Patents Examined by Moustafa Meky
  • Patent number: 7349944
    Abstract: A collaborative communication session (“session”), as created by the presenter and witnesses by one or more users on second computers, may be recorded. The session may be replayed by a user's computer, directing the audio and visual components of the browser on the user's computer as if the user was attending the live session. The recorded session replays the events of the live session in real time such that they playback experience contains the same audio and visual events that took place when the session was originally being recorded. Moreover, the recorded session may be encoded such that the session may be played back according to the client's playback capabilities, permissions and preferences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2008
    Assignee: InterCall, Inc.
    Inventors: Todd Vernon, Dan Jones, David Bradley Rust
  • Patent number: 7346656
    Abstract: Asynchronous, networked publication and collaborative communication system and method comprise a secure website managed by one organization to which authorized members of a team can connect using an Internet browser program. News content is developed on the website using selected webpage templates, which news content is then published to pre-established end points sponsored by another organization and broadcast to selected persons. Alternatively the news content can be developed within the sponsoring organization when at least one authorized member is not affiliated with the sponsoring organization. Preferably, at least one is connected to a database to archive news content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Unity Works Media
    Inventor: Bill C. Worthen
  • Patent number: 7346681
    Abstract: A system and method for improving or maintaining the quality of service delivered by a network with respect to a preferred type of information carried by the network. The status of the network is monitored to determine if the actual or projected quality of service being provided by the network for the preferred information meets a quality of service requirement. If the quality of service does not meet the requirement, a message is formulated and sent to an end-user terminals such as a wireless handset. The message instructs the terminal to change a parameter by which the terminal sends information to the network. For example, the message can instruct the terminal to send less non-preferred information to the network, or change the compression scheme used to send a type of information to the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC
    Inventors: Farzan Mamaghani, Brian Daly
  • Patent number: 7337219
    Abstract: A local proxy in a home network may identify the device class to which a particular device in the home network belongs based on the receipt of a message requesting a network address for use by the device. A device class may include a broad category to describe the device (such as, a gaming device, a personal computer, an appliance, or a PDA), the type of platform (e.g., the type of hardware, such as a Macintosh™ personal computer, a Windows™-based personal computer, a Linux™-based personal computer, a PDA, a home appliance, or an entertainment device), and/or the operating environment (e.g., operating system type and/or version). The local proxy associates the device class with the device. The local proxy may process a request from a device in a home network based on the device class of the device that sent the request. For example, access to a game available on the home network may be restricted to a gaming device or personal computer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2008
    Assignee: AOL LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company
    Inventors: Patrick Meenan, Jeffrey Joseph Damick
  • Patent number: 7337223
    Abstract: A system for monitoring user activity in an instant messaging session on a computer network periodically sends an activity message to other participants in the instant messaging session if the user has actively entered data during a first predetermined time interval. The system periodically sends a new activity message at intervals corresponding to the first predetermined time interval so long as the user is actively entering data during each time interval. If the user has not entered data during the first predetermined time interval, the system will not send an activity message. Other participants in the instant messaging session receive the activity message and generate an activity indicator on their respective displays. The computer receiving the activity message displays an activity indicator on the computer display in response to receipt of an activity message and starts a timer to measure a second predetermined time interval.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel S. Glasser, Stephen M. Liffick
  • Patent number: 7337446
    Abstract: Resource management architectures implemented in computer systems to manage resources are described. In one embodiment, a general architecture includes a resource manager and multiple resource providers that support one or more resource consumers such as a system component or application. Each provider is associated with a resource and acts as the manager for the resource when interfacing with the resource manager. The resource manager arbitrates access to the resources provided by the resource providers on behalf of the consumers. A policy manager sets various policies that are used by the resource manager to allocate resources. One policy is a priority-based policy that distinguishes among which applications and/or users have priority over others to use the resources. A resource consumer creates an “activity” at the resource manager and builds one or more “configurations” that describe various sets of preferred resources required to perform the activity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Mukund Sankaranarayan, Forrest C. Foltz, George Shaw, Dale A. Sather, Andy R. Raffman, Jai Srinivasan, Terje K. Backman, William G. Parry, David S. Bakin, Michael B. Jones, Sean C. McDowell, Jayachandran Raja, Robin Speed
  • Patent number: 7334027
    Abstract: Respective WWNs (World Wide Names) which can be allocated to a plurality of computers, business application identity information of programs to be booted and area identity information, of areas in a storage system in which the programs are stored, are associated and stored. In response to the entry of a boot request including the business application identity information of a designated computer to be booted, the WWN and the area identity information corresponding to the business application identity information are sent to the computer in order to boot the program. In the computer, the sent WWN is set and the area identity information is set as the area to be booted. Subsequently, by means of a restart of the computer, the program stored in the area is booted to operate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takao Nakajima, Yoshifumi Takamoto, Kouji Masuda, Keisuke Hatasaki
  • Patent number: 7330896
