Lawrence Welk, the bandleader who entertained millions of Americans over a generation of broadcasting his TV show, once received a patent: for a music-themed design of an ashtray.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6674713 | Method and apparatus for providing continuous voice and call communications between a data network and a telephony network A method and apparatus are provided for providing continuous voice and call communications between a data network and a telephony network. In one configuration, a first gateway controller that receives the communications from the data network is coupled m... | 01/06/2004 |
| 6672956 | Apparatus for venting chemical vessels A venting apparatus for chemical containers comprises a vent duct having a plurality of vent ports, a flow control mechanism, and a damper. A closure of a chemical container is coupled to one of the vent ports using suitable tubing, and a second coupling ... | 01/06/2004 |
| 6675195 | Method and apparatus for reducing inefficiencies caused by sending multiple commands to a server A method and apparatus can improve the performance of a server and clients by storing commands sent to the server until a command is received that fills the capacity of the apparatus to store the commands or that will cause the server to provide informati... | 01/06/2004 |
| 6675161 | Managing changes to a directory of electronic documents A method and apparatus are provided for managing changes to a directory of electronic documents. A custom directory is created and stored based on the contents of a master directory. The master directory comprises a taxonomy of categories. A plurality of ... | 01/06/2004 |
| 6668270 | Efficiently distributing information used for lock management between distributed resource objects The lock management system disclosed is distributed i.e. information about which locks have been granted for a resource is stored at both a master node and at the nodes on which are located processes that desire access to the resource. A master resource o... | 12/23/2003 |
| 6665662 | Query translation system for retrieving business vocabulary terms Techniques for translating queries for related concepts in a database of concepts and relationships among concepts include translating the query for related concepts into a markup language in a first document at a concept client. The database is local to ... | 12/16/2003 |
| 6665684 | Partition pruning with composite partitioning Techniques are disclosed for expanding the concept of partitioning in variety of ways. In particular techniques are provided for performing multiple-dimension partitioning. In multiple-dimension partitioning, a database object is divided into partitions b... | 12/16/2003 |
| 6658022 | Signaling protocol for controlling voice calls in a packet switching network Communicating voice over a packet-switching network is implemented on a telecommunications network that includes the packet-switching network, two coding units coupled to the packet-switching network and two signaling apparatuses. Signaling data for estab... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6658405 | Indexing key ranges A method and mechanism is described for indexing a body of records. An index associates ranges with records that hold key field values that fall within those ranges. Such an index may be implemented as a bitmap index. The bitmap index may contain entries ... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6650431 | Processing documents with multiple output devices A method and apparatus for routing an electronic document to an output device is disclosed. The electronic document comprises first and second sets of pages, in which the first set of pages has a first characteristic and the second set has a second charac... | 11/18/2003 |
| 6650339 | Three dimensional modeling and animation system A three dimensional (3D) modeling system for generating a 3D representation of a modeled object on a display device of a computer system. The modeled object is represented by an initial definition of an object and a set of modifiers. Each modifier modifie... | 11/18/2003 |
| 6650632 | Feature transparency in a telecommunications network An auxiliary communication network is introduced into a virtual private network for passing signaling messages that present features not supported by the public, primary communication network portion of the virtual private network. Protocol converters are... | 11/18/2003 |
| 6647510 | Method and apparatus for making available data that was locked by a dead transaction before rolling back the entire dead transaction A method and apparatus for removing changes made by a dead transaction is provided. According to the method, a first change is performed by the dead transaction prior to a second change. The first change made by the dead transaction is then undone prior t... | 11/11/2003 |
| 6642448 | Circuit card with potting containment fence apparatus A fluid containment fence apparatus provides a border around the perimeter of an area to be potted on one or both sides of a circuit board. First, or first and second (top and bottom), containment walls are secured in place using interlocking elements int... | 11/04/2003 |
| 6640269 | Method and apparatus for assisting communication of information between two processes A method and apparatus assists communication between a writer of a shared file and the reader of the shared file without requiring the use of a shared file. When the writer fills a buffer with information and provides a write commend to write the buffer t... | 10/28/2003 |
| 6636878 | Mechanism for replicating and maintaining files in a spaced-efficient manner A mechanism for replicating and maintaining files in a space-efficient manner is disclosed. In one embodiment, a current file is replicated by associating the data blocks of the current file with both the current file and a new file. The new file and the ... | 10/21/2003 |
| 6633891 | Managing replacement of data in a cache on a node based on caches of other nodes A mechanism is described for managing the caches on nodes in a cluster. The caches are globally managed so that a data item may be retained in any cache on the nodes. This may be accomplished by, for example, a replacement policy for replacing data items ... | 10/14/2003 |
| 6629142 | Mechanism for optimizing processing of client requests An improved mechanism for processing client requests is disclosed. The first time a client request for a particular resource is received by a server, it is processed by stepping through a configuration file, and selectively executing directives specified ... | 09/30/2003 |
| 6622138 | Method and apparatus for optimizing computation of OLAP ranking functions Techniques are described for optimizing the computation of OLAP ranking functions. The techniques involve push-down of the filtering operation into the window sort operation corresponding to a target ranking function. The push-down technique may be employ... | 09/16/2003 |
