Abstract: A system for assisting a user in selecting a packet-based telephony service provider (“PBTSP”) from a group of PBTSPs, and in registering the user with the selected PBTSP for outbound and/or inbound calling. The selection of a particular PBTSP may be stored in a database, and this stored information may be used to enable the user to exchange telephone call data with one of the PBTSPs. One preferred system receives data from the user's computer device, determines whether the user is registered with one the PBTSPs and, if so, transmits data to the computer device which enables it to exchange telephone call data with one of the PBTSPs. The system also receives telephone call data from the computer device, accesses contact information for a PBTSP, and transmits the received telephone call data to the PBTSP using the accessed contact information.

Abstract: A universal plug and play (UPnP) device makes itself known through a set of processes-discovery, description, control, eventing, and presentation. Following discovery of a UPnP device, an entity can learn more about the device and its capabilities by retrieving the device's description. The description includes vendor-specific manufacturer information like the model name and number, serial number, manufacturer name, URLs to vendor-specific Web sites, etc. The description also includes a list of any embedded devices or services, as well as URLs for control, eventing, and presentation. The description is written by a vendor, and is usually based on a device template produced by a UPnP forum working committee. The template is derived from a template language that is used to define elements to describe the device and any services supported by the device. The template language is written using an XML-based syntax that organizes and structures the elements.

Abstract: A device control model provides an integrated set of addressing, naming, discovery and description processes that enables automatic, dynamic and ad-hoc self-setup by devices to interoperate with other devices on a network. This permits a computing device when introduced into a network to automatically configure so as to connect and interact with other computing devices available on the network, without a user installation experience and without downloading driver software or persisting a configuration setup for connecting and interacting with such other computing devices. Upon completing interaction with such other devices, the computing device automatically releases the setup for such other devices so as to avoid persistent device configurations that might create a configuration maintenance and management burden.

Abstract: A device control model provides an integrated set of addressing, naming, discovery and description processes that enables automatic, dynamic and ad-hoc self-setup by devices to interoperate with other devices on a network. This permits a computing device when introduced into a network to automatically configure so as to connect and interact with other computing devices available on the network, without a user installation experience and without downloading driver software or persisting a configuration setup for connecting and interacting with such other computing devices. Upon completing interaction with such other devices, the computing device automatically releases the setup for such other devices so as to avoid persistent device configurations that might create a configuration maintenance and management burden.

Abstract: The utilization is described of an automatically generated Internet protocol (“IP”) address in a networked environment. An IP address is automatically generated and used while an IP address server is unavailable or unreliable. The system used either the automatically generated IP address or the assigned address depending on certain circumstances. For example, if the IP address server repeatedly assigns conflicting IP address, the system continues to use the generated IP address despite having received an assigned IP address from the IP address server. Also, if the communication is within a common local area network, the generated IP address is used so as to avoid encryption of the communication in accordance with TCP/IP protocol.

Abstract: A system for assisting a user in selecting a packet-based telephony service provider (“PBTSP”) from a group of PBTSPs, and in registering the user with the selected PBTSP for outbound and/or inbound calling. The selection of a particular PBTSP may be stored in a database, and this stored information may be used to enable the user to exchange telephone call data with one of the PBTSPs. One preferred system receives data from the user's computer device, determines whether the user is registered with one the PBTSPs and, if so, transmits data to the computer device which enables it to exchange telephone call data with one of the PBTSPs. The system also receives telephone call data from the computer device, accesses contact information for a PBTSP, and transmits the received telephone call data to the PBTSP using the accessed contact information.

Abstract: A method and system are directed at automatically tuning a TCP receive window (RWIN). The size of the RWIN may be determined by attributes of a network card. One attribute used to size the RWIN is the speed of the adapter card. The adapter speed is readily available by polling the network card. Once the speed is known, the size of the RWIN is selected from a table and is automatically set. Alternatively, the size of the RWIN may be determined by a formula.

Abstract: A device control model provides an integrated set of addressing, naming, discovery and description processes that enables automatic, dynamic and ad-hoc self-setup by devices to interoperate with other devices on a network. This permits a computing device when introduced into a network to automatically configure so as to connect and interact with other computing devices available on the network, without a user installation experience and without downloading driver software or persisting a configuration setup for connecting and interacting with such other computing devices. Upon completing interaction with such other devices, the computing device automatically releases the setup for such other devices so as to avoid persistent device configurations that might create a configuration maintenance and management burden.

Abstract: A universal plug and play (UPnP) device makes itself known through a set of processes-discovery, description, control, eventing, and presentation. Following discovery of a UPnP device, an entity can learn more about the device and its capabilities by retrieving the device's description. The description includes vendor-specific manufacturer information like the model name and number, serial number, manufacturer name, URLs to vendor-specific Web sites, etc. The description also includes a list of any embedded devices or services, as well as URLs for control, eventing, and presentation. The description is written by a vendor, and is usually based on a device template produced by a UPnP forum working committee. The template is derived from a template language that is used to define elements to describe the device and any services supported by the device. The template language is written using an XML-based syntax that organizes and structures the elements.

Abstract: A method and computer product for automatically generating an IP network address that facilitates simplified network connection and administration for small-scale IP networks without IP address servers, such as those found in a small business or home network environment. First, a proposed IP address is generated by selecting a network identifying portion (sometimes known as an IP network prefix) while deterministically generating the host identifying portion based on information available to the IP host. For example, the IEEE 802 Ethernet address found in the network interface card may be used with a deterministic hashing function to generate the host identifying portion of the IP address. Next, the generated IP address is tested on the network to assure that no existing IP host is using that particular IP address. If the generated IP address already exists, then a new IP address is generated, otherwise, the IP host will use the generated IP address to communicate over the network.