Abstract: An automatic call distributor (10) with a switch (12) which interconnects customer telephonic units (14A) of an external telephonic network (14B) with an internal network of agent units (16) having an automated call servicing system including a voice response unit (18) with a plurality of stored scripts for servicing different types of calls from customers automatically in response to call type identification signals, such as Dial Number Identification System (DNIS) numbers, corresponding to the different types of calls associated with the different stored scripts of the voice response unit (18) to automatically service a plurality of different types of calls without customer prompting while also functioning to respond to customer prompting when no DNIS number or other call type identification is provided with the call.

Abstract: An announcement system 100 and method is provided which plays announcements recorded in the voice of an agent servicing a call routed by a telephonic switch 106 at substantially any time during the call. A call information circuit 136 detects information relating to the call, such as DNIS and ANI. This information is transmitted to a computer terminal 110 at which the agent is stationed and logged on. A CPU 120 may automatically select and play an announcement stored in a memory circuit 124 based on this information. Further, the agent may select and play an announcement at substantially anytime via an input device 112. The CPU 120 may select a particular announcement to play based on the time of day (morning, afternoon or evening) determined from a clock 130. An administrator system 128 permits an administrator to control the recording, storing and playing of announcements.

Abstract: A passive matrix liquid crystal display and a method of driving the same are provided. A desired RMS voltage to be achieved during a first frame is determined for each pixel element of the display. A modulation coefficient is determined for each pixel element as a function of the desired RMS voltage for the pixel element during the first frame. For each cycle of the frame, a phase delay is determined for each column drive waveform as a function of the sum, over all rows, of the product of each modulation coefficient of a pixel element in the column and the phase delay of the corresponding row drive waveform during the cycle.

Abstract: A call overflow system for transferring an overflow call received from a caller at an originating automatic call distributor to a destination automatic call distributor. The system includes an originating compilation portion at the originating automatic call distributor for compiling data relating to the overflow call to be transmitted to the destination automatic call distributor, the data including identification of whether the caller attempted to block a caller identification process, the overflow call being a type of telephone call wherein a call identifier is provided through the call identification process to the originating automatic call distributor and originating compilation portion even where the caller has requested a blocking of the caller identification process.

Abstract: An automatic call distributor (10) having a multiport switch (12) controlled by a central control processing unit (14) and an associated memory (16) for receipt of audio voice energy from answered telephonic calls through an external telephonic public switching network (22) to selectively connect the answered calls with internal telephonic units (18) coupled with the multiport switch (12) provided with a digital signal processing circuit card (30) for determining the presence of an answering machine (24) by running a pause timer and a delay timer which disables execution of the pause timer to establish a first minimum time period that an initial pause in the received voice energy from an external telephonic unit (20) must exceed to indicate the presence of a live voice in which the pause timer is disabled from timing any pauses until the end of a delay time internal, a second minimum time period which is no longer than the first minimum time period that a pause must exceed after the lapse of the delay time in

Abstract: An adaptive frequency correction burst detector for GSM handset systems in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The detector uses a bandpass filter to filter the complex received samples to generate a first filtered output r(n). The first filtered output is then applied to a notch filter for the notch filter to adaptively generate a second filtered output y(n). An error calculation unit is used for calculating an error signal based on the difference between the second filtered output y(n) and a desired signal d(n), which is zero in the case of a notch filter. A notch filter coefficient updating unit is used for adaptively updating the notch filter using a least-mean-square algorithm. Then an error power is estimated based on the second filtered output y(n), while the signal power is estimated based on the first filtered output r(n).

Abstract: An integrated voice and data business transaction detail reporting system for a telephone system (12), having a switch (14) for directing incoming telephone calls, a device (14) for generating information pertaining to voice of the incoming calls, a device (26) for generating business transaction data pertaining to the incoming calls, and a device (24) for correlating the voice information and business transaction data.

