Abstract: An antenna array is disclosed in which a central vertical mast supports four radially extending struts. One loop of conducting elements, the director, is supported on the mast above the struts, on the mast below the struts and at the centrifugal end of two adjacent struts. A second loop of conducting elements, the reflector, is also supported on the mast above the struts and on the mast below the struts, and at the centrifugal end of the other two remaining struts. When the length of the director loop is smaller than the reflector loop and the reflector and director are both driven 180.degree. out-of-phase of each other, the antenna functions similarly to a Swiss Quad antenna, but has structural and weather-resistant advantages over the Swiss Quad.

Abstract: An ergonomic portable telecommunication device that can be completely operated with a depressable trackball.

Abstract: An improved caller identity on call waiting unit permits caller identification signals to be received without changing the direct current state of a customer telephone station. This is accomplished by using a capacitor/inductor circuit with appropriate bypass to accomplish the function of blocking voice band signals to and from the station. Advantageously, such an arrangement avoids the problem of falsely disconnecting calls on hold.

Abstract: Data to be transmitted is converted into symbols using a plurality of data-to-symbol conversion processes. The symbols from these processes are then time-division multiplexed. Advantageously, at least one of these conversion processes incorporate coding in a manner which provides the same degree of error protection for each process. In the disclosed embodiments, the data originates from two independent sources and the data from each source is converted into symbols using a different data-to-symbol conversion process.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for a portable communication device, such as a mobile radio terminal in a CDMA network, to identify its geographic location. A communication network comprises multiple base stations which transmit pilot signals, where the pilot signals of one base station are offset from the pilot signals of other base stations by integral multiples of a substantially fixed duration. Associated sync channel messages are also transmitted from which the geographic location of the base stations may be extracted. A portable communication device identifies its location by calculating the delay between the arrival time of a pilot signal from a primary base station and the arrival times of pilot signals from at least two other base stations. For each pair of base stations corresponding to one of the calculated delays, the portable communication device initially specifies its location as being on a selected one of three curves.

Abstract: In a WDM network employing a plurality of optical amplifiers in at least one optical fiber link, a system and method for dynamically controlling gain in accordance with the collective behavior of the amplifier chain. According to the present invention, the required response time of dynamic gain control is selected substantially inversely relative to the number of amplifiers in the communication path. Illustratively, in a large-scale optical network (with signal channel paths traversing say, a hundred optical amplifiers), the response time of gain control in accordance with the present invention may be on the order of 5 .mu.s or even less.

Abstract: A planar waveguide and a process for making a planar waveguide is disclosed. The waveguide has a layer of dope host material formed on a substrate. The host material is a trivalent material such as a metal fluoride, wherein the metal is selected from the Group III B metals and the lanthanide series rare earth metals of the Mendeleevian Periodic Table. The dopant is a rare earth metal such as erbium. The waveguide has an emission spectrum with a bandwidth of about 60 nm for amplification of an optical signal at a wavelength of about 1.51 .mu.m to about 1.57 .mu.m. The waveguide is made by forming the layer of doped host material on a substrate. The film is formed by evaporating materials from two separate sources, one source for the dopant material and a separate source for the host material and forming a film of the evaporated materials on a substrate.

Abstract: An inspection system (90) has a measurement apparatus (91) with an interferometer (98) controlled by a machine vision system (92) for determining the degree of disparity or discontinuity of one surface relative to another surface, particularly the amount of undercut or protrusion of an optical fiber (26) relative to an adjacent surrounding termination plug (36) in an optical fiber termination (37). The machine vision system (92) employs an inspection control algorithm (120) that is reliable, accurate, and user friendly. Moreover, the machine vision system (92) can receive prompts from a user via an input device (94), such as a keyboard, and can transfer information to the user via an output device (93), such as a display, and/or to another system.

Abstract: Allowing an agent to customize their CTI terminal with respect to a variety of terminal attributes such as those associated with previous phone activity, configuration information such as color, and graphical statistical representation of ACD center information. The telecommunication agent is able to store information defining this customization and to retrieve it at another CTI terminal at a later point in time. The storage of the customization information is performed as a file on a file server common to all CTI terminals. The result is that no software must be custom written for the file server in order to allow the saving of customized information. In addition, the programs controlling the CTI terminals are independent of the communication protocol that is utilized between the CTI terminals and the file server. A second embodiment of the invention allows the administrator of a call center to specify that each group of agents will utilize the same customization information.

Abstract: A coaxial cable with standard coaxial structure of central conductor, foamed polyethylene dielectric, and outer conductor and having a jacket that provides sufficient flame resistance and smoke generation to allow the cable to be used in plenum spaces. The jacket includes a halogenated polymer with a heat of combustion less than 7000 BTU per pound and including a free-radical scavenger.

Abstract: The present invention describes a validation stamp for protecting the integrity of a signature affixed to an electronic document. The validation stamp of the present invention includes a validation body and a validation signature. The validation stamp is affixed to a signed document having a document body and a document signature. The document signature and the validation signature are derived from an electronic signature defined by geometric and timing information. Specifically, the validation signature includes the timing information, and possibly the geometric information, of the electronic signature, whereas the document signature includes the geometric information, and not the timing information, of the electronic signature.

