Author: claimsbot

1. An electronic device with radio frequency (RF) communication components integrated therein for achieving improved RF communication capabilities, said electronic device comprising:
an RF communications module configured to process and relay data signals transmitted and received by said electronic device;
a dielectric substrate forming a casing component for said electronic device;
at least one predefined portion of metallization layered on said dielectric substrate, said at least one predefined portion of metallization forming a functional antenna element for said RF communications module; and
a connective element connected to said at least one predefined portion of metallization for providing an electrical connection between said functional antenna element and said RF communications module.
2. An electronic device as in claim 1, further comprising an encasing portion of dielectric material applied adjacent to said at least one predefined portion of metallization and said dielectric substrate such that said dielectric substrate and said encasing portion of dielectric material encapsulate and protect said at least one predefined portion of metallization within a dielectric body.
3. A utility meter for monitoring or controlling the distribution of a utility product or service to a customer, said utility meter comprising:
at least one housing component for protecting selected electronics and other internal components of a utility meter;
a faceplate attached to the front of said at least one internal housing component, said faceplate characterized by an inner and an outer surface thereof; and
a patterned radio frequency (RF) antenna formed on a selected surface of said faceplate, said patterned RF antenna configured to transmit and receive RF signals from a communications module associated with said utility meter.
4. A utility meter as in claim 2, wherein said patterned RF antenna comprises a dipole antenna.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A communications interface comprising;
output circuitry for providing a data signal for transmittal under control of a spread spectrum transmit clock signal; and
a clock source for generating the spectrum transmit clock signal which is continuously variable between upper and lower frequency values,
wherein the output circuitry is operable to provide two parallel outputs, one parallel output being said data signal, and another parallel output being a strobe signal and including strobe generation circuitry, wherein the data signal comprises a serial bit pattern and the strobe generation circuitry generates the strobe signal such that the strobe signal has signal transitions only at bit boundaries where there is no transition on the data signal, the strobe generation circuitry being controlled by the clock signal such that for each clock pulse where there is no signal transition in the data signal a signal transition is generated in the strobe signal.
2. A communications interface comprising:
output circuitry for providing a data signal for transmittal under control of a spread spectrum transmit clock signal;
a clock source for generating the spectrum transmit clock signal which is continuously variable between upper and lower frequency values; and
data transmission circuitry comprising:
input circuitry for receiving said data signal, said data signal being a binary data signal;
strobe generation circuitry for generating a binary strobe signal, and having signal transitions only at bit boundaries where there is no transition on a parallel binary data signal; and
encoding circuitry for encoding the binary data and strobe signals into respective ternary dc balanced signals;

wherein said output circuitry is operable to transmit ternary encoded data and strobe signals.
3. A communications interface comprising:
output circuitry for providing a data signal for transmittal under control of a spread spectrum transmit clock signal; and
a clock source for generating the spectrum transmit clock signal which continuously variable between upper and lower frequency values;
said communications interface having data transmission circuitry comprising:
input circuitry for receiving said data signal, said data signal being a binary data signal;
strobe generation circuitry for generating a binary strobe signal, and having signal transitions only at bit boundaries where there is no transition on a parallel binary data signal; and
encoding circuitry for encoding the binary data and strobe signals into respective ternary dc balanced signals;
wherein said output circuitry is operable to transmit ternary encoded data and strobe signals;
wherein the input circuitry receives n binary bits for transmittal and the data transmission circuitry further comprises:
bit generation circuitry for generating a flag bit associated with the n binary bits;
addition circuitry for adding the flag bit to the n binary bits to form a binary code-word;
calculation circuitry for calculating a running digital sum of successively formed binary code-words; and
inversion circuitry for inverting the n binary bits of data in a code-word that is dependent upon a current running digital sum and for setting the flag bit to indicate inverted data and outputting successive code-words as the binary data signal.
4. The communications interface of claim 3, wherein the data transmission circuitry further comprises calculation circuitry for calculating a disparity of a code-word, wherein if the disparity of a code-word is zero data therein is not inverted.
5. The communications interface of claim 3 having data transmission circuitry, wherein the bit generation circuitry further generates a parity bit and the addition circuitry further adds the parity bit to the n binary bits and the flag bit to form a n+2 binary code-word.
6. The communications interface of claim 3 wherein the data transmission circuitry further comprises control circuitry for controlling the inversion circuitry to invert data in a code-word that is dependent upon a running digital sum at code-word boundaries.
7. The communications interface of claim 3 wherein the data transmission circuitry further comprises substitution storage means for storing those code-words having zero disparity and their flag bits set to indicate inversion of data therein, such code-words being used to substitute for code-words which increase a running digital sum at code-word boundaries or a run length of the data signal.

1. A method for treatment of cancer comprising:
applying a sub-microsecond electric pulse to cancer cells,
wherein the sub-microsecond electric pulse comprises an electric field ranging from 10 kVcm to 500 kVcm.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the duration of the sub-microsecond pulse ranges from 1 nanosecond to 999 nanoseconds.
3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:
repeating the applying step with repetition rates ranging from 0.1 per second (0.1 Hz) to 10,000 per second (10,000 Hz).
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein up to 5000 sub-microsecond electric pulses are applied.
5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising administering an immune system booster.
6. A device for the treatment of cancer comprising:
a generator which provides sub-microsecond electric pulses,
wherein the sub-microsecond electric pulses comprise electric fields ranging from 10 kVcm to 500 kVcm.
7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the generator provides the sub-microsecond electric pulses with repetition rates ranging from 0.1 per second (0.1 Hz) to 10,000 per second (10,000 Hz).