Abstract: An automatic call distribution system (100) and method provides an operator the capability of selectively adding additional data elements for which the system (100) logs operating data. The system (100) includes an automatic call distributor (102) having a multiport switch (114) for routing incoming telephone calls to a plurality of agent telephonic units (107) and a central processing unit (116) for controlling operation of the multiport switch (114) and for acquiring data representative of specified points during the routing of calls in the system (100). An operator adds additional data elements for which the central processing unit (116) collects data via a computer terminal (120). The computer terminal (120) includes a terminal display unit (122) for displaying the data and a terminal input device (124) for sending instructions to the central processing unit (116) to add data elements. A data computer (108) connected to the central processing unit (116) stores and displays the acquired data.

Abstract: A variable pin length stir friction welding method wherein the stir friction welding pin penetrates the workpiece as the workpiece translates. The stir friction welding pin starting at a zero penetration and extending to the depth needed to repair a weld or to make a weld. Then withdrawing the pin to zero penetration as the work is translated. The weld path is thus ramped into and out of the workpiece leaving no holes which need to be repaired. Circumferential welds can be made by keeping the pin extended to the welding depth for at least one complete revolution of the weld.

Abstract: Oxide coatings are formed with a desired crystallographic texture over a large surface area. A metallic substrate is electrodeposited or vacuum deposited with a preferred crystallographic orientation, and a sol-gel/thermal process is used to form a "pseudo-epitaxial" oxide coating having crystallites that are influenced by the crystallographic orientation of the substrate. In one embodiment, p-type nickel oxide coatings with desirable electronic properties are produced by sol-gel/thermal processing on nickel substrates electrodeposited from a sulfamate nickel bath at a relatively high current density and low temperature. The electrodeposited nickel substrate has a strong Ni{100} preferred orientation. Epitaxial effects during sol-gel/thermal formation of NiO on the electrodeposited substrate enhance the extent to which the NiO{100} and NiO{111} crystal facets are aligned parallel to the coating surface, and minimize the NiO{110} orientation.

Abstract: A curable resin system in supercritical carbon dioxide as diluent includes an epoxy resin, a co-reactant selected from poly N-substituted aziridines, and a catalyst to promote cure at ambient temperature. The system is compatible with various epoxy resins such as bisphenol A epoxy, bisphenol F epoxy, novolac epoxy, cycloaliphatic epoxy, triglycidyl-aminophenol, and triglycidyl isocyanurate. The aziridine co-reactant may be selected from reaction products of NH aziridines with acrylates and methacrylates of trimethylolpropane, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, bisphenol A, bisphenol F, pentaerythritol, glycerol, and their alkoxylated derivatives; reaction products of NH aziridines with epoxy compounds; and 1-aziridine ethanol and its reaction products with epoxy and isocyanate functional compounds. Suitable catalysts include acid salts and complexes, strong electron accepting compounds, combinations of silicon hydrides and metal complexes, and non-halogen containing boron derivatives.

Abstract: A resolution conversion system for real-time expansion and reduction of a first plurality of input pixels into a second plurality of output pixels. The resolution conversion system comprises a base-n counter for counting input pixels as each pixel is captured. The base-n counter has a plurality of carry out signals. Also, there is a control register for selectively enabling the carry out signals of the base-n counter based on a predetermined resolution ratio between the first plurality of input pixels and the second plurality of output pixels. The control register uses a mode bit to select either one of inserting and removing operations. An inserting logic unit is used for inserting, as indicated by the mode bit, a pixel into the plurality of input pixels upon a transition of one of the carry out signals if the carry out signals have been enabled by the control register.

Abstract: Multiple speech bit-stream frame buffers are used between the controller and the speech decoder. Whenever excessive or missing speech packages are detected, the speech decoder switches to a special corrective mode. If there is too much, the buffered frames are played out fast; if there is too little the buffered frames are played out slowly. For the fast play, some speech information has to be discarded, while for the slow play some speech-like information has to be synthesized. The speech may be handled in sub-frame units, which may be 52 samples at a time. Low energy, silent or unvoiced sub-frames, which also indicate non-periodicity, are detected and manipulated. Moreover, the decoded signal is manipulated at the excitation phase, before the final LPC synthesis filter, resulting in a transparent perceptual effect on the manipulated speech quality. Additionally, the buffers are enlarged such that the problem caused by controller asynchronicity is eliminated.

