Abstract: A dual evaporator air conditioning system and method for use therewith is provided to cool air in front and rear portions of a cabin of a vehicle. The dual evaporator air conditioning system includes primary and auxiliary HVAC units having primary and auxiliary evaporators, respectively, to cool the air in the front and rear portions of the cabin. A heat exchanger near the auxiliary evaporator warms the refrigerant in the auxiliary evaporator to maintain a minimum temperature. The heat exchanger warms the refrigerant in the auxiliary evaporator to prevent accumulation of liquid refrigerant and lubricating oil in the auxiliary evaporator when the auxiliary HVAC unit is in a non-cooling mode while the primary HVAC unit is in a cooling mode.

Abstract: A dual evaporator air conditioning system and method for use therewith to cool air in front and rear portions of a cabin of a vehicle. The dual evaporator air conditioning system includes primary and auxiliary HVAC units having primary and auxiliary evaporators, respectively to cool the air in the front and rear portions of the cabin. A heat exchanger near the auxiliary evaporator warms the refrigerant in the auxiliary evaporator to maintain a minimum temperature of the refrigerant in the auxiliary evaporator. The heat exchanger warms the refrigerant in the auxiliary evaporator to prevent accumulation of liquid refrigerant and lubricating oil in the auxiliary evaporator when the auxiliary HVAC unit is in the non-cooling mode while the primary HVAC unit is in the cooling mode.

Abstract: A dual evaporator air conditioning system and method for use therewith to cool air in front and rear portions of a cabin of a vehicle. The dual evaporator air conditioning system includes primary and auxiliary HVAC units to cool the air in the front and rear portions of the cabin, respectively. The dual evaporator air conditioning system also includes a control system having cooling and non-cooling modes for each of the HVAC units. The control system automatically activates a heating element near the auxiliary evaporator in response to the auxiliary HVAC unit being in the non-cooling mode while the primary HVAC unit is in the cooling mode. The heating element heats the refrigerant in the auxiliary evaporator to prevent accumulation of liquid refrigerant and lubricating oil in the auxiliary evaporator when the auxiliary HVAC unit is in the non-cooling mode while the primary HVAC unit is in the cooling mode.

Abstract: An air conditioning system with alternate refrigerant includes isolates an evaporator (22) from the rest of the system not with a conventional, high pressure resisting shut off valve, but by establishing a pair of independent refrigerant loops from the standard single loop when the system shuts down. A valve housing (28) has three ports on one side, an upper port (34) connected to the condenser outlet (16), a central port (36) connected to the compressor inlet (10), and a lower port (38) connected to the evaporator outlet (24). On the other side, a single port (40) is connected to the evaporator inlet (20). Inside the valve housing, a movable valve member (30) shifts position between a normal, operating position that interconnects the heat exchangers (14, 22), through the ports in a single loop, and a system off position which, through a different arrangement of the ports, creates a separate, isolation loop for just the evaporator (22).

Abstract: A dual evaporator air conditioning system and method for use therewith to cool air in front and rear portions of a cabin. The dual evaporator air conditioning system includes primary and auxiliary HVAC units to cool the air in the front and rear portions of the cabin, respectively. The dual evaporator air conditioning system also includes a control system having cooling and non-cooling modes for each of the HVAC units. The control system automatically diverts cooled air produced by the auxiliary HVAC unit into an air dumping chamber in response to the auxiliary HVAC unit being in the non-cooling mode while the primary HVAC unit is in the cooling mode. The air dumping chamber is partitioned from the cabin to prevent the cooled air generated by the auxiliary HVAC unit from entering the cabin. Maintaining airflow through an auxiliary evaporator prevents refrigerant and lubricant buildup in the auxiliary evaporator.

Abstract: The invention relates to mammalian prestin protein, which has been discovered to be the mammalian cochlear outer hair cell motor, and to polynucleotides encoding prestin. Full length gerbil prestin and its cDNA are described, full length murine prestin and its cDNA are described, and a partial sequence of human prestin and its chromosomal location are described.

Abstract: A concentric tubing apparatus prevents heat gain in an air conditioning system. The heat gain results from heat generated in an engine compartment of a vehicle. To accomplish this, the tubing apparatus includes a first and second refrigerant tubes. The first refrigerant tube is in fluid communication with a receiver and an evaporator of the air conditioning system to accommodate the flow of the refrigerant from the receiver to the evaporator, and the second refrigerant tube is in fluid communication with the receiver and the evaporator to accommodate the flow of the refrigerant from the evaporator to the receiver. The second refrigerant tube is disposed concentrically about the first refrigerant tube such that the second refrigerant tube insulates the refrigerant flowing in the first refrigerant tube from the heat generated in the engine compartment. Thus, heat gain in the refrigerant flowing in the first refrigerant tube to the evaporator is prevented.

Abstract: A multi-function receiver attenuates pressure fluctuations of refrigerant flowing from an evaporator to a compressor in an air conditioning system. The receiver includes a body housing having an inlet for receiving the refrigerant from a condenser and an outlet for sending the refrigerant to the compressor. A cap housing covers the body housing. The receiver also includes first and second ports defined within the cap housing. The first port communicates with the evaporator for sending the refrigerant to the evaporator, and the second port communicates with the evaporator for receiving the refrigerant from the evaporator. An internal wall defines an outer and an inner cavity. The outer cavity communicates with the inlet for receiving the refrigerant from the condenser and with the first port for sending the refrigerant to the evaporator. The inner cavity communicates with the second port to receive the refrigerant from the evaporator and to attenuate the pressure fluctuations.

