Abstract: An electronic device having logic that allows testing the device via a network interface is disclosed herein. The electronic device comprises the following. The electronic device has testing logic that receives test input signals and generate a test output signal. The electronic device has a network interface that is operable to receive network packets. The electronic device has packet processing logic communicatively coupled to the network interface that is able to determine whether a packet received in the network interface is a packet for testing the apparatus. The packet processing logic extracts test information from packets received on the network interface that are determined to be test packets, and generates the test input signals for the testing logic from the extracted test information. The packet processing logic incorporate test results into network packets based on the test output signal from the testing logic.

Abstract: A graphical condition builder is provided that presents a graphical representation of a search query. In an embodiment, the graphical condition builder presents a graphical and numerical preview indicating the size of the expected query results set. In an embodiment, a graphical preview is provided that includes graphical preview portions having a shape suggestive of a funnel. In an embodiment, the graphical condition builder supports formulating queries for both relational and multidimentional databases. In an embodiment, the graphical condition builder displays a textual indication of the type of logical operation being performed. In an embodiment, the graphical condition builder determines the type of logical operator to apply depending on the relative location of icons representing filter objects. In an embodiment, order dependent filters are available to the user. In an embodiment, the search query is represented by query steps, and multiple filter objects may be contained in each query step.

Abstract: A method for generating a seed value for use in symmetric encryption includes creating and storing a first data set and generating a hashed value based on the first data set. A replacement position in the first data set is selected, and at least a portion of the hashed value is written into the first data set at the replacement position. A seed portion of the first data set is selected as the seed value. By varying a number of iterations, a balance can be struck between performance (fewer iterations) and security (more iterations).

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for optimizing retrieval of network resources. In one embodiment, a method of optimizing access to a network resource is implemented in a computer program executed by a router, cache server, or proxy server. A network resource that contains one or more embedded symbolic host name references is received. A network address corresponding to each of the embedded symbolic host name references is determined. A modified copy of the network resource is created and stored; in the modified copy, a network address is substituted for each corresponding embedded symbolic host name reference. Thereafter, the modified copy of the network resource in responding to all subsequent client requests for the network resource, thereby greatly reducing the required number of network address lookup operations. In one specific embodiment, IP addresses are determined using DNS queries for the hostname portion of all URLs that are embedded in a Web page using image, applet, object, or embed tags.