Abstract: Accessing data of varying-sized quanta in non-volatile memory provides improved storage efficiency in some situations. For example, a Solid-State Disk (SSD) controller receives (e.g. uncompressed) data from a computing host (e.g. a disk write command), compresses the data, and stores the compressed data into non-volatile (e.g. flash) memory. In response to a subsequent request from the host (e.g. a disk read command), the SSD controller reads and uncompresses the compressed data from the memory. The compressed data is stored in the memory according to varying-sized quanta, due to, e.g., compression algorithm, operating mode, and compression effectiveness on various data. The SSD controller uncompresses the data in part by consulting an included map table to locate header(s) stored in the memory, parsing the header(s) to locate appropriate (compressed) data stored in the memory, and uncompressing the appropriate data from the memory to produce the uncompressed data.

Abstract: The present invention generally relates to a composite building panel having at least a core portion, and at least four reinforcement members each fixed to an edge of the core. A first reinforcement member features a first reinforcement element at a first side portion thereof. A second reinforcement member features a second reinforcement element at a second side portion thereof. The first and second reinforcement elements each have a configuration to provide a rigid and load bearing relationship between first and second reinforcement elements of an adjacently connected second composite building panel, respectively. A channel is defined in the reinforcement members to allow services to be run therethrough. Multiple composite building panels can be interconnected and sandwiched between exterior side panels. The reinforcement elements can be a tongue and groove or a spline and groove configuration.

Abstract: A method of determining the existence of a target light source comprising progressively receiving successive pixel intensity values row by row and column by column of a scanned array of a light detector, comparing each pixel intensity value as it is received with upper and lower thresholds, declaring successive rows of pixels as dark, bright, edge or null depending on whether each row of the intensity values above, between and below the thresholds meets predetermined criteria, declaring a light source as detected in the event an array of pixels exceeding the lower threshold are completely surrounded by pixels which are of lower intensity than the lower threshold, and storing a signal indicating detection of a light source in a memory with a location identifying an address of the array in which the light source was declared as detected.