Patents Assigned to British Telecommunication
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Patent number: 8060731Abstract: A computer system has a plurality of components which can be initialized. A plurality of components can be initialized and each component is configured to produce status data from which the level of need for that component to be initialized can be inferred. At least one component is configured to: receive status data from other components; make a comparison using the status data received from respective components; in dependence on the comparison, select one or more components for initialization; and, issue initialization instructions to the selected component(s). By making a comparison between the status data from different components, the relative need for different components to be initialized can be evaluated, allowing a component with a high need for initialization to be selected over a component with a lower need.Type: GrantFiled: April 8, 2004Date of Patent: November 15, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications plcInventors: Paul F McKee, Sarah E Briggs
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Publication number: 20110272652Abstract: An apparatus for moving an elongate component within or through a sidewall of a pit, including a frame, a lever arm pivotably attached to the frame and comprising a handle at a first end, a gripping arrangement pivotably attached to the lever arm at a second end at a gripping pivot point, allowing the gripping arrangement to pivot about the gripping pivot point to assume a first and a second installation position, wherein in a first installation position during use the gripping arrangement grips the elongate component as the lever arm pivots in a first direction and releases the elongate component as the lever arm pivots in a second, opposite, direction, and wherein in a second installation position during use the gripping arrangement releases the elongate component as the lever arm pivots in a first direction and grips the elongate component as the lever arm pivots in a second, opposite, direction.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 24, 2009Publication date: November 10, 2011Applicant: BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANYInventors: Mark Edward Scopes, Christopher Nigel Munnings
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Publication number: 20110274009Abstract: A network distribution, point (1) for operation as a node in a telecommunications system intermediate between a remote access server (41) and a plurality of individual termination points (1) served from the remote access server (41) by respective digital subscriber loops (30), in particular at an optical fibre/copper wire interface (17), incorporates a dynamic line management system (18) for processing data relating to the capabilities of each of the digital subscriber loops (30), and generating a pro file of each digital subscriber loop (30) for transmission to the remote access server (49) to allow control of the transmission of data to the individual termination points.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 7, 2010Publication date: November 10, 2011Applicant: BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANYInventor: Ian Robert Cooper
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Publication number: 20110274500Abstract: An apparatus for moving an elongate component within or through one of a plurality of sidewalls of a pit, including a gripping arrangement for releasably gripping the elongate component, a lever arm comprising a handle at a first end and the gripping arrangement at the second end, and a frame to which the lever arm is attached, wherein during use the frame is positioned substantially above the pit, and the gripping arrangement hangs downwardly from the frame into the pit.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 24, 2009Publication date: November 10, 2011Applicant: BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANYInventors: Mark Edward Scopes, Christopher Nigel Munnings
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Publication number: 20110274499Abstract: An apparatus for moving an elongate component within or through a sidewall of a pit, including a lever arm having a handle at a first end and a gripping arrangement for gripping the elongate component at a second end, the lever arm being pivotably attached to a frame via a sleeve and arranged in use to be pivoted about a pivot point by moving the first, handle, end through an arc, and movement translation means for translating the pivoting movement of the lever arm at the first end into a substantially linear movement at the second, gripping, end.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 24, 2009Publication date: November 10, 2011Applicant: British Telecommunications public limited companyInventors: Mark Edward Scopes, Christopher Nigel Munnings
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Publication number: 20110274101Abstract: A management system for controlling a digital subscriber loop telecommunications network identifies radio frequencies used by wireless transmitters in the vicinity of each electrical connection, and controls transmission frequencies carried over the respective digital subscriber loops to prevent transmission on frequencies in which nearby radio transmitters are operating.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 7, 2010Publication date: November 10, 2011Applicant: BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANYInventor: Ian Robert Cooper
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Publication number: 20110270990Abstract: A service platform in a communications network connects callers to a service resource platform when implementing services requiring specialised resources. A number of different services use a common service resource platform. The service platform is programmed with respective maximum values for the number of calls originating from each service that may be connected to the service resource platform at one time and allows the call to be connected to the service resource platform at one time and allows the call to be connected to the service resource platform only when the count value for the respective service is less than the maximum count value. The service resource platform may have a single network address and a common range of ports that are freely allocated to calls generated by the different services running on the service platform.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 24, 2011Publication date: November 3, 2011Applicant: BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS, public limited companyInventors: Rowland G. Hunt, Paul Williamson
