Abstract: A method of operating a network gateway in a cellular network to control access of at least one mobile device to a voice service accessible via the cellular network, the mobile device being connected to the network gateway via a wireless access router and wide area network, WAN, the method including receiving a request from the mobile device to access the voice service; measuring performance metrics for a non-cellular wireless network link to the mobile device; requesting observed network information from the mobile device; and comparing the quality of the non-cellular wireless network link to the mobile device against the respective quality of at least one observed network; if the quality of the non-cellular wireless network link is greater than the quality of an available observed network, allowing the request to proceed to the cellular network; and if the quality of at least one of the observed networks is higher than the current non-cellular wireless network link, rejecting the voice service request of th

Abstract: A computer implemented method to identify a computer security threat based on communication of a network connected device via a computer network including receiving a plurality of blocks of network traffic from the device, each block including a sequence of network traffic data items being identifiable by a position in the sequence of the block; identifying a subset of positions occurring in every block for which a degree of variability of values of data items in each position of the subset meets a predetermined threshold; and generating executable code for performing a plurality of processing operations based on the identified subset of positions, the executable code consuming a determinate quantity of computing resources when executed for the received network traffic.

Abstract: A computer implemented method to mitigate a security attack against a target virtual machine (VM) in a virtualized computing environment, the target VM having a target VM configuration including configuration parameters, and the security attack exhibiting a particular attack characteristic, is disclosed.

Abstract: A distributed system is disclosed in which one or more servers respond to requests for content including hyperlinks. Hyperlinks provide an interactive visual manifestation of an underlying reference to a resource. By using a graphical user interface provided by the device, a user is able to select a hyperlink, and thereby control the device to obtain the resource to which the underlying reference refers. However, if a user selects a hyperlink and the device is unable to follow the underlying reference to obtain the resource, user disappointment results. By arranging the server, on providing visual content including one or more hyperlinks, to attempt (212) to follow the references underlying the hyperlinks, and to alter (216) the appearance of any hyperlink for which the underlying reference could not be followed, users are alerted to the likelihood that selecting the hyperlink will not lead to them obtaining the resource. In this way, user disappointment is avoided.

Abstract: A method, user equipment (UE) and basestation are provided, wherein the UE is configured to send battery status data to the basestation and, in response, the basestation is adapted to improve the Quality of Service for the UE.

Abstract: The invention generates a model of the composition of the cable segments in a network. Different cable compositions have different loss distributions. Each cable segment is given a starting cable composition (based on cable records if available), and thus can be represented as a loss distribution. The loss for each circuit can be measured (by measuring Hlog), and thus can also be represented as a loss distribution. Updates are made to the loss distribution for each segment so that the loss distributions that make up each circuit is consistent with that of the (measured) loss distribution for that circuit. These updates are preferably performed as Bayesian updates of each cable segment (loss distribution) using Gibbs sampling (i.e. the other cable segment loss probabilities are fixed whilst the probability for the segment under consideration is updated).

Abstract: A method and apparatus of transmitting data from a transmitter device to one or more receiver devices, each of the one or more receiver devices being connected to the transmitter device via a respective wire connection, the transmitter device being operable to transmit signals onto the wire connections over one or more different channels, the method comprising: iteratively performing steps (i) to (iii) until one or more criteria are satisfied, thereby determining current transmission powers for transmitting data, wherein: step (i) comprises determining values of a first function depending on one or more channel properties; step (ii) comprises, using the determined value of the first function, determining transmission powers for transmitting data; and step (iii) comprises determining whether or not the determined transmission powers satisfy one or more criteria; and thereafter transmitting data at the current transmission powers.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for transmitting data from a transmitter device to one or more receiver devices, each of which is connected to the transmitter device via a respective wire connection, the transmitter device being operable to transmit signals onto the wire connections over different channels, the method comprising, for each channel: determining a value of a first function which is a function of a power mask for transmitting the data over the channels; determining a value of a second function which is a function of an upper bound for a channel capacity of the channel; determining a value of a third function, the third function being a function of the first and second functions; using the determined value of the third function, determining a transmission power for that channel; and transmitting, by the transmitter device, data over that channel at the transmission power determined for that channel.

Abstract: The present invention provides a computer implemented method for allocating resources to Quality of Service, QoS, models in a network, the method comprising: selecting a route in the network, wherein the route comprises a plurality of flows of network traffic; obtaining model-to-route mapping data identifying a plurality of QoS models, wherein each QoS model is used by at least one of the plurality of flows of network traffic; monitoring the plurality of flows of network traffic to determine a characteristic of each of the plurality of flows; and in the event that one of the QoS models is withdrawn, reallocating resources of the selected route to flows of network traffic along that route, wherein the reallocation is based on at least one of: the QoS model used by each of the flows of network traffic along that route; and the characteristic of each of the flows.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus and devices are disclosed for controlling communications in respect of local area networks (20) having user-devices (22, 23, 24, 25) located therein operable to communicate via a local area network (LAN) gateway device (30) with remote devices in a communications network (10,15) outside the LAN (20), communications being carried via one or more LAN links (28) for at least a portion of a path between user-devices (22, 23, 24, 25) and the gateway device (30), and being carried via a digital subscriber (xDSL) line (19) for at least a portion of a path between the gateway device (30) and the remote devices.

