Abstract: An electrically powered node of a telecommunications system has a battery power backup associated with its power control unit. Under normal conditions it is maintained fully charged by means of trickle currents from the mains power feeds to each of a number of mains—connected customer equipments, by way of the “final drop” to the distribution point. These trickle currents are controlled by the respective power control units to prevent overcharging. Using an electrical copper connection provided in parallel with the fibre connection, a battery backup can also be maintained in nodes further towards the exchange. The feeds are reversible, so that if a power outage removes the power supply from the customer premises, a “lifeline” plain telephone service between the exchange and the telephone handset is maintained using the local battery backup in the remote nodes. By limiting the service to simple telephony, the battery power can be sufficient to maintain the service for a reasonable duration.

Abstract: In order to keep a pathway for time critical data packets (for example for VoIP calls) a dummy flow of data packets is established between a home hub router (20) and a broadband remote access server (25) being the first gateway to the IP network. Should a call be made from the telephone (23), the dummy flow is replaced for the duration of the call by the packets generated for the VoIP call. The dummy flow is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the number of data packets transmitted in order to ensure that a minimum bandwidth having a tolerable delay is available. The dummy flow works by causing non time critical (i.e. P2P data packet flows) to back off and no modification is required to routers and the like incorporated into the network.

Abstract: Packet forwarding apparatus has an input for receiving packets; a packet classifier arranged in operation to read a class indication in received packets and in dependence thereon to pass packets to a class-based policer associated with the class indicated; a plurality of class-based policers, each operable to assign a provisional indication to packets of the associated class in response to a measure of the load presented by packets of the class exceeding a predetermined class-based threshold; a multi-class policer operable to receive provisionally-indicated packets processed by the class-based policers, and to assign a congestion indication to packets having the provisional indication in response to congestion arising at the packet forwarding apparatus; and an output for presenting packets processed by the multi-class policer for onward transmission from the apparatus.

Abstract: An index to a plurality of entities is built, where each entity is represented by a point defined in a space. Entities whose points are furthest apart are identified. A first area is created, the extremities of which first area are given by the points representing the identified entities. Entities falling within the first area are assigned to a storage area corresponding to the first area. The first area is divided into a plurality of second areas. For each of the plurality of second areas, a. each of the plurality of second areas is linked to the first area, and, b. the above steps are repeated until the first area includes a single point. Storage areas corresponding to each of the first area are then written to the index.

Abstract: An Ethernet access connection connects a user access point to an access node in the network. The access connection comprises a passive coupler, by means of which a further access connection can be provided between the user access point and a second access node, such that data can be exchanged over each access connection between the user access point and the network. This duplication ensures that communication is not severed if the access connection is breached. To avoid interference at the destination terminal between the two resulting identical data streams, the access nodes giving access to the destination terminal are controlled such that only one of them forwards data to the destination access point, with the capability to switch to the other one in the event of a loss of connection between the access node and user access point.

Abstract: An Internet Protocol router device (10) for use in a data network comprising a plurality of nodes (10, 20, 30), wherein packets of data are sent from one node in the network to another on a hop by hop basis.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method of detecting the growth and development of clusters in a data set. The data set is divided into a number of slices and an algorithm is applied to the data held in each data slice set. Each slice can be compared with the subsequent slice to determine which clusters persist from slice to slice. Random data agglomerations in a single slice may give the appearance of a cluster but their random nature means that they are unlikely to persist so those clusters that persist across a number of slices, or that show the strongest measure of persistence, are most likely to represent a data cluster that represents a situation of interest.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide a network management sub-system which is preferably logically separate from the routing nodes (including gateway nodes) of a network. The network management sub-system receives load information relating to present packet flows on existing predetermined paths in the network, and when a request for admittance of a new packet flow is received, is able to make a decision as to whether the new flow should be both: i) admitted to the network; and ii) on to which path; in substantially the same process step. This is possible because the admission control and routing algorithms are integrated into a single process, the result of which provides both an admission control decision as well as a routing decision at the same time.

Abstract: A method of forming a cable having an elongate core, including positioning a records component proximate to the elongate core, and covering the records component with a cable covering which directly or indirectly urges the records component against the elongate core.

