Abstract: A method of operating a device, the device being configured to communicate with a wireless telecommunications network and the device being in the form of an Autonomous Vehicle (AV), the method comprising the steps of: detecting a fault associated with the AV; and in response to detecting said fault, causing the AV to transmit a mayday wireless network communication for alerting the wireless telecommunications network of the fault; in response to the mayday wireless network communication, identifying a recovery AV that is capable of retrieving at least part of the AV and delivering said at least part to an intended destination; and instructing the recovery AV to perform the retrieving and delivering by communicating an instructing message, wherein the instructing message is in the form of a system information message.

Abstract: A method of operating a communications network is disclosed. In order to manage a network, it is first necessary to establish the state the network is in. This is difficult in practice because the network operational data stored and transmitted in the network takes a myriad of forms owing to the variety of suppliers and types of network equipment. There is a need to distil that network operational data down to aggregate network operational data which can be taken to provide an indication of the state of the network which is of a manageable size, and to which network management apparatus can react by sending control commands to the network. The problem of generating aggregate network operational data is tackled by identifying the type of each attribute found in each network operational data item, and classifying the network operational data items in a manner which takes account of the identified types and thus provides network aggregate data which more accurately reflects the operational state of the network.

Abstract: A method of establishing bearers for a device in a wireless communication network, including collecting for the device data over a period of time from communication sessions the device participates in, at least some of the communication sessions being supported by a default bearer and a dedicated bearer; calculating from the collected data a likelihood a dedicated bearer will be established for the device at one or more different times values, and predicting the dedicated bearer will be established for the device at a time value if the likelihood of establishment at that time value exceeds a specified threshold; and initiating establishment of the dedicated bearer to establish the dedicated bearer for the predicted time value.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method of selecting a channel for wireless communication in a network, including communicating data over a first communication channel between an access point and a client device for a first time period, during the first time period, obtaining a first performance measurement indicative of the performance of the first channel, communicating data over a second communication channel between the access point and the client device for a second time period, during the second time period, obtaining a second performance measurement indicative of the performance of the second channel, ranking the first and second channels in order of performance taking the first and second performance measurements into account when doing so, selecting an operating channel using the outcome of the ranking.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method of processing a data packet received by a packet sniffer, the packet containing an associated identifier, the method including transmitting the packet to a recipient, determining if the identifier corresponds to a particular network, wherein if the identifier is determined to correspond to the particular network, the identifier is provided to the recipient; and if the identifier is determined to not correspond to the particular network, the identifier is withheld from the recipient.

Abstract: A computer implemented method of computer security for a host computer system in communication with remote computer systems, the method including generating an attack map as a directed graph data structure modelling individual events leading to an exploitation of the host computer system, the attack map being generated in a training phase of the host computer system in which the host is subjected to attacks by one or more attacking remote computer systems, and generating the attack map includes collecting a log of each of a plurality of attack events occurring at the host including network packets involved in each attack event; using stacked autoencoders to extract features from the log event in each attack; generating a directed graph representation based on each of the extracted features based on a temporal relationship between events for each extracted feature and a predefined definition of each of a plurality of attack patterns defining events and temporal relationships between events, determining a subse

Abstract: If a cellular base station detects that it is about to shut down, either because no mobile terminals are within range, or because of a loss of power, for example because a user has deliberately switched it off, it first broadcasts a report that is about to shut down. This broadcast signal is picked up by the neighboring cells and used to update their neighbor lists, thus avoiding a false alarm which would otherwise be generated by the neighbors and transmitted to a centralized Operation Administration and Maintenance system when the shut-down cell fails to be detected on the next sampling cycle. The neighbors can then retain the shut-down base station in the neighbor list.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method in a cellular communications network having a plurality of base stations, and to a base station for said cellular communications network, wherein each base station is configured to use a frequency band of one of a hierarchy of spectrum levels, the method comprising: a first base station using a frequency band of a first spectrum level of the hierarchy of spectrum levels; determining an interference level in the network; determining whether the interference level indicates that the first base station's performance is sub-optimal; and, if so, the first base station reconfiguring to use a frequency band of a second spectrum level of the hierarchy of spectrum levels, the second spectrum level having a different number of frequency bands than the first spectrum level.

Abstract: An optical data transmission system and method for, at an optical transmitter, converting to a second wavelength, an optical data signal at a first wavelength; transmitting at the second wavelength, the optical data signal to an optical receiver over an optical path; and transmitting at the first wavelength, to the receiver over the path a single-photon signal comprising a stream of single photons. The optical path is configured to carry optical signals at different wavelengths and the optical path attenuates signals at the first wavelength less than the optical path attenuates signals at the second wavelength. The optical data transmission system and method for, at the receiver, receiving the single-photon signal at the first wavelength and receiving the optical data signal at the second wavelength; and converting the optical data signal to the first wavelength for detection.

Abstract: Examples of the present invention provide a method 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. As soon as the client is aware of a future segment marked as having higher viewer importance than the next segment for download, the client initiates the download of this further segment by making a request (e.g. HTTP request), while making a concurrent request for the delivery of the next segment.