Abstract: The invention is a process for simultaneously improving at least two mechanical properties of mill-processed (.alpha.+.beta.) titanium alloy, which may or may not contain silicon, which includes steps of heat treating the mill-processed titanium alloy such that the (.alpha.+.beta.) microstructure of said alloy is transformed into an (.alpha.+.alpha..sub.2 +.beta.) microstructure, preferably containing no silicides. The heat treating steps involve subjecting the mill-processed titanium alloy to a sequence of thermomechanical process steps, and the mechanical properties which are simultaneously improved include (a) tensile strength at room, cryogenic, and elevated temperatures; (b) fracture toughness; (c) creep resistance; (d) elastic stiffness; (e) thermal stability; (f) hydrogen embrittlement resistance; (g) fatigue; and (h) cryogenic temperature embrittlement resistance. As a consequence of the process, the (.alpha.+.alpha..sub.2 +.beta.) microstructure contains equiaxed alpha phase strengthened with .alpha.

Abstract: A variable speed playback system exploits multiple-period similarities within a residual signal, and includes multiple-period template matching which may be applied to alter the excitation periodical structure, and thereby increase or decrease the rate of speech playback. Embodiments of the present invention enable accurate fast or slow speech playback for store and forward applications without changing the pitch period of the speech. A correlated multiple-period similarity measure is determined for an excitation signal within a compressor/expander. The multiple-period similarity enables overlap-and-add expansion or compression by a rational ratio. Energy variations at the onset and offset portions of the speech may be weighted by energy-based adaptive weight windows.

Abstract: A method for efficient coding of non-active voice periods is disclosed for a speech communication system with (a) a speech encoder, (b) a communication channel and (c) a speech decoder. The method intermittently sends some information about the background noise when necessary in order to give a better quality of overall speech when non-active voice frames are detected. The coding efficiency of the non-active voice frames can achieved by coding the energy of the frame and its spectrum with as few as 15 bits. These bits are not automatically transmitted whenever there is a non-active voice detection. Rather, the bits are transmitted only when an appreciable change has been detected with respect to the last time a non-active voice frame was sent. To appreciate the benefits of the present invention, a good overall quality can be achieved at rate as low as 4 kb/s on the average during normal speech conversation.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for reducing speckle noise in images read out from holographic memories. An image recorded in the memory is read out using a multiple component readout beam, with each component having the same horizontal orientation but a different vertical orientation. Because the Bragg effect is pronounced only in the horizontal direction, the readout beam components all access the same stored image. Each readout beam component is set to oscillate at a slightly different frequency such that the smallest frequency difference is greater than the reciprocal of the output detector response time. The multiple oscillating readout beam components can be produced by an acoustooptic deflector driven by a wideband electrical signal. The memory readout comprises multiple reconstructions of the desired image, with each image reconstruction oscillating at a slightly different optical frequency.

Abstract: A circuit for resetting an electronic system based on voltage fluctuations in the power supply is disclosed. The circuit comprises a diode means for generating a first voltage being offset from the supply voltage, a first inverter having its input connected to the diode and powered by a reference voltage source, a second inverter having its input connected to the same reference voltage source and powered by the power supply; and an OR- or NOR- gate having its inputs from the outputs of the first and second inverters, such that its output, when asserted, resets the electronic system.

Abstract: An engine control provides rapid decrease in the output speed of the engine when an upshift of the transmission is being actuated. The system selectively actuates a speed retardation system to decrease the engine output speed to match a desired engine output speed at the next highest gear ratio. In one embodiment, an engine control actuates engine braking to achieve this rapid speed reduction. In other embodiments, an additional load may be placed on the engine, such as the actuation of a fan. An operator is preferably provided with a shift intent switch that provides an indication to the engine control that an upshift will be actuated. The engine control waits for an indication that the transmission has been moved to neutral. Once this indication is received, the speed retardation system is actuated to rapidly reduce the engine output speed toward a desired value.

Abstract: A diagnostic device for a port interface equipment (32) of a communications switching system (12), and at least one digital console (34) having a device (10) for selectively monitoring the communications data passing to either the port interface equipment (32) or the digital console (34) without affecting the communications data passing therebetween, and a device (42) for selectively and removably connecting the monitoring device between the port interface equipment (32) and a selected digital console (34) in order to monitor the communications data passing therebetween.