Abstract: A bowl assembly for a micro puree machine including an inner beaker and an outer bowl. The inner beaker is configured to receive ingredients and has an exterior bottom surface that includes a beaker alignment feature. The outer bowl is configured to receive the inner beaker therein. The outer bowl includes an interior bottom surface that includes a bowl alignment feature and an exterior bottom surface that includes a bowl securing element. The beaker alignment feature of the inner beaker exterior bottom surface is complementary to the bowl alignment feature of the outer bowl interior bottom surface such that, at times the inner beaker is positioned in the outer bowl, the complementary bowl alignment feature and inner beaker alignment feature prevent rotation of the inner beaker relative to the outer bowl. The bowl securing element is configured to receive and attach to a platform of a micro puree machine.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for a communications network that executes a medium access control (MAC) protocol that permits multiple access to a shared medium or shared switching fabric. The MAC protocol uses a BANDWIDTH_ALLOCATOR to regulate access to the network by sending a permission message to a NODE, allowing it to transmit to a specific set of NODEs for a specific length of time. The medium and switching fabric can carry one or more protocols, each of varying framing format and native bitrate. The switching fabric provides a connection-oriented bufferless data transport service that preserves frame ordering. An illustrative embodiment uses a slotted master/slave time-division multiplexed access (TDMA) scheme to allow flexible provisioning of network bandwidth.

Abstract: A fiber-optic networking system that can survive a break in the fiber and restore full connectivity to all nodes in the network. The network can detect the presence of a cut in the fiber, locate the cut, recover from the cut, and restore the communication capacity that was available before the cut. The network is also capable of automatically determining the existence and identity of the nodes in the network, the distance of the node from the headend, and the executing procedures to handle both planned and unplanned (i.e., during a fault) removal of nodes from the network.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for a communications network that executes a medium access control (MAC) protocol that permits multiple access to a shared medium or shared switching fabric. The MAC protocol uses a BANDWIDTH_ALLOCATOR to regulate access to the network by sending a permission message to a NODE, allowing it to transmit to a specific set of NODEs for a specific length of time. The medium and switching fabric can carry one or more protocols, each of varying framing format and native bitrate. The switching fabric provides a connection-oriented bufferless data transport service that preserves frame ordering. An illustrative embodiment uses a slotted master/slave time-division multiplexed access (TDMA) scheme to allow flexible provisioning of network bandwidth.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for a communications network that executes a medium access control (MAC) protocol that permits multiple access to a shared medium or shared switching fabric. The MAC protocol uses a bandwidth allocator to regulate access to the network by sending a permission message to a node, allowing it to transmit to a specific set of nodes for a specific length of time. The medium and switching fabric can carry one or more protocols, each of varying framing format and native bitrate. The switching fabric provides a connection-oriented bufferless data transport service that preserves frame ordering. An illustrative embodiment uses a slotted master/slave time-division multiplexed access (TDMA) scheme to allow flexible provisioning of network bandwidth.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for a communications network that executes a medium access control (MAC) protocol that permits multiple access to a shared medium or shared switching fabric. The MAC protocol uses a BANDWIDTH_ALLOCATOR to regulate access to the network by sending a permission message to a NODE, allowing it to transmit to a specific set of NODEs for a specific length of time. The medium and switching fabric can carry one or more protocols, each of varying framing format and native bitrate. The switching fabric provides a connection-oriented bufferless data transport service that preserves frame ordering. An illustrative embodiment uses a slotted master/slave time-division multiplexed access (TDMA) scheme to allow flexible provisioning of network bandwidth.