Abstract: A method and system for embedding a device profile into a document and extracting a device profile from a document in a color management system. A tagged-element device profile allows for selective access to the device profile. The method of embedding a device profile into a document include allocating memory for a buffer, sending a ready call, transferring the device profile or portions of the device profile into the buffer and writing the same in the document, and lastly, sending a completed call. The method of extracting a device profile from a document includes allocating memory for a buffer, sending a ready call, reading the device profile or portions of the device profile from the document into the buffer and transferring the same to a file, and finally, sending a completed call.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing a unified data approach to performing computational services, particularly in pen-based computer systems. The approach employs object oriented functions and establishes common data structures employable in the standardized form in particular defined functional domains of the computer system. The functional domains in which the common data structures are employable without adaptation include the view system, the scripting system, and the object store functional domains of the computational system, which preferably is a pen-based computer system. The apparatus according to the invention further includes an object system for creating, eliminating and managing the predetermined data objects and structures. The object store functional domain provides external storage with respect to the externally located operating system with which it cooperates through a minimal, i.e., narrow interface.

Abstract: A statistical classifier for pattern recognition, such as a neural network, produces a plurality of output signals corresponding to the probabilities that a given input pattern belongs in respective classes. The classifier is trained in a manner such that low probabilities which pertain to classes of interest are not suppressed too greatly. This is achieved by modifying the amount by which error signals, corresponding to classes which are incorrectly identified, are employed in the training process, relative to error signals corresponding to the correct class. As a result, output probabilities for incorrect classes are not forced to a low value as much as probabilities for correct classes are raised.

Abstract: An ethernet receive channel, corresponding to an ethernet controller, is contained within a direct memory access (DMA) controller. The DMA controller is connected to the CPU bus of a computer system through a bus interface and is also connected to an I/O bus, which is coupled to one or more I/O controllers, including an ethernet controller. The ethernet receive channel contains a buffer and multiple register sets storing the number of packets to be received for a particular DMA transfer, the address where the next byte of the incoming ethernet packet will be written in memory, and control information for the transfer. The address registers are initially programmed with the starting location for the transfer in main memory, which correspond to segments within chains of contiguous physical memory. During a transfer, the address registers are updated to contain the location where the next portion of the incoming ethernet packet will be written in memory.

Abstract: An arrangement in which resistors are interposed on a bus line to attenuate reflected spurious pulses. The resistors are positioned on the bus so as not to be between a processor and its cache memory, but so as to be between the combination of the processor and cache memory and components such as a peripheral controller and a memory controller. The resistors reflect a portion of the pulse energy and attenuate the pulse energy passing through them. In another aspect of the invention, the traces making up the bus are arranged so that the intertrace distance is greater than a distance between the traces and an internal reference plane. This causes magnetic energy radiated by an aggressor trace to encounter the reference plane before it encounters a victim trace. This also reduces the amount of magnetic cross-coupling.

Abstract: A statistical classifier that can be used for pattern recognition is trained to recognize negative, or improper patterns as well as proper patterns that are positively associated with desired output classes. A set of training samples includes both the negative and positive patterns, and target output values for the negative patterns are set so that no recognized class is indicated. The negative patterns are selected for training with less frequency than the positive patterns, and their effect on training is also modified, so that training is focused more heavily on improper patterns.

Abstract: A method and system summarizes scenes in a video sequence by detecting scene changes, and then comparing scenes in a moving window to determine their similarity. Similar scenes are consolidated and represented by a representative frame, a number of which are displayed to a user. Scene changes are detected by comparing average color histograms for each scene, motion compensated pixel differences or motion compensated edge maps, or a combination of these methods. Scenes in the video sequence are selected for summarizing according to their normalized time duration. Of the selected scenes, similar or related scenes are determined by comparing the average color histograms of each pair of scenes in a moving window, using a standard population error measure, such as a Chi-squared test. For each set of related scenes, a representative frame is taken, either as the medial frame from the entire time duration of the related scenes or as the first frame of the medial scene in the set.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to systems and methods for compressing image data without segregating the image data into scanned and non-scanned components, while at the same time, improving both the compression ratio and the perceptabilty of the decompressed image. Improved perceptibility is realized regardless of whether the image data includes scanned images, non-scanned images or any combination thereof. Further, improved perceptibility is realized regardless of whether the images are monochrome or color.

