56376results about "Data switching by path configuration" patented technology

A novel system and methodology for conducting financial and other transactions using a wireless device. Credentials may be selectively issued by issuers such as credit card companies, banks, and merchants to consumers permitting the specific consumer to conduct a transaction according to the authorization given as reflected by the credential or set of credentials. The preferred mechanism for controlling and distributing credentials according to the present invention is through one or more publicly accessible networks such as the Internet wherein the system design and operating characteristics are in conformance with the standards and other specific requirements of the chosen network or set of networks. Credentials are ultimately supplied to a handheld device such as a mobile telephone via a wireless network. The user holding the credential may then use the handheld device to conduct the authorized transaction or set of transactions via, for example, a short range wireless link with a point-of-sale terminal.

A distributed memory switching hub interconnecting heterogeneous local area networks operating at different transmission speeds for receiving, storing and forwarding frames of data. The distributed memory switching hub employs a distributed memory architecture in which memory storage for frames of data received and to be transmitted is located at each low speed LAN port of the distributed memory switching hub. A distributed memory architecture renders unnecessary the need for a central programmable processor or shared common memory to store and forward frames received by the distributed memory switching hub.

World-Wide-Walkie-Talkie, a high speed multifunction interstellar wireless computer / instant messenger communicator, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), coupled with a resilient, robust, VoIP data network and internet server method, deploying multiple wireless networks and protocols such as Voice Over IP, GPRS, WAP, Bluetooth, PCS, I-Mode, comprising a high speed Intel Pentium 4 Mobile(TM) or compatible Processor, to formulate a internet gateway system (99) and network bridge (150) for establishing instant low cost, real time global communications to the Public Switched Telephone Network via the internet (54). A PUSH-TO-TALK-WORLDWIDE button (21) instantly initiates global bisynchronous communications, or videoconferencing sessions. Fax, VideoMail, and unified messaging services are immediately available. GPS and mass memory provides global navigational tracking and data storage. Internet users, telephones, and cellular / satellite phone users can intercommunicate with the invention via VoIP / IM services. The invention provides uniformed global wireless communications, eliminates traditional long distance costs, and operates anywhere on earth.

An improved system for accessing data within a distributed data storage network (“DDSN”) is disclosed. In a system implementing the disclosed invention, traffic is routed to individual slice servers within the DDSN in accordance with objective criteria as well as user-defined policies. In accordance with one aspect of the disclosed invention, when a data segment is written to a DDSN, the segment is divided into multiple data slices, which are simultaneously transmitted to different slice servers. In accordance with another aspect of the disclosed invention, when a data segment is read from a DDSN, a list of slice servers, each containing a data slice that could be used to reconstruct the requested data segment, is assembled, and sorted in accordance with a preference rating assigned to each of the slice servers. Sufficient data slices to reconstruct the data segment are then read in accordance with the preference ranking of the slice servers.

A management capability is provided for a virtual computing platform. In one example, this platform allows interconnected physical resources such as processors, memory, network interfaces and storage interfaces to be abstracted and mapped to virtual resources (e.g., virtual mainframes, virtual partitions). Virtual resources contained in a virtual partition can be assembled into virtual servers that execute a guest operating system (e.g., Linux). In one example, the abstraction is unique in that any resource is available to any virtual server regardless of the physical boundaries that separate the resources. For example, any number of physical processors or any amount of physical memory can be used by a virtual server even if these resources span different nodes. A virtual computing platform is provided that allows for the creation, deletion, modification, control (e.g., start, stop, suspend, resume) and status (i.e., events) of the virtual servers which execute on the virtual computing platform and the management capability provides controls for these functions. In a particular example, such a platform allows the number and type of virtual resources consumed by a virtual server to be scaled up or down when the virtual server is running. For instance, an administrator may scale a virtual server manually or may define one or more policies that automatically scale a virtual server. Further, using the management API, a virtual server can monitor itself and can scale itself up or down depending on its need for processing, memory and I / O resources. For example, a virtual server may monitor its CPU utilization and invoke controls through the management API to allocate a new processor for itself when its utilization exceeds a specific threshold. Conversely, a virtual server may scale down its processor count when its utilization falls. Policies can be used to execute one or more management controls. More specifically, a management capability is provided that allows policies to be defined using management object's properties, events and / or method results. A management policy may also incorporate external data (e.g., an external event) in its definition. A policy may be triggered, causing the management server or other computing entity to execute an action. An action may utilize one or more management controls. In addition, an action may access external capabilities such as sending notification e-mail or sending a text message to a telephone paging system. Further, management capability controls may be executed using a discrete transaction referred to as a “job.” A series of management controls may be assembled into a job using one or management interfaces. Errors that occur when a job is executed may cause the job to be rolled back, allowing affected virtual servers to return to their original state.

