Patents Assigned to International Business Machines for Corporation
  • Patent number: 7412378
    Abstract: A method (10) and system of adjusting a speech output rate to match a speech input rate can include the steps of receiving (12) speech input, computing (14) a speech input rate, and dynamically adjusting (18 or 26) a speech output rate to match the speech input rate. If the type of speech output is TTS, then a rate of TTS can be adjusted (18). If the type of speech output is recorded and alternate text is available, then steps (22 and 24) of counting alternate text available from a recorded output and determining an audio file length is used to compute a default output rate to adjust a recorded output rate. If the type is recorded and alternate text is unavailable, then steps (21 and 24) of obtaining an output word count from a transcription of a recorded speech output and determining an audio file length is used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: James R. Lewis, Peeyush Jaiswal
  • Patent number: 7412460
    Abstract: A method for performing a system level backup of a log-ahead database management system (DBMS) without suspending updates by application programs is described. The DBMS comprises a database mainline system, a backup utility and a restore utility. The data and log records are stored on separate storage volumes. Log records are written to identify objects that require special handling during the point-in-time recovery. The database engine operates normally during a backup except for suspending actions that would alter the file system catalog or write updates across a storage volume boundary; and by freezing the REDO log point in its checkpoint information. The backup utility copies the data volumes first and optionally the log volumes second while updates are allowed. The resulting inconsistencies are resolved either during a DBMS restart or during a point-in-time (PIT) recovery performed by the restore utility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Namik Hrle, Jeffrey William Josten, Thomas Majithia, James Zu-chia Teng
  • Patent number: 7412388
    Abstract: Statements of a computer program expressed using a first source natural language are made meaningful to a programmer familiar with a second target natural language. The first source natural language of the computer program is determined from the programmer, or through analysis, and the second target natural language desired by the programmer is selected. Textual constructs may be parsed, with reference to stored coding conventions to determine meaningful lexical tokens. Such tokens are translated with a translation engine, and displayed to the programmer, desirably using a graphical user interface feature of an integrated development environment (IDE) for computer programming in a particular programming language.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Baiju Dalal, Mohit Kalra
  • Patent number: 7412588
    Abstract: A network processor includes a system-onchip (SoC) macro core and functions as a single chip protocol converter that receives packets generating according to a first protocol type and processes the packets to implement protocol conversion and generates converted packets of a second protocol type for output thereof, the process of protocol conversion being performed entirely within the SoC macro core. The process of protocol conversion contained within the SoC macro core does not require the processing resources of a host system. The system-on chip macro core includes a bridge device for coupling a local bus in the protocol converting multiprocessor SoC macro core local bus to peripheral interfaces coupled to a system bus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Christos J. Georgiou, Victor L. Gregurick, Indira Nair, Valentina Salapura
  • Patent number: 7412134
    Abstract: A single-mode optical waveguide with a core, surrounded by a cladding consisting of an inner soft layer and an outer harder layer is described. The outer layer has a grating structure on its inner surface, whose spatial frequency is the same as that of the guided mode. The thickness of the inner cladding is sufficient to keep the grating outside the mode field in undeformed regions of the waveguide, so that normally no out-coupling of the light results. Connections are made by crossing two such waveguides at an angle and pressing them together. This results in deformation of the two waveguides such that the gratings are brought into proximity with the cores. Light is coupled out of one waveguide and into the other in the deformed region, resulting in a self-aligning optical connection. The out-coupled light propagates normal to the waveguide axis, so errors in the crossing angle cause little change in efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Claudius Feger, Philip C. D. Hobbs, Maurice McGlashan-Powell
  • Patent number: 7411227
    Abstract: The present invention provides a complementary metal oxide semiconductor integration process whereby a plurality of silicided metal gates are fabricated atop a gate dielectric. Each silicided metal gate that is formed using the integration scheme of the present invention has the same silicide metal phase and substantially the same height, regardless of the dimension of the silicide metal gate. The present invention also provides various methods of forming a CMOS structure having silicided contacts in which the polySi gate heights are substantially the same across the entire surface of a semiconductor structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ricky S. Amos, Diane C. Boyd, Cyril Cabral, Jr., Richard D. Kaplan, Jakub T. Kedzierski, Victor Ku, Woo-Hyeong Lee, Ying Li, Anda C. Mocuta, Vijay Narayanan, An L. Steegen, Maheswaren Surendra
  • Patent number: 7412433
