Abstract: An encoding system and associated method protect against miscorrection due to parity sector correction in, for example, an on-drive RAID system. The system adds a parity cluster block, which itself is a complete, C3-protected cluster. Having the cluster level, C4 level correction, by parity sectors, checked and verified by C3 checks that have high reliability level, as well as the capability for checking consistency of a cluster block, even in the presence of “jami” errors, makes this possibility unlikely. A scrub algorithm avoids read-modify-write operations by deferring the completion of the C2 and C3-ckecks until the storage device is idle.

Abstract: A price comparison and adjustment system can be used in the context of an Internet environment. The system is generally comprised of a server based browser, a shopping cart manager, an extract and verify module, a validation module, and a counter offer module. The system provides an Internet shopper with a convenient method for comparison shopping online while allowing the shopper control over the comparison-shopping search, which also enables a host merchant to counter offer prices at rival merchant's web sites. The system also provides information about rival merchants to the host merchant, which allows the host merchant to develop an optimal pricing and counter offer strategy. The system creates a portable virtual shopping cart that allows the Internet user to browse rival merchants without the appearance of leaving the host merchant's web site, and further allows the shopper to quickly return to the host merchant's web site to purchase items in the virtual shopping cart.

Abstract: A program delivery system using a compression apparatus capable of compressing incoming video and non-video signals, such as audio and data signals. The system includes a frequency modulator which modulates the incoming audio, data or other non-video signals, unto selected video frequencies. A Fourier transformer generates a set of sinusoidal transform components corresponding to the incoming video, audio, data or other non-video signals, and a selector chooses the most desirable Fourier sinusoidal transforms. A multiplexer multiplexes only the selected Fourier transform components for further processing.

Abstract: A magnetic shift register uses the inherent, natural properties of domain walls in magnetic materials to store data. The shift register uses spin electronics without changing the physical nature of its constituent materials. The shift register comprises a fine track or strip of magnetic materials. Information is stored as domain walls in the track. An electric current is applied to the track to move the magnetic moments along the track past a reading or writing device. In a magnetic material with domain walls, a current passed across the domain wall moves the domain wall in the direction of the current flow. As the current passes through a domain, it becomes “spin polarized”. When this spin polarized current passes through the next domain and across a domain wall, it develops a circle of spin torque. This spin torque moves the domain wall.

Abstract: An adaptive advertising system can be used in the context of an Internet environment. Transparently to the user, the system continuously operates in the background to adapt banner advertisements based on the detection of competing ads. The system includes a page analyzer that translates the hosted ad's web page into a document that can be analyzed for the presence of competing ads. An ad comparison unit compares the output of the page analyzer with information stored in the competitor ad database to detect competing ads. A design and layout evaluator detects the presence of color, texture, and animation in the competing ads. The ad summary evaluator identifies competing ads and devises a counter strategy for banner ad display. An ad display generator creates the enhanced multimedia banner ad based on the strategy determined by the ad summary evaluator. An ad web server transmits the new ad to the banner display module for display in place of the initial banner ad.

Abstract: A scalable content management system manages searches from a local content manager and a plurality of remote content managers. A single scalable content manager manages data in a content repository or file system and its associated metadata in the same content repository or in a database, which will greatly simplify both content management logic and client application logic. The system architecture enables users to add scalable content managers as needed, which allows users to easily scale up the scalable content manager system, in both data size and user connection, as business grows. With the present scalable system architecture, a multi-node content management system will appear to be a single content management system to users, providing location transparency.

Abstract: A system and method automatically identify candidate helpdesk problem categories that are most amenable to automated solutions. The system generates a dictionary wherein each word in the text data set is identified, and the number of documents containing these words is counted, and a corresponding count is generated. The documents are partitioned into clusters. For each generated cluster, the system sorts the dictionary terms in order of decreasing occurrence frequency. It then determines a search space by selecting the top dictionary terms as specified by a user defined depth of search. Next, the system chooses a set of terms from the search space as specified by a user-defined value indicating the desired level of detail.

Abstract: A system and method are provided for lossy compression of finite alphabet source sequences subject to an average-per-letter distortion constraint. The source sequence is sequentially parsed into phrases and each source phrase is mapped to a distorted phrase such that average per-letter distortion between the two phrases does not exceed the desired distortion. The present system adaptively maintains a codebook as the collection of all one-letter extensions of previously emitted distorted phrases. The present system uses approximate string matching and carries out a sequential procedure by iterating the following steps: (i) given the current codebook find the longest source phrase that can be transmitted at a given distortion, (ii) from all codewords that match the source phrase carefully choose that which is most likely to be useful in the future.

Abstract: An error correction algebraic decoder uses a key equation solver for calculating the roots of finite field polynomial equations of degree up to six, and lends itself to efficient hardware implementation and low latency direction calculation. The decoder generally uses a two-step process. The first step is the conversion of quintic equations into sextic equations, and the second step is the adoption of an invertible Tschirnhausen transformation to reduce the sextic equations by eliminating the degree 5 term. The application of the Tschirnhausen transformation considerably decreases the complexity of the operations required in the transformation of the polynomial equation into a matrix. The second step defines a specific Gaussian elimination that separates the problem of solving quintic and sextic polynomial equations into a simpler problem of finding roots of a quadratic equation and a quartic equation.

Abstract: A system for automatically initiating an Internet-based search from within a document displayed by a document viewer includes a search term designation module configured to receive a user designation of at least one word of the document; a search engine access module configured to automatically access a search engine; a search engine interfacing module configured to automatically provide the search engine with the at least one designated word; and a search initiation module configured to automatically direct the search engine to perform the Internet-based search using the at least one designated word as a search term.

