Abstract: A computer-implemented method of scheduling an appointment at a plurality of facilities providing a plurality of services, comprising receiving a packet of client information from a client, the client information including personal data, service data, client appointment preference data, and payment data; comparing the service data to a set of service constraints in order to determine any limitations on the scheduling of the appointment; inputting the client information into a scheduling server; verifying the client information; generating a predetermined number of appointment candidates based upon an analysis of the client information and the appointment scheduling limitations; communicating the appointment candidates to the client; generating an appointment based upon the client's selection of one of the appointment candidates; generating appointment information related to the appointment, the appointment information including the client information, the service constraints, an appointment date, an appo

Abstract: Techniques for storing objects (e.g., images) in and retrieving objects from a storage device (e.g., image store) in a rapid and efficient manner are disclosed. More particularly, the techniques include: storage of an object in and retrieval of an object from the storage device with reference to an object locator together with state and permission information, use of a directory structure of a file system to efficiently provide database structure for storage of the objects, storage and retrieval of object states as attributes of associated files in the file system, storage and retrieval of multiple versions of objects, and multi-threaded management of the storage device.

Abstract: A method for creating distributed objects representing receipt requests which are sent with a primary distributed object, indicating a receipt is requested when the primary distributed object has been received at a client side communications server or accessed by a member of a workgroup, or both.

Abstract: User and network computer client device (NC) registration with an internet service provider (ISP) occurs in two phases: the first phase with the relationship server and the second phase with the ISP. In the first phase, the NC sends the relationship server a unique identifier of the NC manufacturer, such as the manufacturer identification number. In the preferred embodiment, the NC also transmits an enterprise identification number from a smart card uniquely specifying the ISP to which the user wishes to connect. The relationship server queries a relationship database using the manufacturer and enterprise identification numbers. In the preferred embodiment, the relationship server determines whether the specified manufacturer has authorized connection to the specified ISP; if no authorization exists in the relationship server database, then the relationship server disconnects from the NC.

Abstract: Data exchange system includes at least one portable data processing unit with data communication processing and memory units, the latter including an executive program and one or more application descriptors, each application description including at least one interaction context comprising commands, data elements, data references, procedures, access conditions, and external references; the structure of the data elements and the data references as well as other references is chosen in such a way that a very efficient use of the restricted memory space of e.g. smart cards is obtained.

Abstract: An apparatus for operating on the contents of an input register to generate the contents of an output register which contains a permutation, with or without repetitions, or a combination of the contents of the input register. The apparatus partitions the input register into a plurality of sub-words, each sub-word being characterized by a location in the input register and a length greater than one bit. In response to an instruction specifying a rearrangement of the input register, the present invention directs at least one of the sub-words in the input register to a location in the output register that differs from the location occupied by the sub-word in the input register. The ordering of the sub-words in the output register differ from the order obtainable by a single shift instruction. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the invention is implemented by modifying a conventional shifter comprising a plurality of layers of multiplexers.

Abstract: An information apparatus which has access means by which a document on the Internet is accessed and automatic Web tracing means which automatically trace link destinations successively according to a predetermined rule and parameters based on the link information which is set in the accessed document. The predetermined rule is either a depth-first search or a width-first search. The predetermined parameters include at least a link depth limit to be used when the link destinations are traced downward in the hierarchy, an interval of time required for a transit from one document to another, and an automatic Web tracing time-out time. The rule and parameters may be specified by a user. Automatic Web tracing may be performed either on-line or off-line. Thus, time-varying information can passively be received as if it were television information, minimizing operation steps necessary for a user to perform the automatic Web browsing of the Internet.

Abstract: In a local area network, at least one host terminal has an application program and operates as a source host and other host terminals operate as destination hosts. Each host terminal executes a file management program. The source host, when executing its file management program, updates its management table with an application name identifying the application program and a file name, and transmits a request message to the destination hosts. Each destination host, when executing its file management program, responds to the request message by acquiring the application program from the source host if the application program is nonexistent in the destination host and updates its management table with the application name and the file name. Each host terminal starts the application program by opening a file identified by the file name and collaborates on a joint project with other host terminals.

Abstract: An improved frame processing apparatus for a network that supports high speed frame processing is disclosed. The frame processing apparatus uses a combination of fixed hardware and programmable hardware to implement network processing, including frame processing and media access control (MAC) processing. Although generally applicable to frame processing for networks, the improved frame processing apparatus is particular suited for token-ring networks and ethernet networks. The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as an apparatus, an integrated circuit and network equipment.

Abstract: A network based platform uses face recognition, speech recognition, background change detection and key scene events to index multimedia communications. Before the multimedia communication begins, active participants register their speech and face models with a server. The process consists of creating a speech sample, capturing a sample image of the participant and storing the data in a database. The server provides an indexing function for the multimedia communication. During the multimedia communication, metadata including time stamping is retained along with the multimedia content. The time stamping information is used for synchronizing the multimedia elements. The multimedia communication is then processed through the server to identify the multimedia communication participants based on speaker and face recognition models. This allows the server to create an index table that becomes an index of the multimedia communication.

