Abstract: A computer implemented method for access control for a restricted resource in a computer system, the method including receiving a first set of records for the computer system, each record detailing an occurrence in the computer system during a training time period when the resource is accessed in an approved manner; generating a sparse distributed representation of the set of records to form a training set for a hierarchical temporal memory (HTM); training the HTM based on the training set in order that the trained HTM provides a model of the operation of the computer system during the training time period; receiving a second set of records for the computer system, each record detailing an occurrence in the computer system during an operating time period for the computer system in use by a consumer of the resource; generating a sparse distributed representation of the second set of records to form an input set for the trained HTM; executing the trained HTM based on the input set to determine a degree of recog

Abstract: A computer implemented method of a resource provider for access control for a restricted resource in a network connected computer system, wherein a blockchain data structure accessible via the network stores digitally signed records validated by network connected miner software components including a provider record associated with the resource provider, the method including: identifying an access control role definition for access to the resource, the role including a specification of access permissions; receiving a request from a resource consumer for access to the resource; communicating, to the resource consumer, an indication of a quantity of a cryptocurrency required for access to the resource; and in response to a determination that the required quantity of cryptocurrency is transferred to the provider record in the blockchain, the transfer being caused by a blockchain transaction including an identification of the role and the transaction being validated by a miner component, granting the consumer acc

Abstract: A telecommunications access network comprises a primary aggregation point in the form of an exchange, a plurality of optic fiber to metallic pair interface aggregation points which may be in the form of Distribution Point Units (DPUs) each of which is connected to the primary aggregation point by a respective optical fiber connection, and a plurality of terminating devices which may be in the form of customer premises equipment (CPE) devices, each of which is connected to a respective one of the optic fiber to metallic pair interface aggregation points by a respective twisted metallic pair connection. The access network further includes a plurality of metallic, interface-interface connections between one or more pairs of the optic fiber to metallic pair interface aggregation points. Each metallic, interface-interface connection preferably comprises three or more twisted metallic pairs of wires.

Abstract: A computer implemented method of a secure computing component to provide access to a cryptographic key, the key being associated with the secure component by a digitally signed record in a blockchain wherein the blockchain is accessible via a network and includes a plurality of records validated by miner computing components, the method including receiving a request from another secure computing component to associate the key with the other component, the request having associated identification information for a requester of the key; responsive to a verification of an entitlement of the requester, generating a new record for storage in the blockchain, the new record associating the key with the other component and being validated by the miner components; and further responsive to the verification, securely transferring the key to the other component so as to provide access to the key to the key requester via the other component.

Abstract: A computer implemented method of a network connected data storage system, the method including receiving, via the network, and storing a data set including a plurality of data items encrypted using an index-based searchable encryption scheme, wherein the searchable encryption scheme has associated a server index and a client index; receiving, via the network, and storing a set of hashed information for each of a plurality of queries of the data set, each item of hashed information including a hash of a query and a hash of an expected result of executing the query using the server index; receiving, via the network, a query from a data requester to retrieve a set of data items from the data store and a hash of an expected result of executing the received query using the server index; generating a result of the received query for the data set based on the server index; and responsive to a comparison of a hash of the generated result, the received hash of the expected result, and the hashes of expected results in

Abstract: The disclosure concerns automatic pairing of a user's new device wirelessly with the user's private wireless access point. An open WLAN is used to connect a wireless pairing client (WPC) in the device with a pairing initiation server (PIS) in an ISP's network. If the open WLAN uses a “captive portal” to redirect HTTPS requests to a login page, a “pinhole” is provided so that HTTP requests addressed to the PIS are not redirected. The device stores the SSID of a suitable open WLAN and connects automatically when powered up. The WPC makes an HTTP request, including an ID for the device, to the PIS. The PIS uses the device ID to retrieve an IP address of the user's access point. The PIS then sends instruction to WPS Pairing Initiator Clients, the device and the access point to initiate a Wi-Fi Protected Setup PBC procedure.

Abstract: A set of data signals is transmitted over at least three pairs of wires. The data signals comprise a first and second subsets of data signals. A first set of transmission signals, each transmission signal in the first set of transmission signals being derived from a combination of all of the data signals in the first subset of data signals, is generated. A second set of transmission signals, each transmission signal in the second set of transmission signals being derived from a single respective one of the data signals in the second subset of data signals, is generated. Each of the transmission signals in the first set is transmitted in a common mode over a respective one of the plurality of pairs of wires. Each of the transmission signals in the second set is transmitted over a respective one of the plurality of pairs of wires in a differential mode.

Abstract: In order to allow automatic installation of a newly-supplied wireless device (2) such that it can communicate with the internet (9) through an access point (7), the new device (2) is configured so that on initial installation it operates in access point mode. A remote service provider (4) is provided with authentication information (406) and generates to instructions to the access point (7) to monitor for a broadcast beacon from the target wireless device (2). When it detects the beacon, the access point (7) switches to client mode to establish a secured wireless network connection (8) between the access point (7) and the new wireless network device (2), with the access point (7) operating in a client mode. By reversing the roles in this way, the provider of the new device (2) can arrange for automatic connection to the access point (7) without having to programmed the device (2) with any password or other data relating to the customer's access network.

Abstract: An unmanned aircraft such as a tethered drone has an electrical power connection for receiving electrical power from a remote source, and a power delivery system for delivering electrical power to onboard applications equipment such as radio transmitters. To ensure that ground staff are not exposed to high levels of radiation from the transmitters, power is only delivered to the communications equipment after the aircraft has left the ground. A sensor associated with the aircraft's undercarriage may be used to detect when the aircraft is airborne. The applications equipment is powered from an accumulator which is only charged up from the power supply after launch.

