Patents Examined by Ricardo M. Pizarro
  • Transmission/reception system and receiver
    Patent number: 6320868
    Abstract: A transmitting station transmits FM radio waves which carry program information, such as news, and time information representing the current time. Each of receivers generates the first time information in accordance with an internal clock, corrects the first time information in accordance with the time information transmitted from the transmitting station, and generates the second time information. Each receiver progresses a game by changing the image displayed on the display, in accordance with a predetermined element, which is obtained from the program information transmitted from the transmitting station, and the first or second time information. Therefore, the progress of the game differs depending on the reception of the second information and the time information, and accordingly the progress of the game is unexpectable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2001
    Assignee: Casio Computer Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Okano, Masao Kawamura
  • Method and apparatus for adaptive port buffering
    Patent number: 6317427
    Abstract: A data buffering storage circuit automatically allocates a portion of shared storage area to the direction in which data buffering is required. This scheme allows use of fewer parts on a piece of networking hardware, which in turn lowers the cost, simplifies the design, and uses existing on-board memory in a more efficient manner. In at least one embodiment, a first area is allocated to the buffering of a first port of a network switch, a second memory area is allocated to the buffering of a second port of the network switch, and a third area is shared among the buffering of the first port and the buffering of the second port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2001
    Assignee: Cabletron Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen D. Augusta, Benjamin J. Brown, James E. Burgess
  • Method and apparatus for managing communication resources using an adaptive broadcast cycle (ABC)
    Patent number: 6317436
    Abstract: A method and system for managing communication resources between nodes in a network, and more particularly to a dynamic distributed multi-channel time division multiple access (TDMA) slot assignment method is presented. The method and apparatus include a set of higher level heuristics that enable the wireless channel access scheme to address predetermined characteristics of the wireless channel access system. These predetermined heuristics include using bootstrap slots, adaptive broadcast cycles, channelized neighborhoods, standby slots, speculation slots, neighbor segregation, hard circuits, and soft circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2001
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins
    Inventors: C. David Young, James A. Stevens, Roy W. Krueger, Michael S. Becker
  • Method of determining a symbol transmission format in a transmission system and system
    Patent number: 6314113
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining the transmission format of complex symbols in a received signal which is formatted in complex symbol blocks. Each block has a first occurrence (GIk) of a sequence of complex symbols and second occurrence (gIk) of the same sequence of complex symbols. A correlation between the first and second occurrences is effected by means of acquisition and correlation time windows, the transmission format being determined by searching for maximum correlation between the first complex symbol sequence and the second complex symbol sequence via synchronization of the windows with the received signal so that the windows select the first occurrence and the second occurrence of complex symbols, respectively. Particularly useful in a digital transmission system employing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2001
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventor: Philippe Guémas
  • Distributed resource management
    Patent number: 6314114
    Abstract: An approach for managing resources in a distributed computing system includes establishing dedicated process pools on nodes where work is to be performed. Each dedicated process pool is associated with a particular remote node and includes one or more processes. The one or more processes in each dedicated process pool perform work on behalf of processes on the associated remote node. Each dedicated process pool is managed by processes on the associated remote node using local synchronization data maintained on the associated remote node. The assignment of particular processes to perform work on behalf of processes on the associated remote node is performed by the processes on the associated remote node. In addition, the spawning of additional processes or the termination of existing processes from a dedicated process pool is managed by the processes on the associated remote node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2001
    Assignee: Oracle Corporation
    Inventors: Mark Coyle, Gianfranco Putzolu
  • Transmission method and communication system employing the method
    Patent number: 6307863
    Abstract: In a transmission system employing TDMA, the allocation of time segments for a particular transmission is synchronised with the creation of data packets for transmission over the channel. This reduces transmission delays. Either the timing of data packets or the division of the channel into segments for TDMA may be variable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2001
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventor: Timothy J. Moulsley
  • Network routing table using content addressable memory
    Patent number: 6307855
    Abstract: A routing table comprises routing table entries [230], a word line driver [92], prioritizer [100], and memory [106]. Each routing table entry [230] comprises content addressable memory (CAM) cells [220] and an entry masking circuit. The routing table looks up in parallel an entry matching an input network address, and outputs the search result in deterministic time. Only the bits specified by the masking circuit in each entry are compared when searching. If multiple entries match the input, the prioritizer [100] uses mask information from the masking circuits of the matching entries to select the best entry, e.g. the entry having the most matching bits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2001