    Abstract: A single address configuration table entry maps multiple source devices in a source network to a single destination device in a destination network. The single address configuration table entry is used when any of the source devices initiates a connection to the destination device. The single address configuration table entry includes a “wildcard” for matching the source address of connection requests that are originated by any of the multiple source devices and destined for the destination device. When a connection is initiated by a source device, certain address/channel information is dynamically allocated in order to map the source device to the destination device. A dynamic routing table entry is installed in a dynamic routing table in order to map the source device to the destination device using the dynamically allocated address/channel information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2008
    Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited
    Inventors: Richard Crump, Janet Yung Doong
  • Patent number: 7328245
    Abstract: A method, system, computer program product, and user interface for enabling secure, remote selection and retrieval of stored electronic documents from a user's PC or other device. The user may obtain such access to his or her documents from any network-connected location, regardless of whether a firewall is present. A directory representation of the user's PC hard drive is transmitted to the user at his or her remote location. The user can navigate within the directory representation to select a document for retrieval. An e-mail message is transmitted from the user's remote location to the PC that causes the selected document to be packaged as an attachment and transmitted to the remote location. In one application of the invention, a user can print a document from his or her PC, while he or she is standing at a printer (or multifunction device) that is not in the same physical location as the PC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jonathan J Hull, Derek E Poppink
  • Patent number: 7321917
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for displaying an options page for client application in a network environment. Instead of hard coding the options page within the client application, the options page is stored on a server computer and may be updated dynamically without modifying the client application. In one aspect, the user requests to view the options page using menu commands generated by the client application. In response to the user request, the client application launches a browser, if needed, and passes the current settings for the options page to the browser along with an address pointing to the location of the options page on a server computer. The browser connects to the server computer specified in the URL, requests the page associated with the address, and passes the user settings to the server computer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Peter Emmanuel Durham
  • Patent number: 7321927
    Abstract: Respective WWNs (World Wide Names) which can be allocated to a plurality of computers, business application identity information of programs to be booted and area identity information, of areas in a storage system in which the programs are stored, are associated and stored. In response to the entry of a boot request including the business application identity information of a designated computer to be booted, the WWN and the area identity information corresponding to the business application identity information are sent to the computer in order to boot the program. In the computer, the sent WWN is set and the area identity information is set as the area to be booted. Subsequently, by means of a restart of the computer, the program stored in the area is booted to operate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takao Nakajima, Yoshifumi Takamoto, Kouji Masuda, Keisuke Hatasaki
  • Patent number: 7320018
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for providing a communication network. The system comprises a ‘network-connected server having input and access capabilities, a site builder, a transmitter, a communicator, and memory. The site-builder receives instructions input from a first user and creates a dedicated network site based on the received instructions. The transmitter communicates the existence of the dedicated network site to a nominated second user. The communicator provides accesses to the contents of the dedicated network site by the first and second users. The memory stores information input by the first and the second user in the dedicated network site.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2008
    Assignee: Involv International Corporation
    Inventors: Michael J. Cannata, Richard Lee, Matthew Powell, Ryan Ramasra, Gerald William Smith, Charles Edward Tatham, Randall Nelson Remme
  • Patent number: 7315897
    Abstract: A method, computer program product, and data processing system for distributed control of network elements is disclosed. The present invention divides the control plane functions of a network element into subsystems, which are implemented as processes or threads. A bus-like messaging framework allows the subsystems to communicate with each other. Under the messaging framework, subsystems can communicate with each other without regard for whether the subsystems reside on separate (possibly heterogeneous) hardware platforms or on the same processor. This architecture allows individual components of the control plane functions of a single network element to be placed on different processors or on the same processor, depending on the desired degree of parallel processing or level of integration with low-level network-element hardware.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2008
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Kevin Michael Hardee, Michael G. Soulakis, Thomas Wiley Hambleton
  • Patent number: 7316017
    Abstract: In a multiprocessor system, a system and method assigns communications to processors, processes, or subsets of types of communications to be processed by a specific processor without using a locking mechanism specific to the resources required for assignment. The system and method can reschedule processes to run on the processor on which the assignment is made.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2008
    Assignee: SLT Logic, LLC
    Inventors: Van Jacobson, Bob Felderman, Archibald L Cobbs, Martin Eberhard
  • Patent number: 7313595
    Abstract: A collaborative Web browsing session may take place over a network, allowing the presenter on a first computer to direct the audio and visual components of a browser on one or more second computers. The second computer is instructed to log into a control site that downloads an active control, such as an applet, to the second computer. The present invention allows a collaborative Web browsing session (“session”), as created by the presenter and witnesses by one or more users on second computers, to be recorded and archived by the control site. When a user of a computer is connected to the control site through a communication network such as the World Wide Web, that user may log into the control site and request to view an archived session. The session will then be replayed by the control site on the user's computer, directing the audio and visual components of the browser on the user's computer as if the user was attending the live session.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2007
    Assignee: InterCall, Inc.
