All The Claims

1. An apparatus for generating a wavelength-tunable short pulse, comprising:
(a) an ultra-short optical pulse source;
(b) an optical-property regulator for regulating the properties of an output from the ultra-short optical pulse source; and
(c) an optical fiber for receiving the output from the optical-property regulator, the optical fiber generating wavelength-tunable ultrashort pulsed light by a nonlinear optical effect through the soliton effect and Raman scattering and generating a third harmonic of the wavelength-tunable ultrashort pulsed light by a third-order nonlinear optical effect.
2. The apparatus for generating a wavelength-tunable short pulse according to claim 1, wherein the optical-property regulator is a light-intensity regulator.
3. The apparatus for generating a wavelength-tunable short pulse according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the wavelength of the pulsed light is altered by changing the intensity of light input to the optical fiber by the light-intensity regulator, thereby controlling the wavelength of the third harmonic.
4. The apparatus for generating a wavelength-tunable short pulse according to claim 3, wherein the wavelength of the pulsed light is altered by changing the length of the optical fiber, thereby controlling the wavelength of the third harmonic.
5. The apparatus for generating a wavelength-tunable short pulse according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the wavelength of the pulsed light is altered by changing the length of the optical fiber, thereby controlling the wavelength of the third harmonic.
6. A method for generating a wavelength-tunable short pulse, comprising the steps of:
(a) receiving an output from an ultra-short optical pulse source at an optical fiber, the output having passed through an optical-property regulator;
(b) generating wavelength-tunable ultrashort pulsed light by a nonlinear optical effect through the soliton effect and Raman scattering in the optical fiber; and
(c) generating a third harmonic of the wavelength-tunable ultrashort pulsed light by a third-order nonlinear optical effect in the optical fiber.
7. The method for generating a wavelength-tunable short pulse according to claim 6, wherein the optical-property regulator is a light-intensity regulator.
8. The method for generating a wavelength-tunable short pulse according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the wavelength of the pulsed light is altered by changing the intensity of light input to the optical fiber by the light-intensity regulator, thereby controlling the wavelength of the third harmonic.
9. The method for generating a wavelength-tunable short pulse according to claim 8, wherein the wavelength of the pulsed light is altered by changing the length of the optical fiber, thereby controlling the wavelength of the third harmonic.
10. The method for generating a wavelength-tunable short pulse according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the wavelength of the pulsed light is altered by changing the length of the optical fiber, thereby controlling the wavelength of the third harmonic.

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 for coding an image comprising the steps of:
calculating motion vectors of vertices of a patch in an image being encoded; and
outputting horizontal and vertical components of said motion vectors of said vertices and information specifying that values of the horizontal and vertical components of a motion vector for each pixel in said patch are an integral multiple of {fraction (1d)} of a distance between adjacent pixels, where d is an integer not less than 2.
2. A method for coding an image according to claim 1, wherein the value of said d is 2w, w being a positive integer.
3. A method for coding an image according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:
storing a reference image;
wherein said motion vectors of vertices of a patch in an input image is calculated by carrying out motion compensation between said input image and said reference image.
4. A method for coding an image according to claim 3, wherein the value of said d is 2w, w being a positive integer.
5. A video coder for coding an image comprising:
means for calculating motion vectors of vertices of a patch in an image being encoded; and
means for outputting horizontal and vertical components of said motion vectors of said vertices and information specifying values of the horizontal and vertical components of a motion vector for each pixel in said patch are an integral multiple of {fraction (1d)} of a distance between adjacent pixels, where d is an integer not less than 2.
6. A video coder according to claim 5, wherein the value of said d is 2w, w being a positive integer.
7. A video coder according to claim 5, further comprising:
a memory which stores a reference image;
wherein said means for calculating motion vectors is connected to said memory and reads out the reference image from said memory, and calculates said motion vectors of vertices of a patch in an input image by carrying out motion compensation between said input image and said reference image.
8. A video coder according to claim 7, wherein the value of said d is 2w, w being a positive integer.
9. A method for coding an image comprising the steps of:
storing a reference image;
calculating motion vectors of vertices of a patch in an input image by carrying out motion compensation between said input image and said reference image, in which all pixels associated with a same patch are not restricted to have a common vector and horizontal and vertical components of a motion vector for each pixel can assume an arbitrary value other than an integral multiple of a distance between adjacent pixels; and
transmitting information of said motion vectors of vertices and information specifying that values of horizontal and vertical components of a motion vector for each pixel in said patch are integral multiples of {fraction (1d1)} and {fraction (1d2)}, respectively, where each of d1 and d2 is an integer not less than 2, of a distance between adjacent pixels.