    Inventor: Yoichi Hariguchi
  • Method and apparatus for processing a punctured pilot channel
    Patent number: 6304563
    Abstract: The punctured pilot channel comprises information symbols of uncertain sign punctured into a sequence of pilot channel symbols of predetermined sign. The apparatus includes an information sign demodulation circuit for determining the sign of the information symbols in response to the pilot channel symbols. A continuous pilot generator generates a non-punctured pilot channel of predetermined sign from the information symbols and the pilot channel symbols. In a first embodiment, the information sign demodulator further comprises a dot product circuit for calculating a dot product of the pilot channel symbols and the punctured information symbols, and a threshold comparator for comparing the dot product to a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2001
    Assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
    Inventors: Luca Blessent, Quaeed Motiwala
  • Communication network configuration detecting method and communication line information table creating method
    Patent number: 6304557
    Abstract: A method of detecting the network configuration of a communication network in which a plurality of nodes are connected in a ring form, comprises the steps of; enabling a node of the plurality of nodes to store its own node identifier in a specific position of an identifier storing area of a frame, and transmitting said frame along the network in the same direction; enabling each of the plurality of nodes to store its own node identifier in the identifier storing area of said frame and again transmitting said frame in the same direction, and abandoning said frame, according to contents of said frame received from the adjacent node; and enabling each of the plurality of nodes to recognize an arrangement of the plurality of nodes on the communication network, on the basis of contents of the identifier storing area of said frame constantly transmitted and received on the communication network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2001
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Seiji Nakazumi
  • Wireless communications protocol
    Patent number: 6304559
    Abstract: A method for implementing a timed division multiple access protocol for digital communications between a radio transceiver and a repeater or another radio transceiver has the steps of dividing a radio communication into a plurality of frames having a predetermined length of time; dividing each frame into: a plurality of downlink slots, each downlink slot containing a transmission from the repeater to the transceiver; and a plurality of uplink slots, each uplink slot containing a transmission from the transceiver to the repeater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2001
    Assignee: Northrop Grumman Corporation
    Inventors: William Edward Jacklin, Scott Alan Stratmoen
  • CDMA radio multiplex transmitting device and a CDMA radio multiplex receiving device
    Patent number: 6301237
    Abstract: In the CDMA Radio Multiplex Transmission, transfer function of line is inferred by using common pilot signal and synchronous detection is performed accordingly. The transmitting end transmits by periodically inserting pilot symbols into one channel only of multiplexed channels. The receiving end infers line condition (transfer function) from the received pilot symbols and, on the basis of the information thus obtained, performs synchronous detection of each channel multiplexed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2001
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuyuki Miya
  • Port aggregation protocol
    Patent number: 6298061
    Abstract: A port aggregation protocol (PAGP) dynamically aggregates redundant links between two neighboring devices in a computer network through the exchange of aggregation protocol data unit (AGPDU) frames between the two devices. Each AGPDU frame contains a unique identifier corresponding to the device sourcing the frame and a port number corresponding to the port through which the frame is forwarded. The exchange of AGPDU frames and the information contained therein allows the neighboring devices to identify those ports corresponding to the redundant links. Each device then dynamically aggregates its ports corresponding to the redundant links into a logical aggregation port (agport) which appears as a single, high-bandwidth port or interface to other processes executing on the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2001
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Hon Wah Chin, Michael Fine, Norman W. Finn, Richard J. Hausman
  • Access network over a dedicated medium
    Patent number: 6295293
    Abstract: A network terminal and an Internet Protocol IP access node in an access network. The network terminal gives instant access to a multitude of communication services such as telephony, video, data, multi media as well as services provided by Internet. In the access network IP is used as an internal multiplexing and transport technique. The speed at which data is transported on the access line is limited by the used modem technique, not by the restrictions posed by the general public switched telephone network. Several terminals may be connected to one and the same access line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2001
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Ingmar Tönnby, Allan Hansson
  • 2n×n multiplexing switch
    Patent number: 6289011
    Abstract: A 2n×n multiplexing switch has 2n VD(valid) extractors for validating the routing tags of the inputted cells and determine if the cell is to be saved or not, and generate VD signals, a FIFO buffer selector for selecting the FIFO buffer to store each cell using the VD signal and for transferring the cell to the selected FIFO buffer, a shared FIFO buffer consisting of 2n shared FIFO buffers and storing cells, an output device for reading cells stored in the FIFO buffers and for transferring n cells to output ports and a cell counter for counting cells currently stored in the shared FIFO buffer using the data from the FIFO buffer selector and the output device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2001
