Abstract: The present invention provides a browser which utilizes a Web access controller to limit access to pre-selected web sites. Such a browser is suitable for use in education, for example, where the intent is to keep students focused on a particular subject by restricting their access to predetermined relevant sites. The browser also has a “depth” parameter, whereby users are enabled to browse from those web sites on the select list to unlisted sites which are within the depth parameter away from the listed sites. This provides the users with the surfing capabilities inherent in the web. The Web access controller provides for a safer environment for children to browse through the Internet and a worry-free tool for parents.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a new method and system for streaming media data in a heterogeneous network environment. In addition to existing standard streaming products, e.g. standard Media Player and Stream Server, a Stream Server Portal which controls a set of Stream Servers is provided by the present invention. The Stream Server Portal offers a service called prepareStreaming to applications which returns the streaming meta data necessary to initiate streaming for given media instances.

Abstract: A computer implemented method enables user access, over a network, to a resource which can be accfessed from any one of a plurality of sites. The method initially stores a control data structure which includes (i) a plurality of site addresses where copies of the resource reside and (ii) an entry which enables access to a procedure that defines a criteria for selecting one of the plurality of site addresses from which to access a copy of the resource. Next a Web page is displayed, having a region which indicates the resource. The method then responds to a user's selection of the region, by accessing the control data structure and executing the procedure so as to enable access by the user to the resource in accord with the selection criteria, without requiring further input by the user.

Abstract: The present invention extends a standard HTML browser to support a new data type, the Uniform Resource Locator Sequence (URLS). The URLS consists of a header and a sequence of URLs. The method of the present invention receives the URLS data then sequentially accesses the data of each URL comprising the URLS, obtains statistics on the response time to the requests for URLs, and times the calls for subsequent URLs in the sequence accordingly so that the arrival of the linked data nearly simulates actual streaming.

Abstract: A method for indicating the location of time dependent video hot links to a user, comprising the steps of: displaying a motion video presentation on a first portion of a display device, the video presentation including a hot link region which can be selected by a user to link to different content; displaying an indication of the presence of the hot link region in the video presentation. The method may comprise the further step of altering a visual attribute of at least a portion of the hot link region when a user manipulable cursor is within the first portion. The method may comprise the further step of displaying an indication of the presence of the hot link region in the video presentation on a second portion of the display screen.

Abstract: A method and system is disclosed for scheduling data download, such as web pages, databases or softwares, over a network such as the internet.

Abstract: A magnetic disk drive and a method for designing the same wherein the recording density, capacity, data rate access time are determined as a function of the application requirement and data type stored on the disk.

Abstract: The objects of this invention are accomplished by combinging the inverse DCT of an appropriate size with scaling on the resulting reconstructed image. In particular, if the data is stored as DCT values of blocks of size P.times.Q and an output image is to be scaled by a factor of R in one dimension and S in the second dimension, then the process is performed in two stages. First a scaling of factor K1/P in the first dimension and a scaling of factor L1/Q in the second dimension are done by inverse transforming with 2-dimensional DCTs of size K1.times.L1. A factor .sqroot.(K1/P).times..sqroot.(L1/Q) is absorbed into a dequantization process prior to the inverse transorm process. Then a scaling of factor K2/K3 in the first dimension and a scaling of factor L2/L3 in the second dimension is done in the spatial domain. The integers K1, K2, K3, L1, L2, L3 are chosen so the (K1K2/K3)=R, (L1L2/L3)=S, (K1/P).gtoreq.R, (L1/Q).gtoreq.S, and the ratios (K2/K3) and (L1/L2) are close to 1.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for increasing the processing speed or decreasing circuit complexity (or both) of a digital image processor by eliminating the conventional multiplication operation from the RGB to YUV and YUV to RGB transforms having NTSC compatible equation coefficients. In particular, the change of color-basis matrix for converting RGB data to obtain YUV data is factored into a scale factor and a coefficient matrix. The coefficient matrix contains coefficients such that its product with the RGB input vector can be performed using only seven binary additions and five shift operations. This process effectively removes the conventional multiplication operations from the RGB to YUV conversion. The scale factor is conveniently absorbed into the quantization of the YUV data before transmission. The quantization process includes a multiplication already and the two multiplication steps are folded into one step.

Abstract: Array processing for carrying out scaled-transform/descaled-inverse-transform procedures on data arrays encoding a visual image or other physical variable makes effective use of fused multiply/add instructions in computer workstations or other digital processors having a fused multiply/add capability. To reconstruct data representative of a physical variable from data originally representative of the variable which had been transformed according to a scaled discrete cosine transform procedure using a predetermined scaling matrix Q, an inverse transform procedure of the invention involves computing a descaling constant and a sequence of descaling/inverse-transform matrices which incorporate elements of the scaling matrix Q. One point of the input data array is multiplied by the descaling constant. The result is matrix multiplied by the sequence of descaling/inverse-transform matrices in turn.

