Did You Know...
...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6075631 | Hitless reconfiguration of a wavelength division multiplexed optical communication network A method of reconfiguring a multi-wavelength communication network. The transition includes determining the union of the old and new topologies. During at least the start of the transition, the network supports the union topology. New connections are conn... | 06/13/2000 |
| 5960178 | Queue system and method for point-to-point message passing having a separate table for storing message state and identifier of processor assigned to process the message A queuing system and method to provide efficient and effective message communication between computers, processing devices, or network elements. The queue includes three tables. A message data table includes the message data. A message state table identif... | 09/28/1999 |
| 5940139 | Background extraction in a video picture A novel video object extraction has a first object 12, such as a foreground object, illuminated with visible light 16 and a second object 14, such as a background object, illuminated with a combination of infrared 18 and visible light 16. A novel camera s... | 08/17/1999 |
| 5930700 | System and method for automatically screening and directing incoming calls A system and method that allow a subscriber to have incoming telephone calls automatically screened and directed is described. The system allows a subscriber to automatically manage his incoming communications in a way that is easy to control and which re... | 07/27/1999 |
| 5926789 | Audio-based wide area information system A wide area information system includes a client and at least one server on which audio data is stored. Audio data is selectively transferred to the client from the server by at least occasionally establishing a transfer connection between the server and ... | 07/20/1999 |
| 5917624 | Method and system for applying fiber to the curb architecture using a broadband gateway at service locations, including homes A system for connecting fiber optic telecommunications and video services to individual homes using a single twisted pair or coaxial cable line between the optical network unit and each service location. The single twisted pair or coaxial cable line conne... | 06/29/1999 |
| 5905505 | Method and system for copy protection of on-screen display of text Method and system for preventing copying of textual images during display on a screen. The method includes randomly adding bits to the bitmapped background of the textual image to produce two random bitmapped textual images. The random bitmapped images ar... | 05/18/1999 |
| 5905719 | Method and system for wireless internet access Disclosed are a system and method for providing wireless access to a network, such as the internet. The disclosed technique takes into account the inherent asymmetric and bursty characteristics of internet communication to obtain more efficiency in the co... | 05/18/1999 |
| 5896128 | System and method for associating multimedia objects for use in a video conferencing system A video conferencing system and method that uses a central multimedia bridge to combine multimedia signals from a plurality of conference participants into a single composite signal for each participant. The system gives each conference participant the ab... | 04/20/1999 |
| 5892829 | Method and apparatus for generating secure hash functions A secure hash function according to the present invention uses a stretch function 202 and a compression function 202 to provide a secure hash value. A stretch function is a function which increases an input string (pre-image). In one version of the invent... | 04/06/1999 |
| 5882951 | Method for making InP-based lasers with reduced blue shifts An InP-based opto-electronic integrated circuit including an active layer having one or more quantum wells (36, 38). According to the invention, a barrier layer (34) of AlGaInAs is formed, preferably between the quantum wells and the substrate (30) to pre... | 03/16/1999 |
| 5883606 | Flat virtual displays for virtual reality Disclosed is a virtual display (300) which provides a wide field-of-view that is lightweight and may be as thin as ordinary eyeglasses. One version of the invention includes a display (302), such as an LCD, a microlens array (304), and an aperture array (... | 03/16/1999 |
| 5883946 | Method and apparatus for provisioning customized telecommunications services A system for interfacing a service activation controller and a service management system allows a remote system to generate, update and delete call processing records and to create, update and delete tables. A provisioning message with one or more request... | 03/16/1999 |
| 5884181 | Interference reduction in shared-frequency wireless communication systems An apparatus and method for reducing interference between an uplink transmitter of a space-based wireless communication system and an uplink or downlink receiver of a terrestrial wireless communication system are described. The space-based system may be a... | 03/16/1999 |
| 5878224 | System for preventing server overload by adaptively modifying gap interval that is used by source to limit number of transactions transmitted by source to server An apparatus and method for preventing overload of a network server by messages received from a source initiating network server transactions. The method and apparatus use available network traffic measurements to estimate target transaction rates and adm... | 03/02/1999 |
| 5870452 | System and method for controlling message looping between network elements In the proposed Local Number Portability (LNP) telecommunications network, the traditional link between the first six digits of a ten-digit dialed number and the geographic link of a switch is broken. Some pre-LNP telephone services, however, have been im... | 02/09/1999 |
| 5848141 | Method and apparatus for provisioning call processing records using logic and data templates A system and method for creating a call processing record that receives a provisioning request including call data, a logic template identifier, and one or more data template identifiers. The logic template and the data templates are identified based on t... | 12/08/1998 |
| 5847831 | Apparatus for monitoring the state of a liquid-crystal polarization A liquid crystal (LC) polarization modulator segment (216, 218) includes a monitoring device (220). The monitoring device (220) includes a polarized reference light source (222), located at an LC polarization monitor input, and polarized light detector (2... | 12/08/1998 |
| 5841563 | Method and system for efficient optical transmission of NTSC video A technique for delivering analog video over fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks addresses a fundamental problem of the standard signal format, i.e., power budget constraint, by increasing the usable optical signal efficiency. In particular, a technique is ... | 11/24/1998 |
| 5840087 | Method for making laminated rechargeable battery cells Formation of a unitary laminate rechargeable battery comprising electrode and separator/electrolyte elements of polymer composition utilizes apparatus comprising compression rollers of sufficient hardness to resist deformation during laminating contact wi... | 11/24/1998 |
