Abstract: An information distribution system that allows a customer to retrieve desired information from an information supplier over a communications network and be billed for the retrieved information on the customer's telephone bill. The billing feature may be implemented using existing telephone company premium-rate billing services that allow the telephone company to bill the customer for the call with the telephone company transferring a portion of the payment to the information supplier. A customer desiring to retrieve information is presented with a list of available information items. Upon a customer's selection of a desired information item, a data file is accessed that contains the telephone number of the appropriate information supplier and a retrieval code that identifies the selected information item. The customer's computing system transmits a request to the information supplier for the selected information, identified by its retrieval code.

Abstract: A power system recovery design which protects the integrity of an electronic controller system by inhibiting application of DC electric power to heavy load equipment until a user determines that application of DC electric power should be reinitiated. Once heavy load equipment has been placed in an inoperative state, the power system recovery design will maintain the inoperative state until an operator actively reinitiates the operative state.

Abstract: A portable thermal testing system includes a portable thermal chamber box for attaching to a stationary object. A tested device is inserted through an aperture in the portable thermal chamber box and sealed from the external environment via sliding doors. Temperature-controlled air is circulated through the portable thermal chamber box and a baffle provides equal distribution of the air over the tested device. An aperture is provided for attaching a test probe to the device under test.

Abstract: An apparatus may be used to deposit metal or conductive layers upon semiconductor wafers using an electrochemical process. The apparatus comprises a housing for retaining a first electrode (e.g., anode) and a second electrode (e.g., cathode), in a fixed spaced-apart relation to each other, with the surface area of the anode exceeding the surface area of the cathode (the wafer). The back surface of the wafer is mounted on a handling disk; the disk has an aperture for accessing the wafer and is held in the housing. A contact probe passes through the aperture to touch the back surface of the wafer, the probe having a spring-loaded spherical radius head for depressurizing the head as it touches the wafer. This apparatus permits a uniform current distribution as the contact probe is not interposed between the electrodes, and the larger surface area of the anode relative to the wafer enhances the production of uniform and reproducible films.

Abstract: The battery life of a portable radiotelephone is increased by providing a variable instead of a fixed value of collector-emitter current for the low noise transistor in the RF receiving stage. In particular, the collector current of the RF receiving stage is microprocessor controlled in inverse proportion to the strength of the received signal, an indication of which is advantageously taken from the normally provided "RSSI" output signal provided by the radiotelephone set's conventional IF chip. The microprocessor stores an indication of the correct amount of base current drive to be supplied to the RF transistor to determine its collector current for strong signal and weak signal conditions as well as monitoring collector current for varying base drive to compensate for temperature effects.

Abstract: Backup power systems and methods of operation thereof. In one embodiment, a backup power system constructed according to the present invention includes: (1) an enclosure, (2) an engine, having an air inlet, located within the enclosure, (3) an alternator, coupled to and driven by the engine, that converts mechanical power derived from the engine into AC electrical power and (4) a baffle, located within the enclosure and about a portion of the engine to block direct fluid communication from within the alternator to within the engine, that guides cooling air received into the enclosure sequentially through the alternator to cool the alternator, around the baffle and the engine, through the air inlet and into the engine to cool the engine and through an outlet port of the baffle, the baffle thereby establishing a serial path within the enclosure for the cooling air.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a process for forming composite films. The films are formed on a substrate by directing a gas containing reactant species onto the substrate. The composite film is formed from an interaction between two reactant species. At least a portion of the substrate remains within the purview of the plasma discharge while the composite film is formed on the substrate.

Abstract: An electrical connector assembly simply, and securely, grounds a shielding layer of a telephone cable to a conductive, grounded chassis of a protector module. The connector assembly includes an electrically conductive sleeve, which is inserted into an end of the telephone cable. The conductive sleeve engages the shielding layer within the telephone cable. A threaded stud is integrally formed on the conductive sleeve and extends outwardly. A conductive bracket is mounted on the grounded chassis, and has a through hole for receiving the threaded stud. The threaded stud is secured, by a nut, to the conductive bracket, thereby grounding the shielding layer of the telephone cable to the grounded chassis. By the arrangement, the telephone cable's shielding layer is grounded, the telephone cable is firmly coupled to the protector module, and strain relief is provided in the coupling.

Abstract: An optical interconnection device has a passive control mechanism for substantially eliminating thermal effects on optical properties of the apparatus Specifically, the interconnection apparatus includes a control material coupled to an optical circuit substrate, wherein the control material has a thermal expansion coefficient that is different than a substrate thermal expansion coefficient. In response to an increase or decrease an ambient temperature, the control material thermally expands or contracts at a different rate than the substrate to create a non-planar substrate distortion transmitted to the core portion, thereby creating a temperature independent optical path length within the optical core portion.

Abstract: A power supply circuit drives a load with first and second power sources. The power supply circuit has a switching network comprising a first switch and an interlock switch. A first circuit section connects the first power source to the load only when both the first switch and the interlock switch are on, and a second circuit section connects the second power source to the load only when both the first switch and the interlock switch are on. The switching network provides isolation between the first and second circuit sections.

Abstract: There is disclosed, a high speed comparator with bit-wise masking takes advantage of early availability of the reference word and mask word to generate conditional select signals, thereby minimizing the time required to generate a comparator output once the input word to be compared is available.

