Abstract: This disclosure provides a waveguide including a sequence of variable transparency segments, wherein each variable transparency segment of the sequence of variable transparency segments is configured to vary its transparency by the electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) effect and further vary its transparency in response to an incident electromagnetic field; and a plurality of separator segments interspersed within the sequence of variable transparency segments so that each variable transparency segment: has a first separation distance from a first other variable transparency segment being a first predetermined number of variable transparency segments preceding or succeeding in the sequence of variable transparency segments, has a second separation distance from a second other variable transparency segment being a second predetermined number of variable transparency segments preceding or succeeding in the sequence of variable transparency segments, and is uniquely identified by a combination of separ

Abstract: Systems and methods for operating a cellular telecommunications network. If determining that a first cell of a base station is about to reboot, performing a handover of one or more User Equipments from that cell to a second cell. After the reboot, the user equipment may be handed back to the rebooted cell. If both cells are to reboot, a determination is made to identify which cell's reboot operation is to be prioritized, a handover of the user equipment attached to the prioritized cell to the other cell is made, the prioritized cell is rebooted, all the user equipments are handed over from the non-prioritized cell to the (now rebooted) prioritized cell, the non-prioritized cell is rebooted and the user equipment that was initially attached to the non-prioritized cell is handed over from the prioritized cell back to the now rebooted non-prioritized cell.

Abstract: This disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method of controlling an algorithm, and a device for implementing said method, the method including developing the algorithm from a first state to a second state by a machine learning process; determining a second computational cost of executing the algorithm in its second state; determining if the second computational cost satisfies a trigger condition; and, if so, consolidating the algorithm from the second state to a third state, wherein a third computational cost of executing the algorithm in its third state is less than the second computational cost.

Abstract: A computer implemented method of executing a plurality of discrete software modules each including a machine learning algorithm as an executable software component configurable to approximate a function relating a domain data set to a range data set; a data store; and a message handler as an executable software component arranged to receive input data and communicate output data for the module, wherein the message handler is adapted to determine domain parameters for the algorithm based on the input data and to generate the output data based on a result generated by the algorithm, the method including providing a communication channel between modules in order that at least part of output data for a first module constitutes at least part of input data for a second module so as to create a network of modules for combining machine learning algorithms to refine the approximation of the function.

Abstract: This disclosure provides a method, and a network node for implementing the method, of initiating a transfer in a cellular telecommunications network, wherein the cellular telecommunications network comprises a User Equipment (UE) and a base station, wherein the UE includes a camera, the method including storing visual data including a visual representation of at least a part of the base station; receiving visual data captured by the camera of the UE; performing a computer vision operation, trained on the stored visual data, on the captured visual data to determine that the visual representation of the base station or part thereof is present in the captured visual data; and, initiating a transfer of the UE to the base station.

Abstract: Described is a method of delivering content over a network using an approach referred to as “Multicast Assisted Unicast Delivery” (MAUD), as a multicast network is used to assist, rather than substituting for, an otherwise unicast path. Content is requested by client devices from a content server over unicast. The responses containing the requested content are separated into two components: a first component containing elements that are specific to individual client devices (for example session specific data), and a second component that is common to all client devices (typically this is the video content being requested). The first component can be delivered over unicast and the second component over multicast. Identifiers are introduced into each of the first and second components to aid recombination of the components to form the original responses. The separation and recombination are handled by suitably configured proxy servers.

Abstract: A method of registering a device with an authentication service; in which the method comprises the device; establishing a secure connection between the device and a second device: in which the second device is registered with the authentication service; in which the second device is allocated to the user, in which the secure connection comprises one of: a wireless data connection; and a wired data connection over a LAN; in which the method further comprises tire device: obtaining over tire secure connection from the registered device, an identifier uniquely associated with the registered device; providing to tire authentication service a first credential known to the user; and a second credential derived front tire identifier, and requesting registration on tire basis of tire first and second credentials.

Abstract: A computer implemented security method operable with a communications network in a vehicle, the network communicatively connecting devices including sensors and actuators in the vehicle such that information provided by sensors and states of actuators are determinable by data communicated via the network, the method including defining a Markov decision process model for the vehicle, the model specifying states of the vehicle and actions constituting transitions between states, wherein a state of the vehicle is indicated by information provided by one or more sensors and a state of one or more actuators, and an action corresponds to a change in the information provided by one or more sensors and/or a change to a state of one or more actuators, each action having associated a probability of occurrence; determining, by accessing data communicated via the network, a current state of the vehicle in the model; accessing data communicated via the network; responsive to the accessed data indicating an action to chang

Abstract: There is herein provided a method of performing Quantum Key Distribution, the method including transmitting, in a first basis state, a first photon from a quantum transmitter to a quantum receiver; transmitting, in a second basis state, a second photon from the quantum transmitter to the quantum receiver, the second basis state being non-orthogonal to the first basis state and the transmitter and receiver being optically connected by both a first optical channel and a second optical channel, wherein transmitting the first photon from the quantum transmitter to the quantum receiver in the first basis state comprises: transmitting the first photon from the quantum transmitter to the quantum receiver along either the first optical channel or the second optical channel, wherein transmitting the second photon from the quantum transmitter to the quantum receiver in the second basis state comprises: transmitting a first portion of the probability distribution of the second photon from the transmitter to the receiver

