Abstract: Audio signals from any array of microphones are individually filtered, delayed, and scaled in order to form an acoustic beam that focuses the array on a particular region. Nonlinear robust signal estimation processing is applied to the resulting set of audio signals to generate an output signal for the array. The nonlinear robust signal estimation processing may involve dropping or otherwise reducing the magnitude of one or more of the highest and lowest data in each set of values from the resulting audio signals and then selecting the median from or generating an average of the remaining values to produce a representative, central value for the output audio signal. The nonlinear robust signal estimation processing effectively discriminates against noise originating at an unknown location outside of the focal region of the acoustic beam.

Abstract: Secure communication protocols are disclosed in which two parties generate a shared secret which may be used as a secure session key for communication between the parties. The protocols are based on Diffie-Hellman type key exchange in which a Diffie-Hellman value is combined with a function of at least a password using the group operation such that the Diffie-Hellman value may be extracted by the other party using the inverse group operation and knowledge of the password. In one embodiment, each of the parties explicitly authenticates the other party, while in another embodiment, the parties utilize implicit authentication relying on the generation of an appropriate secret session key to provide the implicit authentication. Typically, the parties will be a client computer and a server computer.

Abstract: The present invention provides an interconnect. The interconnect comprises a pliable surface having a plurality of nanostructures disposed thereon, the pliable surface configured to allow the plurality of nanostructures to at least partially conform to a surface when the nanostructures come into contact therewith.

Abstract: A linear optical sampling apparatus, temporally samples a modulated optical signal using the amplitude of the interference of its electric field with the electric field of a laser pulse. The apparatus includes a 90° optical hybrid that combines the optical signal and laser pulse in order to generate two quadratures interference samples SA and SB. A processor compensates for optical and electrical signal handling imperfections in the hybrid, balanced detectors, and A/D converters used in the optical sampling apparatus. The processor numerically scales the two quadratures interference samples SA and SB over a large collection of samples by imposing that the average <SA>=<SB>=0 and <SA2>=<SB2> and then minimizes 2<SA·SB>/(<SA2>+<SB2>) =cos(?B??A)). This is done by adjusting the phase between the two quadratures (ideally either ??/2 or +?/2) so that cos(?B??A)) is zero.

Abstract: Described herein is a method and apparatus for transmission that provides the performance of space time spreading (STS) or orthogonal transmit diversity (OTD) and the backwards compatibility of phase sweep transmit diversity (PSTD) without significantly degrading performance in additive white guassan noise (AWGN) conditions using a transmission architecture that incorporates STS/OTD and a form of phase sweep transmit diversity (PSTD) referred to herein as biased PSTD, which involves transmitting a signal and a frequency swept version of the same signal over diversity antennas at different power levels to reduce the depths of nulls normally seen in AWGN conditions when regular PSTD is utilized.

Abstract: A system and method employing a processing node having storage capabilities for facilitating service creation and negotiation in a wireless network, by associating user information and/or service information with network information. User information, service information, and network information are provided periodically and dynamically into the storage. Using the processing node, user information and/or service information are associated with network information without having to access various network elements located throughout the network, to facilitate service creation and negotiation, and thus minimize network processing and network resources.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for decoding multiple-coded symbols from a coded input symbol stream in a single clock cycle. The method constructs an original Huffman look-up table by extending the associated Huffman tree to decode multiple symbols in one clock cycle in a first embodiment and decodes multiple DCT coefficient symbols in an alternate embodiment. An advantage of the method is that the depth of the new Huffman tree is adjustable thereby making the method easily adaptable to various hardware architectures. A further advantage of the present invention is that the decoding process speed is significantly increased while the size of the lookup table is nominally increased.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a magnetometer includes an electromechanical resonator coupled to a drive-and-detect (DD) circuit. The resonator has a deformable beam that is a part of a closed current path. By applying a periodic drive signal to a drive electrode located in proximity to the deformable beam, the DD circuit induces an oscillation of the beam. In the presence of a magnetic field, this oscillation changes the magnetic flux through the closed current path, thereby generating an oscillating electrical current in the path. Dissipation of this current due to resistive losses in the closed current path then dampens the oscillation of the deformable beam with a damping coefficient that depends on the magnetic-field strength. Using a sense electrode located in proximity to the deformable beam, the DD circuit detects the oscillation amplitude. Based on the detected amplitude, the DD circuit changes the frequency of the drive signal to find the resonant frequency.

Abstract: A method of sending personalized outgoing voicemail/multimedia mail messages based on the caller ID in a multimedia telecommunications network, the method including storing the subscriber's personalized outgoing voicemail and multimedia mail messages at a first network element, receiving a call having a unique caller ID for the subscriber at a second network element, determining at the second network element whether the subscriber has activated the service and whether the subscriber is unavailable to take the call, forwarding the call to the first network element where the service has been activated by the subscriber and the subscriber is unavailable to take the call, analyzing at the first network element the caller ID of the call to determine which of the stored outgoing messages is an appropriate outgoing message for the caller, and playing the appropriate outgoing message to the caller.

Abstract: The inventors propose herein a novel band filter design for planar lightwave circuits. In one embodiment of the present invention, the band filter includes two waveguide grating routers interconnected by a third waveguide grating, wherein waveguides comprising the third waveguide grating have unequal path lengths. In addition, the waveguides in the third grating are partitioned into sets of adjacent waveguides wherein each set corresponds to a particular wavelength band for the filter. The individual sets of waveguides are spaced at their connection to the second waveguide grating router such that optical signals within predetermined, different optical wavelength bands are routed to different output ports of the band filter. Some of the advantages of this novel band filter include compactness, sharp passband corners, low spectral ripple, and a lack of chromatic dispersion.