Abstract: A package advantageously to be mounted within the housing of a coin telephone permits the telephone set to exhibit a jack to which a personal computer may be connected without danger of the jack being used for fraudulent purposes by normally maintaining the jack isolated from the central office conductors. A local battery powers a microprocessor which senses when a modem is connected to the jack. The microprocessor controls the connection to the central office conductors which then supply power for the further continuous monitoring of the conductors to determine whether the connection is being used legitimately or whether tones are applied at the jack to simulate the deposit of coins. In addition, the jack is disconnected from the central office conductors during the time that the initial rate test is being performed by the central office.

Abstract: A terminal housing assembly and terminal arrangement for a wire board, suitable for use with solderless mountable connector terminals. A terminal housing body has a base wall placed on a wire board at a wire connection terminal region of the board. The base wall has a channel grooved in its bottom surface for receiving base portions of a number of connector terminals on the wire board. The housing body has a row of terminal slots that open into the channel to receive wire connecting portions with the terminals, and the base portions of the terminals form shoulders that protrude a certain distance from the wire connecting portions. The housing body includes partitions between the terminal slots, wherein the partitions have bottom parts defining a base of the channel for confronting the shoulders of the terminals, and for restraining the terminals from being pulled out from terminal openings in the wire board while outside wires are being connected to and disconnected from the terminals.

Abstract: A system and method for maintaining alignment between a source and router in a Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM) fiber optic network. In a preferred embodiment, a narrow band of the wavelengths emitted by the WDM source is designated as a monitor channel. The monitor channel is matched in wavelength to a fiber grating that is located in the optical path between the source and router so that the grating reflects the monitor channel light while allowing all other source light to pass through unimpeded. By monitoring the reflected light and adjusting the source wavelengths to maximize the amount of reflected light, alignment between the source and router is maintained.

Abstract: For use with a buck-based converter having a rectifier that receives current from a secondary side of a isolation transformer, an active clamp and a method of operating the buck-based converter to manage reverse recovery energy therein. In one embodiment, the active clamp includes: (1) an auxiliary transformer coupled across the isolation transformer and (2) an auxiliary switch, interposed between the auxiliary transformer and the rectifier, that: (2a) closes as a function of an output voltage of the rectifier to cause the auxiliary transformer to receive reverse recovery energy from the rectifier and deliver the reverse recovery energy to a primary side of the isolation transformer and (2b) opens to limit a magnetic flux of a core of said auxiliary transformer.

Abstract: In a voice messaging system, as voice memory fills, voice messages are retrieved from memory, re-compressed at a higher compression ratio and re-stored to memory as necessary to maintain a balance between stored voice quality and available memory for storage of new voice messages. The messages may be compressed using ADPCM, CELP, LPC or bit robbing. By re-compressing previously-stored voice messages on an as needed basis, a balance can be maintained between the need to maximize available memory while at the same time maintain the highest voice quality possible for the newest messages. While memory utilization is low, messages can be maintained in memory using a high voice quality, low compression ratio. However, as memory utilization is shrunk due to the storage of more messages, previously stored or other selected voice messages are re-compressed at a higher compression ratio while the newer messages continue to be compressed at the lowest compression ratio.

Abstract: A telephone device and method that enable the user of the telephone to visibly read a number stored in a memory of the telephone even though the telephone does not have a numeric display. The telephone has at least one light, such as an LED, that is visible by a person using the telephone. The light is coupled to a controller that consists of a microprocessor and an LED driver. The microprocessor is coupled to the various keys on the telephone. When the microprocessor receives a command, via the telephone keys, for viewing a specific number, the microprocessor reads that number from memory. The microprocessor then instructs the driver to flash the light or lights on the telephone in such a manner that a person viewing the lights would become cognizant of the number. Thus, a person watching the telephones lights can read numbers from the memory of the telephone, even though the telephone does not have a numeric display.

Abstract: A network interface device (NID) provides an electrical interface between a cable and a local network (e.g., a number of telephones) of a telecommunications system. According to one embodiment of the present invention, high voltage/current electrical isolation is provided by conventional 5-pin plug-in protector that get inserted within the modular NID to form electrical connections, via a printed wiring board, with both cable-side and network-side interfaces. The plug-in protectors are inserted into a bath of gel that gets displaced and surrounds the seams of the protector, forming a water-resistant seal that inhibits moisture from entering the protector and adversely affecting protector operations. As such, NIDs of the present invention can be configured with plug-in protectors for outdoor applications, even though, under conventional NID specifications, plug-in protectors are limited to indoor applications and special potted protectors are required for outdoor use.

Abstract: The present invention is predicated on applicants' discovery that inhomogeneity in films deposited on heated heterogeneous substrates can be substantially reduced by patterning the large area metal structures. Specifically, metal structures having areas in excess of about 2 mm.sup.2 are patterned so that the metal is within 1 mm of a metal edge. Thus, for example, a normally solid chromium bonding pad on a glass substrate is conveniently made as a patterned, open grid of 1 mm chromium lines. With such patterning, a subsequently deposited layer of silicon nitride has enhanced homogeneity over a large area, including enhanced uniformity of etching rate.

Abstract: A device having a composite interconnection medium that reduces or avoids long-term reliability problems exhibited by current media, containing a first component and a second component, e.g., circuit boards, and an intermediate area between the first component and the second component. The intermediate area contains electrically conductive particles in a non-conductive matrix and compression-limiting bodies that are either located within the matrix or separately attached to one of the components. The conductive particles are arranged in chains of two or more particles across the thickness of the matrix to provide electrical connection between the first component and second component. The compression-limiting bodies substantially reduce the likelihood that dimensional changes in the components, e.g., due to warping or servicing, will stress or deform the matrix to an extent that unacceptably affects the electrical conductivity through the intermediate area.