Abstract: A portable, hand-held, electronically powered security device is disclosed. The device is comprised of a contoured outer housing having an elongated handle and a spherical head portion. The handle and head may be provided with features that facilitate use in a variety of environments, and may include a flashlight, a video camera, a pepper spray storage and dispensing mechanism, and/or a radio frequency transmitter-receiver as examples, all of which are positioned within the outer housing. The handle is provided with a number of manually operated switches, including an ON/OFF switch, an audio transmit switch, a flashlight switch, a camera switch and an infrared switch. The handle is further provided with an outwardly projecting antenna. The head accommodates various operating elements of the devices housed therewithin.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for adaptively generating instructions for use by the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer. Upon detection of a start up signal pattern on the computer's system bus, instructions are generated in response to memory access signals from the CPU. The invention performs data processing operations that would otherwise be performed by the CPU, and produces instructions for execution by the CPU based on the results of these data processing operations, thereby reducing the number of instructions executed by the CPU to perform a predefined task.