Abstract: A smart mailbox system capable of electronically communicating the receipt of mail and the collection of mail to an end user. User authentication allows the mailbox to communicate the identity of the user who collects the mail. The mailbox also images the mail so as to provide a record of the receipt of specific pieces of mail and to permit the user to visually see the collected mail without having to go to the mailbox. The identity of the sender and recipient are made available through the system. The system is also networkable so as to join multiple mailboxes within the same network.

Abstract: In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method for generating a random number for an instance of a hardware description language definition is provided, the method comprising: generating a unique signature for the instance; applying a message digest generation process on the unique signature to arrive at a message digest having a fixed length; and applying a random number generation process on the message digest.

Abstract: In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method for generating a random number for an instance of a hardware description language definition is provided, the method comprising: generating a unique signature for the instance; applying a message digest generation process on the unique signature to arrive at a message digest having a fixed length; and applying a random number generation process on the message digest.