Abstract: A terminator plug is connected to one coaxial cable connector and a coaxial cable connection tester is connected to the other cable connector. A voltage is applied to the cable's center conductor and a ground to the cable's shield. The center conductor voltage is monitored for open and short faults while the cable adjacent first one and then the other connector are wiggled. The voltage on the center conductor changes if a continuous short or open is present or if such faults intermittently occur. The voltage on the center conductor is monitored by two comparators with one detecting short faults and the other detecting open faults. The outputs of the comparators are combined to generate an OK signal if no faults are detected. If open faults are detected, the signals from the open comparator are clocked into a flip-flop; if short faults are detected, the signals from the short comparator are clocked into a flip-flop.

Abstract: An apparatus for providing a temperature based alerting signal to a user to alert the user to the occurrence of a particular or predetermined event. The temperature based alerting device may be incorporated into jewelry, garments, or a releasable strap and includes at least one spot heating element that is maintained in substantial contact with the user's skin. Upon detected occurrence of the predetermined event, as for example an incoming telephone call or page, the user is silently alerted by a change in the temperature of the spot heating element in contact with the user's skin. Subsequent action by the user, as for example answering of the incoming call or page, causes the temperature based alerting device to reset to an initial, non-alert state.

Abstract: Methods and devices are provided for quickly producing all possible linear polarization states of light at the output of a length of optical fiber. Linearly polarized light is input and is transmitted through a fiber. Due to the birefringence of the fiber, light at the output of the fiber is elliptically polarized irrespective of the input polarization. The elliptically polarized states of light at the output are generated as an arbitrary circle on an output Poincare sphere. This arbitrary circle is then manipulated to produce a final circle substantially coinciding with the equator of the Poincare sphere. This final circle represents all possible linear polarization states at the output of the fiber. The invention eliminates the need for determining transformation matrices and performing point-by-point calculations in order to obtain input polarization settings for polarization-based, passive optical network (“PON”) testing.

Abstract: Silica sols exhibiting desirable yield-dilatancy are fabricated. A mixture comprising silica, water, and a pH-adjusting agent is provided, and the mixture is shear-mixed. The desirable properties of the resultant sol are attained by using a concentration of pH-adjusting agent that provides a viscosity within a particular range during shear mixing. The requisite pH range, however, changes depending on the properties of the silica mixture. A discovered technique for determining this changing pH range is by selecting the pH based on the silica surface area per unit volume of the mixture.

Abstract: The invention provides a multi-resolution video encoding system which improves the computational efficiency associated with encoding a video sequence in two or more different resolutions. An illustrative embodiment includes a first encoder for encoding the sequence at a first resolution, and a second encoder for encoding the sequence at a second resolution higher than the first resolution. Information obtained from encoding the sequence at the first resolution is used to provide rate control for the sequence at the second resolution. This information may include, for example, a relationship between a quantization parameter selected for an image at the first resolution and a resultant output bitrate generated by encoding the image using the selected quantization parameter. The invention can be used with a variety of video encoding standards, including H.261, H.263, Motion-JPEG, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2.

Abstract: An electrolyte bath for plating tin or tin alloy onto metal substrates using a high speed plating process is described. The electrolyte bath contains a stannous alkyl sulfonate and an alkyl sulfonic acid. The bath also contains an organic compound that is the reaction product of polyalkylene glycol and phenolphthalein or derivatives of phenolphthalein.

Abstract: A cellular system in accordance with the principles of the present invention permits one node, or network element, within a cellular system to request dialed number validation from another network element in the cellular system. The invoking and responding nodes may be any of the following: a mobile switching center, a home location register, a service control point, or a service node. Upon reaching a state in call processing where further dialed number analysis may be required, the invoking node will send an ANSI-41 compliant dialed number validation request message to the node performing validation. The validating node will determine whether the dialed number is allowed under the subscriber's dialing plan. After making the determination, the validating node will return a message to the invoking node indicating whether the specified digits are allowed according to the subscriber's dialing plan.

Abstract: A telephone networking system includes a database having executable programs which are equivalent to customer record programs used by a SCP. A switching device retrieves one of the executable programs from the database in response to data received by an input device, such as a telephone. The executable program is transmitted across the network to be executed by an edge device having the capability to store information and perform logical operations. For an 800/888 telephone call, the executable program instructs the edge device to request and gather additional information. The additional information is then used by the executable program to generate the POTS number which is transmitted to the switching device to complete the call.

Abstract: An apparatus for detecting skin areas in video sequences is disclosed. The apparatus is configured to include a shape locator and a tone detector. The shape locator analyzes the input video sequences to identify the edges of all the objects in a video frame and determine whether such edges approximate the outline of a predetermined shape that is likely to contain a skin area. Once objects likely to contain skin areas are located by the shape locator, the tone detector examines the picture elements (pixels) of each located object to determine if such pixels have signal energies that are characteristic of skin areas. The tone detector then samples pixels that have signal energies which are characteristic of skin areas to determine a range of skin tones and compares the range of sampled skin tones with the tones in the entire frame to find all matching skin tones.

Abstract: An on-line reorganization method of an object-oriented database with physical references involves a novel fuzzy traversal of the database, or a partition thereof, to identify the approximate parents of all migrating objects. Where the entire database is traversed the process begins from its persistent root. For traversals of a partition the process begins from each object with a reference pointing to it from outside the partition. To facilitate the identification of these inter-partitional objects an External Reference Table (“ERT”) is maintained. During the fuzzy traversal all new inserted and deleted references are tracked in a Temporary Reference Table (“TRT”). After the fuzzy traversal is completed, for each migrating object, a lock is obtained on the identified approximate parents and on all new parents in which references to the object were inserted, as indicated by the TRT.