Abstract: Integrated circuit fabrication techniques are provided which allow non-horizontal/non-vertical wires to traverse the entire chip surface, rather than just the corners as in the conventional Manhattan geometry, while interconnecting circuit points. This is achieved by employing a variable rotational assignment methodology with respect to the interconnect layers or levels during the IC fabrication operation. These techniques thus eliminate the litho step problem, reduce interconnect distances and lessen the influence of capacitance interaction between interconnect wires.

Abstract: A micro-miniature x-ray apparatus comprises: a first chip subassembly including a source of x-rays including both Bremsstrahlung photons and characteristic x-rays; a second chip subassembly including a filter for transmitting the characteristic x-rays and blocking the Bremsstrahlung photons; a third chip subassembly including a movable element for focusing or collimating the transmitted characteristic x-rays into a beam and means for controlling the position of the focusing element. In one embodiment, the controlling means include a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS). In another embodiment, the position of the movable element determines how the x-ray beam is steered to the focal area. In still another embodiment, the x-ray source includes a field emitter electron source and a target responsive to the electrons for generating x-rays. In this case, the x-ray beam is also steered by selectively energizing the anode segments.

Abstract: A method for routing optical signals includes producing a jet of surface plasmons on a metal surface in response to receiving an optical signal from an input optical waveguide. The method includes selectively producing an optical signal in a first output optical waveguide from the produced jet in response to the received optical signal having a first wavelength. The method also includes selectively producing an optical signal in a second output optical waveguide from the produced jet in response to the received optical signal having a second wavelength.

Abstract: A contention-based network which allows real-time traffic to be exist as multiple independent linked-listed chains or under certain conditions to be assembled into multiple linked-list chains. A time separation is enforced between the various multiple chains, which are limited to a predetermined maximum number of stations that each can have in order to allow non-real-time stations to obtain timely access to the medium. Ones of the multiple chains may also be joined into a single chain. Blackburst contention is used to enable a chain to be reconstituted robustly from non-anticipated interruptions, such as the failure of one of its stations.

Abstract: In the method, an emergency broadcast station receives report of an impending or current disaster-related situation from a local authority. The geographic area to be affected by the impending or current disaster-related situation is served by an existing communication system, such as a cellular network. The emergency broadcast station generates a signal representing an emergency broadcast message that contains a frequency of an accessible main emergency channel at the emergency broadcast station, and a priority level classifying the emergent or impending disaster-related situation. The signal is transmitted to one or base stations, each serving a plurality of users of the system, which in turn send the signal to the users. The users tune to the frequency of the channel to receive the emergency broadcast message.

Abstract: An enhanced data networking service is disclosed that assists a patron in locating a resource provider who might be capable of providing the resource (e.g., information, goods, realty, intangibles, or services, etc.) sought by the patron and also initiates a telecommunication session between the patron and the resource provider so that they may communicate and provide the patron with the resource sought. The telecommunication session can be a voice telecommunications session, video telecommunications session, or a text telecommunications session. The telecommunications session can be conducted via the public switched telephone network or a data network such as the Internet. An illustrative embodiment of the present invention comprises: receiving, via a data network, at least one keyword from a patron; querying a database with the at least one keyword to select a resource provider; and initiating a telecommunication session between the patron and the resource provider.

Abstract: To avoid interference with the reverse link of a base station within an underlay area, a described method determines when to redirect and handover a mobile terminal that is still communicating on an adjacent carrier with a border base station within an overlay area but is within the coverage area of the base station in the underlay area.

Abstract: The novel method and system for classifying packets through the use of filters combines heuristic tree search with the use of filter buckets. This provides high performance and reasonable storage requirement, even when applied to large number of filters (from 4K to 1 million). In addition, the novel method can adapt to the input packet distribution by taking into account the relative filter usage. The capability of employing a large number of filters in a packet classifciation system is useful in providing value-added services, such as security, quality of service (QoS), load balancing, and traffic accounting.

Abstract: A Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) is used to connect Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) to a telecommunications network. The Customer Premises Equipment generates both Constant Bit-Rate (CBR) and Variable Bit-Rate (VBR) Packets. Each Frame of Packets from the Customer Premises Equipment is used to transmit up to a limited amount of CBR data, and VBR data is used, if available, to fill up the Frame. The limit on the amount of CBR data can be dynamically adjusted according to the need of the CPE. Similarly, and importantly, a limit on CBR data to the CPE can be adjusted dynamicaly according to the need for transmission of CBR data to the CPE. Advantageously, a guaranteed rate of transmission of CBR data can be maintained, even in the face of a flood of VBR traffic. Advantageously, this arrangement improves the quality of service on CBR traffic, such as Voice, and subject to the limit imposed by CBR traffic, allows a maximum amount of VBR traffic to be transmitted.

Abstract: An optical router includes a substantially transparent dielectric layer, a metal layer with a first side that forms an interface with the dielectric layer, an input optical waveguide, and an output optical waveguide. The input optical waveguide is positioned to illuminate a portion of the interface. The interface is configured to cause light from the input waveguide to produce surface plasmons that radiate light to the output optical waveguide.