Abstract: An “RFID-Based Inference Platform” provides various techniques for using RFID tags in combination with other enterprise sensors to track users and objects, infer their interactions, and provide these inferences for enabling further applications. Specifically, observations are collected from combinations of RFID tag reads and other enterprise sensors including electronic calendars, user presence identifiers, cardkey access logs, computer logins, etc. Given sufficient observations, the RFID-Based Inference Platform automatically differentiates between tags associated with or affixed to people and tags affixed to objects. The RFID-Based Inference Platform then infers additional information including identities of people, ownership of specific objects, the nature of different “zones” in a workspace (e.g., private office versus conference room).

Abstract: An “RFID-Based Inference Platform” provides various techniques for using RFID tags in combination with other enterprise sensors to track users and objects, infer their interactions, and provide these inferences for enabling further applications. Specifically, observations are collected from combinations of RFID tag reads and other enterprise sensors including electronic calendars, user presence identifiers, cardkey access logs, computer logins, etc. Given sufficient observations, the RFID-Based Inference Platform automatically differentiates between tags associated with or affixed to people and tags affixed to objects. The RFID-Based Inference Platform then infers additional information including identities of people, ownership of specific objects, the nature of different “zones” in a workspace (e.g., private office versus conference room).

Abstract: An “RFID-Based Inference Platform” provides various techniques for using RFID tags in combination with other enterprise sensors to track users and objects, infer their interactions, and provide these inferences for enabling further applications. Specifically, observations are collected from combinations of RFID tag reads and other enterprise sensors including electronic calendars, user presence identifiers, cardkey access logs, computer logins, etc. Given sufficient observations, the RFID-Based Inference Platform automatically differentiates between tags associated with or affixed to people and tags affixed to objects. The RFID-Based Inference Platform then infers additional information including identities of people, ownership of specific objects, the nature of different “zones” in a workspace (e.g., private office versus conference room).

Abstract: A system and methodologies are disclosed for determining the geographic location of an Internet host. A first method infers host location based on the DNS names of the host of interest or other nearby network nodes. A second method employs network delay measurements from geographically distributed locations to triangulate the coordinates of the host. A third method couples partial host-to-location mapping information obtained from one or more sources with BGP or other routing information in order to infer location of the host of interest.

Abstract: Communication software to aid portable computers monitor, and correct problems accessing a network through a wireless access point. The software controls the exchange of information with other portable computers in the vicinity of the wireless access point. The information exchanged may be used to diagnose problems at the wireless layer, the network layer, the transport layer or the application layer. The information exchanged may provide information about the configuration of computers that successfully or unsuccessfully communicate through the wireless access point. A portable computer receiving this configuration information may compare it to similar information about its own configuration to diagnose problems. Such software may be of particular benefit for portable computers experiencing difficulty connecting to a network at a wireless hot spot.

Abstract: Notifying a user that an email message sent to the user was not received by the user. Users can register to receive notifications. When a sender sends an email message to a recipient, a separate notification also may be sent to a notification server that populates and controls access to an email notification list. Each notification in the list may comprise a hash of the content of the email message that it represents. A recipient module may be configured to check the notification list periodically and/or in response to a recipient's instructions, and compare notifications to the email messages received for the recipient to determine whether any email messages intended for the recipient were not received. If it is determined from the notifications that an email message was not received, a notice may be sent to the sender, which may include a request that the sender re-send the email message.

Abstract: Notifying a user that an email message sent to the user was not received by the user. Users can register to receive notifications. When a sender sends an email message to a recipient, a separate notification also may be sent to a notification service that populates and controls access to an email notification list. Each notification in the list may comprise a hash of the content of the email message that it represents. A recipient module may be configured to check the notification list periodically and/or in response to a recipient's instructions, and compare notifications to the email messages received for the recipient to determine whether any email messages intended for the recipient were not received. If it is determined from the notifications that an email message was not received, a notice may be sent to the sender, which my include a request that the sender re-send the email message.

Abstract: A data sequence may be encoded in a plurality of layers of multiple description coding. The layers of multiple description coding may include a first and a second layer of multiple description coding. The first layer of multiple description coding may include an initial part of a data sequence as well as forward error correction code for the initial part. The second layer of multiple description coding may include a next part of the data sequence as well as forward error correction code for the next part. A first set of data sequence breakpoints may be determined for the first layer of multiple description coding. A second set of data sequence breakpoints may be determined for the second layer. The data sequence may be encoded in the plurality of layers of multiple description coding as a function of the first and second sets of data sequence breakpoints.

Abstract: Class information is leveraged to facilitate in grouping identifications (ID) to allow ID range-to-class mapping information to be determined. ID range-to-class inference techniques are employed to determine similarities of IDs associated with a class, creating ID range-to-class mapping. Identifications can include Internet Protocol (IP) addressing, telephone numbers, and other sequenceable forms of identification for users and/or computing devices. Classes can include user location, age, income, gender, language, and/or other classifications. Thus, IP address ranges, for example, can be mapped to user geographic locations using an inference technique, specifically a “GeoInference” technique. The inference techniques quickly detect IP proxy usage and identify and eliminate outliers within a given IP range, substantially increasing the accuracy of user location data. Complementary data sources can be employed to facilitate in increasing data accuracy.

Abstract: Disclosed is a general model and method for computing performance bounds in multi-hop wireless networks. Rather than focusing on computing asymptotic performance bounds under assumptions of homogeneity or randomness in the network topology and/or workload, the present invention accommodates any given network, technology, interference model, routing paradigm, and workload. Using a conflict graph to formally characterize the impact of wireless interference on the performance of multi-hop wireless networks, methods for computing upper and lower bounds on the capacity of a given wireless network are detailed. Besides computing network capacity, the model and method disclosed can also enable or benefit other applications including maximizing fairness and minimizing maximum link utilization.