Abstract: A broadcast and interactive data distribution system that distributes broadcast and interactive data transmitted by way of a geostationary satellite, and optionally by way of a cable system, to personal computers. The system comprises a modular digital data communication cyberstation that is a modular computer and server that is external to the personal computers to which data is to be distributed. The cyberstation receives, optionally stores, and distributes the broadcast and interactive data to the personal computers. The cyberstation has wireless and optional wired interfaces for communicating with the personal computers. An optional cable modem may be used to directly communicate with the cable system. A satellite receiver is employed to communicate with the geostationary satellite, and a low-earth-orbit satellite transceiver is employed to communicate with low-earth-orbit satellites used to support information requests, data billing and status/diagnostic reporting to a service provider.

Abstract: A data processing architecture provides a common grouping of code that supports a diverse set of services and allows substantially seamless access to these services by subscribers. The architecture is supported by several interrelated components. A framework mechanism provides conforming dynamically linked libraries specific to a given service. System operation is enhanced by a routing mechanism that allocates service loading in accordance with demand and availability. Because a common code framework characterizes much of the complex communication coding, developers seeking to implement new services can concentrate on creating service functionality and rely on the framework mechanism for communication and navigation support.

Abstract: A mobile-based client-server system architecture incorporates two specialized software layers—a specialized “proxy” layer that resides on a mobile client station, and a “web agent” layer that resides on a server. A conventional web browser application residing on a mobile client station is configured to point to the proxy layer, which captures HTTP information request messages that are transmitted to, and received from, the web browser. The HTTP request messages are packed by the proxy layer within a selected communication transmission format for upstream transmission over a communication network, such as a wireless network. At the server, the web agent layer recovers the original, (i.e., “raw”) HTTP request messages, which are then sent to an appropriate web server for further processing.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for presenting the multiple processors of a cluster as a single virtual host to a network wherein the processors are communicatively coupled among themselves and to a network interface. The network interface is communicatively coupled to the network. One of the processors is designated a primary parallel I/O processor. One address is advertised on said network for said multiple processors, and filter trees in the network interface direct the interface to forward packets from the network addressed to that address to the primary parallel I/O processor. Later, the filter tree is modified to direct the network interface to forward a specific subset of the packets directly to a particular processor.

Abstract: Methods, data formats, and computer program products are disclosed for exchanging configuration data between a configuration server schema residing on a configuration server and a network directory service. The exchange of data is significantly enhanced through the use of an extension to a network directory service enabling a rapid mapping between a directory service attribute and a configuration server property. A directory service entry includes multiple shadow attributes where each shadow attribute corresponds to a particular directory service attribute. The particular directory service attribute, in turn, has a corresponding property in the configuration server. The extension also includes a correspondence or path matching file that contains matches between directory service addresses and configuration server location identifier or paths.

Abstract: An apparatus for and method of separating protocol header information from content data in an IEEE 1394-1995 serial bus network. A receiving node receives isochronous data packets from a transmitting node via a serial bus. Each packet can include a data portion in addition to protocol header information, although not every packet necessarily includes the data portion. Each incoming packet is loaded into a buffer in the receiver as the packet is being received. The protocol header information is removed and stored in sequence in a first block of memory. This is accomplished by placing an input_more direct memory access (DMA) instruction into a next instruction register and, then, executing the instruction. In addition, the receiver is conditioned for removing the data portion from the buffer by loading an input_last DMA instruction into the next instruction register.

Abstract: A method of managing resources within a network for consumer electronic media devices. In one embodiment, the method is implemented as a software resource manager which provides a centralized resource allocation, reservation and access control functionalities for a home entertainment server. Particularly, user applications of the home server receive instructions from a user or other entities for a media service, and converts the instructions into a request that identifies the necessary resources for providing the media service. The software resource manager then determines whether such resources are available upon receiving the request. Importantly, the software resource manager also determines whether a routing path between the necessary resources has sufficient bandwidth for performing the requested media service.

Abstract: An admission control system for a server including an admission controller that receives a stream of messages from one or more clients targeted for the server. The admission controller relays to the server the messages in the stream that correspond to a number of sessions already underway between the clients and the server. The admission controller also relays to the server the messages in the stream that do not correspond to sessions already underway if a hybrid and predictive admission control strategy using information provided by a resource monitor indicates that additional sessions can be handled by the server. The admission controller defers the messages otherwise.

Abstract: A data processing method for a data processing system having: a server comprising an application program constructed from a plurality of objects, an execution environment constructed from a plurality of objects for specifying operations of the application program and an application program interface for specifying an interface between the application program and the execution environment; and a client for being downloaded with the application program from the server, the data processing method comprising the steps of: having the server execute a check whether or not the client has the execution environment for the application environment to be downloaded when the application program is to be downloaded to the client; and having the server download the application program to the client in accordance with the results of the check.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for an authenticated electronic userid is provided. According to one embodiment, an adapted digital signature is generated for an outbound message from a local user that authorizes a remote user to reply to the message. The adapted digital signature becomes part of an authenticated electronic userid and, when a reply from the remote user is made, the reply message includes the authenticated electronic userid. A one-way hash function is employed to generate the adapted digital signature. According to one embodiment, if an inbound message to a local user from a remote user does not have an authenticated electronic userid, in particular the adapted digital signature, then the inbound message is rejected. An advantage of the method and apparatus described herein is that unsolicited bulk electronic messages and other non-authorized communications to a local user of an electronic message system are reduced.