A pattern sequence approach to Stern’s sequence

Suppose that w∈1{0,1}^∗ and let a_w(n) be the number of occurrences of the word w in the binary expansion of n. Let {s(n)}_n?0 denote the Stern sequence, defined by s(0)=0, s(1)=1, and for n?1, In this note, we show that where denotes the complement of w (obtained by sending 0?1 and 1?0) and w]₂ denotes the integer specified by the word w∈{0,1}^∗ interpreted in base 2.