1. A method comprising:
covering an optical core with a relatively thin metal seed layer;
forming a well in an upper cladding material to expose said optical core such that a portion of said cladding overlies said well; and
filling the well with a polymer.
2. The method of claim 1 including removing a portion of the seed layer extending beyond a first distance from said core.
3. The method of claim 2 including depositing additional metal on the remaining portion of said seed layer forming a thickened seed layer.
4. The method of claim 3 including covering said thickened seed layer and said core with said upper cladding material.
5. The method of claim 4 including fanning an aperture over said core through said upper cladding material to a distance from said core less than said first distance.
6. The method of claim 5 including removing said seed layer and said additional metal.
7. The method of claim 6 including forming said well having an upper portion smaller than a lower portion.
8. The method of claim 7 including forming said well having a lower portion that extends further away from said core than said upper portion.
9. The method of claim 8 including forming said lower portion to have a height sufficient that said polymer can completely fill said lower portion.
10. The method of claim 1 including removing a portion of the seed layer extending beyond a second distance along the axial direction from a selected point along said core.
11. The method of claim 7 including forming said well having a lower portion that extends further away along the axial direction from a selected point along said core than said upper portion.
12. A method comprising:
forming a lower cladding on a substrate;
defining a core over said lower cladding;
covering said core with a relatively thin metal seed layer;
removing a portion of said seed layer extending beyond a first distance from said core;
depositing additional metal on the remaining portion of said seed layer forming a thickened seed layer;
covering said thickened seed layer and said core with an upper cladding material; and
forming an aperture over said core through said upper cladding material to a distance from said core less than said first distance.
13. The method of claim 12 including removing said seed layer and said additional metal.
14. The method of claim 13 including forming a well in said upper cladding having an upper portion smaller than, a lower portion.
15. A method comprising:
forming a lower cladding on a substrate;
defining a core over said lower cladding;
covering said core with a relatively thin metal seed layer;
removing a portion of said seed layer extending beyond a second distance along the axial direction from a selected point along said core;
depositing additional metal on the remaining portion of said seed layer forming a thickened seed layer;
covering said thickened seed layer and said core with an upper cladding material; and
forming an aperture over said core through said upper cladding material to a distance along the axial direction from a selected point along said core less than said second distance.
16. The method of claim 15 including removing said seed layer and said additional metal.
17. The method of claim 16 including forming a well in said upper cladding having an upper portion smaller along the axial direction from a selected point along said core than a lower portion.

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 generating a spanning tree for use in forwarding Ethernet-based data in a circuit-switched network comprising a set of Ethernet-enabled nodes and a set of non-Ethernet-enabled nodes, comprising the steps of:
obtaining input information, the input information comprising a representation of the network, the set of Ethernet-enabled nodes in the network, and a set of demands;
computing a spanning tree of the set of Ethernet-enabled nodes based on at least a portion of the input information such that the spanning tree substantially satisfies one or more performance requirements associated with the set of demands; and
determining, based on the computed spanning tree, one or more physical routes in the circuit-switched network comprising at least a portion of the Ethernet-enabled nodes and at least a portion of the non-Ethernet-enabled nodes for use in forwarding at least a portion of the Ethernet-based data;
wherein the spanning tree computation and the route determination are performed such that the computed spanning tree satisfies pairwise bandwidth requirements and, given the computed spanning tree that satisfies the pairwise bandwidth requirements, one or more feasible circuits in the circuit-switched network are identified for routing the Ethernet-based data.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the spanning tree computation and the route determination are performed in one integrated step.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the integrated spanning tree computationroute determination step further comprises:
selecting a starting node from among the Ethernet-enabled nodes as a starting node;
selecting another node from among the Ethernet-enabled nodes to attach to the starting node; and
selecting a path in the network to connect the starting node and the other node.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the integrated spanning tree computationroute determination step further comprises iteratively selecting one or more next nodes and corresponding paths to include in the spanning tree.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein the node with the largest aggregate data traffic associated therewith is selected as the starting node.
6. The method of claim 3, wherein the integrated spanning tree computationroute determination step further comprises selecting nodes such that the path between the nodes is the shortest path that satisfies a given bandwidth requirement.
7. The method of claim 3, wherein the integrated spanning tree computationroute determination step further comprises selecting nodes that have the least bandwidth-length to bandwidth ratio.
