through stored data structures defined by data objects in a multi threading environment supporting the handling of finalisers. Pipelining of the marking (MA) and sweeping (GC) states is enabled by increasing the number of mark states M to four, namely Marked, Unmarked, Pending or Deletable. The sweeping stage GC consists of a linear sweep across the heap in which any objects with M=Deletable (detected non-reachables) are deleted at point D1, whilst objects with finalisers and M=Pending are placed on a finaliser queue and marked. The finalising stage executes finalisers for objects on the finaliser queue (D2). The method includes a synchronisation point (SP) where the results of the mark phase are passed onto the sweeping phase.Type: GrantFiled: June 21, 1999Date of Patent: January 8, 2002Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventors: Richard J. Houldsworth, Steven Morris
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Patent number: 6314459Abstract: Two PC's are automatically configured in a network in order to share resources registered at the individual PC's. Services and resources local to one PC are registered with the other PC and vice versa. The registry hides whether a service or resource is remote or local. In operational use of the network, a resource or service local to one PC is addressable from the remote PC as if it were local to the latter. A home network of PC's is configured automatically in this manner.Type: GrantFiled: August 13, 1998Date of Patent: November 6, 2001Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventor: Lawrence Alexander Freeman
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Patent number: 6314436Abstract: A data processing method and apparatus are described for tracing paths through stored data structures defined by data objects coupled by identifying pointers and within a contiguous area of memory. A fixed sized marking stack or queue builds up a list of located objects as the structure or structures are traversed. The contiguous memory is divided into discrete pages with the linked data objects within each being considered in turn: any link to an object in another page causes an identifier for that page to be entered in a page list if one does not already exist, and a page table for each page identifies the location of the first and last identified objects within a page to set a range for subsequent scanning.Type: GrantFiled: October 13, 1998Date of Patent: November 6, 2001Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventor: Richard J. Houldsworth
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Patent number: 6308241Abstract: A CPU has an execution unit for operating on data under instruction control. A cache and a buffer register are coupled in parallel to an input of the execution unit. The buffer register supplies an information item, such as data or an instruction, to the execution unit upon the cache having completed a refill process.Type: GrantFiled: December 22, 1997Date of Patent: October 23, 2001Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventors: Slobodan Simovich, Brad E. Eltman
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Patent number: 6304840Abstract: A data glove is used for enabling ten-finger-typing with a virtual keyboard. The angle at which the user's; finger bends at the proximal interphalangeal joint is used to decode a particular row of the keyboard. Each finger controls one or more columns. Discrimination between columns operated by the same finger is achieved through an abduction/adduction sensor.Type: GrantFiled: June 30, 1998Date of Patent: October 16, 2001Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventors: Scott Vance, Larisa Migachyov, Wayne Fu, Ira Hajjar
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Patent number: 6301641Abstract: A score is computed of how many cache misses occur for the execution of each of a number of blocks. The score is used as a heuristic in a local search in which an original selection is iteratively replaced each time by a selection that differs from the original selection only by the movement of a single block and that has a lower number of cache misses for the sample of execution than the original selection. Thus a selection of locations for placing instructions of a program in main memory is found that minimizes the number of cache misses that occur for a sample of a typical execution of the program.Type: GrantFiled: February 27, 1998Date of Patent: October 9, 2001Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventors: Marcus G. A. Verhoeven, Ramon A. W. Clout, Alexander Augusteijn
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Patent number: 6256696Abstract: A data processing system comprises multiple modules interconnected via an inter-module bus. Each module comprises a processor connected to local peripherals via a local bus. The system enables the processor of a specific module to directly access the peripherals of another module via the inter-module bus and the other's module local bus.Type: GrantFiled: October 25, 1995Date of Patent: July 3, 2001Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventor: Alain Carbillet
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Patent number: 6256633Abstract: A user is enabled to navigate through an electronic data base in a personalized manner. A context is created based on a profile of the user, the profile being at least partly formed in advance. Candidate data is selected from the data base under control of the context and the user is enabled to interact with the candidates. The profile is based on topical information supplied by the user in advance and a history of previous accesses from the user to the data base.Type: GrantFiled: June 25, 1998Date of Patent: July 3, 2001Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventor: Chanda Dharap
