Abstract: The present invention is a method and system of load balancing in a group of one or more servers connected to one or more subnetworks. Two or more independent servers are bound into a group, with one of the servers elected to serve as a leader. The leader acts as a load balancer for the group while the remaining servers act as slaves. This functionality eliminates the need for one or more dedicated load balancing devices and lowers the hardware requirements necessary for performing such load balancing.

Abstract: After a device having a particular function is detected from among devices connected to a network and if a transmission medium to the detected device is not a transmission medium compatible with a predetermined transmission system, an alarm message is displayed. A user can therefore be notified of that the detected device is not connected through a transmission medium suitable for data communications.

Abstract: An application entity may be created and defined by a user at an application. Related service entities managed by different service applications may be matched and consolidated. The application entity may be associated with one or more related service entities. Metadata corresponding to the associated service entities may be provided to the application. Such metadata may enable the associated service entities to be managed from within the application.

Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for backing up data across a plurality of clients on a grid computing system. A sequence management apparatus includes a client request module, a sequence module, and packet storage module. The sequence module is configured to receive data to be backed up from a source client. The sequence module is configured to generate a non-transparent sequence key that identifies one or more target clients on the grid computing system. The packet storage module is configured to store a backup copy of the data from the source client on the plurality of target clients according to the non-transparent sequence key. The non-transparent sequence key may be generated by and known only to the sequence management apparatus in order to maintain a minimum security level for the data backed up on the plurality of target clients.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a system and method for an application server architecture having a common connection manager for at least two heterogeneous application server software suites. One of the software suites is a standards-based application server software suite having a plurality of worker nodes. In one embodiment, the plurality of worker nodes share code and data that is stored in a shared memory.

Abstract: An electronic control apparatus such as an ECU of a motor vehicle contains first and second microcomputers, with the first microcomputer having a substantially higher data receiving performance than the second microcomputer. Data for updating a ROM of the second microcomputer, transmitted to the first microcomputer from an external apparatus at a relatively high data rate, are temporarily stored in RAM by the first microcomputer and then transmitted to the second microcomputer at a rate which is appropriate for the receiving performance of the second microcomputer.

Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for on-demand control of a grid system resource on a grid computing system. An on-demand management apparatus includes a user input module, a parameter module, and a reservation module. The user input module is configured to allow a user to input a parameter control request. The parameter control request corresponds to a performance parameter of the grid computing system. The global parameter module is configured to dynamically change the performance parameter, which corresponds to a performance resource, according to the parameter control request. The global reservation module is configured to reserve the performance resource for a grid computing operation. The on-demand management apparatus is also configured to terminate a performance resource reservation when a client reclaims the performance resources from the grid computing system.

Abstract: Provided are methods, apparatus or computer programs for collaborative problem solving and/or automated discovery and dynamic integration of capabilities in a distributed, multidisciplinary work environment. A set of software-implemented agents distributed across a network are used to identify agents and resources on the network that are capable of performing required tasks. The agents collaborate to generate a plan comprising a task allocation and task execution sequence in which tasks are allocated to selected ones of the agents and identified resources, and then the selected agents and resources execute the allocated tasks in accordance with the generated plan. Services (such as processing functions and knowledge) provided by hardware and software resources in a network are represented as ‘capabilities’ of an associated agent. The functions implemented by each agent are also represented as ‘capabilities’.

Abstract: A method, system, and apparatus are provided for interpreting time data received from a server computer management device. According to the method, the local time at a remote computer may be received and converted to GMT. Once the local time has been converted to GMT, a command may be issued to the remote management device instructing the device to set its real time clock to GMT. The remote management device then maintains its time with reference to GMT. When data is received from the server management device, a determination is made as to whether the received data includes time data. If time data is identified, the time data is converted from GMT to a local time where the remote computer is located. The time data is then replaced with the converted time data in the received data. The received data, including the converted time, may then be displayed at the remote computer.

Abstract: A service access architecture to enable customer access to telecommunications provider services is provided. The service access architecture includes a service layer providing a standard interface for communication with customer applications to access network systems and data systems of the telecommunications provider. The service access architecture also includes a device/data layer maintaining the network systems and data systems of the telecommunications provider. The service access architecture includes an adaptation layer coupled to communicate, via at least one broker of the adaptation layer, with the service layer and to communicate, via at least one adapter of the adaptation layer, with the device/data layer, the adaptation layer operable to interface between the service layer and the device/data layer. A method is also provided for a customer of a telecommunications provider to gain access to the telecommunications provider's services and applications using a customer application.

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for pseudo-synchronous communication in an asynchronous messaging network. The system includes a forward pipeline for transmitting asynchronous request messages from a sender system to the receiver system, and a backward pipeline for transmitting asynchronous acknowledgement messages from the receiver system to the sender system. Each acknowledgement message includes a reference to a request message and a result of an event associated with the request message.

