Abstract: Anisotropic plasma etching is accomplished utilizing a helical resonator operated at relatively low gas pressure. The use of this combination yields an extremely high flux of ionic species with resulting rapid anisotropic etching. A helical resonator in conjunction with suitable precursors is also quite useful for plasma induced deposition.

Abstract: A problem has been encountered in directory assistance and intercept systems which provide automatic announcement facilities to announce a directory number or line status to a customer and which permit the customer to be subsequently connected to an operator if the announcement is unsatisfactory. In such systems, if the customer disconnects and immediately attempts to place another call, such a situation may be interpreted by the local switching system serving the customer as a "flash"; if the customer is provided with three-way calling then the connection to the directory assistance or intercept system is put into a hold state while the customer dials a new number. In the meantime, the directory assistance or intercept system, not being aware of the hold status of the connection to the customer, sets up a connection to an assistance operator who hears nothing. This "no voice" connection is costly and annoying to the assistance operator.

Abstract: An integrated circuit package uses an encapsulant frame which prevents the encapsulant used to seal the integrated circuit chip from the ambient atmosphere from flowing to unwanted areas and to permit the encapsulant to be deposited with a controllable depth.

Abstract: There is disclosed a connector for two terminal plugs having bores in which are recieved respective optical fibers having free ends terminating at the front ends of such plugs. The connector comprises a longitudinal sleeve of sheet metal having a bottom, back and top and a longitudinal opening at its front. The sleeve contains a guide disposed alongside a longitudinal passage through the sleeve for receiving the two plugs end-to-end. The sleeve top is divided by lateral slits into two central resilient fingers and two resilient tabs at the sleeve ends. The fingers exert forces to press the end-to-end plugs against the guide to align them, while the tabs exert greater forces on the guide to maintain it clamped with the sleeve. The slits extend part way down the back of the sleeve, the guide has beveled edges, and the mentioned opening is bordered by top and bottom lips adapted to be pried apart by a pliers tool.

Abstract: In a dynamometer, a multi-roller sheave is positioned between a cable, or other elongate element, supply and the cable destination so that the cable rolls over the multi-roller sheave. The center axis of the cable changes direction from one side of the multi-roller sheave to the other side. Tension in the cable causes the multi-roller sheave to move and consequently stress a strain gauge. A signal produced by the strain gauge is amplified into a signal that accurately indicates the tension in the cable. Friction and wear between the cable and the dynamometer are eliminated for all practical purposes. Very accurate readings of tension are obtained.

Abstract: A switching system is described in which routing information, which may be associated with packets originating in cellular calls, is divided into information which does not change as the subscriber crosses a cell boundary, and information which does change as the subscriber crosses a cell boundary. Routing procedures associated with the information which does not change as the subscriber crosses a cell boundary are established and stored in the memory of the switch at the beginning of the call. However, routing procedures associated with the information which does change as the subscriber crosses a cell boundary may be derived from the header information of each packet as it arrives at the appropriate portion of the switch.

Abstract: A glass soot deposition torch (30; FIG. 2) having gas passages arranged to provide an inner (34) and outer (36) flame front is disclosed in which the temperature of the inner front is higher than the outer front. A passage is located within the outer front (36) through which glass soot (32) is directed onto the surface of a growing soot-form core (38).

Abstract: Processes are described for electroplating metal or alloy on superconducting oxides using either a nonaqueous bath or aqueous bath with suitably applied potential. Articles made in accordance with the electroplating process are also described.

Abstract: A multiplexer is arranged for interleaving blocks of bits from tributary lines. Sequences of blocks of digital bit streams are received in frames from each tributary line. Each frame includes tributary line identification information and plural blocks of bits. Each block of digital bits includes plural data bits and a parity bit. The sequence of blocks from one tributary line also includes in a periodic one of the parity bit positions, a bit containing control information. The blocks of digital bit streams are multiplexed into a single multiplexed bit stream.

Abstract: In the interest of ease of manufacture, hybrid lasers of distributed-Bragg-reflector type are preferred for use as light sources in optical communications. Such lasers are made to operate away from mode instabilities by adjusting a laser parameter such as, e.g., laser temperature, thereby assuring highly error-free transmission. Alternatively, by suitable design of the Bragg reflector it is possible to render mode instability of negligible influence on error rate.

Abstract: A communications cable (20) comprising a core (22) of at least one transmission media and a plastic jacket (34) includes provisions for preventing the movement of water within the cable. The cable includes a strength system (32) including longitudinally extending fibrous strength members (32-33) having a relatively high modulus and having water blocking provisions. In one embodiment, each fibrous strength member is treated with a superabsorbent liquid material which when dry fills interstices and covers portions of the exterior thereof. In another embodiment, a filamentary strand material comprising a water swellable fibrous material is wrapped about each fibrous strength member.