Abstract: A thermostatic expansion valve controls a flow of refrigerant. The valve includes a body defining a fluid chamber. A refrigerant inlet is defined within the body. The inlet communicates with the chamber such that the refrigerant can flow through the inlet and into the chamber. First and second outlets are defined within the body. The first outlet communicates with the chamber such that the refrigerant can flow from the chamber to an evaporator during normal and low refrigerant charge. The second outlet communicates with the chamber such that the refrigerant can flow from the chamber to a compressor during low charge. A moveable needle controls the flow of the refrigerant into and out of the body. A notch is defined within the needle such that, during low charge, the refrigerant that flows into the chamber can flow to the second outlet and to the compressor without flowing through the evaporator.

Abstract: The invention relates to mammalian prestin protein, which has been discovered to be the mammalian cochlear outer hair cell motor, and to polynucleotides encoding prestin. Full length gerbil prestin and its cDNA are described, full length murine prestin and its cDNA are described, and a partial sequence of human prestin and its chromosomal location are described.

Abstract: The improved AES processing method provides an efficient alternative to both Mips intensive multiplication and to conventional table lookup, used to multiply terms over a Galois field (GF). The improved method takes advantage of the fact that in the GF, any non zero element X can be represented by a power of a primitive element P. The improved method thereby results in a 2 by 256 table. The log base P of the terms being multiplied are looked up and summed, and the anti-log of the sum is looked up in the same table.

Abstract: A microphone for a full duplex speaker phone comprises a loudspeaker, a uni-directional microphone, a omni-directional microphone, and a background noise suppression circuit. The uni-directional microphone is a directional microphone such that the intensity of an acoustic source detected at the uni-directional microphone is dependent on the angular direction of the acoustic source relative to a reference direction. The omni-directional microphone is a non-directional microphone such that the intensity of the acoustic source detected at the omni-directional microphone is substantially independent of the angular direction of the acoustic source relative to the reference direction. The background noise suppression circuit determines the direction of the acoustic source by calculating a quotient between a signal strength of the acoustic source as detected by the two microphones and provides for suppressing an acoustic source that is not within a threshold angle of the reference angle.

Abstract: A identity of a remote speaker is verified by receiving compressed audio formants from a remote Internet telephony client and comparing the compressed audio formants with sample compressed audio formants known to represent the person the remote speaker purports to be. The compressed audio formants include energy and pitch data characterizing the residue of the speaker uttering a predetermined pass phrase and a plurality of formant coefficients characterizing the resonance of the speaker.

Abstract: A method of speech recognition that uses hierarchical data structures that include a top level grammar and various related subgrammars, such as word, phone, and state subgrammars. A speech signal is acquired, and a probabilistic search is performed using the speech signal as an input, and using the (unexpanded) grammars and subgrammars as possible inputs. Memory is allocated to a subgrammar when a transition to that subgrammar is made during the probabilistic search. The subgrammar may then be expanded and evaluated, and the probability of a match between the speech signal and an element of the subgrammar for which memory has been allocated may be computed. Because unexpanded grammars and subgrammars take up very little memory, this method enables systems to recognize and process a larger vocabulary that would otherwise be possible.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for improving burst error correction. The method and apparatus involve transmitting block codes with interleaving, and predicting a burst error in the received block codes. Burst error prediction includes decoding received block codes and determining if the decoding is successful. The method includes receiving a code having an error correction capability, an erasure detection capability and a burst error length associated with it. A decoding step is performed to find an error in the code. The error has a length associated with it. The decoding is successful if the error length found is less than twice the error correction capability. If an initial decode attempt is not successful, then a burst error length is associated with the code and another decode is performed. The burst error length has an initial value that is less than the error correction capability.

Abstract: A refrigerant filter (40) designed for installation into a block fitting (10) of the type that detachably connects refrigerant lines (12,14) to an evaporator. The filter (40) includes a cylindrical mesh screen (42) and a supporting frame (44) that fits into the open end (30) of the liquid refrigerant supply (14) line before the supply line (14) is connected by the fitting (10) to the evaporator lines (16,18). The filter supporting frame (44) has an end plug (48) that fits closely into the line (14), assuring and all refrigerant flow is forced through the screen (42), without by passing the filter (40). The plug (48) also has a stop member (50) that both assures that the filter (40) is not over inserted at installation, and that the plug (48) is not ejected from the line (14) during operation.

Abstract: A data signal compression technique for real-time voice and data processing where the digitized signal is first compressed to obtain a first compressed signal, and the first compressed signal is then compressed again to obtain a second compressed signal. Within a digital signal processor, digital signals first undergo time scale compression after which the compressed signals undergo audio compression to achieve multiple-compressed signals. Upon reception in a second digital signal processor, the multiple-compressed signals are correspondingly decompressed to achieve a high-quality estimation of the original digital signals.