A WLAN system adapted to apply QoS differentiation to a media stream to be transmitted from a transmitting station (STA) to a receiving STA of that system. The transmitting STA processes the media stream to generate a base sub-stream and one or more enhancement sub-streams for subsequent transmission over a wireless communication channel and assigns different priorities to different sub-streams. Depending on the channel conditions, the transmitting STA may select to discard, without transmission, portions of data from enhancement sub-streams. The selection process is based on the assigned priority and operates to preserve as much of relatively high-priority data as possible. The receiving STA then processes the received data to generate a reconstructed media stream, which provides signal quality equal to or better than the signal quality supported by the base sub-stream. Advantageously, a WLAN system of the invention is adapted to change signal quality dynamically and incrementally in a manner commensurate with current channel conditions without the need for communication between the higher and lower network layers. In addition, it provides gradual and graceful degradation of signal quality when channel conditions deteriorate as opposed to abrupt degradation inherent in analogous prior art systems.

A system and method have been provided for sorting information segments in a packet / cell earliest deadline first queue circuit. The invention permits information segments to be inserted at a rate that is twice as fast as the maximum extraction rate. Pairs of permanent and temporary registers are organized into a hierarchical sequence of stages. Generally, information segments with lower field ranks move systolically through the stages to temporary registers in higher sequence stages. Information segments with higher field ranks move systolically through the stages to permanent registers lower in the sequence of stages. The invention permits the highest rank information segments to be sorted and extracted with great efficiency.

The present invention is generally directed to a system and method for monitoring and controlling a host of residential automation systems. The system is implemented by using a plurality of wireless communication devices configured to relay both data and command encoded signals through the wireless network of communication devices interposed between integrated sensors / actuators and a gateway device. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the gateway translates the data encoded signals and embeds the information in a data packet using terminal control protocol / Internet protocol to communicate the data to a computing device on a wide area network. The computing device may comprise data collection and or control algorithms as desired. The computing device may forward command signals to the gateway device. In response thereto, the gateway may convert the command signals into appropriate command encoded signals for wireless transmission to a designated actuator integrated in a residential system. The present invention can also be viewed as providing a method for monitoring and controlling residential systems. In its broadest terms, the method can be described as: sensing a parameter; generating a wireless signal; traversing a wireless network to a gateway interconnected with a wide area network; communicating the parameter to a computing device on the network; generating a control signal; communicating the control signal to the gateway; converting the control signal; and broadcasting the control signal such that an appropriate actuator is energized.

A conference call facility is described in which one (2a) of a group of communication devices (2a,2b,2c,2d) connected to a low power radio frequency network (9) is able to set up a call to a party external of the network (9) and then selectively add further devices (2a,2b,2c) to the call under the control of the user of the one device (2a). The users of the other devices (2b,2c) are able to enable or disable the selection of their device in a conference call. One or more of the communication devices may be a mobile radio telephone equipped with the necessary network interface (1).

The Wireless Integrated Network Sensor Next Generation (WINS NG) nodes provide distributed network and Internet access to sensors, controls, and processors that are deeply embedded in equipment, facilities, and the environment. The WINS NG network is a new monitoring and control capability for applications in transportation, manufacturing, health care, environmental monitoring, and safety and security. The WINS NG nodes combine microsensor technology, low power distributed signal processing, low power computation, and low power, low cost wireless and / or wired networking capability in a compact system. The WINS NG networks provide sensing, local control, remote reconfigurability, and embedded intelligent systems in structures, materials, and environments.

