Abstract: Methods, articles, signals, and systems are provided for providing email message originators and distributors with default control over message removal at a message recipient's location, regardless of whether the message has been opened. For instance, a self-removing message is designated as such by the message's originator, and a self-removal enhancement is added to conventional message content before the message is transmitted over a computer network toward one or more recipients. At the recipient's location, the message is automatically deleted without additional effort by the recipient, before or after being displayed, according to the originator's instructions unless they are overridden by the recipient. Messages may be automatically deleted in response to the arrival of a replacement message. Thus, the burden of removing unsolicited email messages is transferred from recipients to the system and the message's originators and/or to ISPs and other email distributors.

Abstract: Methods, articles, signals, and systems are provided for protecting email message contents. A self-removing message is designated as such by the message's originator, and a self-removal enhancement such as self-removal code or self-removal indicators are added to conventional message content before the message is transmitted over a computer network toward one or more recipients. Copies of the message may be removed from intermediate network nodes by software which recognizes, and acts in response to, self-removal indicators. At the recipient's location, the message is displayed and then removed from disk and from memory without additional effort by the recipient. Thus, the burden of removing unsolicited email messages is transferred from recipients to the system and the message's originator. Security of messages may also be enhanced by reducing the number of copies of confidential message content and/or the accessible life span of those copies.

Abstract: Methods, articles, signals, and systems are provided for providing unsolicited email message originators with default control over message removal at a message recipient's location, regardless of whether the unsolicited message has been opened. For instance, a self-removing message is designated as such by the message's originator, and a self-removal enhancement is added to conventional message content such as advertising before the message is transmitted over a computer network toward recipients. At a given recipient's location, the message is automatically deleted without additional effort by the recipient, before or after being displayed, according to the originator's instructions unless they are overridden by the recipient. Thus, the burden of removing unsolicited email messages is transferred from recipients to the message's originators.

Abstract: The invention provides systems and methods for storing and recovering images in a computer partition, and more particularly to tools and techniques for placing and extracting images to and from the same partition that is imaged. Both a factory image and a user-updateable image may be stored on the same partition. Copies of a portion of the partition data and/or the system data for the imaged partition can be stored at a specified location within the imaged partition, in a separate partition, or on a removable recovery medium, thereby allowing images to be recovered after disruption of the imaged partition's system data. The image may be stored contiguously or non-contiguously. The image may also be stored as a system file or as an image container which comprises one or more than one image file. To speed restoration time and to assist recovery, the image may be stored at or near the end of the partition. Familiar or novel image formats may be used.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for installing software on microprocessor based devices accessible over a computer network. The method includes, identifying component data associated with a software application using a first electronic device; generating a first server update algorithm by comparing the component data against data present on a first server and executing the first server algorithm thereby duplicating the component data on the first server; generating a second server update algorithm by comparing the component data on the first server against data present on a second server and executing the second server algorithm thereby duplicating the component data on the second server; generating a second device update algorithm by comparing the component data on the second server to data present on a second device and installing the software application on the second device by executing the second device update algorithm.

Abstract: Methods, devices, and systems are provided in a multi-level computer architecture which provides improved capabilities for managing courseware and other content in a shared use operating environment such as a computer network. In particular, the invention provides a commercial networked instruction content delivery method and system which does not exclude synchronous sharing but is focused on asynchronous sharing. Security means in the architecture provide content property holders with the ability to know how many minutes of use an individual made of licensed material and with increased certainty that their material cannot be used, copied, or sold in usable form unless and until a user site is connected or reconnected to a minute-by-minute counter which is located off the premises of the user. This security link helps protect software and other works which are being sold or licensed to an individual, organization, or entity, and creates income opportunities for owners of such content.

Abstract: The invention provides sampling, escrowing, and other tools and techniques for facilitating transactions that involve digital goods. Transactions may be of the goods-for-payment type, or they may be barter transactions that exchange goods for goods. Digital goods may be escrowed with an automatic broker. The broker may also create and distribute samples of the goods, which are created by techniques such as distorting or burdening part or all of a copy of the goods. In some cases the broker may accept and act on approval or disapproval notices from the parties to a transaction, to cancel or complete a transaction. In other cases, the broker's participation is limited to providing and/or authenticating samples.