Abstract: An autonomous vehicle having wireless access communications access point equipment is arranged to set up a base station in a coverage “hole” by scanning to detect transmissions from another wireless communications access point, and determines a direction in which quality of coverage from the other wireless communications access point decreases, and directs the autonomous vehicle to move in the direction of decreasing coverage until it reaches a limit of coverage, at which point it hands over to another base station or, if no further base station is available, sets up as a wireless communications point connecting through the last base station to a backhaul connection.

Abstract: A method of improving performance of a software application executing with a virtualized computing infrastructure wherein the application has associated: a hypervisor profile of characteristics of a hypervisor in the infrastructure; a network communication profile of characteristics of network communication for the application; a data storage profile of characteristics of data storage for the infrastructure; and an application profile defined collectively by the other profiles.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of estimating an electrical length of a line, which is the signal loss measured at a predetermined frequency such as 1 MHz, compensated for impairments on the line. Firstly, the H log(f) data representing the attenuation plotted against frequency is gathered for the line. Secondly, data transformation is performed on the H log(f) data, such as by dividing by the square root of frequency. This compensates for changes in the loss as a function of frequency, allowing values of the loss from a broader range of frequencies to be used. Thirdly, data spike removal is performed on the transformed data, removing spikes that can arise from a number of factors such as excessive noise. The resulting data is then used to estimate a value for compensated k10.

Abstract: Described are methods of delivering media, such as a video sequence, to a client device from a server, taking into account the relative importance of different portions of the video sequence. The sequence is divided into temporal segments, with each segment encoded at a plurality of bitrates (and hence qualities). A viewer importance parameter is assigned to each segment, indicating the relative importance of that segment, with the information stored in a manifest file or similar. The client receives this segment and viewer importance data in a manifest file. The bit rate of each segment selected for download is dependent on the relative importance of that segment and future segments. The selected segment is then delivered to the client device from the server. Thus, segments having a higher viewer importance will be delivered with a higher encoded bitrate than segments having a lower viewer importance.

Abstract: In a managed system controlled by multiple policy managers, conflicts between the policies of the managers are resolved by generating a satisfaction measure to be transmitted to policy managers together with sensor data, indicative of how closely the sensor data satisfies the policy which caused it. This satisfaction measure is used to determine whether actuators controlled by the other policy managers should be triggered by the sensor data. This allows policies to co-operate to prevent conflict between the conflicting requirements of different policies.

Abstract: A method of delivering media content over a network, the media content including a plurality of temporal segments, wherein each temporal segment comprises a plurality of data packets, the method including: selecting an initial size of a first congestion window; delivering the plurality of data packets of a first segment using the first congestion window, the initial size of the first congestion window being used to control the size of the first congestion window for the duration of the first segment delivery; measuring the packet loss during the delivery of the first segment; determining an initial size of a second congestion window in dependence on the measured packet loss for the first segment; and delivering a second segment using the second congestion window, the initial size of the second congestion window being used to control the size of the second congestion window for the duration of the second segment delivery.

Abstract: This disclosure provides a method, and a network node for implementing the method, of switching a base station in a cellular telecommunications network between a first and second mode, in which the base station uses more energy when operating in the first mode than the second mode, wherein the cellular telecommunications network further includes a User Equipment, UE, having 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 whether the visual representation of the base station or part thereof is present in the captured visual data; and, in response initiating a switch in the base station between the first and second modes.

Abstract: A user entity (UE) such as a smartphone is configured to connect to both WiFi and a Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular network for voice and data services. For voice, the UE supports both Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi). When the UE is connected to VoWiFi and roaming from a first WiFi access point to a second WiFi access point, the UE and Mobility Management Entity in the cellular network carry out a preparatory handover to VoLTE to prevent service loss in the event of an unsuccessful VoWiFi connection from the second WiFi access point.

Abstract: A computer implemented method to execute a software application in a network attached computing environment, the application being defined by a set of required software services to constitute the application, the required services being selected from services indicated in a component registry, the method including recording a block to a blockchain data structure, the new block identifying at least a subset of the set of required services; receiving one or more further blocks from the blockchain data structure, each of the further blocks referencing a service provider for providing one or more of the required services; and selecting one or more service providers identified in the blockchain and defining a specification for an application assembler component to assemble the software application, the specification identifying selected service providers.

Abstract: A wireless access point is configured to regularly monitor the status of WLAN, WAN and ePDG data links to determine whether the current connections are sufficient to support VoWiFI services. When a device connects to the WLAN of the hub and attempts to switch from its VoLTE service to VoWiFi via the hub, the hub is configured to determine whether the current conditions can satisfy a VoWiFi connection. If the VoWiFi service can support the connection, the request is routed to the ePDG associated with the mobile device's subscriber LTE network. However, if the current conditions cannot satisfactorily support a VoWiFi connection such that incoming calls may be missed or the quality of active calls would not be clear, then the hub is configured to block the request so that the client device will time out and remain connected to VoLTE.