Abstract: An Internet Service Provider (ISP), in consideration of being remunerated in some manner by an e-merchant, carries the packets of a designated subset of that e-merchant's clients, designated as VIPs, in a privileged class of service as compared to an unprivileged class of service that is used to carry the packets of the e-merchant's other regular clients. In this way, the adverse effects on performance due to congestion in the unprivileged class of service, whether due to an ongoing denial-of-service attack or not, will not affect the performance of packets sent by and to VIPs using the privileged class of service. An e-merchant may select its VIPs from among those clients that bring in a majority of the e-merchant's revenues. An e-merchant turns a regular client into a VIP by granting it a VIP right.

Abstract: When an overload condition is determined to exist at a base station in a wireless communications system based on the number of unsuccessful access attempts to access the system relative to the successful access attempts to access the system, the base station broadcasts a message to each mobile terminal within its coverage area that changes at least one access probe-related parameter associated with at least one of: the number, the frequency, and the power intensity of the access probes made by these mobile terminals as they attempt to establish access to the wireless network. By so limiting these access probes in some manner when an overload condition is present, the interference caused on the reverse link by many mobile terminals attempting access is reduced.

Abstract: An Internet Service Provider (ISP), in consideration of being remunerated in some manner by a site, determines whether packets destined to that site conform to a profile provided to the ISP by that site. The profile, indicates, for example, what protocols are allowed by the server, and, for each such protocol, what destination port numbers or message types are allowed, a maximum transmission rate, the maximum number of allowed connections a client may have, and whether to enforce congestion-avoidance. This server profile enforcement (SPE) automatically thwarts denial of service attacks from attackers that send packets to the subscribing server from that ISP using connections or having packet characteristics that do not conform to the acceptable characteristics specified in the profile. SPE is generally performed by an SPE unit, which can be incorporated in the access gateways of an ISP that supports the service.

Abstract: A mobile terminal selects a transmission rate for the reverse common signaling channel in response to at least one mobile-terminal-measured metric that is associated with the RF conditions of the channel. The mobile terminal is provided with information, where the information takes the form of at least one threshold level that the one or more measured metrics are compared with, to determine the rate at which at which the mobile terminal should transmit.

Abstract: The per antenna capacity of each of the transmitter antennas in a MIMO system are individually determined from measurable information at the receiver end. Specifically, the channel capacity for each individual transmitter antenna is calculated at the receiver end as a function of measurable channel coefficients (also known as channel state information), the measurable average signal-to-noise ratio, and the number of transmitter antennas. Once the per antenna capacity of each transmitter antenna is individually determined at the receiver end, the maximum transmission rate for each data stream transmitted by each transmitter antenna is determined from that individual capacity either at the receiver end and fed back to the transmitter end, or is determined at the transmitter end from the individual transmitter antenna capacities that are fed back by the receiver end to the transmitter end. A modulation scheme that supports each maximum transmission rate is then determined based on some defined criteria.

Abstract: Linux's NAT (Network Address Translator) implementation, IP Masquerade, includes a VPN Masquerade feature that provides interoperation of NAT with IKE and ESP tunnel mode within the IPSec security protocol suite. VPN Masquerade uses heuristics to route packets from a server on the Internet to a client on a local network that shares access to the Internet with other clients over a common access link through a router running NAT. VPN Masquerade, however, is susceptible to crashes, collisions and race conditions that can disable IPSec communication. These are prevented, or recovery from such is automatically effected, by sending over a tunnel a control packet, a “ping”, from the client at one end of the tunnel to the server at the other end of the tunnel, and then waiting to send any packets other than a control packet over the tunnel until a responsive control packet is received from the server.

