Abstract: A memory system that includes switches for controlling data transfer that are disposed on the motherboard. The switches are selectively coupled to a controller and to connector receptacles that are adapted to receive a memory module. The memory system also includes resistors that are disposed on the motherboard for terminating data signals. In one embodiment, memory modules are accessed in pairs. That is, the data switches are used to control the flow of data signals such that data signals only flow to one pair of memory modules at any particular time. In one embodiment, the memory system of the present invention includes eight memory modules that use DDR SDRAM memory components. When 8 Mbit, 16 Mbit, 32 Mbit or 64 Mbit memory components are used, this configuration gives a range of memory configurations from 128 megabytes (Mbytes) to 1 gigabyte (Gbyte).

Abstract: A computer-readable medium having stored thereon an applications programming interface for causing a computer system to render a three-dimensional scene according to a downloaded file. A scene graph is constructed from a number of objects stored in memory. These objects have variables which can be changed by subroutine calls. Furthermore, one or more objects can contain one or more fields. A field is comprised of a data type which represents the state of an object. Engines are used to perform defined functions to the fields. One or more routes can be used to change one field in response to changes made to another field. A class hierarchy is defined to implement a retained mode graphics.

Abstract: A system and method for simulating motion blur. Intersections of pixel sampling points with leading and trailing edges of moving polygons are identified. The intersection points define segments of coverage of the pixel sampling point by a polygon. A segment list is sorted to identify segments that are associated with visible polygons. The segments of visible polygons are passed to shading and texturing functions which individually determine the temporal sampling points for a single polygon or a group of polygons.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a system for implementing efficient context switching in a graphics computer system including a processor subsystem and a graphics pipeline. The system of the present invention includes a graphics pipeline configured to render 3D objects and a processor subsystem coupled to the graphics pipeline for executing a software process. A command buffer is coupled to the graphics pipeline for storing graphics commands from the software process and efficiently providing the graphics commands to the graphics pipeline. A shadow buffer is coupled to the command buffer and the graphics pipeline. The shadow buffer is adapted to store a state of the command buffer such that when the software process executing on the processor subsystem switches context, the shadow buffer implements an efficient context change by providing the state of the command buffer to the software process.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for the efficient management of electronic communications in a ring topology network. Each Send packet and Echo packet includes a mechanism used to request to share bandwidth. In one implementation a single bit is used, while in another the mechanism includes a traffic control field providing a hierarchy of request to share bits accompanied by priority information, thereby enabling a multi-level system. When a Send packet reaches the target node the information is returned to the source node via the echo packet's request to share bit or the traffic control field, depending upon the implementation. The source node then alters its rate of packet transmission as a function of the number of requests to share it receives and, in the second implementation, as a function of the priority of the requesting nodes in relation to the priority of the source node. In one embodiment, each node conditionally gives output packets preference over passing through packets.

Abstract: A system that defines a wire curve deformation primitive with a free-form parametric curve associated with the closest points to the curve on a surface of a model. The wire curve includes a radius influence defining the points on the object which will be deformed. A scale factor determines the amplitude of the scaling or point movement that is caused by the wire curve. A blending function of the wire curve defines the transition form deformed regions of the object to undeformed regions of the object. The wire curve can have associated with it holder curves defining the domain of deformation about an object caused by one or more wires. A holder curve holds the points of the object in place. Locators are used to define different parameters values along the wire curve. Changes in parameter values around the locators are accomplished by interpolation. Deforming includes preprocessing steps as well as deformation stage operations.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for navigating through electronically stored information using an expandable, hierarchical index or TOC, in a hypertextual client-server network environment such as the World Wide Web. The client-server network comprises at least one client computer coupled by network link to at least one server computer. In accordance with the invention, a publisher of the TOC provides to the server a digital specification of the TOC, defining the TOC as a plurality of hierarchically related nodes. In a preferred feature of the invention, the digital specification includes a unique name, a display label, and a hierarchial level for each node of the TOC, and an optional target URL for each leaf node of the TOC. Using a browser program or the like at the client computer, an end-user transmits a network request including an address path to the server.

Abstract: An assembly designed to increase the ease with which a printed circuit board carrier may be inserted or extracted from an enclosure. The assembly includes a movable lever mounted to the carrier and curved pin slot in the enclosure. A pin on the lever engages the curved pin slot. During insertion, the shape of the pin slot guides the carrier into its position, then the lever rotates to place the pin in a portion of the pin slot that is oriented in a substantially different direction from the direction of insertion, thus holding the carrier in place. During removal, the pin holds the carrier in place while the lever rotates away from the carrier and thus becomes accessible to permit removal of the carrier by pulling on the lever. Two assemblies, one on each side of the carrier, are typically used.

Abstract: An integrated software architecture for a highly parallel multiprocessor system having multiple tightly-coupled processors that share a common memory efficiently controls the interface with and execution of programs on such a multiprocessor system. The software architecture combines a symmetrically integrated multithreaded operating system and an integrated parallel user environment. The operating system distributively implements an anarchy-based scheduling model for the scheduling of processes and resources by allowing each processor to access a single image of the operating system stored in the common memory that operates on a common set of operating system shared resources. The user environment provides a common visual representation for a plurality of program development tools that provide compilation, execution and debugging capabilities for multithreaded user programs and assumes parallelism as the standard mode of operation.

Abstract: A projective body is aligned with a surface to generate texture coordinates for the surface. The present invention includes selecting an appropriate projective body for a given surface, orienting and positioning the surface with respect to the projective body, projecting the surface onto the projective body, and then mapping the projective body onto the texture rectangle. An inertial ellipsoid is used to orient the surface and the projective body. The inertial ellipsoid can also be used as the projective body. Ellipsoidal coordinates are preferably used to project the surface onto the projective body.