| 6618744 | Efficient lock state transitions in a distributed system A system for managing locks that give permission to access resources in a computer system are disclosed. The lock management system is distributed and provides deadlock protection. The lock management system is distributed in that information about which ... | 09/09/2003 |
| 6615206 | Techniques for eliminating database table joins based on a join index Techniques for processing, in a database management system, a query referencing a plurality of tables of a database include determining whether a join should be performed between a first table and a second table. The determination is based on a particular... | 09/02/2003 |
| 6609131 | Parallel partition-wise joins Techniques are disclosed for expanding the concept of partitioning in variety of ways. In particular techniques are provided for performing multiple-dimension partitioning. In multiple-dimension partitioning, a database object is divided into partitions b... | 08/19/2003 |
| 6609154 | Local authentication of a client at a network device A method and apparatus that provide network access control are disclosed. In one embodiment, a network device is configured to intercept network traffic initiated from a client and directed toward a network resource, and to locally authenticate the client... | 08/19/2003 |
| 6608860 | Low power dissipation, high linearity transmitter An improved transmitter capable of achieving high linearity with minimal power dissipation is disclosed, comprising a digital phase splitter and an output stage. The digital phase splitter includes a positive phase digital-to-analog converter (DAC) for co... | 08/19/2003 |
| 6604195 | Method and apparatus to use non-volatile read/write memory for bootstrap code and processes A reset pin of a non-volatile read/write memory, which stores boot code, is provided with a reset signal in response to a system reset output by a watchdog timer or other external circuitry. The reset signal causes the non-volatile read/write memory to be... | 08/05/2003 |
| 6604241 | Communicating video information in a network using universal resource locators A method and apparatus are provided for communicating network information among network devices using protocols based on Universal Resource Locators. In one embodiment, an apparatus for retrieving information in a network, comprises a first URL interface ... | 08/05/2003 |
| 6604125 | Mechanism for enabling a thread unaware or non thread safe application to be executed safely in a multi-threaded environment Executing a thread unaware or non-thread-safe application in a multi-threaded environment is potentially hazardous. If multiple instances of the thread unaware application are executed concurrently in the same process space, as may be the case in a multi-... | 08/05/2003 |
| 6601111 | Method and apparatus for unified external and interprocess communication Data communications are provided in a computer system by accepting message information within a unified information exchange manager. The unified exchange manager is executed to select an appropriate application from a plurality of applications that are e... | 07/29/2003 |
| 6594702 | Managing the size and accessibility of a name service Provided herein is a name service that includes published data that is associated with one or more duration entities and one or more modification entities, enabling the name service to more efficiently manage access to published data. To publish data, a p... | 07/15/2003 |
| 6590588 | Wireless, radio-frequency communications using a handheld computer A communications device provides a user with a sensory cue that informs the user of certain characteristics of a subsequent action that includes data communications. By informing the user of the data communication characteristics before the user initiates... | 07/08/2003 |
| 6587854 | Virtually partitioning user data in a database system A method and apparatus are provided for storing data of multiple enterprises in a set of database objects in a database system and allowing multiple enterprises to interact with the database system as if those database objects contained only their data. A... | 07/01/2003 |
| 6584507 | Linking external applications to a network management system A method and apparatus for linking external information to a network management system are disclosed. A network management system is installed for and executes in association with a managed network. An external application program is identified by definin... | 06/24/2003 |
| 6578037 | Partitioned access control to a database Described is a technique for controlling access to data in a database system. Groups of security policies are established for a database schema object, such as a table or a view. A security policy reflects access rules for accessing the database schema ob... | 06/10/2003 |
| 6578036 | Mechanism for performing polling in a system An improved mechanism for efficiently polling file descriptors in a large scale computer system is disclosed. The polling of the file descriptors is performed by first determining, based upon a set of indication information, which file descriptors are eli... | 06/10/2003 |
| 6578087 | Determining a path through a managed network A method and apparatus that provides for determining a packet transmission path for a managed network using Internet Protocol is disclosed. A network management station can use a source-routed IP path tracing operation to determine a packet transmission p... | 06/10/2003 |
| 6572661 | System and method for automated annotation of files A method and apparatus links descriptions with the thing that is described to allow them to be maintained separately but displayed with one another. The description contains a portion of the thing described to allow the link to be made. The method and app... | 06/03/2003 |
| 6574673 | Data type mapping for external callouts A method and apparatus for communicating between a called routine written in a first programming language and calling routine written in a second programming language is described. User input that is received specifies an interface of a proxy routine and ... | 06/03/2003 |
| 6574654 | Method and apparatus for lock caching A method and system for managing locks that give permission to access resources in a computer system are disclosed. The lock management system is distributed and provides deadlock protection. The lock management system is distributed in that information a... | 06/03/2003 |
| 6574098 | Handheld computer casing with grooved feature formed on a decorative surface A housing component is provided for a handheld computer. A film layer corresponds to an exterior surface of the housing component. The film layer may have a first tone and a second tone. A groove is formed on the film layer. The groove has a contoured int... | 06/03/2003 |
| 6571343 | Software-based voltage detection to reserve device power upon shutdown Methods and apparatus are provided for reserving power in a handheld computer by inducing a sleep mode when the energy supply of the handheld computer reaches a predetermined low level. A software is provided which operates a sleep mode when a device of t... | 05/27/2003 |