Abstract: A power system fault handling mechanism for portable electronic devices having multiple power supplies. A safety-net circuit is triggered when a power fault condition is detected. The safety-net circuit is a diode-based bridging circuit which couples all available power supplies to the power load, yet avoids feeding power back from any of the supplies to one another. This ensures that the load continues to receive power after a fault condition occurs without interruption. A microcontroller may then implement a routine to switch to a working power supply so that the device may resume normal operation. The power system fault detection mechanism therefor allows for the switching between system power supplies without disrupting a running process.

Abstract: Accurate measurements of the misconvergence of a color CRT are obtained using a monochrome CCD camera or the like and a common image. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, color misconvergence of a color video display is determined using a monochrome camera, by capturing a monochrome image of an output display displayed on the color video display. For each of multiple different colors, information from the monochrome image is processed to identify a displayed feature or feature pattern of that color, and a position of that displayed feature or feature pattern is determined. Then a difference in position of a feature or feature pattern of a first color and a feature or feature pattern of a second color is determined. The effects of color crosstalk, video/image jitter, and lens distortion are all eliminated or minimized.

Abstract: An electronic system interconnect. The interconnect comprises a first node and a second node coupled to the first node. The interconnect is initially configured to include the first and second nodes. A third node is added to the interconnect after the interconnect is initially configured, and the first node responds to the addition of the third node by initiating a new connect handshake with the third node. The first node begins by transmitting a first signal to the third node. The first node signals that the third node has been added to the interconnect if the third node responds to the first signal by transmitting a second signal. The first node causes the interconnect to be reconfigured if the third node transmits a third signal in response to receiving the first signal.

Abstract: Method and system aspects for searching for an optimal codevector from a plurality of codevectors in a codebook, the optimal codevector having a minimum distance to a given vector, are provided. The aspects determine a partial distance with a current vector component of a current codevector and of the given vector, compare the partial distance to a saved renormalized minimum partial distance, and proceed to a next codevector when the saved renormalized minimum partial distance is smaller than the partial distance. In addition, the present invention proceeds to a next vector component when the partial distance is smaller than the saved renormalized minimum partial distance. When the partial distance computed with each next vector component is smaller than the saved renormalized minimum partial distance, the present invention calculates a full weighted distance value, compares it to a saved minimum full weighted distance, and updates chosen values.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a method and apparatus for enforcing software licenses for resource libraries such as an application program interface (API), a toolkit, a framework, a runtime library, a dynamic link library (DLL), an applet (e.g. a Java or ActiveX applet), or any other reusable resource. The present invention allows the resource library to be selectively used only by authorized end user software programs. The present invention can be used to enforce a “per-program” licensing scheme for a resource library whereby the resource library is licensed only for use with particular software programs. In one embodiment, a license text string and a corresponding license key are embedded in a program that has been licensed to use a resource library. The license text string and the license key are supplied, for example, by a resource library vendor to a program developer who wants to use the resource library with an end user program being developed.

Abstract: Systems and methods for providing a user with increased flexibility and control over the appearance and behavior of objects on a user interface are described. Sets of objects can be grouped into themes to provide a user with a distinct overall impression of the interface. These themes can be invoked by calling a corresponding theme engine. Theme engines can be hard-coded or data-driven.

Abstract: An improved socket connector has flexible interior barriers to prevent incorrect insertion of smaller sized plugs, where a flexible internal barrier is formed on a side of the socket entry leading into the socket cavity, and is composed of a flexible ramp attached from the socket entry, the ramp extending into the socket cavity and having a inner movable end with a vertical barrier, sized and disposed within the socket cavity so that the insertion of a correctly sized wide plug will engage the flexible ramp, riding along and moving the flexible ramp so that the vertical barrier is moved out of a stopping position, allowing the correctly sized wide plug to be fully and properly seated in the cavity, but further sized and disposed within the socket cavity so that the insertion of an incorrectly sized narrow plug will fail to engage the ramp, will not flex the ramp, and will leave the vertical barrier in the stopping position, where it prevents the incorrectly sized narrow plug from being fully inserted into the

Abstract: An improved binary tree and decoder are disclosed wherein all the codewords are moved to one side of a binary tree. A compressed bit stream is fed to a decoder. The decoder uses a parser, an address generator, and the binary tree to determine the codewords contained in the compressed bit stream. The decoder examines the variable length encoded bits and compares them with the binary tree at each level to determine if the codeword is complete. The parser detects the end of the codeword and generates an offset for the address generator. The address generator uses the binary tree and offset to generate a block address for each unique codeword. The block address is then used to output uncompressed data from a pattern look up table.