    Inventor: David Bradley Rust
  • Patent number: 7301738
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for monitoring a communication network is provided. The network includes a plurality of node electronics units communicatively coupled to at least one central control processing unit through at least one network wherein each network includes a network switch. The method includes coupling a monitoring domain to the network, and receiving at least one of network traffic transmitted on at least one of the monitored links, and network traffic received on at least one of the monitored links through at least one monitoring link. The apparatus includes a plurality of node electronics units communicatively coupled to at least one central control processing unit through at least one network wherein each network includes a network switch, and wherein the apparatus comprises a monitoring domain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2007
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Marc Robert Pearlman, Emad Andarawis Andarawis
  • Patent number: 7299257
    Abstract: A ConnectIcon View is employed to establish collaborative communications between a plurality of participants in a group. Specifically, it is a dynamic visual representation of the participants of a group being invited to communicate together with their presence information, lists of documents and URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) to be examined, and a set of mechanisms (email, chat, voice, and the like) to initiate communication, each of which can be billed to the originator or otherwise as desired. The available presence information allows a user to employ the best mode of communicating for the instant purpose, namely, either asynchronous communication or synchronous communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2007
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: David Gray Boyer, James Owen Coplien, Rebecca Elizabeth Grinter, Randy L. Hackbarth, James David Herbsleb, Lalita Jategaonkar Jagadeesan, Peter Andrew Mataga, Graham John Wills
  • Patent number: 7299282
    Abstract: A processor for processing contents of packets passing through a connection point on a computer network. The processor includes a searching apparatus having one or more comparators for searching for a reference string in the contents of a packet, and processes contents of all packets passing through the connection point in real time. In one implementation, the processor is programmable and has an instruction set that includes an instruction for invoking the searching apparatus to search for a specified reference string in the packet starting at an unknown location within a range of the packet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2007
    Assignee: Hi/fn Inc.
    Inventors: Haig A. Sarkissian, Russell S. Dietz, Andrew A. Koppenhaver
  • Patent number: 7299258
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for providing a communication network. The system comprises a ‘network-connected server having input and access capabilities, a site builder, a transmitter, a communicator, and memory. The site-builder receives instructions input from a first user and creates a dedicated network site based on the received instructions. The transmitter communicates the existence of the dedicated network site to a nominated second user. The communicator provides accesses to the contents of the dedicated network site by the first and second users. The memory stores information input by the first and the second user in the dedicated network site.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2007
    Assignee: Involv International Corporation
    Inventors: Gerald William Smith, Charles Edward Tatham, Randall Nelson Remme
  • Patent number: 7296077
    Abstract: A method, an apparatus, a system, and a computer program product are presented for allowing an administrative user to provide help, support, or assistance to other users within a computing environment. An administrator obtains a username of a user who requires assistance through some means. The administrator belongs to a special group of users that is allowed to invoke a switch-user function, which obtains a comprehensive version of that user's identity, e.g., security credentials, while maintaining a session. With respect to applications and systems within a computing environment, the administrator's session will have the attributes of the assumed user identity as if the administrator had logged in with that user's authentication information. The administrator then accesses resources while impersonating that user in order to assist that user or to find a problem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Benjamin B. Harmon, Anthony S. Moran