Abstract: The disclosure is directed toward a Multi-Occupancy Dwelling (MOD) telephone jack for use where different telephone connections could be reconfigured without the need for a telephone technician. In the description herein, the term “jack” is used to describe a receptacle, whereas in the industry, a combination of a receptacle and a plug is sometimes called a jack. The MOD jack is similar to the regulation jack (RJ), or it could be a different connection point. The MOD jack has a plurality of selectable connecting points. The MOD jack includes a rotary dial. The rotary dial is connected to at least one connection point on a first plate and further a plurality of connection points on a second plate. The first plate is connected to a plurality of connection points.

Abstract: Aggregating physical connections from customers for presentation to an access router and de-aggregating traffic from a shared link(s) from the access router. Ports of an aggregation unit may be configured such that each has a unique identifier in the place of information (e.g., the layer 2 address) originally in the layer 2 header. The layer 2 (e.g., MAC) address of the customer device connected with the port can be associated with, and therefore determined from, the IP address of the attached device. When a packet is received from a customer, information in the layer 2 header is changed to a unique identifier assigned to a logical port or interface associated with the physical port. When a packet is received from the access router, it is placed on the port assigned to the logical port associated with the destination layer 2 address (or associated with other bits of the unique bit string and at least some of those bits are replaced with the destination layer 2 address of the device associated with the port.

Abstract: A system facilitates configuration of at least one of multiple network devices (130) of different types. The system includes a configuration database (310), a policies database (320), a configuration generator (330), and a protocol engine (340). The configuration database (310) stores data that defines a configuration for the network device (130). The policies database (320) stores rules for configuring the network device (130). The configuration generator (330) generates a deployable configuration from the data in the configuration database (310) and the rules in the policies database (320). The protocol engine (340) deploys the deployable configuration to the network device (130).

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and device for selecting documents, such as Web pages or sites, for presentation to a user, in response to a user expression of interest, during the course of presentation to the user of a document, such as a video or audio selection, whose content varies with time. The method takes advantage of information retrieval techniques to select documents related to the portion of the temporal document in which the user has expressed interest. The method generates the search query to use to select documents by reference to text associated with the portion of the temporal document in which the user has expressed interest, as by using the closed caption test associated with the video, or by using speech recognition techniques.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for providing a monitoring service using a speakerphone and monitoring device coupled by a telephone line are described. A call is placed to the monitoring device and the speakerphone is then left off the hook. The monitoring device records received sounds and monitors for signals indicating an attempt to place a call. If DTMF tones corresponding to a phone number are received, the monitoring device initiates a call to the received phone number and bridges the initiated call with the call from the speakerphone. A call can be placed to the monitoring device to access recordings of audio from the speakerphone, monitor sounds from the speakerphone in real time and/or select stories, music or messages to be supplied by the monitoring device to the speakerphone at times specified by the caller.

Abstract: A method and system for controlling congestion in an ATM network comprises the steps of pre-allocating, for a pre-determined interval of time, a set of burst access parameters to a set of pre-allocated virtual paths between a set of source node and destination node pairs in the ATM network, and controlling, at the burst level, the traffic at each source node based on the pre-allocated set of burst access parameters and without communicating with other nodes in the ATM network. Specifically, the network, for a pre-determined interval of time, pre-allocates a set of virtual paths between each source-destination node pair in the network, pre-allocates a set of maximum permitted rates to the pre-allocated set of virtual paths, respectively, and pre-assigns a set of burst access thresholds to a set of service classes, respectively, in the pre-allocated virtual paths, where the pre-assigned burst access thresholds are less than or equal to the corresponding pre-allocated maximum permitted rates.

Abstract: A video conferencing system (100) includes a switch (125), a server (140), a telephone device (152), and a node (102) in a packet-switched network (135). The switch (125) establishes a circuit-switched connection between a calling party number and a called party number. The server (140) associates first and second network addresses in a packet-switched network (135) with each of the called party and calling party numbers. The telephone device (152) transmits audio data via the circuit-switched connection. The node (102) in the packet-switched network (135) transmits packetized video between the first and second network addresses responsive to establishment of the circuit-switched connection.

Abstract: Operations relating to objects in a window [301] are automatically included in the window based on the capabilities of the window and based on the resources required to implement the operations. The operations are stored in an operations repository [303]. An operations manager component [302] interfaces the windows [301] and the operations repository [303]. The operations may be operations related to elements of a telecommunications network and may be made available to the end-user by automatically adding buttons to menus in the window that invoke the operations.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for implementing communication services such as voice dialing services are described. In one Centrex based voice dialing embodiment, voice dialing service subscribers are given access to personal voice dialing records including calling entries via the Internet as well as via telephone connections. Each calling entry normally includes the name and, optionally nickname, of a party to be called. It also includes one or more telephone numbers associated with each name. Different telephone number identifies, e.g. locations, can be associated with different names. A user can create or update entries in a voice dialing directory using text conveyed over the Internet or speech supplied via a telephone connection. In order to facilitate updating and maintenance of voice dialing directories over the Internet speaker independent (SI) speech recognition models are used.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for providing speech recognition capability to callers in a cost efficient manner as part of one or more telephone services are described. Multiple speech recognition units with differing capabilities and therefore implementation costs are provided. Calls are assigned to speech recognition circuits throughout a call based on a signal such as a service type identifier indicating the type of service to be provided to the caller. During different phases of a call different speech recognition units may be used. In addition, different amounts of speech recognition processing capability may be allocated to service a call at different points during a call. In this manner efficient use of available speech recognition resources can be achieved.

Abstract: A total aggregation plan (TAP) provides a plurality of data services to a Network Service Provider (NSP). The present invention encourages the NSP to use more than one type of telecommunications service to connect to its end-users (subscribers) by requiring that the NSP choose a specified number of data services that are available from the telephone company under the plan. The NSP is then required to sustain an annualized billing of greater than a specified amount and maintain at least a specified percentage of billing allocations to each one of the data services chosen. If the NSP does comply in this manner, then a billing credit is provided to the NSP based on the billing history.

Abstract: Systems and methods consistent with the present invention perform message parsing in a distributed component-based network management system using a parsing knowledge structure called a Message Class Grammar (MCG) containing the set of all potential pre-calculated parsing sequences for an active network element. The MCG may be customized to the messages of different active network elements. A universal parsing procedure (UPP) may be used to traverse the hierarchy structure of the MCG. Tracing the MCG hierarchy from the root node along class-subclass arcs until a terminal node is reached determines the parsing sequence for a particular message. The MCG may be developed with a text editor or with a graphical user interface that enables a non-programmer to edit the parser structure.

Abstract: An intelligent telephone network provides personalized communication services based on a voice identification of the subscriber. The network executes a speech processing operation to identify the person or a party that the person is calling as a known subscriber. The network can provide personalized services to several subscribers sharing a common line. For incoming calls to such a line, the network executes an interactive procedure to determine from the caller which subscriber is being called. If the line is free, the switch applies distinctive ringing. If the line is in use, the switching office uses the profile of the identified subscriber to provide a distinctive call waiting tone or a voice message over the line. The tone or voice message indicates to the party using the line that there is a call waiting and specifically identifies the called subscriber.