Abstract: A transition method of locomotion gait of a robot includes: executing a deployment procedure multiple times, each execution includes: randomly selecting a source policy and a destination policy, simulating a transition operation from the source policy to the destination policy, and recording a transition configuration and a transition result to a transition database, where each policy is a neural network model, and a latent state in the transition configuration is a hidden layer of the neural network model of the source policy. The method further includes: training a transition-net according to the transition database, and performing the following steps by a meta-controller disposed on the robot: selecting two gait policies as an active policy and a queued policy, executing the active policy, inputting the two policies to the transition-net to obtain a success probability, and when the success probability is greater than a threshold, executing the queued policy.

Abstract: A system and method for linking to accounts using credential-less authentication that includes: within a first application context at an account-linking computing service: receiving a request to establish an account link, establishing the account link to a user account of an account service using user credentials, and receiving user identifying information of the first application context and storing the user identifying information in association with the account link; and within a second application context at the account-linking computing service: receiving user identifying information of the second application context, searching and identifying a candidate account link using the user identifying information of the second application context, verifying eligibility for access to the account link, and permitting access to the account link upon successful verification of eligibility.

Abstract: A system and method for linking to accounts using credential-less authentication that includes: within a first application context at an account-linking computing service: receiving a request to establish an account link, establishing the account link to a user account of an account service using user credentials, and receiving user identifying information of the first application context and storing the user identifying information in association with the account link; and within a second application context at the account-linking computing service: receiving user identifying information of the second application context, searching and identifying a candidate account link using the user identifying information of the second application context, verifying eligibility for access to the account link, and permitting access to the account link upon successful verification of eligibility.

Abstract: A campaign server disclosed herein includes a graphic user interface (GUI) and underlying campaign server functionality that together enable a user to build, execute and analyze the results of a campaign with increased ease and accuracy. The campaign server advantageously includes a segmentation engine which operates to dynamically update target segment population data. The campaign server GUI enables the user to construct the campaign content and to launch the campaign towards members of the dynamically updated target segment. The campaign server further operates to collect and present campaign results to the user.

Abstract: A campaign server disclosed herein includes a graphic user interface (GUI) and underlying campaign server functionality that together enable a user to build, execute and analyze the results of a campaign with increased ease and accuracy. The campaign server advantageously includes a segmentation engine which operates to dynamically update target segment population data. The campaign server GUI enables the user to construct the campaign content and to launch the campaign towards members of the dynamically updated target segment. The campaign server further operates to collect and present campaign results to the user.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a virtual processing system initiating a first streaming session with a content streaming server to receive content data, creating a first transport connection with a viewer streaming the content data in a second streaming session with the content streaming server by imitating a transport connection of the content streaming server with the viewer, creating a second transport connection with the content streaming server by imitating a transport connection of the viewer with the content streaming server, splitting the first streaming session between the content streaming server and the viewer, and streaming the content data to the viewer. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A method of providing streaming content to a user device is provided, including: providing a gateway having a transcoder, having a single encoder and a single decoder, the transcoder configured to adapt the streaming content to a plurality of bit rates; the user device requesting the content at a bit rate from said gateway; the gateway instructing the transcoder to provide the content at the bit rate; the user device requesting the content at a second bit rate from said gateway; the gateway instructing the transcoder to provide the content at the second bit rate; and the transcoder transcoding the content at the second bit rate.

Abstract: A system and method for linking to accounts using credential-less authentication that includes: within a first application context at an account-linking computing service: receiving a request to establish an account link, establishing the account link to a user account of an account service using user credentials, and receiving user identifying information of the first application context and storing the user identifying information in association with the account link; and within a second application context at the account-linking computing service: receiving user identifying information of the second application context, searching and identifying a candidate account link using the user identifying information of the second application context, verifying eligibility for access to the account link, and permitting access to the account link upon successful verification of eligibility.

Abstract: A campaign server disclosed herein includes a graphic user interface (GUI) and underlying campaign server functionality that together enable a user to build, execute and analyze the results of a campaign with increased ease and accuracy. The campaign server advantageously includes a segmentation engine which operates to dynamically update target segment population data. The campaign server GUI enables the user to construct the campaign content and to launch the campaign towards members of the dynamically updated target segment. The campaign server further operates to collect and present campaign results to the user.

Abstract: A campaign server disclosed herein includes a graphic user interface (GUI) and underlying campaign server functionality that together enable a user to build, execute and analyze the results of a campaign with increased ease and accuracy. The campaign server advantageously includes a segmentation engine which operates to dynamically update target segment population data. The campaign server GUI enables the user to construct the campaign content and to launch the campaign towards members of the dynamically updated target segment. The campaign server further operates to collect and present campaign results to the user.

Abstract: A campaign server disclosed herein includes a graphic user interface (GUI) and underlying campaign server functionality that together enable a user to build, execute and analyze the results of a campaign with increased ease and accuracy. The campaign server advantageously includes a segmentation engine which operates to dynamically update target segment population data. The campaign server GUI enables the user to construct the campaign content and to launch the campaign towards members of the dynamically updated target segment. The campaign server further operates to collect and present campaign results to the user.

