Abstract: A primary body of data is displayable on a screen and a supporting body of data is relatable to an annotation tag present in the primary body of textual data. An annotation tag having a predetermined size in the primary body of data is selected, and negotiations ensue between the primary body of data and the supporting body to determine a space into which the supporting body of data can be fitted while substantially maintaining an unobstructed view of the primary body of data. To help accommodate the supporting body of data, at least a portion of the primary body of data is spatially morphed by repositioning, resizing, or distortion. An animation sequence is used to position the supporting body of data in the negotiated space.

Abstract: A new oscilloscope design improves the processing of acquired voltage-versus-time data through the efficient high speed acquisition and rasterization of such data into a form that includes multiple-bits-per-pixel intensity information. The multi-bit-per-pixel variable intensity rasterizer is optimized for maximum throughput and most efficient use of memory bandwidth. In the presence of faltering trigger rates, rasterization interruption provides a high probability of capturing the data associated with the slow triggers. Circuitry is provided to compensate for acquisition time and amplitude non-linearities. Many-bits-per-pixel intensity information is mapped into a fewer-bits-per-pixel format by a controllable transfer function that provides multiple viewing capabilities for the operator. Another mode of operation emphasizes infrequent events over commonly occurring ones using variations in brightness or color.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a plasma generation method of a plasma display panel. The plasma display panel comprises a first substrate and a second substrate positioned in parallel with each other, an ionizable gas filled between the two substrates, and a plurality of first, second, third and fourth electrodes installed on the two substrates. The first and second electrodes are alternately installed in parallel on the first substrate. The third electrodes are installed on the second substrate perpendicular to the first and second electrodes. An area between one of the third electrodes and a pair of neighboring first and second electrodes define a display unit for generating plasma from the ionizable gas in the display unit and driving the plasma. The third electrode of each display unit is used for determining if the plasma within the display unit should remain.

Abstract: A combination includes a liquid crystal module having a liquid crystal panel forming a front surface, an opposing back surface, and a backlight structured and arranged to transmit light between the front and back surfaces. A light sensor located behind the back surface detects light transmitted from the backlight through the back surface. The light sensor detects a quantity of light when the backlight is lit at a maximum luminance, and outputs a signal indicative of the quantity of light. A luminance setting means sets a desired luminance by a user as a function of a desired percentage of the maximum lumination of the backlight. A control means controls the luminance of the backlight using the signal as a reference so that the luminance set by the luminance setting means is achieved.

Abstract: A 3D-graphics engine has several texture maps with different levels of detail (LOD). The largest of the four derivatives of the u,v texture-map coordinates with respect to the x,y screen coordinates determines which LOD texture map to select. Using bi-linear interpolation, the four nearest texture pixels or texels are fetched from the texture map in a texture memory and a weighted-average texel generated. Distortion in space and time can be visible when a triangle transitions from one LOD texture map to the next LOD map. Tri-linear interpolation eliminates this LOD-transitioning distortion by generating weighted-average texels for both the LOD map and for four texels from a next LOD map. Unfortunately the calculational complexity is more than doubled for tri-linear rather than bi-linear interpolation. Tri-linear interpolation is employed only near a transition to a next LOD map. When the derivatives are not near an LOD-map transition, only bi-linear interpolation is performed.

Abstract: A detachable device for a laptop computer. The laptop computer has a base and a display housing coupled to the base. The display housing is movable relative to the base between a closed position in which the computer is in a stowed configuration and an open position in which the computer is in an unstowed configuration and the display housing and base are accessible to a user. The input device includes controls that receive commands from the user and transmit the commands to the computer via a communication link. In one embodiment, the input device may be attached to the computer by positioning it within an aperture of the base. The input device may be detached from the computer by removing it from the aperture. The controls of the input device may remain accessible to the user when the input device is either attached to or detached from the base. The computer may be placed in the stowed configuration when the input device is in the attached position.