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Patent number: 8045174Abstract: A network is assessed, in particular, a network having a main line and a plurality of branch lines. The method includes the steps of: (i) introducing test signals into the main line, the main line being coupled to the branch lines; (ii) imposing a modulation on test signals which propagate along the branch line, and (iii) monitoring test signals returned along the main line. The imposed phase modulation is detected interferometrically such that the test signals from the designated branch line can be distinguished with respect to the signals returned from other branch lines.Type: GrantFiled: December 15, 2005Date of Patent: October 25, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited CompanyInventors: Edmund S R Sikora, Peter Healey
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Patent number: 8046452Abstract: Communication between a network device in a first network and a network device in a second network is provided, where the first network operates in accordance with a first communication protocol and the second network operates in accordance with a second communication protocol. An alias is assigned to a target network device in the first network, the alias being compatible with the communication protocol of the second network The assigned alias is translated to an address for a target network device, the translated address being compatible with the communication protocol of the first network.Type: GrantFiled: March 5, 2002Date of Patent: October 25, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications public limited companyInventors: Peter Hovell, John R King
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Patent number: 8041075Abstract: In a digital video surveillance system, a number of processing stages are employed to identify foreground regions representing moving objects in a video sequence. An object tracking stage 5 is also provided in order to identify a correspondence between candidate objects in a current frame and those that have already been identified in one or more previous frames. In this way, it is possible to calculate the path taken by the or each foreground object and to record this path information in a trajectory database. In order to improve tracking performance, the object tracking stage 5 employs a state transitional object management scheme which determines whether or not a particular object is to be tracked. As part of the object management scheme, spurious objects, which are identified on the basis of their motion characteristics, are deleted from the system. This ensures that valuable processing resources are not wasted tracking unwanted artifacts which may represent, for example, noise or random motion.Type: GrantFiled: February 6, 2006Date of Patent: October 18, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications public limited companyInventors: Bangjun Lei, Li-Qun Xu
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Patent number: 8040428Abstract: A camera or other optical system is focused by generating a plurality of digital images each obtained with a different focus setting of the optical system. These images are analysed to generate for each image a score (S) by comparing first groups of pixels chosen from the image with second groups chosen from the image such that the pixels of each second group have same respective positional relationships with respect to one another as the pixels of the first group with which it is compared have to one another, the score (S) being a function of the number of matches obtained with said comparisons. The focus setting that gives the score corresponding to the largest number of matches is chosen.Type: GrantFiled: December 8, 2006Date of Patent: October 18, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications public limited companyInventors: Robert T Shilston, Frederick W M Stentiford
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Patent number: 8035489Abstract: Security and privacy of tag information in an RFID-based system can be achieved through the usage of pseudonyms generated based on one-way hash functions. A system based on binary one-way trees allows for the scalable generation and decoding of authentication keys to obtain access to tag identities. The apparatus and methods described can also be adapted to provide limited access for readers to tag information.Type: GrantFiled: January 11, 2006Date of Patent: October 11, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications public limited companyInventors: Trevor Burbridge, Andrea Soperra
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Patent number: 8037105Abstract: A computer apparatus which uses a database (22) to offer persistent storage of metadata (36) describing the content of media files (32). Metadata is used to create a personalized media article (48) from those media files. That metadata also indicates relationships between those media files. In order to accelerate the creation of the personalized media article (48), media element metadata items are stored in a cache. The usefulness of this cache is improved further by reading related media elements data from retrieved metadata items (36), and then pre-fetching those items and placing them in the cache. Because the relatedness of the data items means that the related data item is more likely to be required in the near future, the caching method is more useful than known caching methods. Furthermore, the improved usefulness of the cache is achieved without placing constraints on where the data items are placed in the persistent storage.Type: GrantFiled: March 18, 2005Date of Patent: October 11, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications public limited companyInventors: Ian C Kegel, Jeremy M Thorne, Martin Russ, Timothy S Stevens, Jason Morphett