Abstract: A system and method that maps temporal control functions into a six degree of freedom pointing device. The six degree of freedom pointing device controls both transport and view modes within a time-based media editing system and allows a user to toggle between modes without losing visual contact with graphical objects appearing on a video screen. During playback operations in the transport (temporal) mode, the system allows a cap on the six degree of freedom pointing device to be divided into multiple uneven regions in one direction along a single degree of freedom. Each of the multiple regions then corresponds to a unique rate of frame increments/decrements.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a software tool that permits creation of electronic surveys and the automatic collection and tabulation of survey results corresponding to user responses. Using the tool, a survey is automatically created and posted at a Web site address. With a Web client, or browser, computer users access the URL and complete the survey via the Web. Survey results are collected in a relational database as each user completes the survey. Thereafter, statistical tools or other analytical software applications may be applied to data mine the tabulated results. In another preferred embodiment, the software tool is utilized to access remote servers running relational databases from an internet computer via the Web. Advantageously, the computer does not require the computational processor power or memory (i.e. system memory or disk storage capacity) normally required to load and operate the applicable relational database application software.

Abstract: The present invention provides a hybrid classifier, called the NB-Tree classifier, for classifying a set of records. According to the present invention, the NB-Tree classifier includes a Decision-Tree structure having zero or more decision-nodes and one or more leaf-nodes. At each decision-node, a test is performed based on one or more attributes. At each leaf-node, a classifier based on Bayes Rule classifies the records. Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for inducing the NB-Tree classifier from a set of labeled instances. To induce the NB-Tree classifier, a utility C1 of a Bayes classifier at a root-node is first estimated. Next, a utility D1 of a split into a plurality of child-nodes with a Bayes classifier at the child-nodes is estimated. The utility of a split is the weighted sum of the utility of the child-nodes, where the weight given to a child-node is proportional to the number of instances that go down that child-node. Next, it is determined if C1 is higher than D1.

Abstract: Diamond is used as an electrically insulating substrate in multi-layer devices. In a transformer, the first electrical conductor forms a coil. The first electrical conductor is formed in a plurality of layers. Electrical carriers are formed on a layer to make an electrical path around a core of ferrous material. The second conductor forms a second coil of the transformer and also wraps around the core of ferrous material. Using diamond is advantageous in a transformer since the diamond is very effective at transferring heat from the core. The diamond also electrically insulates the various portions of the transformer. An electronic packaging concept includes mounting one or more electronic components to a substrate including a layer of diamond. The layer of diamond is sufficient to transfer heat from the one or more electronic components attached to the diamond substrate. The entire substrate can also be made of diamond.

Abstract: A multiprocessor computer system and method for maintaining coherency between virtual-to-physical memory translations of multiple requestors in the system. A poison bit is associated with a memory block in the system. The poison bit is set to indicate that a virtual-to-physical memory translation for the memory block is stale. An exception is generated in response to an access by one of the requestors to the memory block if the poison bit is set, thereby indicating to the requestor that the virtual-to-physical memory translation entry for the memory block is stale. The virtual-to-physical memory translation for the memory block is then updated with a virtual memory translation corresponding to a new physical location for the memory block. In an embodiment having a cache-based multiprocessor system, the method further comprises the step of invalidating all cached copies of the memory block. In this case, the invalidating step and the setting step must be performed as an atomic operation.

Abstract: A system is described for providing an integrated, efficient and consistent production environment for the shared development of multimedia productions. Examples of multimedia productions include feature animation films, computerized animation films, interactive video games, interactive movies, and other types of entertainment and/or educational multimedia works. The development of such multimedia products typically involve heterogenous and diverse forms of multimedia data. Further, the production tools and equipment that are used to create and edit such diverse multimedia data are in and of themselves diverse and often incompatible with each other. The incompatibility between such development tools can be seen in terms of their methods of operation, operating environments, and the types and/or formats of data on which they operate upon. Disclosed herein, is a complete solution that provides a consistent and integrated multimedia production environment in the form of common utilities, methods and services.

Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for dynamically allocating large memory pages of different sizes. Each process can select multiple page sizes. An algorithm referred to as a “Coalescing Daemon” is used to allocate large pages. “High water marks” are specified to the operating system. A high water mark is the maximum percentage of total system memory that the Coalescing Daemon coalesces for a given page size. The high water marks are used to allocate a number of free memory pages for each specified page size. Separate freelists are created and maintained for each page size. Each freelist comprises a linked list of data structures that represent free physical memory pages. A bitmap is set-up by the operating system to represent all memory available to processes. The bitmap is used for determining which memory pages are free during coalescing. The Coalescing Daemon allocates memory pages using a weak, mild and strong coalescing policy.

Abstract: A card cage for connecting circuit board cards to a computer is disclosed. The card cage includes connector receptacles for receiving circuit board cards such as PCI cards. The card cage also includes a connection mechanism for electrically coupling the connector receptacles to the computer. In one embodiment, the connection mechanism includes a compression connector and a locking mechanism for electrically and mechanically coupling the card cage to the computer. Thus circuit board cards may be easily coupled to a computer by inserting the circuit board cards into the card cage and attaching the card cage to the computer.

Abstract: A system and method for the distribution of client requests received from a digital computer network provides an intermediary between the client and one or more content servers that actually service the client request. Client requests are distributed amongst groups of content servers according to a one or more static rules. These static rules are applied to determine which group of content servers will service each client request. Content servers may be grouped without regard to hardware configuration and without regard to where the content server resides within the network. Client requests may be distributed amongst the content servers within each group according to a dynamic metric. The dynamic metric includes time-varying measurements of the available processing capacity of each content server within a group. Client requests may then be distributed to those content servers within a group that are best able to handle additional processing burdens.