Abstract: A method for providing system management services to a customer's network of target computers through a communications network is described. Service subscribers have at least one target computer system. Each target computer system has a hardware configuration and a software configuration. An agent process is hosted on at least one target computer system of each subscriber. Each agent communicates with a centralized control server through a communication link. The control server manages the hardware or software configurations of the target computer systems through the server. By centralizing the resources for managing the computing resources of several subscribers at a single control server, the need for redundant management resources at each subscriber is reduced or eliminated. A method for providing a customer system management information in response to receiving information about the customer's target computer system is also described.

Abstract: A Windows NT partitioning program partitions a storage device in Windows NT boot mode (i.e., after the Windows NT kernel loads device drivers and before the Session Manager loads the Windows NT user interface). In this mode, the partitioning program is capable of corrupting its own backing store—a Windows NT executable file stored on the storage device—through the partitioning process. Such corruption would generally lead to execution errors in the partitioning program when code or data from the corrupted executable file is paged into the program's in-memory executable image. To avoid such errors, the working set allocated to the executable image is expanded to accommodate all the pageable Windows NT program sections in the executable file. Each pageable program section is then locked into the executable image.

Abstract: Methods, configured storage media, and systems are provided for increasing bandwidth between a local area network (“LAN”) and other networks by using multiple routers on the given LAN. Data packets are multiplexed between the routers using a novel variation on the standard SYN packet synchronization protocol, and other components. On receiving data destined for an external network, a controller or gateway computer will direct the data to the appropriate router. In addition to providing higher speed connections, the invention provides better fault tolerance in the form of redundant connections from the originating LAN to a wide area network such as the Internet.

Abstract: Methods, articles, signals, and systems are provided for providing email message originators and distributors with default control over message removal at a message recipient's location, regardless of whether the message has been opened. For instance, a self-removing message is designated as such by the message's originator, and a self-removal enhancement is added to conventional message content before the message is transmitted over a computer network toward one or more recipients. At the recipient's location, the message is automatically deleted without additional effort by the recipient, before or after being displayed, according to the originator's instructions unless they are overridden by the recipient. ISPs and other message distributors may identify messages that should be self-removing, and make them self-removing if they are not.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for manipulating data in segmented environments such as an instance of a NetWare file system. Unlike the conventional approach that relies on FDISK and the install.nlm and nwconfig.nlm utilities in NetWare, the invention does not destroy user data on the disk after the data is copied to tape or other intermediate storage. Segment-related features such as limits on the number of segments; various configurations of segments, volumes and partitions among drives; and data mirroring, are handled by the invention during “in place” manipulations. Segments, volumes, partitions, and segment clusters or blocks may each be resized. Segments may be merged. Volumes may be consolidated on a single drive. Other manipulations and various combinations of manipulations are also provided.

Abstract: A tone detector includes at least one circuit (hereinafter “single phase reference matcher”) that not only performs a convolution of an input signal with a reference signal, but also compares the result of convolution with a threshold to determine if there is a match, and if so drives a signal active indicating that tone is present. If there is no match, another circuit (hereinafter “phase shifter”) delays the reference signal by a fraction (e.g. ⅛) of the measuring period, thereby to introduce a phase shift (e.g. &pgr;/8) between the input signal and the reference signal. The “single phase reference matcher” again performs the just-described operation, this time with a delayed reference signal, and repeats the operation as often as necessary (e.g. eight times) to cycle through the entire measuring period, thereby to ensure that tone (if present in the input signal) is detected irrespective of phase, during one of the operations.