    Assignee: SamSung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Young Ik Seo, Chong Nam Lee
  • System for managing flow bandwidth utilization at network, transport and application layers in store and forward network
    Patent number: 6285658
    Abstract: In a packet communication environment, a method is provided for classifying packet network flows for use in determining a policy, or rule of assignment of a service level, and enforcing that policy by direct rate control. The method comprises applying individual instances of traffic objects, i.e., packet network flows to a classification model based on selectable information obtained from a plurality of layers of a multi-layered communication protocol, then mapping the flow to the defined traffic classes, which are arbitrarily assignable by an offline manager which creates the classification. It is useful to note that the classification need not be a complete enumeration of the possible traffic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2001
    Assignee: Packeteer, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert L. Packer
  • Local area network for reconfiguration in the event of line ruptures or node failure
    Patent number: 6278690
    Abstract: A local area network with a plurality of nodes for transmitting cells in the asynchronous transfer mode over a ring system having two opposite direction rings. In the event of a defect in a transmitting line from a node, or a defect in a neighboring node, a loop is formed in this node to reroute messages from one ring to the other. First, a node detecting a defect transmits a message of a first type to all other involved nodes, identifying the location of the detected defect. This information is entered in a respective status table in each node. After evaluating the information in its status table, a node which should form a loop does so, and sends a message of a second type identifying the loop to any nodes which do not already have this information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2001
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventors: Christoph Herrmann, Yonggang Du, Klaus P. May
  • Capacity enhancement for multi-code CDMA with integrated services through quality of services and admission control
    Patent number: 6278701
    Abstract: With the addition of high-speed data traffic to traditional CDMA cellular networks, there is a need to efficiently utilize system capacity so that the quality of service of existing voice and low-speed data users is maintained while new high-speed data users are added to the network. Methods and systems are presented that control allocation of power to users, quality of service requirements, and/or user activity levels to enhance capacity utilization. These methods and systems are based on a method for estimating the capacity of a CDMA carrier with both voice and data users using an interference-based analysis of the reverse link. In particular, the methods enhance capacity utilization in a multi-code CDMA network architecture, in which several codes are allocated to a single high-speed data user for parallel transmission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2001
    Assignees: Verizon Laboratories Inc., University of Maryland
    Inventors: Deepak Ayyagari, Samuel Resheff, Anthony Ephremides
  • Variable rate spread spectrum communication method and apparatus
    Patent number: 6275488
    Abstract: A method in a communication system (100) includes transmitting from a source user (101) a first data packet (111) over a first time frame (121) having a finite time period (131), transmitting from source user (101) a second data packet (112) over a second time frame (122) immediately subsequent to first time frame (121), detecting an acknowledgment of acceptable reception of data packet associated with either first or said second data packets (111 and 112), repeating transmission of first and second data packets (111 and 112) in a sequence of first and second time frames (121 and 122) in a time frame sequence (190) until the detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2001
    Assignee: Motorola, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark C. Cudak, Brian K. Classon, Louay Jalloul, Amitava Ghosh
  • Bus management method
    Patent number: 6275473
    Abstract: A bus management node 11 has a register for channels in use REG1 and a bus capacity register REG2. Before starting the synchronous communication, each node 12 transmits a read-out command to the register for channels in use REG1 in order to read out their contents for ascertaining the number of the un-used channel and the residual capacity. If there is any un-used channel and any residual bus capacity, the node 12 transmits write commands to these registers REG1 and REG2 so that the number of the channel to be in use and the capacity of the bus to be in use will be stored in the register for channels in use REG1 and the bus capacity register REG2. This enables bus management to be achieved easily in a system performing synchronous communication between plural nodes connected to the bus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2001
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Katsumi Matsuno, Ichiro Kubota, Minobu Hayashi, Hisato Shima
  • ATM transmission system with subsystems interconnected through reduced number of signal lines
    Patent number: 6272137
    Abstract: An ATM transmission system without having a dedicated line for transmitting maintenance information between subsystems constituting the ATM transmission system. The ATM transmission system introduces the idea of a multiframe for transmitting ATM cells, and transmits the maintenance information by inserting it into an overhead portion of the multiframe. This enables the number of lines interconnecting the subsystems to be reduced. The ATM transmission system includes in its interface circuit a set of parallel processors of the same configuration. The number of the parallel processors equals the least common multiple of ratios between the minimum interface rate and one or more other interface rates of other ATM transmission subsystems interconnected to the ATM transmission system. This enables the subsystems with different interface rates to become the interconnected ATM transmission system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2001
    Assignee: OKI Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Akira Noiri