Abstract: Definition takes place of a sliding window of width Ne times the sampling period (Te); for each sliding window calculation takes place of the sum of the elementary powers of the correlation samples located in said window; determination takes place of the window for which the sum of the powers is at a maximum, the synchronization then being defined by the position of the synchronized window on the window having the maximum power sum and by the rank of each correlation sample within said window.

Abstract: The invention concerns an optical switch for optical beams comprising a series of optical input channels (110) and a series of optical output channels (210), two optical index spatial modulating cells (300, 400) adapted to respectively deflect an optical beam coming out of an input channel and arriving onto an output channel, each series of optical channels (110, 210) being distributed according to two dimensions transverse to the direction of the channels and the index spatial modulating cells (300, 400) being each designed to produce deflections according to said two dimensions.

Abstract: A method of fabricating a semiconductor device consisting of a silicon substrate on which is formed a stack of layers is described. The stack may have successively at least one first and one second combination. Each combination may consist, with reference to the substrate, of a thin bottom SiGe layer and a thin top silicon layer. A thin silicon dioxide film (18) is formed on the thin top silicon layer of the second combination so that the layer concerned supports the layers of the stack on at least two opposite lateral sides of the stack. Successive selective lateral etching of the SiGe layers is then carried out to form tunnels which are filled with a dielectric material.

Abstract: The distribution of calls to directory inquiry centers is concentrated in a server which reduces the traffic between the centers. For a given center, the server cyclically determines a forecast waiting time of the calls as a function of an average waiting time per call which it estimates for the given center, and compares the forecast waiting time with two thresholds so as to decide to route the calls to the given center or to another, less heavily loaded, inquiry center, and with two other thresholds so that the given center accepts calls from other, more heavily loaded centers, or refuses them if it is itself saturated.

Abstract: The interfacing device handles asynchronous/synchronous adaptation and rate control between the ATM flows and the flows transmitted on the wireless interface. It transposes the ATM cells (53 octets) into packets which can be transmitted directly on the wireless interface (40 octets in the case of DECT). Similarly, at the receiving end, it reconstructs the original ATM cell flow on the basis of the packets received. In order to guarantee a certain transmission quality at the level of the wireless link, the device uses a data acknowledgement and retransmission mechanism adapted to the characteristics of the synchronous wireless channel. In order to fulfil the quality of service requirements of the various applications in terms of error rates and transmission delays, the device allows the data protection mechanism to be set for each ATM connection depending on the characteristics of the service.

Abstract: A method for managing interactions between at least one peripheral command device and at least one multimedia application exploiting the standard MPEG-4. A peripheral command device delivers digital signals as a function of actions of one or more users comprising: constructing a digital sequence having the form of a BIFS node (Binary Form for Scenes in accordance with the standard MPEG-4), a node comprising at least one field defining a type and a number of interaction data to be applied to objects of a scene.

Abstract: A method and device for monitoring the quality of distributed digital images coded by blocks of pixels in which a false contour phenomenon may be generated when the image is reproduced. An image average for pixels represented by at least one luminance respectively chrominance components is calculated and a false contour effect on the basis of a criterion for discriminating the luminance or chrominance component difference between adjacent pixels of adjacent groups of pixels is detected in at least one reference direction of each current image. A visibility coefficient of at least one current image is calculated from the value of the image average speed vector and psycho-visual criteria relating to the existence of the false contour effect in the reference direction.

Abstract: Device for sending an encrypted signal, including: a source (1) for generating said signal and means (2) for intensity modulating the signal, a feedback loop which includes delay line means and non-linear means, characterized in that the feedback loop includes: an interferometer (5) to which is applied an electric current that corresponds to the delayed generated signal and an auxiliary source of constant intensity that feeds the interferometer optically, the output signal of the interferometer being a non-linear function of the output signal of the delay line means, a photodiode (7) which converts the luminous power at the output of the interferometer to a modulation current, and a summing circuit (8) which adds the message to be encrypted to the modulation current at the output of said photodiode, the output signal of the summing circuit controlling modulator means.

Abstract: Different portions of a header of each packet containing protocol data are analyzed in succession from different gate registers of the TRIE memory. As a packet arrives, its header is stored in a buffer memory and a first portion of the stored header is analyzed. Each analysis of a portion of header produces either the forwarding reference associated with the packet or an intermediate reference containing a first code, making it possible to locate at an arbitrary location of the buffer memory a next portion to be analyzed, and a second code, making it possible to locate at an arbitrary location of the TRIE memory a gate register from which this next portion is to be analyzed. Having analyzed the first portion of a stored header, the subsequent portions thereof are analyzed in accordance with the first and second codes contained in the intermediate references produced in succession until the forwarding reference is produced.

Abstract: A frequency control system includes a voltage-controlled oscillator, a sampling circuit for sampling a clock signal produced by the oscillator for two consecutive transitions of an unstable incoming digital signal, and a frequency comparator for incrementing and decrementing a transition upcounter-downcounter controlling the oscillator. The system tolerates variation of the frequency of the incoming signal about a mean value, which has no effect on a clock signal to be extracted by means of a phase comparator or on the synthesized clock signal supplied by the oscillator if the incoming signal contains a high level of jitter and is supplied by a programmable frequency divider.