Abstract: A hybrid memory device combines a ferromagnetic layer and a Hall Effect device. The ferromagnetic layer is magnetically coupled to a portion of a Hall plate, and when such plate is appropriately biased, a Hall Effect signal can be generated whose value is directly related to the magnetization state of the ferromagnetic layer. The magnetization state of the ferromagnetic layer can be set to correspond to different values of a data item to be stored in the hybrid memory device. The magnetization state is non-volatile, and a write circuit can be coupled to the ferromagnetic layer to reset or change the magnetization state to a different value. The memory device can also be fabricated to include an associated transistor (or other suitable switch) that functions as an isolation element to reduce cross-talk and as a selector for the output of the device when such is used in a memory array.

Abstract: A device or interface driver is provided for permitting an operating system to utilize, configure and control a software modem having forward compatible and expandable functionality. In a preferred embodiment, the operating system is a Windows based system running on a host processing system such as a personal computer, and the modem is compatible with standards promulgated for ADSL. Conventional voice band modem control commands are also supported, so that the present invention for ADSL based modems is nevertheless compatible with existing modem applications programs. The new driver manages control information for configuring the bandwidth to be used in a data link established through a channel with an upstream transciever during an initialization process, and serves as a data pump for the software modem. The control information may be self-determined by a user of the host processing system 398, or alternatively, automatically sensed, configured and monitored by such processing system.

Abstract: A hybrid memory device combines a ferromagnetic layer and a Hall Effect device. The ferromagnetic layer is magnetically coupled to a portion of a Hall plate, and when such plate is appropriately biased, a Hall Effect signal can be generated whose value is directly related to the magnetization state of the ferromagnetic layer. The magnetization state of the ferromagnetic layer can be set to correspond to different values of a data item to be stored in the hybrid memory device. The magnetization state is non-volatile, and a write circuit can be coupled to the ferromagnetic layer to reset or change the magnetization state to a different value. The memory device can also be fabricated to include an associated transistor (or other suitable switch) that functions as an isolation element to reduce cross-talk and as a selector for the output of the device when such is used in a memory array.

Abstract: A pre-erase/incremented erase mechanism is employed to reduce excessive tunnel oxide fields in flash memory cells. A variable conditioning signal removes charge from “fast” bits in the array, so that they are configured to have threshold voltages closer to an ideal initial state in preparation for an erase cycle. In this manner, the voltage thresholds are tightened and equalized, so that over-erasure problems associated with Fowler-Nordheim tunneling erase operations are substantially reduced, and endurance cycles for the array are maximized. The invention can be used in a device in the field, or as part of a design process for a flash memory cell to evaluate device performance.

Abstract: A system that can be dynamically configured to achieve an optimal routing path for an end-to-end data link connection is disclosed. An optimal data path can be determined by a digital subscriber loop (DSL) user based on particular bandwidth requirements, data rate cost constraints, and/or data delay requirements. The data path can be set up to include one or more data routes, including the regular digital public switching telephone network (PSTN), a wide area networks (WAN), or virtual permanent circuit links via digital cross-connects (DCS).

Abstract: The invention provides sampling, escrowing, and other tools and techniques for facilitating transactions that involve digital goods. Transactions may be of the goods-for-payment type, or they may be barter transactions that exchange goods for goods. Digital goods may be escrowed with an automatic broker. The broker may also create and distribute samples of the goods, which are created by techniques such as distorting or burdening part or all of a copy of the goods. In some cases the broker may accept and act on approval or disapproval notices from the parties to a transaction, to cancel or complete a transaction. In other cases, the broker's participation is limited to providing and/or authenticating samples.

Abstract: A digital communications link and protocol is disclosed in connection with a digital controller section and an analog CODEC section of an xDSL modem mounted on a computer motherboard. The xDSL modem is configured on the motherboard with the digital and analog sections separated so as to improve noise performance in the analog front end sections. The digital communications link is characterized by an improved architecture which includes optimally selected data signal lines, an embedded control channel, a flexible data clocking mechanism, capability for providing multiple data channels, and a preselected operational and/or control word format. These features allow a computer motherboard fitted with the digital communications link to be easily adaptable and usable with a number of different combinations of digital and analog circuits associated with xDSL modems.