Abstract: The present invention provides a communications network which is divided into a plurality of segments, with, each segment comprising one or more routers and one or more communications links that connect the routers. Each of the segments also comprises a segment management module. Each of the segment management modules reports to a supervisory management module and the communications network may comprise one or more supervisory management modules. If a segment management module predicts that a QoS threshold will be breached then it may re-route a data flow within that segment. If such a re-route is not possible then it will send a request to its supervisory management module to initiate a re-routing to a further segment.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a resource management method and apparatus for a cell cluster and a communications system. The method includes: transmitting resource allocation information by a base station taken as a cluster head of the cell cluster to other base stations in the cell cluster. By transmitting the resource allocation information by the base station taken as the cluster head of the cell cluster to the other base stations in the cell cluster, resource allocation for the cells may be performed efficiently, capabilities of coordinating inter-cell interference may be improved, and as the cell cluster may be expanded to cell clusters of a lower level or more levels, scalability of the network may be improved.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus and devices are disclosed for identifying and of controlling communications on interfering links in a local area network (20) having user-devices (22, 23, 24, 25) located therein operable to communicate via a local area network (LAN) gateway device (30, 50) 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, 50), and being carried via a digital subscriber (xDSL) line (19) for at least a portion of a path between the gateway device (30, 50) and the remote devices.

Abstract: Diagnostic test results are obtained in respect of local area networks (LANs), the LANs having user-devices located therein having interfaces and being operable to communicate via those interfaces and via a LAN gateway device with remote devices in a communications network outside their respective LANs. A method comprises comparing performance measures obtained in respect of communication flows with a performance threshold whereby to identify communication flows whose performance measures are indicative of performance below a predetermined level, and for any such communication flows, obtaining a diagnosis in respect of the LAN in question in dependence on a comparison of the performance measure obtained in respect of the identified communication flow and performance measures obtained in respect of other communication flows, the diagnosis being obtained in dependence on respective portability levels and network interface types determined in respect of the user-devices involved in said communication flows.

Abstract: A computer implemented method of computer security for a host computer system in communication with remote computer systems, the method including generating an attack map as a directed graph data structure modelling individual events leading to an exploitation of the host computer system, the attack map being generated in a training phase of the host computer system in which the host is subjected to attacks by one or more attacking remote computer systems, and generating the attack map includes collecting a log of each of a plurality of attack events occurring at the host including network packets involved in each attack event; using stacked autoencoders to extract features from the log event in each attack; generating a directed graph representation based on each of the extracted features based on a temporal relationship between events for each extracted feature and a predefined definition of each of a plurality of attack patterns defining events and temporal relationships between events, responsive to an oc

Abstract: A computer implemented method of computer security for a host computer system in communication with remote computer systems, the method including generating an attack map as a directed graph data structure modelling individual events leading to an exploitation of the host computer system, the attack map being generated in a training phase of the host computer system in which the host is subjected to attacks by one or more attacking remote computer systems, and generating the attack map includes collecting a log of each of a plurality of attack events occurring at the host including network packets involved in each attack event; using stacked autoencoders to extract features from the log event in each attack; generating a directed graph representation based on each of the extracted features based on a temporal relationship between events for each extracted feature and a predefined definition of each of a plurality of attack patterns defining events and temporal relationships between events, using the attack ma

Abstract: Actuators and sensors in an intelligent system are controlled by setting encryption types and key lengths to individual applications based on the type of device and application being run. A server system (1) running in a communications gateway, selects an encryption policy for one or more devices under its control. This selection is controlled by an analysis function (11) using data relating to the type of device (13), and the applications to be run on the device (14), to generate an appropriate encryption policy (12) which can be deployed to the device (37). Controlling the analysis and deployment in a gateway device allows co-ordination between devices, and reduces processor time in the devices. An agent is sent to the device alongside the encryption policy data, to control the device according to the encryption policy.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are disclosed for obtaining diagnostic test results in respect of network elements in a network, the test results being obtained from a population of probes associated with network elements. The method comprises receiving a first-stage set of probe reports comprising, in respect of probes in an initial subset, a test result and metadata, each test result indicating a state of the network element associated with the probe; identifying a specific subset of probes in the initial subset wherein the test results from the probes in the specific subset satisfy a predefined condition; determining a subsequent subset based on the metadata of the probes in the specific subset; and triggering the probes in the subsequent subset to provide a second-stage set of probe reports comprising test results indicating states of network elements associated with probes in the subsequent subset.

Abstract: An optical fiber including a plurality of embedded optical reflectors distributed periodically along the length of the fiber and a method of quantifying loss associated with an optical connector that is connected to optical fiber comprising a plurality of embedded optical reflectors distributed periodically along the length of the fiber. The method includes inserting an optical signal into the fiber through the optical connector; measuring a component of the optical signal reflected by at least one of the plurality of embedded optical reflectors, in which the component is received through the optical connector; calculating the difference in power level between the inserted and reflected signals; and quantifying, based on the calculated power level difference and the reflectivity of the embedded optical reflector, the loss associated with the optical connector.

Abstract: A computer implemented method of identifying an encryption algorithm used by a ransomware algorithm, the ransomware algorithm encrypting a data store of a target computer system using a searchable encryption algorithm, the method including intercepting an ordered plurality of messages communicated from the target computer system to a ransomware server computer system, each message including a payload storing an encrypted unit of data from the target computer system; inspecting a final byte in the encrypted unit of data in each message to identify a byte value used by an encryption algorithm of the ransomware as a padding byte to pad messages to the size of an integral multiple of units of encryption for the encryption algorithm; training an autoencoder based on a position of a message in the ordered plurality of messages and the padding byte to provide a trained autoencoder adapted to differentiate the encryption algorithm used by the ransomware from other different encryption algorithms.