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method of operating a portable wireless device in communication with at least one other portable wireless device, the method performed by the portable wireless device and comprising:
wirelessly sending a request for a spectrum database;
wirelessly receiving a communication from the at least one other portable wireless devices, the communication comprising at least one copy of the spectrum database, the spectrum database comprising information indicating a plurality of white space frequency bands or white space channels in a publicly licensed spectrum, wherein the white space frequency bands or white space channels have not been assigned to any entity by a corresponding regulatory entity;
selecting, by the portable wireless device, from among the white space frequency bands or white space channels in the spectrum database, a target white space band or white space channel;
selecting transmission and receiving parameters corresponding to the target white space band or white space channel; and
configuring the device to use the selected parameters to communicate using the publicly unassigned target white space band or white space channel.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein:
the at least one copy of the spectrum database being stored with comprises a plurality of other copies of spectrum database, each copy of spectrum database comprising a respective time value associated therewith,
combining the received spectrum data and the stored spectrum database into composite spectrum database based on the time values; and
selecting the target white space band or white space channel from among the composite spectrum database.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein:
each of the time values comprises a version identifier; and
the selecting the target white space band or white space channel from among the composite spectrum data is based on the version identifiers.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein:
each copy of the spectrum database indicates white space bands or white space channels; and
selecting the target white space band or white space channel comprises combining the copies of spectrum database by finding an intersection of the white space bands or channels identified by the copies of the spectrum database.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein wirelessly sending a request comprises transmitting an IEEE 802.11 beacon signal comprising an Information Element indicating the request.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the other portable wireless device functions as a proxy device, the method further comprising:
establishing a secure connection through the proxy device to a trusted source of the spectrum data; and
receiving the communication through the proxy device from the trusted source.
7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:
receiving a request from a requesting wireless device; and
responding to the request from the requesting wireless device by transmitting the spectrum data.
8. A portable wireless device comprising:
a wireless network interface that sends and receives information wirelessly;
a responding module that detects receipt of a request for white space data received from a requesting device through the wireless network interface and, when the request is detected:
determines whether transmitting white space data in response to the request is consistent with a policy relating to allocation of resources of the portable wireless device for transmitting white space data, the white space data comprising information indicating portions of a licensed wireless spectrum that have not been assigned to any entity by an agency that licenses frequency bandwidths within the licensed wireless spectrum;
when it is determined that transmitting the white space data is consistent with the policy, controls the wireless network interface to wirelessly communicate a copy of the white space data to the requesting device, the white space data identifying available channels in a licensed spectrum; and

a selecting module that uses the white space data to select one of the available channels for the wireless network interface.
9. The portable wireless device of claim 8, wherein:
the wireless device further comprises a computer-storage medium for locally storing the copy of the white space data; and
wirelessly communicating a copy of the white space data to the requesting device comprises transmitting a locally stored copy of the white space data to the requesting device.
10. The portable wireless device of claim 9, wherein the request comprises a low power attention sequence.
11. The portable wireless device of claim 8, wherein:
the responding module is further adapted to act as a proxy whereby the request from the requesting device is conveyed over a network to a server; and
the wirelessly communicated copy of the white space data comprises communications received from the server that are relayed to the requesting device.
12. The portable wireless device of claim 8, wherein: the licensed spectrum comprises channels centered on frequencies below 1 GHz; and the wireless network interface is adapted for communicating over channels centered on frequencies centered on frequencies in excess of 2 GHz.
13. The portable wireless device of claim 8, further comprising a processor, wherein the responding module comprises code executable by said processor.
14. The portable wireless device of claim 8, wherein the responding module controls the wireless network interface to monitor unlicensed channels of spectrum for receipt of the request.
15. A computer-storage device comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method of operating a portable wireless device to communicate in a white space of the communication spectrum, the method comprising:
broadcasting a request for a white space database;
wirelessly receiving at least one first copy of the white space database from at least one other portable wireless device, the first white space database comprising information identifying unassigned portions of a licensed wireless spectrum, the unassigned portions comprising portions that have not been assigned to any entity by an agency that licenses frequency bandwidths within the licensed wireless spectrum;
selecting a first channel from the at least one first copy of the white space database based on the at least one first copy indicating that the first channel is unassigned;
communicating with a trusted source over the first channel, the communicating comprising obtaining a second copy of the whitespace database;
selecting a second channel from the second copy of the white space database based on the at least one second copy indicating that the second channel is unassigned; and
configuring the device for communication on the second channel.
16. The computer-storage device claim 15, wherein:
broadcasting the request comprises transmitting a wireless signal in a frequency range between 1.8 GHz and 3 GHz; and
configuring the device for communication on the second channel comprises forming a wireless connection on a channel centered at a frequency centered between 50 MHz and 810 MHz.
17. The computer-storage device of claim 15, wherein:
broadcasting the request comprises transmitting a low-power attention sequence.
18. The computer-storage device of claim 15, wherein:
the at least one first copy of the white space database comprises a plurality of copies of the white space database, each of the plurality of copies indicating a version of the white space database, and
selecting a first channel comprises combining the plurality of copies into a composite database based on the version of each copy.
19. The computer-storage device of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises broadcasting updates to the whitespace database based on the second copy.