Abstract: An executable shopping list (ESL) enables a user browsing an affiliate Web site's Web page to order, with a single action, a bundle of multiple items offered for sale by the affiliate's associated merchant Web site, wherein the bundle is one that is not offered or available for sale as a bundle to on-line visitors who directly access the merchant's Web site server. By selecting a link on the affiliate's Web page, the ESL is executed, thereby automatically loading the bundle of multiple items on that list into a virtual shopping cart at the merchant's Web site on behalf of the user. The virtual shopping cart, filled with the multiple items, is then returned to the user's browser for completion of the checkout procedure by the user. ESLs can be implemented on the affiliate site's side using what is referred to as smart bookmark technology, which records for later playback, the multiple steps required to load each item on the list into a shopping cart at the merchant's Web server.

Abstract: A recovery process allows a recovering replica in a replicated data storage system to recover from a current replica the changes to the data that it has missed during a failure while, at the same time, the system is processing new requests issued by the source. Sequence numbers, assigned by the source to write requests and stored by each replica in association with the data item that the write request modifies, are used by the recovery process to determine when a replica has missed one or more write requests and requires recovery. During recovery, the recovering replica ignores all requests directly received from the source, and replaces the contents of a data item with the data received from the current replica only if the newly received data item has a higher sequence number than the corresponding sequence number of the data item already stored in the recovering replica. It also updates data items in response to new write requests that are forwarded to it by the current replica.

Abstract: In response to the triggering of a user's mobile terminal, such as through pushing a dedicated button, by inputting a predetermined sequence of digits, through a menu selection, or automatically in response to an external input, a digital record containing user-specific information that is stored in the mobile terminal is packetized and transmitted over a signaling channel through the public wireless network, where the one or more packets are marked as being emergency 911 (E911) packets. From the header information in these packets, a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) in the wireless network, recognizes these E911 packets as being destined to that MSC's nearest Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), and transmits the information contained in those packets to that PSAP.

Abstract: To avoid interference with the reverse link of a base station within an underlay area, a described method determines when to redirect and handover a mobile terminal that is still communicating on an adjacent carrier with a border base station within an overlay area but is within the coverage area of the base station in the underlay area.

Abstract: Master and slave Bluetooth-enabled devices communicate with other by sending messages using a carrier frequency that is constantly hopping from one frequency to another. In the prior art, each frequency in the sequence of frequencies, known as a hopping sequence, is determined as a known function of the master's Bluetooth address (BD_ADDR) and a universal time parameter. A computer-strong eavesdropper who is listening to one or more frequency bands over a period of time and within range of a user's piconet could determine the BD_ADDR of the user's device by comparing a detected hopping sequence with the hopping sequence associated with each possible BD_ADDR. Once the BD_ADDR of a user's device is determined, the user's location can thereafter be tracked as he moves from location to location using that device.

Abstract: A cable protector in a telecommunications central office protects cables from damage from contact with cable racks as the cables are pulled from bay to bay. The cable protector is a cardboard-like fiber material that is folded into a planar portion that is dimensioned to fit over the top of the cable rack, and integral side flaps that are each folded into V-shaped channels and serve to grip the sides of the cable rack and hold the protector in place when the protector is placed over the top of the rack.

Abstract: A personal Web view is created that includes a plurality of Web clippings. Each Web clipping contains information from a user-selected Web page, which can be essentially any Web page that is accessible on any Web server. In creating the page, the user loads a personalization applet into his browser and retrieves each Web page of interest. The applet then generates an access script for automatically accessing that Web page and the user specifies the attributes of the Web clipping derived from that Web page. A specification of the Web view is then stored in a file. When the Web view specification is later replayed, the Web page for each Web clipping is retrieved and the specified information is extracted. The plural Web clippings are then displayed in a browser in accordance with the specified layout.

Abstract: Clients that are connected on a private network and which are assigned a private IP address that is not routable on the Internet can connect to the Internet through a router/server that includes a network address translator (NAT). For outgoing packets, the NAT translates the client's private source IP address and generalized port number (GPN) to the NAT's global IP address and GPN. For incoming packets sent to the NAT's global IP address and GPN, the NAT translates the global destination IP address and GPN to the client's private IP address and GPN. For protocols which cannot be directly supported by the NAT, such as those in the IPSec security protocol suite, the NAT is extended by creating in the NAT's translation table an entry that associates, for a specific unsupported protocol, a client's private IP address and GPN, the NAT's global IP address and GPN, and a foreign address on the Internet, that is valid until a specified or default expiration time.