Abstract: A processor having an adaptable and self-setting mode of interfacing with a peripheral storage device is provided. The processor comprises a variable-parameter controller which enables the processor to adaptably interface with a peripheral storage device. Upon powering up, the controller first interfaces with the peripheral storage device in accordance with a default mode of operation of the peripheral storage device to extract configuration data from the peripheral storage device. The configuration data relates to at least one alternate mode of operation of the peripheral storage device. The controller then interfaces with the peripheral storage device in accordance with the alternate mode of operation. The processor includes a memory device connected to the variable-parameter controller for storing the configuration data so that it is accessible to the controller.

Abstract: A bus arbitration scheme is implemented in a system where an arbitrary assembly of nodes on a system bus have been resolved into an acyclic directed graph. The hierarchical arrangement of nodes has one node designated a root while all other nodes have established parent/child relationships with the nodes to which they are linked. Each node may have a plurality of connected child ports with a predetermined acknowledgment priority scheme established. Fair bus access arbitration provides for bus granting in a sequence corresponding to the predetermined port priorities allowing all nodes a turn on the bus. The root node may always assert its priority access status to gain bus access which is useful for accommodating a root node which requires isochronous data transfer. Alternatively, a token passing arbitration scheme may be implemented where the token for bus access is passed around the nodes according to the above-described predetermined port priority scheme.

Abstract: A system and method for searching images includes a low level analyzer for processing image data in a plurality of images into side information files, the image data of each side information file pertaining to a particular statistical or perceptual abstraction of the images, such as motion, color, texture, segments, and the like. A user interface allows a user to graphically construct a search inquiry with icons representing image attributes corresponding to the image data in the side information files. A search inquiry may include complex boolean expressions, and custom image attributes may be created to represent useful search inquiries. The image attributes of a search inquiry may also be ranked. A high level analyzer parses a search inquiry to determine the image attributes contained therein, and analyzes the image data of the side information files to determine a similarity measure for each image with respect to the search inquiry.

Abstract: Text objects having a primary data portion in which is stored text characters and associated encoding information, and an annotation portion in which is stored attribute information such as style and language identifiers, is described. The encoding information is stored within a run header in the primary data portion and both the run header and attribute header refer to the text characters to thereby define a text run. Also described are operations for manipulating the text objects of the invention and for creating and deleting annotations. The operations for manipulating the text objects of the invention include installing text within a text object, copying text in a text object, replacing text in a text object, writing text in a text object and imaging text in a text object for display.

Abstract: A method and mechanism for automatically correlating a device to its appropriate driver and family within a computer system utilizing candidate matching. A device tree indicating devices coupled to a computer system is available from an operating system. Within the device tree are device nodes which specify a particular device's name (device name) and a property which indicates compatible device names (compatible names) to the particular device. Drivers and corresponding families for devices can be located in RAM, ROM, or in another storage media (such as disk drive). Drivers can include a data field indicating a driver name indicative of a corresponding device with which they operate. For a particular device, the system constructs a candidate list of drivers by comparing (1) the device name and (2) the compatible names from the device tree against all the driver names of data fields of all known drivers.

Abstract: A video conferencing system includes a display screen, a switching device, a rear-projection projector and a camera. The switching device regulates use of a single optical path by alternating between use by the projector and the camera. In the image projection mode, projected light from the projector passes onto the screen uninterrupted. In the image capture mode, the light from the projector is blocked by the switching device, and the ambient room lighting is allowed to pass through the screen and is reflected by the switching device toward the camera. The problem of loss of eye contact between system users is eliminated by time sharing a single optical path. Part of the time, the projector is allowed to use the optical path and an image is projected onto the screen for a first user to view. The other part of the time the camera uses the optical path to receive an incoming image of the first user transmitted to the camera to be captured.

