Abstract: Techniques are described for providing information about a current state that is modeled with multiple state attributes. In some situations, the providing of information includes receiving from first and second sources indications of ability to supply values for, respectively, an indicated one of the state attributes and another of the state attributes. In such situations, after receiving an indication of the indicated attribute from a first client, the providing of information further includes determining that the first source is available to supply a value for the indicated attribute, obtaining from the first source an indication of the value and information describing the indicated value, determining based at least in part on the descriptive information whether the indicated value is appropriate to be supplied to the client, and supplying the indicated value to the client when it is determined that the indicated value is appropriate.

Abstract: When a process running in an isolated execution environment is started by a user, the credentials of the user are associated with a naming environment for the isolated execution environment. The isolated execution environment may be implemented via creation of a namespace representing resources available to one or more processes running within the isolated execution environment. The resources available to the isolated processes may represent some subset of global resources. When a request to access a named resource is received, the request is mediated by the operating system. Access, if provided, may be provided via the naming environment associated with the isolated execution environment. The operating system determines whether to grant or deny access to the resource by checking the credentials associated with the naming environment with the ACL of the resource.

Abstract: File system metadata regarding states of a file system affected by transactions is tracked consistently even in the face of dirty shutdowns which might cause rollbacks in transactions which have already been reflected in the metadata. In order to only request time- and resource-heavy rebuilding of metadata for metadata which may have been affected by rollbacks, reliability information is tracked regarding metadata items. When a metadata item is affected by a transaction which may not complete properly in the case of a problematic shutdown or other event, that metadata item's reliability information indicates that it may not be reliable in case of such a problematic (“dirty” or “abnormal”) event. In addition to flag information indicating unreliability, timestamp information tracking a time of the command which has made a metadata item unreliable is also maintained.

Abstract: Using a message exchanger (“message exchanger”), data messages are exchanged between entities in a decentralized, distributed, potentially heterogeneous, network environment. The message exchanger employs XML (extensible Markup Language). To accomplish this, the entities on both ends of the message exchange understand, identify, and parse the message format. The message exchanger defines such a mechanism. Data messages are broken down into two portions—one portion (the body) is intended from an ultimate destination and the other portion (the header) is intended for intermediate destination and/or the ultimate destination. The body may be defined so that it must be understood by the ultimate destination. The header may be defined so that it must be understood or changed. Regardless, the data in the body is delivered intact to the ultimate destination. The message exchanger defines a message envelope exchange format in XML over a transport protocol, such as HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol).

Abstract: Systems and methods for combining streaming media content items for streaming to a client computer across a network are described. In one aspect, a server computer receives a request from a client computer for one or more content items. Responsive to receiving the request, the server computer identifies a data structure that refers to the one or more further content items. The server computer modifies the data structure to reference the requested content items. The server computer provides the content items referenced by the modified data structure to the requesting client computer for streaming media content to a user.

Abstract: A method includes retrieving an intermediate node policy characterizing communication properties supported by an intermediate node, the intermediate node being between a source node and a destination node in a communication path. The method includes forming a first policy-compliant message in accordance with the intermediate node policy, the first policy-compliant message including a request for a destination node policy characterizing communication properties supported by the destination node. A system includes a policy retriever comparing a source policy to one to an intermediate policy to determine whether the source policy is compatible with the intermediate policy. A message generator generates a policy request message by applying the intermediate policy to a request for a policy related to a destination node.

Abstract: A system and related methods for automatically configuring a computing system includes receiving an identifier associated with a computing system, identifying the authorized and available resources for the computing system, assessing the current resources of the computing system, and downloading, installing and configuring zero or more needed resources on the computing system based, at least in part, on the assessment.

Abstract: A method of granting permission to use computer software resources when the user may be offline is accomplished through the use of proxy accounts. Each proxy account encapsulates a single set of user credentials. A set of user credentials contains at least a user name and a secret identifier, such as a password. These credentials are used by a scheduler function as an agent for the user to utilize computer resources to run jobs or tasks on behalf of the user. An embodiment of the invention allows for many different proxy account objects each having one set of credentials. The credentials are used at runtime to impersonate the user and allow a job to run. The job may involve multiple software subsystems. The architecture allows multiple proxy accounts to be created which allows system administrators flexibility in assigning different permissions to different users across multiple software environments.