| 5842010 | Periodic wireless data broadcast A periodic wireless data transmission has improved access latency obtaining information regarding users' interest in the information and by arranging the information on an transmission in order of descending popularity. In one embodiment, each adjacent pa... | 11/24/1998 |
| 5840371 | Treatment for improved conductivity of collector-electrode interface in laminated lithium-ion rechargeable batteries A coating of a vinylidene fluoride polymer on a metal foil is heated at about 350° C. to 450° C. in a non-oxidizing atmosphere of inert gas to provide a rechargeable battery current collector having an exceptional bonding surface which maintains a long-... | 11/24/1998 |
| 5838035 | Barrier layer for ferroelectric capacitor integrated on silicon A ferroelectric cell in which a ferroelectric stack of a perovskite ferroelectric sandwiched by cubic perovskite metal-oxide conductive electrodes are formed over a silicon body, such as a polysilicon plug penetrating a field oxide over a silicon transist... | 11/17/1998 |
| 5832072 | Communication network with hidden calling number capability A method and apparatus are disclosed for delivering calling line information in a manner which preserves the privacy interests of the caller while providing useful information to the called party. The caller initiates a call from a caller terminal of a co... | 11/03/1998 |
| 5832519 | System and method for updating database values without the use of locking operations A data processing system (10) comprising a general purpose computer (20) for carrying out database processing operations. An aggregation system (30) is in communication with the general purpose computer (20). The aggregation system (30) includes a memory ... | 11/03/1998 |
| 5822681 | Method for assigning band port channels in an unlicensed personal communications system A number of RPs stagger the times in which they begin searching for available channels. In a preferred method, one of a plurality of RPs in a UPCS system is selected to have a first start time. The system determines which RPs in the system can "see" the s... | 10/13/1998 |
| 5812794 | Method and apparatus for implementing data network system having object-oriented architecture A data network system for communicating data between a plurality of data generating systems externally connected to the data network system and a plurality of application systems externally connected to the data network system The data network system prov... | 09/22/1998 |
| 5809140 | Session key distribution using smart cards Methods and apparatus are disclosed for providing secure session key distribution using a smart circuit card or other intelligent device. First and second hosts communicate with each other and with a server over a communication network. The first host ini... | 09/15/1998 |
| 5802232 | Bonded structure with portions of differing crystallographic orientations, particularly useful as a non linear optical waveguide A waveguide having alternating regions of different crystallographic orientations, thereby providing quasi-phase-matching for a non-linear frequency conversion, in which two wafers with epitaxial layers thereon are bonded together having different, prefer... | 09/01/1998 |
| 5798903 | Electrode structure for ferroelectric capacitor integrated on silicon A ferroelectric capacitor structure and its method of making in which a ferroelectric stack of two metal-oxide electrodes sandwiching a ferroelectric layer is fabricated on a silicon substrate with an intervening barrier layer, preferably of TiN. In one e... | 08/25/1998 |
| 5796424 | System and method for providing videoconferencing services A broadband system includes a broadband switch network, a broadband session controller, and a broadband service control point. The broadband network provides connections between information sender/receivers in response to instructions from a broadband ser... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5796729 | Integrated telecommunication system architecture for wireless and wireline access featuring PACS radio technology Disclosed is a telecommunication system that is both highly cost effective for small scale applications (for example, those having less than 80 lines), yet field upgrade-expandable to applications having a significant number of additional lines (for examp... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5796902 | Coherent blue/green optical source and other structures utilizing non-linear optical waveguide with quasi-phase-matching grating A waveguide having alternating regions of different crystallographic orientations, thereby providing quasi-phase-matching for a non-linear frequency conversion, in which two wafers with or without epitaxial layers thereon are bonded together having differ... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5793745 | Bundled protection switching in a wide area network background of the invention Protection Bundles (PB) facilitate efficient protection switching in a network and can be applied at any network layer. A PB is preferably assigned to all working signals sharing the exact same protection facilities. The working facilities that a PB trave... | 08/11/1998 |
| 5794053 | Method and system for dynamic interface contract creation A system for creating user defined software interface contracts for sending host system data to any external system. The external systems can reside on any type of hardware platform. The invocation of a contract is controlled by a set of user defined cond... | 08/11/1998 |
| 5790717 | Apparatus and method for predicting subjective quality of compressed images An apparatus and method are described for predicting a subjective quality rating associated with a reference image compressed at a given level. My apparatus includes components for, and my method includes steps of, storing a digitized color image represen... | 08/04/1998 |
| 5787161 | Network designer for communication networks In communication network, the network blocking probability can be efficiently calculated by applying a Gaussian approximation to a fixed point algorithm. Gaussian curves are approximated to represent state probability distributions of the network links. B... | 07/28/1998 |
| 5777356 | Platinum-free ferroelectric memory cell with intermetallic barrier layer and method of making same A ferroelectric memory cell integrated on a silicon substrate. The ferroelectric stack includes a ferroelectric layer, such as PbNbZrTiO, sandwiched between conductive metal-oxide electrodes, such as the perovskite LaSrCoO. The ferroelectric stack is grow... | 07/07/1998 |
| 5777763 | In-line optical wavelength reference and control module An apparatus and method for use in an optical system. An in-line optical wavelength reference and control module (WRCM) is inserted in series with an optical fiber signal path between an input fiber and an output fiber. The WRCM includes an input lens, a ... | 07/07/1998 |
| 5777988 | System and method for equalizing delay in a dynamic packet switching network A system and method for equalizing delay in a dynamic packet switching network using transmit and receive buffers. The network includes a plurality of user access stations each equipped with a transmit buffer and a receive buffer, and a plurality of switc... | 07/07/1998 |