Abstract: The invention is concerned with the transmission of broadband signals onto to a telephony connection having constraint profile limiting the maximum allowed power as a function of frequency. As a result, broadband signals can be delivered using low power equipment to a telephony line whilst respecting the constraint profile associated with that line.

Abstract: A method of transmitting one or more data streams to a mobile terminal having multiple network connections, the method comprising: sending the one or more data streams from a correspondent host to a home agent located in the home network of the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal sending a request for the data stream to be transmitted by the correspondent host and the mobile terminal communicating with the home agent to transmit the network location of the mobile terminal to the home agent, and then forwarding the one or more data streams via the foreign agent to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal communicates network connectivity data to the home agent and the forwarding of the one or more data streams is dependent upon the network connectivity data received by the home agent.

Abstract: A method of configuring a feature subscription having the steps of: a) retrieving a feature subscription, the feature subscription comprising one or more features; b) configuring the feature subscription; c) determining one or more consistent solutions of the feature subscription configured in step b); and d) selecting a consistent solution from the one or more consistent solutions determined in step c).

Abstract: Preferably for use in a directory enquires system, a method and system are provided for processing user records to determine common entries between them. When two user records are determined to store common information then link data is generated and stored in each user record indicating a link between the two records. This link information is then used in subsequent searching of the user records to determine the most likely result from a list of possible results obtained from a search of the user records. In a directory enquiries system the user records contain user ID and telephone number details as well as address book data of each user's friends, family, or other acquaintances. The address book data is used to determine whether a link between user records should be formed.

Abstract: A device for use with a conduit having a first conduit end and a conduit second end, into which conduit a cable can be installed using a flow of air into the first conduit end, the device being suitable for confirming that the air is flowing out from the second conduit end. In an embodiment, the device includes a housing, means to enable connection of the device to the second conduit end, a detector arranged to detect an electrical property change, and an actuator for causing an electrical property change detectable by the detector, wherein in use, the air flowing into the device causes the detector and the actuator to move relative to each other, causing an electrical property change detectable by the detector.

Abstract: An improved method of selecting a channel in an ad hoc wireless network in which each node using a given channel periodically evaluates the transmission power against a power threshold to ensure that the signal to interference and noise ratio at each node is acceptable.

Abstract: A measure of quality of compressed video signals is obtained without reference to the original uncompressed version, but generated directly from the coded image parameters, thereby avoiding the need to decode the compressed signal. A first measure is generated from the quantizer step size and a second measure is generated as a function of the number of blocks in the picture that have only one transform coefficient. The two measures are combined. Adjustments may be made to the step-size based measure to compensate for spatial or temporal masking effects.

Abstract: Cable is installed into a duct, by increasing cross-sectional areas of subducting provided in the duct, so as to allow the cable to be received into the subducting, and then decreasing the cross-sectional area of the subducting containing the cable so as to reduce the volume occupied by the subducting in the duct. Cables may be inserted into the subducting, for example, by forcing compressed gas through the subducting, which simultaneously inflates the subducting.

Abstract: A virtual network has a plurality of nodes. Each node has the capability to provide a service to another node. Each node maintains a list for storing entries each representing a link to another node; each entry contains the address of the other node and a label identifying a service that that other node may provide. Each node also has a store for storing messages received from other nodes, these messages serving to propose a link and containing the identity of the node originating the message, a label identifying a service that that other node may provide and a label identifying a service that that other node requires. When a node needs a service that it is not itself able to provide, it searches the link list for a link having a label that matches the service needed, and in the event that such a link is found it transmits to the node identified by the link a message requesting the service.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention relate to automated methods and systems for determining a degree of presence of a movable object in a physical space. Video images are used to define a region of interest (1305) in the space and partition the region of interest into an array of sub-regions (1310). Then, first and second spatial-temporal visual features are determined, and metrics are computed (1320), (1340), to characterise whether or not each sub-region contains a moving or stationary object. The metrics are used to generate (1350) an indication of the overall degree of presence within the region of interest.

Abstract: Methods and systems for identifying data patterns from data comprising at least one data object, said data having at least one existing pattern class associated therewith, said data object being represented by a base feature vector, at least one of said base feature vectors having a structure of higher-level and lower-level feature vectors such that at least one element of a higher-level feature vector is itself a lower-level feature vector.