Abstract: The invention relates in particular to a method of scrambling a video signal using an encryption key for controlling access to audiovisual information. The video signal is scrambled by applying a tattooing function to the video signal by using a marking key derived from the encryption key, the tattooing function including a parameter for regulating the amplitude of tattooing so as to enable the visibility of the tattooing in the video signal to be adjusted. The invention also provides a dual unscrambling method, and a system, an encoder, a decoder, a broadcast server, and a data medium for implementing said methods.

Abstract: A pattern recognition process including a pattern detection step, a characterization step of the pattern obtained in the detection step, and a recognition step of the pattern obtained in the characterization step, wherein the pattern characterization step is used to obtain invariant descriptors of the pattern with a Fourier-Mellin transform.

Abstract: A method for forming on a Ge or Si monocrystalline substrate successive Si/Ge, Si/SiGe, or Si/SiGe/Ge layers for a Ge substrate and inversely for a Si substrate is described. Electrochemical treatment of the stack of layers to make the layers porous and form therein residual crystallites is also described. The invention may be used to provide devices having layers of planes of quantum drops.

Abstract: A technique for the allocation and pricing of a resource among n buying agents during an auction bid. A bid sent by each buying agent in the form of a resource demand function si(p) is received, and a datum corresponding to the equilibrium price p* is calculated from the sum S of the n demand functions si(p), by means of the relation: S(p*)=Q. All of the bids received during a predetermined period corresponding to a round of bidding are processed in order to determine the quantity of a resource to be allocated to each buying agent. This is followed by the calculation of the data corresponding to the quantity ai to be allocated for this equilibrium price p* to each buying agent i based on its demand function si such that ai=si(p*). The management system utilizes the calculated data to allocate the corresponding quantities of the resource, and this data is stored in order to calculate the price to be billed to each buying agent.

Abstract: A modular home medical service terminal includes a basic module (100) installed in a patient's home and is equipped with a telephone link (1) for communicating with a remote home medical service center. The basic module (100) is able to accommodate at least one additional module (200, 300, 400) that provides at least one home medical service functionality and which can exchange information with the remote center via the telephone link (1).

Abstract: The method implements mobile terminals and an operating infrastructure having at least one call center, each portable terminal being given a credit of telephone charging units that is determined before said terminals are purchased, and each having means for calling a single call center. On the first occasion a call is made from a terminal, the terminal transmits an identifier to the single call center and the call center transmits a temporary subscriber number to the terminal, thereby enabling said terminal to be called via the network, and said number is stored in the call center.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for coding an original source mesh (M) representing a three-dimensional object, which consists in determining a simple mesh (M0) having reduced number of facets each defined by vertices and edges, then coefficients in a wavelet base, corresponding to the local modifications of said simple mesh (M0). The determination (11) said simple mesh (M0) comprises the following steps: detecting in said original mesh (M) at least one line of discontinuity and assigning said line of discontinuity to at least one of the facets of the simple mesh (M0) to be an edge thereof.

Abstract: A CDMA radiocommunication signals receiver for receiving signals obtained from spectrum symbols spread using pseudo-random sequences and having been propagated along a number of paths. The receiver includes a filter configured to restore L unspread signals for each symbol, corresponding to L different paths, a calculating circuit configured to calculate L estimates of the L different paths, and a demodulator configured to process each of the L unspread signals using the corresponding L estimates to obtain L path contributions. Also included is an adder configured to form a sum of the L path contributions and for outputting an estimate of a received symbol, and a decision circuit configured to make a decision about a value of the received symbol based on a value of the estimate of the received symbol output by the adder.

Abstract: A method of detecting, blind, the coding mode used to encode digital data, for data transmitted in frames of n bits, partially subjected to a convolutional coding. A soft syndrome value is calculated over a sequence of bits representative of a transmission error probability in these bits, and a likelihood value V(&agr;,&bgr;), where &agr;, &bgr; denote the number of coded bits and non-coded bits respectively, is then calculated on the basis of the mean value m and the variance &sgr; of the distribution of the absolute soft syndrome values. The likelihood value V(&agr;,&bgr;) is maximised as a function of &agr; or &bgr; which makes it possible to determine the coding mode used on the basis of the corresponding values &agr; or &bgr;.

Abstract: A method of propagating invocation contexts through a distributed object system that includes an application management API interface and wherein each object is associated with an interceptor and with a manager of the context of an incoming request received by the interceptor when the object is invoked. A thread manager is provided for the interceptor for the purpose, firstly, of establishing an association between a thread of an object directly consecutive to an incoming request invoking the object and the context of the incoming request as identified by the context manager and, secondly, of recovering the context from the thread manager and associating it with the outgoing request from the object. A method is added to the application management API interface enabling it to recover the current context from the thread manager and to associate it with any thread of the object indirectly consecutive to the incoming request.