Abstract: A new system and method of available bandwidth estimation applies even where the narrow link and tight link in a network path are in different locations. In embodiments of the invention, a unique packet probe series structure and processing is employed to estimate available bandwidth. In an embodiment of the invention, the spacing between probe packets is adjusted at the source to account for dilation caused by links leading to the tight link, so that the spacing is appropriate when the probes arrive at the tight link. Moreover, the multi-packet probe comprises a large packet followed by two much smaller packets. The large packet is then dropped once it has traversed the tight link. The two small packets, which are impacted little by subsequent narrow links, preserve the spacing set by the tight link, encoding the delay induced by the tight link, all the way to the destination.

Abstract: Measurement systems according to embodiments of the invention allow accurate bandwidth estimation even in non-FIFO scheduling and frame-level contention environments. In an embodiment of the invention, the approximate fraction of time that a link is idle is found by probing for idle periods (“gaps”). The fraction of idle time is then multiplied by the capacity to obtain an estimate of the available bandwidth. Gap time is estimated in an embodiment of the invention fraction by gathering samples of one-way delay (OWD) over the link in question. After the OWD is normalized and plotted, the knee in the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of OWD samples is used to identify the fraction of time that the channel is idle.

Abstract: End hosts share network performance and reliability information with their peers over a peer-to-peer network. The aggregated information from multiple end hosts is shared in the peer-to-peer network in order for each end host to process the aggregated information so as to profile network performance. A set of attributes defines hierarchies associated with end hosts and their network connectivity. Information on the network performance and failures experienced by end hosts is then aggregated along these hierarchies, to identify patterns (e.g., shared attributes) that are indicative of the source of the problem. In some cases, such sharing of information also enables end hosts to resolve problems by themselves.

Abstract: A method of reducing bandwidth limitations to send events to a set of interested clients within a pre-defined time period as quickly and fairly as possible. The clients can be re-distributed among the servers in a network such that the delay due to server overloading is minimized by moving clients from an overloaded server to a server with available bandwidth. In addition, the latency of client-server communications can be incorporated into an estimation of download times, and the servers can then initiate delivery to respective clients based on those download times. By staggering the send times to account for heterogeneous latencies, more clients can receive the event at the same time, and a fairness of distribution can be achieved.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for evaluating the effectiveness of data encryption for hiding the identity of the source of Web traffic. A signature is constructed from encrypted Web traffic for a Web page sent by a target Web site, and the signature is compared with archived traffic signatures obtained by accessing various Web pages of interest in advance. If the signature of the detected encrypted Web traffic matches a stored traffic signature beyond a pre-set statistical threshold, a positive match is found, and the source of the traffic is identified. Countermeasures for reducing the reliability of source identification based on traffic signature matching are provided.

Abstract: A data sequence may be encoded in a plurality of layers of multiple description coding. The layers of multiple description coding may include a first and a second layer of multiple description coding. The first layer of multiple description coding may include an initial part of a data sequence as well as forward error correction code for the initial part. The second layer of multiple description coding may include a next part of the data sequence as well as forward error correction code for the next part. A first set of data sequence breakpoints may be determined for the first layer of multiple description coding. A second set of data sequence breakpoints may be determined for the second layer. The data sequence may be encoded in the plurality of layers of multiple description coding as a function of the first and second sets of data sequence breakpoints.

Abstract: A technique is disclosed that can efficiently control congestion, while supporting heterogeneity for streaming data among multiple computers in a network. A plurality of nodes is divided into a plurality of distribution trees within a computer network, wherein the data is divided into a plurality of prioritized layers. When a node experiences packet loss, the location of the congestion is inferred. If the congestion is at or near the outgoing link, outgoing traffic is shed to alleviate the congestion by shedding child node(s) receiving descriptions in the least important layer of data that the child node(s) are receiving. Similarly, if the congestion is at or near the incoming link, incoming traffic is shed by shedding parent nodes that are sending descriptions in the least important layer of data that the node is receiving. Nodes with available bandwidth are further instructed to subscribe to additional descriptions.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for evaluating the effectiveness of data encryption for hiding the identity of the source of Web traffic. A signature is constructed from encrypted Web traffic for a Web page sent by a target Web site, and the signature is compared with archived traffic signatures obtained by accessing various Web pages of interest in advance. If the signature of the detected encrypted Web traffic matches a stored traffic signature beyond a pre-set statistical threshold, a positive match is found, and the source of the traffic is identified. Countermeasures for reducing the reliability of source identification based on traffic signature matching are provided.

Abstract: A method for locating a user in a wireless network is disclosed. A mobile computer seeking to determine its location within a building detects the signal strength of one or more wireless base stations placed at known locations throughout the building. The mobile computer uses this measured signal strength to determine its location via a signal-strength-to-location table look-up. A table of known locations within the building and the base station signal strength at those locations is searched to find the most similar stored signal strength to the signal strength detected. The location corresponding to the most similar stored signal strength is determined to be the current location of the mobile computer. Alternatively, a number of signal strengths from the table can be used and the corresponding locations can be spatially averaged to determine the location of the mobile computer.

Abstract: Disclosed is a general model and method for computing performance bounds in multi-hop wireless networks. Rather than focusing on computing asymptotic performance bounds under assumptions of homogeneity or randomness in the network topology and/or workload, the present invention accommodates any given network, technology, interference model, routing paradigm, and workload. Using a conflict graph to formally characterize the impact of wireless interference on the performance of multi-hop wireless networks, methods for computing upper and lower bounds on the capacity of a given wireless network are detailed. Besides computing network capacity, the model and method disclosed can also enable or benefit other applications including maximizing fairness and minimizing maximum link utilization.