The present invention describes a system and method for communicating voice and data over a packet-switched network that is adapted to coexist and communicate with a legacy PSTN. The system permits packet switching of voice calls and data calls through a data network from and to any of a LEC, a customer facility or a direct IP connection on the data network. The system includes soft switch sites, gateway sites, a data network, a provisioning component, a network event component and a network management component. The system interfaces with customer facilities (e.g., a PBX), carrier facilities (e.g., a LEC) and legacy signaling networks (e.g., SS7) to handle calls between any combination of on-network and off-network callers.The soft switch sites provide the core call processing for the voice network architecture. The soft switch sites manage the gateway sites in a preferred embodiment, using a protocol such as the Internet Protocol Device Control (IPDC) protocol to request the set-up and tear-down of calls. The gateway sites originate and terminate calls between calling parties and called parties through the data network. The gateway sites include network access devices to provide access to network resources. The data network connects one or more of the soft switch sites to one or more of the gateway sites. The provisioning and network event component collects call events recorded at the soft switch sites. The network management component includes a network operations center (NOC) for centralized network management.

A method of generating an object oriented interactive multimedia file, including encoding data comprising at least one of video, text, audio, music and / or graphics elements as a video packet stream, text packet stream, audio packet stream, music packet stream and / or graphics packet stream respectively, combining the packet streams into a single self-contained object, said object containing its own control information, placing a plurality of the objects in a data stream, and grouping one or more of the data streams in a single contiguous self-contained scene, the scene including format definition as the initial packet in a sequence of packets. An encoder for executing the method is provided together with a player or decoder for parsing and decoding the file, which can be wirelessly streamed to a portable computer device, such as a mobile phone or a PDA. The object controls provide rendering and interactive controls for objects allowing users to control dynamic media composition, such as dictating the shape and content of interleaved video objects, and control the objects received.

A Mobile Station (MS) is able to vertically roam in either direction between two different network, i.e. WWAN and WLAN. The MS is equipped with a dual mode Radio for WWAN and WLAN transmissions. The WLAN Radio is linked to a WLAN Enterprise Gateway Controller (EGC) via a first air link and the WWAN Radio is linked to a WWAN Base Transceiver Station (BTS) via a second air link. The EGC is connected to a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) which is in turn connected to the BTS. An outgoing VoIP call from the WLAN Radio to a remote party on the WWAN will transition or seamlessly switch over to a WWAN connection when the MS detects packet error rates, frequent scale back or consistent signal degradation. Upon such conditions, the WLAN Radio requests the EGC to request an Explicit Call Transfer via the MSC to the MS integrated WWAN Radio portion which automatically accepts the call based on referenced information stored in the user's subscriber identification module (SIM). Once the WWAN Radio is confirmed connected to the remote party on the WWAN, the WLAN Radio drops the WLAN connection. An incoming call between the MS and a remote user via the WWAN will transition to the WLAN Radio when the MS enters WLAN coverage. The MS issues an ECT to the WLAN. After user verification by the WLAN Radio and the EGC signals acceptance of the call, the WWAN Radio connection is dropped and the call is now established between the WLAN Radio and the remote party on the WWAN.

Exploiting the substantive reciprocity of internode channel responses through dynamic, adaptive modification of receive and transmit weights, enables locally enabled global optimization of a multipoint, wireless electromagnetic communications network of communication nodes. Each diversity-channel-capable node uses computationally efficient exploitation of pilot tone data and diversity-adaptive signal processing of the weightings and the signal to further convey optimization and channel information which promote local and thereby network-global efficiency. The preferred embodiment performs complex digital signal manipulation that includes a linear combining and linear distribution of the transmit and receive weights, the generation of piloting signals containing origination and destination node information, as well as interference-avoiding pseudorandom delay timing, and both symbol and multitione encoding, to gain the benefit of substantive orthogonality at the physical level without requiring actual substantive orthogonality at the physical level.