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Patent number: 8032656Abstract: A method of handling a data stream during a handover in a communications network comprising a first user agent having a fixed address, a proxy server and a second user agent, said method comprising the steps of: mapping at the proxy server the fixed address with a dynamic network address allocated to the first user agent; sending a request by the first user agent to the second user agent for a data stream; generating by the second user agent in response to the request a plurality of messages each comprising part of the data stream requested and the fixed address of the first user agent, wherein the message is a session initiation protocol message, and sending the messages to the proxy server; receiving the messages at the proxy server and determining the mapped dynamic network address corresponding to the fixed address in the message, and forwarding the messages to the determined dynamic network address; and when the first user agent is allocated a new dynamic network address, replacing by the proxy server thType: GrantFiled: March 30, 2007Date of Patent: October 4, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications public limited companyInventors: Gidon M Reid, Fernando Jover Aparicio, Devinder Singh
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Patent number: 8031684Abstract: A method of operating an ad hoc network comprising a plurality of devices (11-16). Each device includes communication means for communicating with other ones of the plurality of devices when they are in range. The method involves storing on each device one or more nodal policies (1-6) which specify rules for determining how a device should behave in response to various prevailing circumstances and controlling each device to operate in accordance with one or more of the stored nodal policies. Additionally, each device stores a fitness parameter and adjusts the value of the fitness parameter in dependence upon the level of activity of the device (in particular, activity which is consistent with its stored policies).Type: GrantFiled: June 13, 2005Date of Patent: October 4, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications PLCInventor: Christopher M Roadknight
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Patent number: 8027810Abstract: A plurality of mobile sensor devices each periodically measure a property of their environment, and determine the rate of change in that property. Neighboring devices also co-operate to determine the values of the property being measured by each other. If the property is invariant both over time and over a number of neighboring devices, their periodicity of measurement-taking is reduced to conserve power for more significant measurement events. The devices may co-operate to relay their measurements to a data collection point. Each device determines the level of data traffic being carried by one or more neighboring devices, identifies the device that is carrying the least traffic, and puts itself under the control of that device.Type: GrantFiled: December 22, 2004Date of Patent: September 27, 2011Assignee: BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS public limited companyInventor: Jane E Tateson
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Patent number: 8027584Abstract: The present invention relates to a system for sensing of a disturbance on an optical link. Data traffic from an optical source with a short coherence length is transmitted along the link to a receiver station on one or more of a plurality of time-division-multiplexed channels. One of the channels is used to transmit encoded phase information relating to the phase characteristics of the optical source output. At the receiver station, the actual phase characteristics of the arriving light from the optical source is compared with the encoded phase information. Since a physical disturbance of the link is likely to alter the actual phase characteristics of the arriving light but not the encoded phase information, it is possible to determine if a physical disturbance has occurred. The system can conveniently be used to monitor an optical link carrying communications traffic.Type: GrantFiled: February 1, 2007Date of Patent: September 27, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited CompanyInventor: Peter Healey
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Patent number: 8014399Abstract: A data network, of the type in which a number of inter-connected router devices forward received packets of data towards a destination node in accordance with a routing table associated with each router is operated.Type: GrantFiled: July 15, 2005Date of Patent: September 6, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications public limited companyInventor: Liwen He
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Patent number: 8009897Abstract: The invention provides a method and apparatus for performing correspondence estimation between pixels of a stereo image pair to obtain matching information for corresponding pixels in each image. To perform a match for a particular pixel in a first image firstly an adaptive curve is constructed about the pixel, being a sequence of connected pixels with similar intensity values to the pixel being matched. The adaptive curve thus constructed is then used as a matching element within the second image to find a matching pixel representative of the same 3D scene point in the second image to the particular pixel. By performing matching in this manner for every pixel in an image, accurate disparity maps can be obtained which are then used in a known image synthesis algorithm to produce novel images of a scene of improved quality.Type: GrantFiled: October 4, 2002Date of Patent: August 30, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications public limited companyInventors: Li-Qun Xu, Bangjun Lei
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Patent number: 8003932Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for evaluating the position of a disturbance, in particular using a waveguide having a plurality of overlap regions. A position sensor is provided including: an optical waveguide; a transmission stage for launching a sensing signal into the waveguide; a receiving stage arranged to receive a returned sensing signals which returned sensing signal is a time distributed signal derived from backscattered components of the sensing signal, the waveguide being arranged along a path having a plurality of overlap regions such that a disturbance in an overlap region causes a first disturbance feature and a second disturbance feature in the returned sensing signal; and, monitoring means for monitoring the returned signal, such that a respective time of return can be associated with the first and second disturbance feature. Both return features can then be used to evaluate the position of the disturbance so as to enhance the resolution of the position sensor.Type: GrantFiled: June 1, 2006Date of Patent: August 23, 2011Assignee: British Telecommunications public limited companyInventors: Edmund S R Sikora, Peter Healey