    Abstract: A system, apparatus, and process creates a table of contents (TOC), including one or more table of contents (TOC) entries, to manage data in a hierarchical storage management system. Each TOC entry contains metadata describing the contents and attributes of a data object within an image, which is an aggregation of multiple data objects into a single object for storage management purposes. The TOC is stored in a storage hierarchy, such as magnetic disk, for fast access of and efficient operation on the aggregated TOC entries. The system, apparatus, and process also provide for aggregating the TOC entries from one or more TOCs into a TOC set in the storage management server database. The TOC set may be manipulated and queried in order to find a particular data object or image referenced by a TOC entry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew Joseph Anglin, David Maxwell Cannon, Mark Alan Haye, Michael A. Kaczmarski, Donald Paul Warren, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7412397
    Abstract: Demanufacturing workload is forecast based on anticipated volumes of equipment to be disassembled and/or salvaged, as well as equipment complexity factors determined by disassembly prototyping. Staffing requirements are unique for each customer and are based on the number of pounds needed to be worked during each month and the associated complexity (work content multiplier) for that customer's typical or expected returns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Edward J. Grenchus, Jr., Robert A. Keene, Asif Shaikh
  • Patent number: 7412723
    Abstract: A method, system, apparatus, or computer program product is presented for morphing a honeypot system on a dynamic and configurable basis. The morphing honeypot emulates a variety of services while falsely presenting information about potential vulnerabilities within the system that supports the honeypot. The morphing honeypot has the ability to dynamically change its personality or displayed characteristics using a variety of algorithms and a database of known operating system and service vulnerabilities. The morphing honeypot's personality can be changed on a timed or scheduled basis, on the basis of activity that is generated by the presented honeypot personality, or on some other basis. The morphing honeypot can also be integrated with intrusion detection systems and other types of computer security incident recognition systems to correlate its personality with detected nefarious activities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Blake, Vikki Kim Converse, Ronald O'Neal Edmark, John Michael Garrison
  • Patent number: 7411305
    Abstract: A structure for improving the electrostatic discharge robustness of an integrated circuit having an electrostatic discharge (ESD) device and a receiver network connected to a pad by interconnects. The interconnect between the pad and the ESD device has a high-k material placed adjacent to at least one surface of the interconnect and extending over the thermal diffusion distance of the interconnect. The high-k material improves the critical current density of the interconnect by increasing the heat capacity and thermal conductivity of the interconnect. The high-k material can be placed on the sides, top and/or bottom of the interconnect. In multiple wire interconnects, the high-k material is placed between the wires of the interconnect. A low-k material is placed beyond the high-k material to reduce the capacitance of the interconnect. The combination of low-k and high-k materials provides an interconnect structure with improved ESD robustness and low capacitance that is well suited for an ESD device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Steven H. Voldman
  • Patent number: 7410919
    Abstract: A system for of aligning a mask to a substrate comprising: a fixture for holding the mask and the substrate in fixed positions relative to each other; means for holding the substrate, the means for holding the substrate protruding through openings in a table and the fixture, the means for holding fixedly mounted on a stage, the stage moveable in first and second directions and rotatable about an axis relative to the table; means for affixing the fixture containing the mask and the substrate to the table; means for controlling the means for temporarily affixing so as to generate a uniform force around a perimeter of the fixture to effectuate the temporarily affixing; means for aligning the mask to the substrate, the means for aligning controlling movement of the stage in the first and second directions and rotation about the axis; and means for fastening the fixture together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Duane E Allen, Brian K Burnor, Thomas A Dotolo, Leonard J Gardecki, William L Hammond, Kibby B Horsford, Charles R Ramsey
  • Patent number: 7410833
    Abstract: An interconnection structure suitable for flip-chip attachment of microelectronic device chips to packages, comprising a two, three or four layer ball-limiting composition including an adhesion/reaction barrier layer, and having a solder wettable layer reactive with components of a tin-containing lead free solder, so that the solderable layer can be totally consumed during soldering, but a barrier layer remains after being placed in contact with the lead free solder during soldering. One or more lead-free solder balls is selectively situated on the solder wetting layer, the lead-free solder balls comprising tin as a predominant component and one or more alloying components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Keith E. Fogel, Balaram Ghosal, Sung K. Kang, Stephen Kilpatrick, Paul A. Lauro, Henry A. Nye, III, Da-Yuan Shih, Donna S. Zupanski-Nielsen
  • Patent number: 7412687
    Abstract: A method, system, apparatus and article of manufacture for producing a customized application. In a preferred method of the invention, a selection of components can be identified which are to be deployed to form the customized application. Within the selection of components, points of variability can be specified which can be assigned values when deploying the selection of components. The identified selection of components and the specified points of variability can be persisted in a template. Subsequently, the template can be processed to deploy the identified selection of components, to prompt for values to be assigned to the points of variability, and to configure the identified selection of components with the values at the points of variability thereby producing the customized application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: James Patrick Goodwin, Christina Lau, Margaret M. O'Connell, Douglass J. Wilson
