Abstract: A trellis decoder decodes a stream of encoded symbols, including symbols of a first type (e.g. symbols encoded with a first trellis code) and symbols of a second type (e.g. encoded with a second, more robust, trellis code), without storing path indicators along a trellis for symbols of the first type. In this way, limited memory may be used to store path indicators along the trellis for symbols of the second type. This allows for more accurate decoding of the symbols of the second type. For transitions from symbols of the second type to symbols of the first type, states of the trellis decoder may be stored. In this way, paths may be traced back along the trellis for trellis decoding, without the path indicators for the symbols of the first type.

Abstract: A prioritized buffer for the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer for multimedia applications, in particular wireless Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) in which reservation based TDMA is performed on the basis of control data frames (CDFs), is formed by an addressable memory system which is divided into sequential equal-sized pages for storing respective data packets or ATM cells having the same number of bytes. The memory system includes a tag register for storing tags associated with the respective pages, each tag indicating whether the associated page is empty or full, a shadow register for storing conflict-free updates from the tag register, and a page register for storing pointers to the lowest free or unoccupied page.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for establishing wireless communications between standardized and non-standardized information devices. In association with a network of standardized information devices, a virtual network is formed which includes a virtual node representing each of the non-standardized information devices.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for establishing wireless communications between standardized and non-standardized information devices. In association with a network of standardized information devices, a virtual network is formed which includes a virtual node representing each of the non-standardized information devices.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for communicating control signals via short energy bursts during a predetermined time interval. This method and apparatus is particularly well suited for wireless communication networks wherein the time intervals are assigned to each station on the network, and the presence of energy in that time interval signals a control signal to or from that station.