A system and method are disclosed for providing ubiquitous public network access to wireless, mobile terminals using private networks having private network access points and connections with the public network. The wireless, mobile terminals are permitted to use wireless, radio frequency communication devices comprising private network access points. A network access server (NAS) is associated with each wireless, radio frequency communication device and provides an interface between the wireless, mobile terminals and the private network. The NAS controls registration of wireless, mobile terminals as subscribers, and provides public network access to the mobile terminals through the private network's access point and public network connection. The NAS also restricts access by the mobile terminals to the private network, meters network useage by the mobile terminals, and controls use of bandwidth by the mobile terminals. The NAS also interfaces with integration operator distributed services over the public network. The integration operator services include databases and servers for storing and providing subscriber and network provider information for subscriber registration, network access and useage control, and accounting purposes. The NAS may be provided as a standalone element embodied in a computer, or may be integrated with the wireless radio frequency device and / or a network adaptor device for the private network.

The present invention provides a wireless communication module system for use with a portable personal computer (PC) having a motherboard and an integral display screen. In one embodiment, the system includes a single wired interface having first and second ends, where the first end is coupled to the motherboard and the second end is coupled to the display screen and provides a connection port. The system further includes a wireless communication module having an antenna and an interface port removably coupled to the connection port. In this embodiment, the module also includes a transceiver configured to employ the antenna to transmit and receive radio communication signals, where the transceiver is further configured to employ the interface port to communicate with the motherboard. A method for performing a wireless communication and a wireless communication system incorporating the wireless communication module system or the method are also disclosed.

A geographic based communications service system that includes a network and a plurality of access points connected to the network and arranged at known locations in a geographic region. One or more service providers or information providers may be connected to the network to provide services or information on the network. Content provided by the service providers may be based on the known geographic location of the user of a portable computing device (PCD). The known geographic location may be determined with a high degree of precision, using one or more access points and one of several different techniques. In one embodiment, the geographic location of the PCD may be determined within a radius of ten feet. Access points may be configured to determine the bearing of a signal received from a PCD, as well as the strength of the signal transmitted by the PCD. Access points may also be configured to send and receive signals with time stamps. These time stamps may be used to calculate signal travel time, thereby allowing a determination of the distance between an access point and a PCD. Each access point may include location circuitry. The location circuitry may include both analog and digital circuitry configured to perform the various methods used to determine the precise geographic location.

The present invention has particular applications to the navigation of Internet web pages using two-way interactive communication devices, such as a mobile device, a mobile phone, a landline telephone, and an Internet capable remote controller. According to one aspect of the present invention, each of the two-way interactive communication devices is a node in a distributed network, thus the devices can access hypermedia or hierarchic layers of information stored in server devices on the network. When one or more pages of information are updated, rather than sending the entire updated information to users of the devices subscribing to the updated information through the network, the present invention sends a notification to a proxy server that forwards the notification to the users using a messaging system via a low cost narrowband channel. Upon receiving the notification, the users can fetch the updates, when needed, through a wideband channel. Hence systemic solutions are provided in the present invention to integrate wideband and narrowband channels so as to keep the users informed of any updates to their desired information and meanwhile provide efficient means to the users for retrieving the latest updates without incurring uncontrollable costs and increasing unnecessary network traffics.

Telephone calls, data and other multimedia information is routed through a hybrid network which includes transfer of information across the internet utilizing telephony routing information and internet protocol address information. A media order entry captures complete user profile information for a user. This profile information is utilized by the system throughout the media experience for routing, billing, monitoring, reporting and other media control functions. Users can manage more aspects of a network than previously possible, and control network activities from a central site. A directory service that supports a hybrid communication system architecture is provided for routing traffic over the hybrid network and the internet and selecting a network proximal to the origination of the call.

A mobile computer system capable of seamless roaming between wireless communication networks includes data processing resources for executing software, a plurality of wireless interfaces that supports simultaneous wireless connections with first and second wireless communication networks, and a network access arbitrator that routes data communicated between the software executed by the data processing resources and the first and second wireless communication networks. To permit seamless roaming, the network access arbitrator routes the data to the first wireless communication network via a first wireless interface and then seamlessly reroutes the data to a second wireless communication network via a second wireless interface. According to one embodiment, the network access arbitrator reroutes the data in response to the data bandwidths of the connections with the first and second wireless communication networks.