Abstract: A method of synthesizing an algorithm for transforming a program from a first form to a second form includes first formalizing a language associated with the program to be transformed in accordance with a theorem proving system. Then, a proof is built in accordance with the theorem proving system based on a theorem asserting a representability associated with the program, the representability being expressed as inductive predicates over semantic domains. The method then extracts the algorithm based on the proof. The algorithm is capable of transforming the program from the first form to the second form. In one embodiment, the algorithm is a correctness verified abstraction algorithm and the theorem proving system is Nuprl.

Abstract: A packet filter for a router performs generalized packet filtering allowing range matches in two dimensions, where ranges in one dimension at least one dimension is defined as a power of two. To associate a filter rule with a received packet EP, the packet filter employs a 2-dimensional interval search and memory look-up with the filter-rule table. Values of sm of filter-rule rm=(sm,dm) in one dimension are desirably ranges that are a power of two, such as prefix ranges, which are represented by a binary value having a “length” defined as the number of bits to of the prefix. The dm may be single points, ranges defined as prefix ranges, and/or ranges defined as continuous ranges. The packet filter employs preprocessing of the filter-rules based on prefix length as a power of 2 in one dimension and decomposition of overlapping segments into non-overlapping intervals in the other dimension to form the filter-rule table.

Abstract: A microcomputer incorporates a pair of DMA controllers that are co-dependently operated to read and write common data blocks to two peripheral devices. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, one of the DMA controllers is designated to read a data block from memory, store the data, and then write the data in a single write cycle to each of the two peripheral devices. This DMA controller provides the address and control signals necessary for writing the data to a first of the two peripheral devices, while the other DMA controller provides the address and control signals necessary for writing the data block to a second of the two peripheral devices. As a result, only one read and one write command are required for the data to be written to the two peripheral devices.

Abstract: A method for improving the performance of a system having a main-memory database which has at least one database containing at least one data item, and having a permanent storage device. The system executes at least one update transaction for modifying the data item to produce update results, and at least one read transaction for reading the data item. The method includes the steps of requiring the update transaction to acquire a database mutex before the update transaction modifies the data item. A timestamp is assigned to the update transaction and to the data item to be updated by the update transaction. After the update transactions updates the data item and before it release the database mutex, the update transaction acquire a mutex associated with the timestamp. Before the update's results are stored to the permanent storage device, the update transaction releases the database mutex.

Abstract: In the coding and decoding of stereo audio spectral values both the intensity stereo process and prediction are used in order to achieve high data compression. If intensity stereo coding is active in one section of scale factor bands, the prediction for the right channel in that range is deactivated, whereby the results of the prediction are not used to form the coded stereo audio spectral values. To allow further adaptation of the prediction for the right channel, the predictor of the right channel is fed with stereo audio spectral values for the channel, which again are intensity stereo decoded.

Abstract: A spring biased mechanical fastener comprises two side-by-side first rods fixedly secured at first ends to an end support. The two first rods terminate in two oppositely facing detents, and each rod includes a V-bent camming surface. A horizontal bar mounted on the end of a second bar slidably mounted though the end support engages and drives the camming surfaces. Forced sliding movements of the second bar relative to the two first rods causes elastic flexure of the two rods for moving the two detents towards one another for reduced lateral extent and for passage through an opening through objects fastened together by the fastener.

Abstract: A frequency mixing system that provides an expanded dynamic range when compared to the dynamic range(s) of an individual mixer(s) that makes up the frequency mixing system. The frequency mixing system adjusts the amplitude of an input signal to be frequency mixed to produce a frequency converted signal with an acceptable and/or lower (when compared to the amplitude of intermodulation distortion produced by mixing the input signal without amplitude adjustment) amplitude of intermodulation distortion. If the input signal were frequency mixed without the amplitude adjustment, an unacceptable and/or higher level of intermodulation distortion would result (when compared to the corresponding intermodulation distortion if the amplitude-adjusted signal were mixed by an individual mixer). Adjusting the amplitude of the input signal creates an adjusted signal with signal distortion on the first path.

Abstract: A low voltage cutoff circuit, a method of operating the same and a battery backup system incorporating the low voltage cutoff circuit or the method. In one embodiment, the low voltage cutoff circuit includes: (1) a low voltage monitor coupled between an input and an output of the low voltage cutoff circuit, (2) a cutoff switch, coupled between the input and the output and controlled by the low voltage monitor, that closes to couple the input to the output, the cutoff switch subject to failing closed when a voltage of the input is below a threshold and a load couplable to the output contains a short circuit and (3) a short circuit protection circuit, coupled to the low voltage monitor, that senses when the load contains the short circuit and directs the low voltage monitor to prevent the cutoff switch from closing.

Abstract: A process for fabricating a multi-layer interconnect in which an organic low-k material is formed over a topographic substrate. An insulator such as silicon dioxide is formed over the organic low-k material. The insulator is planarized. Contact holes or vias are then etched in the two-layer stack.

Abstract: A power converter with a self synchronized synchronous rectifier includes one or two drive windings to provide positive drive to the control electrodes of the controlled switches (FETs) of a self synchronized synchronous rectifier. The polarities of these windings am selected so that the switched devices are driven appropriately to rectify the periodic signal output of the secondary winding of the power transformer of the converter. In some arrangements one or two drive windings are included as extra windings in the power transformer and connected to provide the proper polarity drive signals. The turn ratios of the drive windings to the other windings are selected to provide the proper gate drive signal levels. In an alternative arrangement a separate drive transformer may be provided to supply the gate drive signals.