Abstract: A computer implemented method to determine a security configuration for a target virtual machine (VM) in a virtualized computing environment, the method including training a machine learning algorithm to determine a vector of security vulnerabilities for the target VM based on a vector of configuration characteristics for the target VM, the machine learning algorithm being trained using training examples each including a configuration for a training VM and an associated vulnerability vector based on an observed security occurrence at the training VM, wherein each training example further includes an identification of one of set of security configurations for the training VM; selecting at least a subset of the set of security configurations and, for each security configuration in the subset, executing the machine learning algorithm with the vector of configuration characteristics for the target VM and an identification of the security configuration, so as to generate a set of vulnerability vectors including a

Abstract: This disclosure relates to an optical limiter for limiting the radiant flux of an optical source beam, including an optical control port for illumination by an optical control beam originating from the source beam; an optical input port for illumination by an optical transmission beam originating from the source beam; an optical output port for illumination by the transmission beam; and a thermally driven light mill; wherein the light mill is arranged with respect to the input port, the control port and the output port such that: illumination of the control port by the control beam drives the light mill to rotate only when the control beam has a radiant flux equal to or in excess of a predetermined radiant flux threshold; and rotation of the light mill causes an area of the output port illuminated by the transmission beam to change.

Abstract: A computer implemented method to generate training data for a machine learning algorithm for determining security vulnerabilities of a virtual machine (VM) in a virtualized computing environment is disclosed. The machine learning algorithm determines the vulnerabilities based on a vector of configuration characteristics for the VM.

Abstract: This invention provides an autonomic method for controlling an algorithm on a multi-terminal computing system, wherein the algorithm is configured to analyse diagnostic data for each terminal and an outcome of the analysis is a first action or a second action, and a device for implementing the method, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a first set of data for the multi-terminal computing system; applying the algorithm to the first set of data to classify each terminal in the multi-terminal computing system as being associated with either a first action or second action; re-classifying a first subset of terminals classified as being associated with the first action as being associated with the second action; and applying the first actions, second actions, and reclassified second actions respectively to each terminal in the multi-terminal computing system.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method of operating a wireless network access point of a wireless network. The method includes wirelessly exchanging management frames with a device to attach the device to the access point, thereby establishing: a wireless downlink data communication channel from the access point to the device, and a wireless uplink data communication channel from the device to the access point. The method further includes performing a wireless link test comprising: transmitting a test frame to the device on the downlink channel, the test frame having a length greater than each of the management frames, including a sequence of test data bits, and being configured to require a mirror response comprising the sequence of test data bits; monitoring for receipt of the mirror response on the uplink; and, if the mirror response is received, determining the test is passed.

Abstract: Examples of the present invention provide a method of reducing the latency in streaming live media by a client from a server. The client uses manifest information to determine the “live edge” of the live media stream, where the live edge is represented by the segment from the media stream corresponding to the current time. The client then uses this to identify the next segment, which is the segment in time that will next become available. The client then starts making repeated polling requests for that next segment until the segment becomes available. As a result, the newest possible segment is obtained by the client as soon as it becomes available, and latency is reduced. Further, when adopted by all clients, the latency variation between clients is also reduced.

Abstract: Described is a method of delivery of content to a client device. In particular, the method can be applied to hybrid unicast/multicast delivery networks, where content is provided by a content server to a root proxy, and that root proxy delivers the content to edge proxies over multicast. However, requests for that content in the form of HTTP GET requests from a client device are received by an edge proxy, which subsequently sends an HTTP HEAD request for header information associated with that content directly to the content server. The content server responds over unicast with a suitable response to the HTTP HEAD request, which is received by the edge proxy. The edge proxy takes the response together with the payload from the content segment received over multicast, to generate a client specific content segment for delivery to the client device over unicast.

Abstract: An optical switch is proposed, for routing an optical transmission signal according to an optical control signal, including one or more optical control ports; three or more optical transmission ports; a light director; and a thermally driven light mill; where the light mill and the light director are arranged with respect to each other, to the one or more control ports and to the three or more transmission ports such that: illumination of a respective one of the one or more control ports by a control beam carrying the control signal drives the light mill to rotate towards a respective position in which the light director is arranged so as to direct a transmission beam carrying the transmission signal, entering the switch via a respective one of the transmission ports, to exit the switch via a respective other of the transmission ports.

Abstract: A method of delivering a video sequence in a network, the sequence including a plurality of temporal segments encoded at a plurality of qualities, the method including storing a dataset indicating the relative size of segments of the video stream; computing in dependence on that dataset a time schedule for delivery of the segments, the time schedule indicating a target delivery time for each segment sufficient to deliver all the segments in the sequence in time for decoding and being independent of the encoded quality of each segment; for each segment: setting one or more transmission parameters for the segment in dependence on the target delivery time for the segment and the relative size of the segment; and delivering the segment over the network using the one or more transmission parameters.

Abstract: A computer implemented method of executing a plurality of discrete software modules each including a machine learning algorithm as an executable software component configurable to approximate a function relating a domain data set to a range data set; a data store; and a message handler as an executable software component arranged to receive input data and communicate output data for the module, wherein the message handler is adapted to determine domain parameters for the algorithm based on the input data and to generate the output data based on a result generated by the algorithm, each module having associated a metric of resource utilization by the module, the method including receiving a request for a machine learning task; and selecting a module from the plurality of modules for the task based on the metric associated with the module.

Abstract: This disclosure provides a method of operating a base station in a cellular telecommunications network, the base station having a central base station unit and a distributed base station unit, wherein the central base station unit and distributed base station unit communicate over a fronthaul link, and the cellular telecommunications network further includes a User Equipment (UE) consuming a service via the base station in which communications between the central base station unit and UE utilize configurable error mitigation technique.