8. The method of claim 3, wherein the integrated spanning tree computationroute determination step further comprises utilizing a virtual concatenation (VC) protocol to allow the Ethernet-based data associated with the set of demands to be forwarded on multiple, diverse paths.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the spanning tree computation and the route determination are performed in separate steps.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the separate spanning tree computation step further comprises finding an optimal communication spanning tree over a graph comprising the Ethernet-enabled nodes.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein the separate route determination step further comprises solving a multi-commodity flow problem.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein the separate route determination step further comprises utilizing a virtual concatenation (VC) protocol to allow the Ethernet-based data associated with the set of demands to be forwarded on multiple, diverse paths.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more performance requirements associated with the set of demands comprise one of more bandwidth requirements.
14. A method of generating a spanning tree for use in forwarding Ethernet-based data in a circuit-switched network comprising a set of Ethernet-enabled nodes and a set of non-Ethernet-enabled nodes, comprising the steps of:
obtaining input information, the input information comprising a representation of the network, the set of Ethernet-enabled nodes in the network, and a set of demands;
computing a spanning tree of the set of Ethernet-enabled nodes based on at least a portion of the input information such that the spanning tree substantially satisfies one or more performance requirements associated with the set of demands; and
determining, based on the computed spanning tree, one or more physical routes comprising at least a portion of the Ethernet-enabled nodes and at least a portion of the non-Ethernet-enabled nodes for use in forwarding at least a portion of the Ethernet-based data, wherein the spanning tree computation and the route determination are performed in one integrated step;
wherein the integrated spanning tree computationroute determination step further comprises:
selecting a starting node from among the Ethernet-enabled nodes as a starting node;
selecting another node from among the Ethernet-enabled nodes to attach to the starting node;
selecting a path in the network to connect the starting node and the other node; and
providing excess bandwidth when accounting for the set of demands.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein traffic is divided into a tree bandwidth component and an excess bandwidth component, wherein the excess bandwidth component is tunable based on a subscription factor.
16. Apparatus for use in generating a spanning tree for use in forwarding Ethernet-based data in a circuit-switched network comprising a set of Ethernet-enabled nodes and a set of non-Ethernet-enabled nodes, comprising:
a memory; and
at least one processor coupled to the memory and operative to: (i) obtain input information, the input information comprising a representation of the network, the set of Ethernet-enabled nodes in the network, and a set of demands; (ii) compute a spanning tree of the set of Ethernet-enabled nodes based on at least a portion of the input information such that the spanning tree substantially satisfies one or more performance requirements associated with the set of demands; and (iii) determine, based on the computed spanning tree, one or more physical routes in the circuit-switched network comprising at least a portion of the Ethernet-enabled nodes and at least a portion of the non-Ethernet-enabled nodes for use in forwarding at least a portion of the Ethernet-based data; wherein the spanning tree computation and the route determination are performed such that the computed spanning tree satisfies pairwise bandwidth requirements and, given the computed spanning tree that satisfies the pairwise bandwidth requirements, one or more feasible circuits in the circuit-switched network are identified for routing the Ethernet-based data.
17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the circuit-switched network comprises one of a Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and a Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) network.
18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the circuit-switched network is configured to provide at least one of Ethernet-over-SONET (EoS) services and Ethernet Local Area Network (E-LAN) services.
19. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing one or more programs for generating a spanning tree for use in forwarding Ethernet-based data in a circuit-switched network comprising a set of Ethernet-enabled nodes and a set of non-Ethernet-enabled nodes, the one or more programs when executed in a processor implementing a method comprising the steps of:
obtaining input information, the input information comprising a representation of the network, a set of Ethernet-enabled nodes in the network, and a set of demands;
computing a spanning tree of the set of Ethernet-enabled nodes based on at least a portion of the input information such that the spanning tree substantially satisfies one or more performance requirements associated with the set of demands; and
determining, based on the computed spanning tree, one or more physical routes in the circuit-switched network comprising at least a portion of the Ethernet-enabled nodes and at least a portion of the non-Ethernet-enabled nodes for use in forwarding at least a portion of the Ethernet-based data;
wherein the spanning tree computation and the route determination are performed such that the computed spanning tree satisfies pairwise bandwidth requirements and, given the computed spanning tree that satisfies the pairwise bandwidth requirements, one or more feasible circuits in the circuit-switched network are identified for routing the Ethernet-based data.