  • Patent number: 7412038
    Abstract: A method for providing voice telephony services can include the step of receiving a call via a telephone gateway. The telephone gateway can convey call identifying data to a resource connector. A media port can be responsively established within a media converter that is communicatively linked to the telephone gateway through a port associated with the call. A call description object can be constructed that includes the call identifying data and an identifier for the media port. The call description object can be conveyed to a telephony application server that provides at least one speech service for the call. The telephony application server can initiate at least one programmatic action of a communicatively linked speech engine. The speech engine can convey results of the programmatic action to the media converter through the media port. The media converter can stream speech signals for the call based upon the results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas E. Creamer, Victor S. Moore, Wendi L. Nusbickel, Ricardo Dos Santos, James J. Sliwa
  • Patent number: 7412490
    Abstract: Configurable, pluggable delivery managers are responsible for routing instant messages to intended recipients. A delivery manager is selected for a particular message, and that delivery manager defines, at runtime, a delivery policy to be used to route the instant message to an intended recipient of the message. The delivery policy is based upon a configuration of the delivery manager, a user configuration of the intended recipient, and one or more available delivery mechanisms. The delivery manager routes the instant message using the delivery policy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Moshe M. E. Matsa, Julius Q. Quiaot, Christopher R. Vincent
  • Patent number: 7412437
    Abstract: A system and method is provided which utilizes a threading service to offer enhanced features for a document management system including an email system. Various enhanced email features may be provided through one or more of the following components: a delete module, a reply module, a profile module, and a search module. The delete module enables a user to delete a selected message, a set of related messages, or the whole set except for the selected message. The reply module enables a user to send a reply message to all addresses associated and involved with an entire set of related messages. The profile module enables a dynamic interest profile to contain all relevant information from an outgoing message and a set of messages related to the outgoing message. The search module enables search results to include documents which match the user's query as well as documents related to the documents which match the user's query.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Paul B. Moody, Daniel M. Gruen, Steven L. Rohall, Bernard J. Kerr
  • Patent number: 7412493
    Abstract: The invention relates to a message broker for managing subscription requests in a multicast messaging system. The messaging system comprises a plurality of publishers publishing information to the broker and a plurality of subscribers subscribing to information received from one or more publishers. The broker is able to receive a subscription request pointing to topic information in which the requesting subscriber is interested, the topic information defining a specific topic within a topic hierarchy. The broker is able to parse the request to determine if the request includes a wildcard and if the request does include a wildcard, the broker instructs the requesting subscriber to listen on a multicast address associated with the topic in the topic hierarchy which precedes the wildcard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John Justin Duigenan, Mark E Taylor, Graham D Wallis
  • Patent number: 7411214
    Abstract: Structure and methods of fabrication are disclosed for an enhanced FET devices in which dopant impurities are prevented from diffusing through the gate insulator. The structure comprises a Si:C, or SiGe:C, layer which is sandwiched between the gate insulator and a layer which is doped with impurities in order to provide a preselected workfunction. It is further disclosed how this, and further improvements for FET devices, such as raised source/drain and multifaceted gate on insulator, MODFET on insulator are integrated with strained Si based layer on insulator technology.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Jack Oon Chu
  • Patent number: 7412629
    Abstract: Having detected an anomalous fault in a peripheral I/O slot, a processor entity may need to perform some remedial action, wherein the peripheral slot may have a fault line. First a voltage may be detected on the slot. Processor entity may set a fault if a voltage is found. A hotplug controller which may provide outputs that the processing entity may store as a fault syndrome word. The service processor or operating system, either during initial program load, or at another time, may detect that the fault could be a false fault depending on a set of predefined conditions and following the mechanism described here can then clear the fault earlier set. If an action from a previous device list is set, then there may be a clearing of the voltage fault based on determining that the action is set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John Daniel Upton, Madeline Vega
  • Patent number: 7411135
    Abstract: An integrated circuit has a wiring layer below an insulator layer. A pad comprises a conductive material that is on the insulator layer. The pad has a wirebond connection region and a probe pad region. An inspection mark is between the wirebond connection region and the probe pad region. The inspection mark comprises an opening in the insulator layer that is filled with the conductive material. In addition, a contact that is through the insulator layer is adapted to electrically connect the conductor wire in the wiring layer to the pad. The contact is formed of the same conductive material used for the pad and the inspection mark.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy H. Daubenspeck, Jeffrey P. Gambino, Christopher D. Muzzy, Wolfgang Sauter