Abstract: According to the invention, an authoring tool comprises at least one nestable graphic state and transition machine, hereinafter referred to as a "state machine", each state machine comprising one or more states and zero or more transitions, each transition interconnecting a first state, known as the "from.sub.-- state", with a second state, known as the "to.sub.-- state". The first and second states can be the same state or different states. For each state in the plurality of states there can be any number of transitions, including zero, emanating therefrom and directed thereto. Each state machine has a state designated as its "current state" which changes in response to users actions or other events. Each state machine also has an initial state which is the state that is designated as the current state when the multimedia title is launched. The authoring tool allows an author to view a state machine simultaneously in several different formats, providing a full view and a map view.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for controlling a screen display of an electronic book. The contents of the book are displayed on a screen of the computer system as pages with which the user interacts by a pointer such as a pen or stylus. The content engine performs various functions including one or more of the following: (1) creating page displays for content of the book, (2) providing a navigation interface for identifying material in the book and moving to desired locations, (3) finding character strings located within the book, and (4) accepting handwritten information on pages of the book. The electronic book includes a "bookmark" button which when selected displays a bookmark icon and inserts a bookmark in the book at the page that is currently displayed. Thereafter the user can close the book or move to another page and automatically return to the marked page by selecting the bookmark icon.

Abstract: Methods and circuitry for arbitrating for control of a serial bus are described. According to one embodiment, one or more nodes of a serial bus are provided with a mechanism for discriminating between data packets and acknowledge packets. If a packet transmitted, repeated, or received by the node is a data packet, the node remains idle for a subaction gap time T.sub.sa to better ensure that the expected acknowledge packet is allowed to successfully propagate throughout the serial bus to the source node. If the packet transmitted by the node is an acknowledge packet, the node is free to begin the arbitration phase of the next subaction if there are no other conditions that prevent further arbitration by that node. To discriminate between data packets and acknowledge packets, a counter is used to determine the length of a transmitted packet, and the length is compared to the expected length of an acknowledge packet.

Abstract: In a first embodiment, multi-speed concatenated packet strings are transmitted by a first node on a serial bus. To accommodate multi-speed packets, a speed signal is transmitted immediately prior to the packet. In a second embodiment, ACK-concatenation is used to allow a node to transmit a data packet immediately after transmitting an acknowledge signal on the bus. The data packet need not be related to the ACK packet. In a third embodiment, a node which receives a first data packet followed by a data end signal on a child port, concatenates a second data packet onto the first data packet during retransmission. The second data packet is also transmitted down the bus in the direction of the node which originally transmitted the first data packet.

Abstract: In a computer display system, data structures or views are organized in a hierarchical manner. Each view has stored therein: (1) display information; (2) information pertaining to how that view is linked to other views in the hierarchy; (3) relative coordinates; (4) global coordinates indicating where on the display the view should be drawn; and (5) a valid flag indicating whether the global coordinates are currently valid. When a view is moved, its global coordinates are no longer valid. Thus, the valid flag in the view is reset to so indicate. In addition, the valid flag of all of that view's subviews are reset (if they are not already reset). The global coordinates of the view and subviews, however, are not immediately recomputed. Rather, the global coordinates of these views are recomputed only when they are needed, such as when they are accessed for display.

Abstract: A bus bridge circuit employs a dynamic allocation scheme that allows read transactions to be pipelined without deadlock and without the need for permanently reserving multiple buffer slots for read response transactions. The bus bridge circuit associates input and output buffers with a node and includes a state machine to monitor the number and type of transaction packets currently in slots that make up the buffers. In particular, the state machine monitors the number of transaction packets loaded in the output buffer slots, the number of outstanding read transactions for the node, and the number of read response transactions currently loaded in the output buffer. The state machine then allows the node to load a READ or WRITE transaction only if the monitored data indicates at least one of the buffer slots will be available to service a READ RESPONSE subsequently loaded by the node.