Abstract: In a computer system having a memory, a processor, and a network interface, a method for dynamically launching a conferencing application upon the receipt of an incoming call having the steps of: receiving an incoming call signal on the network interface; processing the incoming call signal to detect an intended recipient application; and launching the intended recipient application. An apparatus for dynamically launching a conferencing application upon the receipt of an incoming call having a call directing module; a process manager coupled to the call directing module; and, a conferencing component coupled to the network interface; and the call directing module; the conferencing component containing a circuit for notifying the call directing module upon receipt of an incoming call and causing the call director to signal the process manager to activate a conferencing application.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method for generating universal resource locator links in a graphical user interface based HTML file. The method includes the operations of selecting one of a picture object and text contained within the graphical user interface based HTML file. Once one of the picture object and text are selected, a short-cut universal resource locator icon is selected. Upon selecting the short-cut universal resource locator icon, a nested menu is displayed. Preferably, the nested menu contains a list of most recently used universal resource locators, and a list of open HTML files. Next, one of the universal resource locators is selected from the list of most recently used universal resource locators and the open HTML file from the list of open HTML files.

Abstract: A method and system for characterizing the content of a document is disclosed. The method and system comprise identifying a plurality of discourse referents in the document, dividing the document into topically relevant document segments, and resolving co-referentiality among the discourse referents within, and across, the document segments. The method and system also comprises calculating salience values for the discourse referents based upon the resolving step, and determining topic stamps for the document segments based upon the salience values of the associated discourse referents. Finally the method and system comprise providing summary-like abstractions, in the form of capsule overviews of each of the segments derived from its topic stamps. In so doing, a capsule overview is derived for the entire document, which will depict the core content of an average length article in a more accurate and representative manner than utilizing conventional techniques.

Abstract: A program routine generates Requests for a target system, such as a physical device or program code, to perform a service. Each Request includes identification information, and passes through intermediate layers, including a family program interface and a Family Server, for processing before it reaches the target system. The program routine also generates Cancels, which include the appropriate identification information, and sends the Cancels after the Requests. Each Cancel tracks its Request, and upon finding the Request, attempts to cancel it. A Cancel may find a Request before the Request has been forwarded to a target system, while it is being processed by the target system, after it has been executed by the target system, or may not find it. Results of the Requests and of the Cancels are returned through the intermediate layers to the program routine.

Abstract: Parsing routines extract from a conventional pronunciation dictionary an entry, which includes a dictionary word and dictionary phonemes representing the pronunciation of the dictionary word. A correspondence table is used to compress the pronunciation dictionary. The correspondence table includes correspondence sets for a particular language, each set having a correspondence text entry, a correspondence phoneme entry representing the pronunciation of the correspondence text entry and a unique correspondence set identifying symbol. A matching system compares a dictionary entry with the correspondence sets, and replaces the dictionary entry with the symbols representing the best matches. In the absence of a match, symbols representing silent text or unmatched phonemes can be used. The correspondence symbols representing the best matches provide compressed pronunciation dictionary entries. The matching system also generates decoder code sets for subsequently translating the symbol sets.

Abstract: A digital processing system and method which controls selection of a compressor in a communication system. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving at the digital processing system information from a communication port, which information identifies decompression processing capabilities at a remote processor, and selecting in response to the information a particular compression process for use in compressing data for transmission to the remote processor.

Abstract: A structure and method for routing information desired by a particular entity within a pen-based computer system to that entity are provided. The desired information is contained in “packages” containing the desired information in one or more “parts” and also containing a package directory (located in front of the parts) that identifies the package and provides selected information about the package and its parts. The packages are received and processed by a package manager that maintains a registry of entities that desire specified types of information (parts) that might be found in an incoming package. When the package manager receives a package containing such information, it routes the part containing that information to a “part handler” associated with the entity requesting the information. The package manager then updates a package registry to reflect that the package has been successfully delivered.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing with a preferred processing application having a preferred identifier, an event associated with an object created by a dedicated creator application is provided. The method includes the steps of receiving the event, intercepting the event with a relay application program, and forwarding, with the relay application program, the intercepted event to the preferred processing application program.

Abstract: The transfer of video and graphic data from a frame buffer to a display system is interleaved in a manner which permits operation with a reduced memory bandwidth. For those scan lines of a display in which the video information appears, video data is retrieved from the frame buffer during the horizontal blanking time of the scan. Graphical data is retrieved from the memory during the active portion of horizontal scan line. By alternating the retrieval of data in this manner, a lower bandwidth operation can be employed, thereby reducing the expenses of the memory. An address translator permits video and graphic data that is stored in different respective formats to be retrieved with a consistent addressing approach. The use of multiple color look-up tables permits full-color video to be displayed even if limited-color graphics are being employed.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for reducing visibility of damping wire artifacts in aperture grill display tubes comprises a sensor device for locating the artifacts and responsively generating amplitude values, a processor for receiving the generated amplitude values and responsively calculating correction values, and a compensator device coupled to the processor for utilizing the correction values to correct said artifacts.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method and apparatus for identifying and locating computer network services. The invention gives an application the ability to search for network services in a manner independent of the network communication protocol used by the network. The invention can thus operate as a layer of abstraction between the Transport and Network Layers and the Application Layer of the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) Reference Model of network architecture and suite of protocols. The invention gives the client application the ability to browse for network services based on the type of service (such as remote file access, mail, Web, domain name registration, etc.), rather than having to know the name or location of the service or the underlying network communication protocol used by the service.