Abstract: Processors (101) of a multiprocessor system (FIG. 1) communicate across bus (150) via a low-latency packet protocol featuring per-logical channel input queues (143) and output queues (144), different per-processor priorities for sending data packets (FIG. 10) and data packet-acknowledging "quick" messages (FIG. 11), and separate buffers (923; 918) for receiving data packets and "quick" messages, respectively. Transmitted data packets afflicted by error, receive buffer overflow, and input queue-full conditions are discarded by the receiving processor and are retransmitted by the sending processor.

Abstract: A terminal board has a base plate and rows and columns of terminals upstanding from such plate. Each terminal comprises (a) an insulative hollow post (b) a metallic terminal strip in the post and having a pair of tangs separated by a contact gap and projecting above part of the post, and (c) a hollow cap fitted on such post to enclose such tangs and gap and shiftable on such post between up and down detained positions. The cap on opposite sides has entrance and exit holes aligned diagonal to such rows and columns, with the entrance hole having an inwardly downward slant and the exit hole being horizontal. With the cap in up position, an insulated lead is fed into the entrance hole and then passed partly or fully through the exit hole which initially impedes full passage through it of the lead.The cap is then pushed on the post to down position to cause the lead to be driven against the tangs and into the contact gap such that the lead's insulation is cut and the metallic core of the lead contacts the tangs.

Abstract: A communication system includes a processor, memory circuits and a plurality of interfaces for interfacing to data devices. The processor services the interfaces using an interrupt bus including unidirectional inbound and outbound buses. The inbound bus includes one lead for each interface, with each lead having a fixed priority level assigned by the processor. Each interface has access to all leads of the inbound bus. The processor sends commands over the outbound bus to dynamically control the connection of an interface to a lead of the inbound bus.

Abstract: A power factor compensator (18) for a power converter (17) comprises an L-C circuit connected in series between the power converter and the converter's A.C. power source (13). The values of the inductor (30) and the capacitor (31) of the compensator circuit are selected to cause the L-C circuit to resonate at a frequency higher than the power source frequency, preferably at a frequency ranging between 1.4 and 3.5 times the power source frequency, in order to achieve a power factor within the range of about 0.65 to 0.95. A resonant frequency of about twice the power source frequency has been experimentally found to give particularly good performance.

Abstract: A polyquinoxaline polymer is prepared by self condensation of a monomer having both a 1,2-diketone and a 1,2-primary diamine in the molecule. The resultant polymers can be used as dielectric films, adhesions, varnishes and membranes.

Abstract: An integrated voice and data network includes a multiplexer arranged with a voice queue for storing voice packets and a data queue for storing data packets. Voice packets are transmitted for a predetermined interval T1. Data packets are transmitted for a predetermined interval T2. The predetermined intervals T1 and T2 may be of different durations. A separate signaling queue can be provided for storing received signaling messages. If a signaling message is moved into the separate signaling queue during either interval T1 and T2, that interval is suspended and the transmission of voice or data packets is interrupted until the entire signaling message is transmitted. Then the interrupted voice or data transmission is resumed for the remainder of the suspended interval T1 or T2. As an alternative, signaling messages can be transmitted during predetermined intervals between the intervals T1 and T2. Block dropping of low order voice bits also is described for reducing congestion at the node.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a multichannel multihop lightwave communication network which allows packet concurrency in the network while avoiding the need for agile optical devices. The network comprises a lightwave communication medium (10) for supporting a plurality of independent user nodes; and a plurality of N network interface units (NIUs) (11). Each NIU is connected to the lightwave medium and one or more separate user nodes and comprises a trnasmitter section (28-35) and a receiver section (20-27) which are each fixedly assigned to transmit and receive, respectively, over a single channel or a plurality of separate channels to or from other NIUs of the network. In a connectivity pattern for one embodiment of the network, the NIUs are divided into k groups of p.sup.k NIUs such that each NIU of a first group of p.sup.

Abstract: A circuit is disclosed which converts CMOS logic input signals to ECL output signals. A pair of FETs, arranged as a conventional CMOS inverter, responds to the CMOS logic input signals and drives a bipolar transistor operating as a voltage follower. The emitter of the bipolar transistor serves as the output of the buffer providing the ECL output signals. A resistor having a predetermined resistance couples between a voltage source and the base of the bipolar transistor. First one of the pair of FETs couples a constant current source to the resistor and the base of the bipolar transistor when the buffer is supplying an ECL logical "zero" logic signal. The current from the current source passing through the resistor establishes the ECL logical "zero" output voltage. Second one of the pair of FETs shunts the resistor when the buffer is supplying an ECL logical "one" output, allowing faster transitioning of the output of the buffer from an ECL logical "zero" to a logical "one".