Abstract: A method for identifying malicious network traffic communicated via a computer network, the method including: evaluating a measure of a correlation fractal dimension for a portion of network traffic over a monitored network connection; comparing the measure of correlation fractal dimension with a reference measure of correlation fractal dimension for a corresponding portion of network traffic of a malicious network connection so as to determine if malicious network traffic is communicated over the monitored network connection.

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 cellular telecommunications system, outage management is managed in respect of each cell B by a nominated neighbor cell A, the identity of which is recorded in a neighbor list for cell B. If a cell C, D, other than the nominated neighbor, detects a suspected outage in a cell B, the cell detecting the outage identifies the nominated neighbor A from the neighbor list of cell B, and transmits an outage report to the nominated neighbor cell A, which coordinates a handover and outage management process. This avoids multiple detections of the same outage resulting in conflicting attempts to manage the recovery process.

Abstract: A method for selection of a digital subscriber line (DSL) technology for use by a first DSL transceiver in transferring data over a communications line between the first DSL transceiver and a second DSL transceiver. For the selection, an indication of attenuation in the communications line between the DSL transceivers is obtained and a DSL technology for use by the first DSL transceiver is selected from a plurality of DSL technologies supported by the first DSL transceiver. Selection of the DSL technology is determined on the basis of the indication of attenuation. Optionally, selection of the DSL technology may, in addition, be based on other parameters comprising an indication of the power spectral density mask limiting the power output onto the line by the DSL transceiver; an indication of the noise environment of the communications line; an indication of the highest discrete multitone modulation tone transmitted by the first DSL transceiver over the communications line.

Abstract: A communications terminal (10) is to be configured for operation of a new service or application by connection to a service provision platform (12) over a connection (11). In order to do this, an installation server (15) generates instructions to a user terminal (13) over a separate link (14). These instructions are used to configure the communications terminal (10) to operate the service required. The terminal (13), separate link (14) and installation server (15) are then used to monitor, over a connection (19) independent of the newly-installed connection (11), the response of the service provision platform (12) to the test transmissions sent to it from the terminal (10) over the new connection (11), and to initiate test messages from the service provision platform (12) to the communications terminal.

Abstract: A method for securely accessing a hardware storage device connected to a computer system, the hardware storage device having a unique hardware identifier and the computer system including a processor, the method comprising: an agent software component receiving the identifier of the storage device to authenticate the storage device, wherein the agent executes in an unrestricted mode of operation of the processor such that the agent is a trusted software component; in response to the authentication, the agent accessing a secure data key for encrypting and decrypting data on the storage device, wherein the data key is accessible only to trusted agents executing in the unrestricted mode of the processor such that software executing in a user mode of the processor stores and retrieves data on the storage device only via the agent.

Abstract: A computer implemented method of protecting a portion of a computer network from malware attack, the computer network including a network connected devices organized into hierarchical subnets modelled by a tree data structure in which each subnet is represented as a node in the tree, each node having a connection to parent node save for a root node, the method including performing protective actions on devices in subnets associated with a first subset of nodes to provide protection against the malware, prioritizing devices in the subnets associated with a second subset of nodes so as to provide a barrier of subnets protected against the malware to impede the propagation of the malware to devices in subnets associated with each of the first subset of nodes.

Abstract: A computer implemented method for validating use of a computing resource by a requester software component including: validating a characteristic of the requester; generating a first transaction defining criteria for consumption of the resource by the requester, the first transaction being encrypted with a private key from a public key/private key pair and being added as part of a block of transactions to a blockchain data structure; generating a subsequent encrypted transaction corresponding to a request of the requester to consume the resource, the subsequent transaction referring to the first transaction, wherein the subsequent transaction is validated by a transaction miner computing component from a plurality of miners by authenticating the transaction using the public key and verifying compliance with the criteria defined in each transaction.

Abstract: A collaborative recommender system which is based on an application of Formal Concept Analysis is disclosed. A problem with collaborative recommender systems based on Formal Concept Analysis is that the size of the concept lattices generated can be very large. Large lattices both take a great deal of time to generate, and tend to include extraneous concepts. In the collaborative recommender systems disclosed herein the size of the concept lattices used are only of a scale required to capture the tastes of an individual user. This reduces the computational resource required by the recommender system markedly. Further improvements are obtained in some embodiments by selecting only relevant concepts from the concept lattice before building a user profile from the selected concepts.

Abstract: A spread spectrum system is used for transmitting data to devices in a distributed system. Each device has a respective spread spectrum code, and has a corresponding encoder in a central control system operating the same spread spectrum codes, the encoded data relating to the devices being aggregated over a shared channel. An additional broadcast spread spectrum coding sequence is allocated to a broadcast channel readable by a plurality of the devices using a command extraction function and used to transmit general commands for operation by the plurality of devices. Individual actuators may be arranged to respond in different ways to such a broadcast command, for example switching some on and switching others off. The broadcast may also be used to change the coding sequences allocated to individual devices, allowing flexible use of the available spread-spectrum coding sequences.

Abstract: In a network of data devices having routing functions, a controller within the network core is arranged to monitor the status and capabalities of each data device and to check for the availability of network functions which alter the capabilities of the data devices. The controller changes the configuration of the data devices to gain the new functionality, or alters the routing behavior so that certain control data packets are forwarded to a function processor which performs processing on behalf of the data devices in a proxy manner. The function processor provides virtual functions to the data devices.