Abstract: Data processing apparatuses, methods of data processing, complementary instructions and programs related to ring buffer administration are disclosed. An enqueuing operation performs an atomic compare-and-swap oper-ation to store a first processed data item indication to an enqueuing-target slot in the ring buffer contingent on an in-order marker not being present there and, when successful, determines that a ready-to-dequeue condition is true for the first processed data item indication. A dequeuing operation, when the ready-to-de-queue condition for a dequeuing-target slot is true, comprises writing a null data item to the dequeuing-target slot and, when dequeuing in-order, further comprises, dependent on whether a next contiguous slot has null content, determining a retirement condition and, when the retirement condition is true, performing a retirement process on the next contiguous slot comprising making the next con-tiguous slot available to a subsequent enqueuing operation.

Abstract: An ultra bright, low wattage inductively coupled electrodeless aperture lamp is powered by a solid state RF source in the range of several tens to several hundreds of watts at various frequencies in the range of 400 to 900 MHz. Numerous novel lamp circuits and components are disclosed including a wedding ring shaped coil having one axial and one radial lead, a high accuracy capacitor stack, a high thermal conductivity aperture cup and various other aperture bulb configurations, a coaxial capacitor arrangement, and an integrated coil and capacitor assembly. Numerous novel RF circuits are also disclosed including a high power oscillator circuit with reduced complexity resonant pole configuration, parallel RF power FET transistors with soft gate switching, a continuously variable frequency tuning circuit, a six port directional coupler, an impedance switching RF source, and an RF source with controlled frequency-load characteristics.

Abstract: A high frequency inductively coupled electrodeless lamp includes an excitation coil with an effective electrical length which is less than one half wavelength of a driving frequency applied thereto, preferably much less. The driving frequency may be greater than 100 MHz and is preferably as high as 915 MHz. Preferably, the excitation coil is configured as a non-helical, semi-cylindrical conductive surface having less than one turn, in the general shape of a wedding ring. At high frequencies, the current in the coil forms two loops which are spaced apart and parallel to each other. Configured appropriately, the coil approximates a Helmholtz configuration. The lamp preferably utilizes an bulb encased in a reflective ceramic cup with a pre-formed aperture defined therethrough. The ceramic cup may include structural features to aid in alignment and I or a flanged face to aid in thermal management.