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Patent number: 6252982Abstract: An image processing system creates a 2-dimensional output image with enhanced depth sensation by operating on a 2-dimensional input image. The system processes the input image non-uniformly by selecting an area in the input image according to a predetermined criterion, and changing a property, e.g., its brightness, of the area relative to a corresponding property of a complement of the area in the input image.Type: GrantFiled: August 4, 1995Date of Patent: June 26, 2001Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventors: Jan Haisma, Franciscus P. Widdershoven, Marnix G. Collet
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Patent number: 6230130Abstract: A speech processing system receives multiple streams of speech frames. The system selects among concurrent ones of the frames a subset of those frames that are the most relevant, based on pre-assigned stream priorities and energy content of the frames. The selected frames are then decoded and rendered. The resulting signals are mixed. This architecture provides bandwidth scalability and/or processing power scalability.Type: GrantFiled: May 18, 1998Date of Patent: May 8, 2001Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventors: Paulo M. Castello da Costa, Nermeen Ismail, Ross P. Morley, Atul N. Sinha
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Patent number: 6216144Abstract: In a data processing system a large number of reduced images of documents are shown simultaneously on the screen of a visual display unit. The images are reduced in a two-step process. The first step includes performing a run-length algorithm on an original image to obtain an intermediate image with a predetermined linear reduction. In the second step, blocks of pixels of the intermediate image are replaced by single pixel of a reduced image to obtain further linear reduction. The pixels in the reduced image are assigned a grey level or color which depends on the distribution of pixels in the block of pixels in the intermediate image.Type: GrantFiled: May 8, 1995Date of Patent: April 10, 2001Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventor: Robert De Vogel
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Patent number: 6208341Abstract: A remote control device for a home theater has a macro creation/editing mode with authoring tools on the remote's GUI. One of the editing tools lets the user move a selected macro step visibly up or down the list of steps on the GUI.Type: GrantFiled: August 5, 1998Date of Patent: March 27, 2001Assignee: U. S. Philips CorporationInventors: Jan van Ee, Paul S. Moore, Guy J. Roberts
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Patent number: 6199136Abstract: A PC-based home automation system uses a low data-rate transport layer and COM-based software components for control of devices in a home automation network. The home automation system is merged with a messaging-based HAVi-network that uses IEEE 1394 as a high data-rate transport layer. The HAVi-network controls audio/video equipment in a home entertainment system. The home automation services and devices are registered as a HAVi-compliant elements with the HAVi network's FAV or IAV device. The home automation resources (devices and services) have both COM OLE Automation Interfaces and HAVI-compliant interfaces to permit control of the home automation system from the HAVi-network.Type: GrantFiled: September 2, 1998Date of Patent: March 6, 2001Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventor: Yevgeniy Eugene Shteyn
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Patent number: 6163817Abstract: An information processing system has first and second electronic sub-systems, and control means for controlling the sub-systems. At least the first sub-system has a software representation registered with the control means. The control means changes a state of the first sub-system through interacting with the software representation. The first and second sub-systems are also capable of interacting directly with one another without the control means being involved. To avoid conflicts, at least the first sub-system is capable of de-registering with the control means so as to functionally disable its software representation at the control means.Type: GrantFiled: June 30, 1998Date of Patent: December 19, 2000Assignee: U.S. Philips CorporationInventors: Yevgeniy Eugene Shteyn, Gregory Gewickey
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Patent number: 6141394Abstract: A fractional-N frequency synthesizer has a VCO with an output for supplying an output signal of a particular frequency, and an input for receipt of a control signal for controlling the operation of the VCO so that it locks in on a reference frequency. Compensation circuitry is coupled to the input for compensating the output signal for phase jitter. The compensation circuitry has a charge pump that supplies a compensation current to the input. The timing is derived from the output signal, thus rendering the compensation current independent of the frequency range of the VCO and of the reference frequency.Type: GrantFiled: December 22, 1997Date of Patent: October 31, 2000Assignee: Philips Electronics North America CorporationInventors: Daniel J. Linebarger, Rainer Gaethke