Abstract: The problem of recovering from multiple link failures in a way that is quick, avoids loops, avoids packet modifications, and that avoids significant modifications to existing routers is solved by: (1) associating a network rerouting unit (NRU) with each of the plurality of routers; (2) configuring each router so that if a link (or more specifically, any link) directly connected to the router fails, the router redirects any packets whose next hop is a port terminating an end of the failed link to the NRU associated with the router; (3) executing a routing protocol on each of the NRUs whereby each NRU will learn a topology of the communications network; (4) receiving by a first NRU, a packet redirected from the router associated with the first NRU; and (5) responsive to receiving, by the first NRU, the packet redirected from the router associated with the first NRU, (i) identifying a link directly connected to the router as a failed link using a destination address in the redirected packet, and the topology of

Abstract: The claimed subject matter is directed to novel methods and systems for a network topology wherein an Internet Protocol (IP) network is partially integrated and enhanced with a relatively small number of Software Defined Network (SDN)-Openflow (SDN-OF) enabled network devices to provide a resilient network that is able to quickly recover from a network failure and achieves post-recovery load balancing while minimizing cost and complexity. The SDN-OF Controller, or a management node, determines such a minimum set of SDN-OF enabled devices and establishes IP tunnels to route traffic from nodes affected by failure to designated SDN-OF switches and finally to the final destination without looping back to the failed link or node. By combining SDN-OF enabled switches with IP nodes such as routers, a novel network architecture and methods are described herein that allows for ultra-fast and load balancing-aware failure recovery of the data network.

Abstract: Collisions and/or congestion at output ports of switches can be relieved by: (a) receiving a packet; (b) extracting destination information from the packet; (c) looking up, using the extracted destination information, an output port; (d) determining whether to redirect the packet based on a congestion level of a buffer of the output port; (f) when determining to redirect the packet, (1) dispatching the packet to a dedicated reservoir port of the switch, wherein the reservoir port enforces a queue discipline, (2) receiving, by a reservoir, the redirected packet, (3) temporarily buffering, in an internal queue of the reservoir, the redirected packet, and (4) sending the temporarily buffered packet back to the switch. Otherwise, the packet is dispatched to the output port of the switch. Packets sent back to the switch are paced to relieve collisions and congestion at the switch output port.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a virtual processing system initiating a first streaming session with a content streaming server to receive content data, creating a first transport connection with a viewer streaming the content data in a second streaming session with the content streaming server by imitating a transport connection of the content streaming server with the viewer, creating a second transport connection with the content streaming server by imitating a transport connection of the viewer with the content streaming server, splitting the first streaming session between the content streaming server and the viewer, and streaming the content data to the viewer. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A network controller comprising a processor configured to obtain topology information of a network, wherein the topology information indicates a plurality of non-software-defined networking (non-SDN) network elements (NEs) interconnected by a plurality of links in the network, analyze each non-SDN NE according to the topology information to determine whether the non-SDN NE is a candidate NE for establishing a backup tunnel to protect a single-link failure at one of the plurality of links, and select a plurality of target NEs from the candidate NEs to protect against all single link-failures in the network, and a transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to send a first message to a first of the target NEs to dynamically enable software-defined networking (SDN) functionalities at the first target NE in order to facilitate single-link failure protection in the network.

Abstract: Software-Defined Networking (“SDN”) enables flexible flow control by caching policy rules at OpenFlow switches. Compared with exact-match rule caching, wildcard rule caching can better preserve the flow table space at switches. However, one of the challenges for wildcard rule caching is the dependency between rules, which is generated by caching wildcard rules overlapped in field space with different priorities. Failure to handle the rule dependency may lead to wrong matching decisions for newly arrived flows, or may introduce high storage overhead in flow table memory. A wildcard rule caching system, which may be used for SDN partitions the field space into logical structures called buckets, and caches buckets along with all the associated wildcard rules. Doing so resolves rule dependency while using control network bandwidth efficiently. Further, controller processing load and flow setup latency are reduced.

Abstract: The problem of recovering from multiple link failures in a way that is quick, avoids loops, avoids packet modifications, and that avoids significant modifications to existing routers is solved by: (1) associating a network rerouting unit (NRU) with each of the plurality of routers; (2) configuring each router so that if a link (or more specifically, any link) directly connected to the router fails, the router redirects any packets whose next hop is a port terminating an end of the failed link to the NRU associated with the router; (3) executing a routing protocol on each of the NRUs whereby each NRU will learn a topology of the communications network; (4) receiving by a first NRU, a packet redirected from the router associated with the first NRU; and (5) responsive to receiving, by the first NRU, the packet redirected from the router associated with the first NRU, (i) identifying a link directly connected to the router as a failed link using a destination address in the redirected packet, and the topology of

Abstract: The problem of collisions and/or congestion at output ports of switches, especially in shallow-buffered commodity switches, can be solved by: (a) receiving by the switch, a packet; (b) extracting destination information from the packet; (c) looking up, using the extracted destination information, an output port for the packet; (d) determining whether or not to redirect the packet based on a congestion level of a buffer associated with the output port; (f) responsive to a determination to redirect the packet, (1) dispatching the packet to a dedicated reservoir port of the switch, wherein the reservoir port enforces a queue discipline, (2) receiving, by a reservoir, the redirected packet, (3) temporarily buffering, in an internal queue of the reservoir, the received, redirected packet, and (4) sending the temporarily buffered, received, redirected packet back to the switch. Otherwise, responsive to a determination to not redirect the packet, the packet is dispatched to the output port of the switch.

Abstract: A controller having an application optimally routing traffic to balance fluctuating traffic loads in a SDN network. A processor is configured to control the data plane to establish routing through the plurality of routers, wherein the processor is configured to establish hybrid routing comprising both explicit routing and destination-based routing. The processor utilizes a set of traffic matrices representing the fluctuating traffic load over time. A destination-based multi-path routing algorithm is configured to improve load balancing of the traffic load based on the set of representative traffic matrices. The destination based routing is calculated based on linear programming. The processor comprises a traffic categorization algorithm configured to identify a set of key flows, wherein the processor is configured to explicitly route the set of key flows.