Abstract: Class network routing is implemented in a network such as a computer network comprising a plurality of parallel compute processors at nodes thereof. Class network routing allows a compute processor to broadcast a message to a range (one or more) of other compute processors in the computer network, such as processors in a column or a row. Normally this type of operation requires a separate message to be sent to each processor. With class network routing pursuant to the invention, a single message is sufficient, which generally reduces the total number of messages in the network as well as the latency to do a broadcast. Class network routing is also applied to dense matrix inversion algorithms on distributed memory parallel supercomputers with hardware class function (multicast) capability. This is achieved by exploiting the fact that the communication patterns of dense matrix inversion can be served by hardware class functions, which results in faster execution times.

Abstract: A document management system includes one or more document repositories for storing documents and a document notification and delivery service (DNDS) for detecting documents pertaining to subjects that are stored in the document repositories. A plurality of workflow modules subscribe to the DNDS to receive documents identified that pertain to subscribed subjects. At least two workflow modules produce documents that are published to the document repositories. Further, a first workflow module publishes to one of the document repositories a first document which is detected by the DNDS and which pertains to at least one subscribed subject of a second workflow module. Subsequent to the publication of the first document by the DNDS to the one of the document repositories, the DNDS delivers the first document to the second workflow module that operates independent from the first workflow module to produce a second document.

Abstract: A system and method for providing real-time, dynamic switching between first and second service providers each capable of providing a service for users over a communications network. The method includes steps of: establishing switching criterion for deciding when to switch service provision between the first service provider and second service provider; maintaining state information associated with a user's use of the service provided by a first service provider; switching between the first and second service provided over the communications network based on satisfaction of the switching criterion; and, migrating any state information maintained up to the time of switching to the second service. Preferably, the dynamic switching occurs in a manner substantially transparent to the user.

Abstract: The complexities of actions and recipes used in collaborative planning are defined using set theory and an accompanying formalization. The formalizations presented can be used as a basis for making decisions in relation choosing recipes, and other activities concerning collaborative task execution in a multi-agent environment. Introducing the notion of the complexity of a recipe and an action provides a measure of the difficulty of a task, based upon which decisions regarding the use of particular recipes and contractors can be made.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided to fast fill media players and buffers associated with media players. A bandwidth associated with initial startup of a media player is overloaded to rapidly fill the buffer and initiate the media player. Alternatively, multiple simultaneous data communication sessions are established with a media data source device, and the media data are concurrently received from the simultaneous sessions into the buffer or transferred of out the buffer at startup, thereby decreasing the latency associated with initiating the media player.

Abstract: A system and method for providing user registry management of instant messages is disclosed. The system allows recipients to set filter criteria for filtering instant messages, the filter criteria being selected from a database of characteristics, or registry, for senders of the instant messages. When an instant message is received, the system determines the characteristics of the sender. The system blocks display of the received instant message if the filter criteria are met by the characteristics of the sender.

Abstract: A home network integrates a television to enable a user to use the television to conduct an Internet video conference by leveraging the Internet video conferencing functionality provided by a home computer connected to the Internet. The television is connected to the home network via a TV client module, and a video camera co-located with the television is also connected to the TV client. The TV client presents on the television an Internet conferencing option selectable by a user to invoke the video conferencing functionality of the personal computer. During the video conference, video and audio data captured by the video camera are transmitted by the TV client over the home network to the personal computer fro forwarding onto the conferencing parties on the Internet, and user interface data representing video/audio streams received from the Internet are transmitted by the personal computer to the TV client for display on the television.

Abstract: A home network integrates a television to enable a user to use the television to conduct an Internet video conference by leveraging the Internet video conferencing functionality provided by a home computer connected to the Internet. The television is connected to the home network via a TV client module, and a video camera co-located with the television is also connected to the TV client. The TV client presents on the television an Internet conferencing option selectable by a user to invoke the video conferencing functionality of the personal computer. During the video conference, video and audio data captured by the video camera are transmitted by the TV client over the home network to the personal computer fro forwarding onto the conferencing parties on the Internet, and user interface data representing video/audio streams received from the Internet are transmitted by the personal computer to the TV client for display on the television.

Abstract: A communication protocol stack for enabling multimedia communication between communicating devices where multiple port communication data is tunneled through a single TCP port is provided. The communication protocol stack includes, at an application level, the capability to identify whether received communication data is for a communication port. If the received communication data is for the communication port, then the communication protocol stack includes the ability to forward identification data regarding the received communication data to a table in advance of forwarding the received communication data to a driver level of the communication protocol stack. A method, computer readable medium, and a system for tunneling port traffic through a single HTTP port are also provided.