Abstract: A database management system and associated methods for parallelizing file archival and retrieval in an extended database management system. The system includes a set of copy agents that selectively acquire the backup tasks from a copy queue, and a set of retrieval agents that selectively acquire the restore tasks from a restore queue. The chances of contention between any two copy agents or any two retrieve agents acquiring the same copy or restore task is significantly minimized. Once specific copy agents are assigned backup tasks, the backup process is implemented to determine the optimal way to write the backup files to one or more targets, in parallel. In addition, the present system enables the efficient and expeditious retrieval of the desired files without having to search all the targets.

Abstract: An automated system and associated method for building a comprehensive database of a configurable entity that is available from one or more Web sites, while removing redundancies. The system merges data tree structures that contain redundant data into more tractable data tree structures where those redundancies have been removed. More specifically, a feature of the present system is to automate the process of collecting information from one or more Web sites and convert the raw data into a logically fashioned, non-redundant tree structure. Advantageously, Web users would be able to retrieve information stored on one or more Web pages and locally merge the data.

Abstract: An alert system and associated method protect against accidental loss or intentional theft of personal valuables. Users may define a set of corrective actions associated with each satellite item registered with the alert system. The alert system is generally comprised of a plurality of alert devices, a plurality of remote sensors, and at least one processing unit. When a satellite item provided with the alert device becomes separated from its user, the item alerts the user of an impending loss or separation prior to the occurrence of such an event.

Abstract: A rotary interface for inputting text and other information that allows the user to quickly select and input large amounts of textual information into very small devices such as cell phones, hand-held or watch-sized PDAs, or other small devices with embedded processors where standard keyboard entry is untenable and where menu-driven selection and handwriting recognition-based character entry are non-optimal. The input interface includes three main components: a rotatable character or icon display in the form of a dial, a ring or appropriate electronic display; a means of unambiguously displaying or designating the currently selected character; and an entry mechanism for inputting the character data into the memory of the electronic device.

Abstract: A profile matching system and associated method match the path expressions in a structured or semi-structured document, such as an XML document, to an indexed resource. The system, having assigned weighting values to the elements in the index, maps the document path expressions and attempts to match them to the index elements according to a predetermined schema. The system is comprised of an indexing module that maps the document and identifies its content attributes, and a matching module that matches the document content attributes to weighted elements of an index. The system defines the attribute or set of attributes in the schema that result in a match. The matching criteria are identified in a map specification file that specifies the specific qualification criteria. The indexing module uses the map specification information to produce efficient indices from XML document. The matching module uses a match specification language (MSL) and a match operator.

Abstract: An on-the-fly algebraic error correction system and corresponding method for reducing error location search are presented. The method transforms an error locator polynomial into two transformed polynomials whose roots are elements in a smaller subfield, in order to significantly simplify the complexity, and to reduce the latency of the error correcting system hardware implementation. More specifically, if the error locator polynomial is over a finite field of (22n) elements, the transformed polynomial is over a finite subfield of (2n) elements. Thus, the problem of locating the roots of the error locator polynomial is reduced to locating the roots of the transformed polynomials. Assuming the error locator polynomial is of degree m, the present method requires at most (m2/2) evaluations of polynomials over the Galois field GF(22n) and (2n+1) evaluations over the subfield GF(2n) or root finding of two polynomials of at most a degree m over the subfield GF(2n).

Abstract: A computer program product is provided as a system for querying a repository of XML documents. The data in the XML documents are viewed by a query system as a graph that allows queries on content, structure, inter-document links, and intra-document links. The query language uses XML syntax and is based on tree pattern match semantics. The features of the query language allow the query system to compute a DTD for the query language and to use it to validate the user query formulation. Query optimization is done using schema-based optimization and index based optimization. Optimization uses the schema for (a) minimizing the number of documents on which the query need to be executed; (b) eliminating redundant conditions specified in the query; and (c) simplifying expensive query constructs.

Abstract: A method for adaptively controlling the error correction redundancy is presented. The method utilizes test information collected at the file characterization test to adaptively determine the quantity of error correction code bytes needed at a multitude of levels of the error correction scheme. The error correction needed at the sub-block level is determined from a measurement of the back ground noise floor. At the block level the file characterization is specific to zones identified by head, disk, sector and cylinder. The formatting efficiency of the drive is increased by adaptively linking the length of the error correction code to the location of the zone. By measuring the error rate (E/R) on a per zone basis and comparing this rate to the disk level E/R the ECC can be optimized on a per-zone basis.

Abstract: A computer program product is provided as an automatic mining system to discover terms that are relevant to a given target topic from a large databases of unstructured information such as the World Wide Web. The operation of the automatic mining system is performed in three stages: The first stage is carried out by a new terms discoverer for discovering the terms in a document, the second stage is carried out by a candidate terms discoverer for discovering potentially relevant terms, and the third stage is carried out by a relevant terms discoverer for refining or testing the discovered relevance to filter false relevance. The new terms discoverer includes a system for the automatic mining of patterns and relations, a system for the automatic mining of new relationships, and a system for selecting new terms from relations.

Abstract: A computer program product is provided as an automatic mining system to identify a set of relevant terms from a large text database of unstructured information, such as the World Wide Web (WWW), with a high degree of confidence, by association mining and refinement of co-occurrences using hypertext link metadata. The automatic mining system includes a software package comprised of a metadata extractor, a document vector module, an association module, and a filtering module. The automatic mining system further includes a database for storing the mined sets of relevant terms. The automatic mining system scans the downloaded hypertext links, rather than the entire body of the documents for related information. As a result, the crawler is not required to provide a relatively lengthy download of the document content, and thus, the automatic mining system minimizes the download and processing time.