Abstract: An architecture for protecting premium content in a nonsecure computer environment executes only a small number of code modules in a secure memory. The modules are arranged in a hierarchy of trust, where a module names other modules that it is willing to trust, and those modules in turn name other modules that they are willing to trust. A secure loader loads a security manager that oversees a number of content-providing modules for manipulating the content. A memory manager assigns permissions to various pages of the secure memory. The memory has rings of different security. The security model can be extended to program modules and other devices on the computer's bus, such as DMA controllers and peripherals.

Abstract: A definition module generates configuration instructions used to build one or more machines. The definition module generates the configuration instructions by drawing from a generic library of configuration objects having a variety of attributes and parameters associated therewith. A pre-established template defines how the information provided in the library is organized to build groups of machines. An inheritance mechanism is provided for automatically resolving unspecified parameter values by searching through a hierarchy of objects to determine the unspecified values.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for managing dependencies between projects in a project management application. The methods and systems utilize one or more project webs which are shared web-based collaborative workspaces for managing dependencies between projects.

Abstract: In an implementation of a display source divider, a video generation system generates a video display source that includes display data for multiple display regions on a display device. For example, a gaming system generates a video display source that includes display data for a partitioned display, where each region of the partitioned display corresponds to a different player of the gaming system. A display source divider receives the video display source and generates multiple video streams each corresponding to a different display region of the partitioned display.

Abstract: Mathematical expressions and functions are graphed using a computer implemented method that automatically determines an appropriate graph range. One implementation of the method begins with determining an initial variable seed range. A number of points within this seed range are randomly selected. The method determines whether the selected points correspond to the mathematical expression (i.e., whether they produce valid results when the expression is evaluated at each point). When the selected points produce valid results, the points can be used to generate and display a graph of the mathematical expression on a user display device, with a graph range based on the seed range. If not, the variable seed range can be expanded until a predetermined number of the selected points correspond to the mathematical expression, so that a graph of the mathematical expression can be generated and displayed.

Abstract: A system and method for making computer-generated maps includes a different scale factor for each road in a route. The scale factors are used to optimize the route map against a target function that considers factors such as the number of false intersections in the route and the number of roads falling below a minimum length threshold. A refinement technique such as simulated annealing is used to find a solution to the target function. Each road in the scaled map is rendered to provide a finished product having the appearance of a hand-drawn map. The finished product includes context roads that intersect the main route but are not part of the main route. Furthermore, the hand-drawn map is optimized to the characteristics of the viewport used to visualize the map.

Abstract: A method of interacting with a speech recognition (SR)-enabled personal computer (PC) is provided in which a user SR profile is transferred from a wireless-enabled device to the SR-enabled PC. Interaction with SR applications, on the SR-enabled PC, is carried out by transmitting speech signals wirelessly to the SR-enabled PC. The transmitted speech signals are recognized with the help of the transferred user SR profile.

Abstract: Input is received from at least two different input sources. Information from these sources are combined together to provide a result. In a particular example, input from one source corresponds to potential recognition candidates, and input from another source corresponds to other potential candidates. These candidates are combined together to select a result.

Abstract: An interactive, multi-media presentation viewing system and process for viewing educational or business presentations integrating presentation graphics in the form of presentation slides, video, audio, text, and other streaming media into a powerfully coordinated viewing experience for the end user. The viewing system is an aggregate of synchronized presentation graphics, video, and text displays employing a graphical user interface that allows the user to control all aspects of media playback.

Abstract: A discriminative machine learning system for labels text and non-text strokes in digital ink. The learning system considers stroke features and the context of the strokes, such as temporal information about one or more strokes, in a probabilistic framework. The learning system can also consider gap features within the probabilistic framework to label associated strokes.

Abstract: The present invention allows windows, defined without any explicit resizing parameters, to be resized appropriately to the types of controls contained within them. The approach is to “walk-through” the dimensional definitions for the controls, their sizes and positions, and the dimensions of the window itself. With this information, rows and columns are defined and identified as resizable. When the window dimensions are changed, the changes in height and width are distributed among the resizable rows and columns.

Abstract: Removal of white space from XML data retrieved from a database may amount to data corruption. Yet such removal is required in XML data normalization by XML parsers, and is also frequently carried out via one or more optional parser features. Safeguards provided herein protect XML data from such normalization and white space removal when formulating a response in a database. When delivering an XML fragment in response to a client request, an XML document's white space handling rules may be ascertained. Any ignorable white space in the XML document may be discarded, and any remaining white space may be preserved.