Abstract: A visually-distinguishable fiber pair in a shared coating, a method for making uncoated visually-distinguishable fiber, and a fiber-optic system using a visually-distinguishable fiber and a dark fiber in a shared coating are disclosed. To form the visually-distinguishable fiber, a marker is incorporated onto or into uncoated optical fiber. The marker can be applied to the cladding of the fiber, to a buffer layer disposed on the cladding layer, or integrated in a boule from which an optical fiber is drawn. In a further aspect, a marked fiber is paired with an unmarked fiber or a differently-marked fiber creating a visually-distinguishable fiber pair. The distinguishable paired fibers are then coated with plastic.

Abstract: The specification describes interconnection layouts for chip-on-chip packages using solder bump interchip connections as vias between a single level metal interconnection pattern on the lower support IC chip and another single level interconnection pattern on the upper IC chip. This arrangement allows for the formation of air isolated crossovers of features on either chip.

Abstract: An optical communication system comprising a light source, a cladding pumped fiber laser having a pump cladding, an optical fiber attached to the cladding pumped fiber laser, the optical fiber having a cladding and a protective coating, and an expedient that prevents substantial damage to the protective coating of the optical fiber upon transmission of at least 1 watt of residual light out of the pump cladding.

Abstract: A packet switch interface, which may be an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) layer interface chip, may be connected to the inputs or the outputs of a packet switch. The interface chip modifies the virtual path identifier and the virtual channel identifier in packets directed to and from the switch. The interface chip also manipulates routing tags for the packets which are used for internal routing purposes in the switch. The interface chip includes a local interface through which packets may be extracted from or added to a packet stream flowing between a main input and a main output of the interface. The interface chip polices different communications channels handled in the interface chip by detecting whether traffic in those channels exceeds certain network usage parameters. The interface is also capable of gathering certain statistical information about the traffic in certain communications channels to allow evaluation of network performance.

Abstract: An isolation regulator including a regulator circuit couples a source of power to an electrically noisy dc load connected in parallel with a load capacitor. Peak noise across the load is used to control the regulator circuit to set the current level to the load and determine the operating set point of the regulator circuit which includes a FET operated close to saturation to minimize the voltage drop across the FET. The illustrated electrically noisy dc load is a dc motor and the peak noise is the peak ripple across the motor which is monitored and compared to the saturation voltage of the FET. Positive peaks of the ripple, which could cause the FET to saturate, control the regulator circuit to reduce current flow and prevent saturation. Current provided by the regulator circuit increases gradually over time and is reduced as necessary by positive peak ripple signals to provide stable current flow to the dc motor. As illustrated, the dc motor drives a fan which cools associated electrical equipment.

Abstract: In a smartcard having a subscriber identity module ("SIMI") that cooperates with a mobile station to effect communication with a telecommunications network, a system for, and method of, disabling the smartcard. The system includes: (1) data commnications circuitry that transmits a code uniquely identifying the smartcard from logic circuitry within the smartcard to the telecommunications network via the mobile station, the code employable by the telecommunications network to search a disable database associated therewith, the telecommunications network returning a disable command if the code is found in the disable database and (2) disabling circuitry that incapacitates the logic circuitry to prevent an operation thereof, the smartcard being incapacitated with respect to the telecommunications network and systems independent of the telecommunications network.

Abstract: A jack frame includes a jack frame block having a front surface, a pair of side surfaces and a top surface. The front surface has a plug opening with a plug axis along which a plug connector can be inserted to connect to the jack frame block. The front surface is dimensioned to be received in a jack opening in a face plate, and the inner periphery of the jack opening is defined in part by a pair of side walls and a top wall. The top surface of the jack frame block has a first surface portion that extends at a first angle relative to the plug axis of the plug opening in the block's front surface, and a second surface portion that extends at a second angle relative to the plug axis. Either the first or the second surface portion can be aligned with the top wall of the jack opening, so the frame block can be mounted on the face plate with a desired orientation depending on which one of the first and the second surface portions is aligned with the top wall of the jack opening.

Abstract: A silence-suppression scheme for a packet voice transmission system (FIG. 1) accurately regenerates the silence signals at the receiving end. The following discipline is implemented at the transmitting end (100): if speech is detected (200), transmit (204) a packet carrying the speech; if silence is detected (200) and the last-transmitted packet carried speech (202), transmit (204) a packet carrying the silence; if silence is detected (200) and the last-transmitted packet carried silence (202), transmit nothing. The following discipline is implemented at the receiving end (101): if a packet is received during a packet time interval (300), output (302) the contents of the packet; if a packet is not received during a packet time interval (300), output (306) again the contents of the last-received packet. Thus, while only one silence-carrying packet is transmitted, the receiver regenerates silence signals for the entire silence interval.

Abstract: For use in a wireless computer network having a radio relay capable of transmitting messages, a system and method, operable with the radio relay, for selectively repeating a unicast message received from a source end-station only upon some indication that a destination end-station has not received the message. The system includes: (1) a transceiver that receives the unicast message from the source end-station and (2) control circuitry, coupled to the transceiver, that determines whether the destination end-station has received the unicast message and causes the transceiver to refrain from repeating the unicast message if the destination end-station has received the unicast message, the radio relay thereby freed from repeating already-received unicast messages.