Abstract: Clients that are connected on a private network and which are assigned a private IP address that is not routable on the Internet can connect to the Internet through a router/server that includes a network address translator (NAT). For outgoing packets, the NAT translates the client's private source IP address and generalized port number (GPN) to the NAT's global IP address and GPN. For incoming packets sent to the NAT's global IP address and GPN, the NAT translates the global destination IP address and GPN to the client's private IP address and GPN. For protocols which cannot be directly supported by the NAT, such as those in the IPSec security protocol suite, the NAT is extended by creating in the NAT's translation table an entry that associates, for a specific unsupported protocol, a client's private IP address and GPN, the NAT's global IP address and GPN, and a foreign address on the Internet, that is valid until a specified or default expiration time.

Abstract: Efficient data communication in wireless communication system is provided by using centralized control of data communications, such as packet switched services, over the uplink channel (mobile station (MS) to base station (BS)). A multiple access protocol is used where packet data mobile stations make requests for uplink channel resources. The request messages transmitted by the MSs inform the BS of service parameters. Examples of such service parameters are available transmit power at the MS, the amount of data to transmit and Quality of Service (QoS). The BS then processes the received request messages and performs interference management calculations to determine the portion of the BS's receive power budget that can be allocated to the data user requesting service. These calculations are used to control the amount of interference seen at the base station, to assign a data rate to the user and to aid scheduling algorithms in computing service order priorities.

Abstract: An antenna array comprising at least two groups of antennas where each group comprises at least two pairs of antennas. Each of the pairs in a group contains orthogonally polarized antennas and at least one antenna in a pair is similarly polarized to one antenna in at least another pair in the group. The antenna array further comprises circuitry coupled to the antenna groups to select and activate certain antennas in a group to enable the antenna array to operate in either a beam forming/steering mode, a diversity mode or a MIMO mode or any combination thereof. The antennas in the groups are activated based on the characteristics of the signals being transmitted or received by the antenna array.

Abstract: In a power splitting passive optical network, TDM/TDMA communication is employed for downstream/upstream transmission over a fiber. A framed structure is used for the downstream transmission from an optical line card (OLC) at the network end to a plurality of optical network units (ONUs), which are each connected to end user equipment. A framed structure is also employed for upstream burst transmission from the plural ONUs to the OLC. In the upstream direction each ONU transmits at most one burst per frame that includes a header and a payload containing a variable number of bytes that is adjustable on a continuum. The length of each payload in a burst transmitted upstream by an ONU is determined as a function of the bandwidth requirements of the end user equipment connected to that ONU as well as the bandwidth requirements of the end user equipment at the other ONUs.

Abstract: A data replication system is disclosed in which replication functionalities between a host computer, an interconnecting computer network, and a plurality of storage devices are separated into host elements and a plurality of storage elements. The host computer is connected to one or more host elements. The host element is responsible for replicating data between the storage devices, which are each connected to an associated storage element, and for maintaining data consistency. Further, the host element instructs a storage element whose associated storage device does not contain up-to-date data to recover from another one of the plurality of storage elements and its associated storage device. The storage elements and their associated storage devices may be located in any combination of diverse or same geographical sites in a manner to ensure sufficient replication in the event of a site or equipment failure.

Abstract: Routing information is exchanged between edge routers in different autonomous systems that independently define their routing policies. A Simple Path Vector Protocol extends the prior art Border Gateway Protocol in a manner that is guaranteed to converge by adding a new attribute to the routing messages sent by an edge router to its peers in the different systems. This attribute is a path history, which is dynamically computed at each router as the routing path to a particular destination is changed. The path history attribute is sent in a routing message by a router to its peers together with the sending router's path to that destination. By observing the dynamic path history that is computed at a router as a received routing message from a peer router that contains a history attribute is processed, a cycle can be identified in the newly computed history and associated with a policy conflict at that receiving router's associated autonomous system.