Abstract: This invention minimizes the number of non-trivial multiplications in the DCT process by rearranging the DCT process such that non-trivial multiplications are combined in a single process step. In particular, the DCT equations for the row-column application of the DCT process on k=pq points wherein p and q are relatively prime, are factored into a permutation matrix, a tensor product between matrices having p.times.p and q.times.q points, and a matrix whose product with an arbitrary vector having pq points requires pq-p-q+1 additions and/or subtractions. The tensor product is then further factored to remove non-trivial multiplications by developing a a first factor having (pq-p-q+1)/2 non-trivial multiplications and a diagonal matrix. The diagonal matrix is not unique for any set of data. Its j,j-th elements are chosen from a subproduct of the factorization of the tensor product. Once the diagonal matrix elements are chosen the remaining first factor is developed.

Abstract: The objects of this invention are accomplished by rearranging the DCT process such that non-trivial multiplications are combined in a single process step. In particular, the DCT equations for the application of the two-dimensional DCT process on k.times.k points are factored into 1) a permutation matrix, 2) a diagonal matrix, and 3) a matrix whose product with an arbitrary vector having k.sup.2 points requires considerably fewer non-trivial multiplications. Furthermore, in some cases none of these non-trivial multiplications are nested; that is, no output of a non-trivial multiplication is ever involved in another multiplication operation. The diagonal matrix is not unique for any set of data. Once the diagonal matrix elements are chosen the remaining factors are developed. When the factorization is complete, the diagonal matrix is absorbed into the quantization step which follows the DCT process. The quantization step is the multiplication of a diagonal matrix by the DCT output data.

Abstract: Data to be recorded on a magnetic disk is binary encoded including standard error control coding. The data is divided into contiguous blocks and mapped into a sequence of complex numbers according to a predetermined set of coding rules. The mapped data is then recorded on the odd and even tracks on the disk in substantially orthogonal assignments. The orthogonalization technique is used to reduce if not avoid entirely off track interference. Where it is desired to read data from an even track but the head infringes on one of its odd neighbors, the head reads a slightly weaker signal from the desired even track, because the head is not completely over it, and a weak signal from the neighboring odd track. The interfering signal from the odd track does not appear as noise in the even entries of the post inverse Fourier transform sequence, which is used for decoding.

Abstract: A recorder system provides simultaneous data information and track following servo information from a buried servo layer disposed under a data recording layer in a magnetic medium, using the same transducer for simultaneously reading the servo and data information while writing data. The signals representing data are shaped to provide a wide gap around zero frequency (DC) for inclusion of servo information in the gap, and as a result, segregated data and servo information is read by the recorder through use of filtering techniques.

Abstract: A technique for use in, illustratively, a transform coder for imparting robustness against burst (or similar) errors to data patterns, such as illustratively two-dimensional image data, that exhibit local redundancy. Robustness is provided, in the case of images, by passing localized (blocked) image data, i.e. either pixel values or transformed, illustratively discrete cosine transform (DCT), image coefficient values therefor, through a global block transform, such as a global block Hadamard transform, prior to compression coding in order to produce "holographic-like" compressed data for subsequent transmission and/or storage. Specifically, globally transforming an image in this fashion effectively spreads (diffuses) the image data in each block of pixels in that image or in the transform coefficients therefor in a regularly ordered pre-defined global manner throughout the entire image to create what is, in effect, intentionally "smeared" image data.

Abstract: This invention is a method for calibrating a two beam rotationally scanned light beam interruption coordinate data input device. In particular, four reference objects which can be sensed by the effectively rotating directional sensor are disposed at measured equal interval distances along an essentially straight line. The four reference objects are positioned relative to the effectively rotating directional sensor so that each of the objects can be essentially individually sensed in turn in the course of effective rotation of the sensor. The effective angular velocity and effective center of rotation of the sensor is then determined from the known distance between adjacent reference objects and the measured time intervals between detection of adjacent pairs of reference objects by the effectively rotating directional sensor.

Abstract: A system and method for fourier transform coding of data on peak limited channels using a redundancy scheme. The system and method section the data to be transmitted into contiguous blocks having sequence lengths of 2N. Each block is coded in the frequency domain and its Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) for each coded block is computed. The IDFT blocks are then clipped at predetermined peak values .+-. P to thereby derive clipping error values. The magnitude of the clipping error values is then determined. The magnitude squared values of the clipping error is summed for each block. If the sum exceeds a threshold .phi. for a given block, then, the block is transmitted X number of times, where X is a fixed number, each time using less than the prescribed power for the transmission, otherwise, a continuous signal is transmitted whose sampled values at the Nyquist rate are the clipped values of the IDFT for that particular block.

Abstract: To encode data representative of correlated images, a sequence of arrays of source image data is provided in which each array is representative of an image. Each array of source image data is partitioned into a plurality of source image-data blocks. For each sequence of source image-data blocks, at least one prototypical image-data block is derived from at least a portion of the source image data of the sequence. For each source image-data block, a translation coefficient and a number of scaling coefficients equal to the number of prototypical image-data blocks associated with the sequence are determined. A difference image-data block is formed for each source image-data block from elements of the source image-data block minus the associated translation coefficient minus the sum in turn of each associated scaling coefficient multiplied by elements of the corresponding prototypical image-data block.