Abstract: An LCD panel includes a plurality of parallel gate lines and a plurality of parallel data lines on a substrate, the data lines extending transverse to the gate lines. The plurality of data lines cross the plurality of gate lines to define a plurality of pixel regions, the plurality of pixel regions being arranged in a matrix of rows and columns. A plurality of pixel electrodes is disposed on the substrate, a respective one of the pixel electrodes being disposed on a respective one of the pixel regions and electrically connected, for example, by a thin-film transistor (TFT), to a data line such that the pixel electrodes on a column of pixel regions are alternately connected to one of first and second data lines disposed on opposite sides of the column. According to another embodiment, an LCD device includes an LCD panel as described above, coupled to a controller that is responsive to a video signal including a plurality of sequences of video values, e.g.

Abstract: A method for retrieving compressed texture data from a memory system while conserving bus bandwidth and memory bandwidth is disclosed. The method is particularly useful when the compressed texture data sought to be retrieved is stored in memory in the form of blocks that have varying lengths. A starting address is determined for a target compressed texture data segment stored in the memory. The target compressed segment contains a compressed data block which in turn contains a compressed representation of the texture data sought to be retrieved. A read request issuance operation is commenced, beginning with the starting address of the target segment. Various techniques are disclosed for stopping the read request issuance operation once it is determined that sufficient read requests have been issued to retrieve a complete compressed representation of the texture data of interest.

Abstract: A mouse has a ball, a rotation detecting section for detecting the rotation of the ball, and a casing for containing the ball and the rotation detecting section. A hole is formed at a position on the upper surface of the casing directly above the ball, and covered with a transparent acrylic plate. This structure allows the operator to make certain, during operation, that the ball is smoothly rotating. The ball is placed offset toward the leading end of the mouse.

Abstract: The present invention is to provide an apparatus for driving a flat panel display which allows the amount of electrons emitted from a cell to be easily controlled and which performs a stable display gradation processing. To this end, the present invention comprises a shift register for sequentially shifting a video signal input from the exterior in synchronism with a clock signal; a latch for temporarily storing and outputting said video signal which has been sequentially inputted from said shift register; an AND gate for adjusting the time of outputting said video signal output from said latch; and an output driving circuit for inputting said video signal from said AND gate and performing a display gradation control. The present invention allows the amount of electrons emitted from a cell to be easily adjusted so that a 16 step of gradation processing of a display is made possible.

Abstract: Disclosed is a practicable, image display device comprising a color-changing array 2 of a plurality of light-shielding layers 21 and a plurality of color-changing layers 22, of which at least one is a fluorescent layer, as disposed in series on a light-transmissive substrate 1 with being laterally spaced, and an array of a plurality of light-emitting layers 3 as laterally spaced to be in the position corresponding to each color-changing layer 22 in such a manner that the color-changing layers 22 receive emitted light from the light-emitting layers 3 to change it into different colors. The device is characterized in that the surface of the color-changing array 2 that faces the array of light-emitting layers 3 is planarized to thereby reduce its surface roughness to 2.0 .mu.m or lower. The images formed by the device have high visibility with little color mixing and color spread. The producibility of the device is high.

Abstract: A display device and a method of driving liquid crystals in an array of pixels of the display device include providing dual port memory cells that isolate write operations to the pixels from read operations within the pixels. Preferably, each pixel has an array of integrated dual port memory cells, with the number of cells in the array being equal to the number of bits per pixel within each frame of pixel data. The dual port memory cell may be an electrical series connection of a bit-storage device having write access circuitry (e.g., a write access transistor) on one side and read access circuitry (e.g., two read access transistors) on the opposite side. Such a series connection of devices enables the rate of driving the liquid crystal to be set independently from the rate of receiving pixel data at the pixels.

Abstract: A head up display (HUD) mounting assembly (MA) enables the secure, yet flexible mounting of major HUD components within vehicles and particularly within the cockpit of an aircraft. Flexibility is desirable because of slight movement of airframe members during maneuvers and changing temperature and air pressure conditions, yet stability must be maintained in order to preserve optical alignment between the HUD projector and image combiner components. The inventive MA provides an integrated support for the HUD projector and image combiner thus improving optical stability over discretely mounted systems. The MA has a relatively rigid support arm attached to two end brackets, where one is a spring bracket and the other is an anti-twist bracket. The brackets are mounted to the ceiling of an aircraft cockpit to support the arm and to resiliently hold the HUD components in optical alignment.