A method is presented for determining optimal or preferred configuration settings for wireless or wired network equipment in order to obtain a desirable level of network performance. A site-specific network model is used with adaptive processing to perform efficient design and on-going management of network performance. The invention iteratively determines overall network performance and cost, and further iterates equipment settings, locations and orientations. Real time control is between a site-specific Computer Aided Design (CAD) software application and the physical components of the network allows the invention to display, store, and iteratively adapt any network to constantly varying traffic and interference conditions. Alarms provide rapid adaptation of network parameters, and alerts and preprogrammed network shutdown actions may be taken autonomously. A wireless post-it note device and network allows massive data such as book contents or hard drive memory to be accessed within a room by a wide bandwidth reader device, and this can further be interconnected to the internet or Ethernet backbone in order to provide worldwide access and remote retrieval to wireless post-it devices.

A network architecture for Wireless Intranet Office (WIO) applications including a local radio network such as a wireless local area network (WLAN) which comprises a Wireless Mobile Center (WMC) arranged to serve as a WLAN access point; a GSM network which comprises a Mobile Station (MS) in a form of a dual-mode cellular phone to access both WLAN and GSM radio technologies, a Base Station (BS) arranged to convert a radio signal from the Mobile Station (MS) for communication, a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) arranged to establish call connection; and a Handover Module implemented in either the Mobile Station (MS) or the Wireless Mobile Center (WMC) for providing seamless mobility between the GSM network and the wireless LAN, when the Mobile Station (MS) roams between the GSM network and the wireless LAN.

A method called the evolvable interference management (EIM) method is disclosed in this patent for avoiding interference and collision and increasing network throughput and energy efficiency in wireless networks. EIM employs sensitive CSMA / CA, patching approaches, interference engineering, differentiated multichannel, detached dialogues, and / or spread spectrum techniques to solve the interference and QoS problems. EIM-based protocols can considerably increase network throughput and QoS differentiation capability as compared to IEEE 802.11e in multihop networking environments. Due to the improvements achievable by EIM, the techniques and mechanisms presented in this application may be applied to obtain an extension to IEEE 802.11 to better support differentiated service and power control in ad hoc networks and multihop wireless LANs. New protocols may also be designed based on EIM.

When an ad hoc network is formed between short range wireless devices, at least one device assumes the role of an ad hoc network information provider for the new piconet. In this role, the device allocates a browsing hierarchy of service classes in its service registry. The service classes will provide a record to characterize the ad hoc network. When a new wireless device arrives within the communication range of any member of the ad hoc network, its inquiry signals are answered by the first member detecting the inquiry. If that first member is an ad hoc network information provider, it responds with information accessed from its service registry characterizing the ad hoc network. If, instead, an ordinary device in the ad hoc network is the first to respond to the inquiry signals of the arriving device, the device responds with the address of the ad hoc network information provider. The arriving device then pages the ad hoc network information provider to obtain information characterizing the ad hoc network.

A method for making a hypermedium page interactive, the hypermedium page displayed by a network browser, includes the step of selecting a hyperlink on the hypermedium page displayed on a client machine, the hyperlink identifying a desired computing resource. A hyperlink configuration file is retrieved, the hyperlink configuration file corresponding to the hyperlink and identifying a server machine. A client agent is started on the client machine. The client agent creates, via a terminal services session, a communication link to a virtual machine executing on the server identified by the hyperlink configuration file, the virtual machine executed by a hypervisor executing in the terminal services session provided by an operating system executing on the server. The client agent receives data from the virtual machine and displays, on the client machine, the received data without intervention by the network browser.

A novel method for configuring first and second managed forwarding elements to perform logical L2 switching and L3 routing is described. The method generates a first set of flow entries for configuring the first managed forwarding element to perform logical L2 ingress processing and L3 routing processing. The method generates a second set of flow entries for configuring the second managed forwarding element to performing logical L2 egress processing.