Patents Examined by Ricardo M. Pizarro
  • Patent number: 6404747
    Abstract: A Video Multimedia Call Center (VMMCC) with multipoint access through a PBX (private branch exchange, also known as a switchboard) within an ACD (automatic call distribution) environment has both audio and video capabilities. The VMMCC extends traditional call center capabilities into the video and collaborative data domain. An organization using the VMMCC is able to provide a more personal and feature rich interface for both their customer service representatives and their end customers. Call center agents are able to communicate visually with customers at any location where the organization supports an endpoint. The agent and the customer have the added benefit of sharing data applications which provides the customer with a level of empowerment and understanding of the organization's operation that cannot be appreciated over a standard audio interface. Customers are able to see how their information is truly being represented by the agent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2002
    Assignee: Avaya Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Alfred E. Berry, Allan M. Chang, Rich Hamm, Rick Maiden, Sandra Milstead, John Mitchell, Bajinder Singh
  • Patent number: 6404771
    Abstract: An isochronous bus may includes a data signal, a data valid signal, a frame synch signal and a clock signal. The bandwidth of the data signal is partitioned into a plurality of frames. The frame rate may be selected based upon the sample rate of one of the isochronous devices connected to the isochronous bus or maybe some divisor of the data rate of the isochronous bus. Each frame is partitioned into a plurality of data channels. Each data channel transmits data from an isochronous device. A number of bit time slots are allocated to each data channel. The number of bit time slots allocated to each data channel varies based upon the sample rate of the device corresponding to the data channel. In one embodiment, each data channel is allocated more bit time slots than the nominal samples of its corresponding device. In this manner, any drift of the sample clock may be accommodated. A data valid signal is transmitted synchronous to the data signal and the clock signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2002
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventor: Dale E. Gulick
  • Patent number: 6404772
    Abstract: A wireless local area network that carries mixed traffic of voice and data communications may be provided. The wireless local area network may include an access point and a plurality of remote terminals that are associated with the access point. The access point may be operably coupled to a wireline network. The access point may receive voice and other communications packets from the remote terminals and the wireline network. Some of the packets may be for transmission to the remote terminals. The access point manages which packets to transmit and when to transmit packets. The access point may manage traffic to maintain a fair distribution of packets and to give priority to voice communications over other communications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2002
    Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert E. Beach, Jason T. Harris, Richard C. Montgomery, Wanda Sealander
  • Patent number: 6404765
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for efficiently transporting DS-X traffic in packet form over an ATM or other packet network. Specifically, virtual connection or slot provisioning and/or cell concentration techniques are used to compact the amount of DS-X traffic broadcast between communications system devices such as the access mux and the communications switch and spare bandwidth. In provisioning, a configured DS-X loading of an end node supporting DS-X traffic is ascertained. In turn, a minimum number of virtual connections for bearing packetized DS-X traffic are established, either at communications system configuration or as needed. In concentration processing, a dynamic association between the virtual connections and the DS-X traffic is established, typically on a per frame basis. Only those digital channels entering the node within a given time frame which actually bear DS-X traffic will be assigned a slot within packet. Concentration may be augmented by provisioning to further reduce bandwidth requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2002
    Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited
    Inventors: Greg M. Bernstein, Premal Desai, Jeffrey T. Gullicksen
  • Patent number: 6400722
    Abstract: A wireless data network includes a wireless packet switched data network for end users that divides mobility management into local, micro, macro and global connection handover categories and minimizes handoff updates according to the handover category. The network integrates MAC handoff messages with network handoff messages. The network separately directs registration functions to a registration server and direct routing functions to inter-working function units. The network provides an intermediate XTunnel channel between a wireless hub (also called access hub AH) and an inter-working function unit (IWF unit) in a foreign network, and it provides an IXTunnel channel between an inter-working function unit in a foreign network and an inter-working function unit in a home network. The network enhances the layer two tunneling protocol (L2TP) to support a mobile end system, and it performs network layer registration before the start of a PPP communication session.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2002
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Mooi Chuah, Girish Rai
  • Patent number: 6400710
    Abstract: By accessing a hot button available from an internet site, a user can make a request for a switched broadband connection from a control system associated with a broadband network. The control system allocates resources for the broadband connection and coordinates a request with the web host. Accordingly, the web host is capable of providing bandwidth-differentiated services to users making such requests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2002
    Assignee: Enron Warspeed Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael E. Golden, Richard Edward Cobb, Jr., Nancy Virginia Commons
  • Patent number: 6400716
    Abstract: An ATM switch comprises a detector that detects impairments in signal lines, and a controller that controls the preservation of paths that have been established by call control via a signal line when an impairment has been detected on a signal line by the detector. When an impairment has occurred only on a signal line, interruptions in communications services are prevented by causing the data line paths to be preserved rather than released.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2002
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Yuji Munakata, Sachito Shibata
  • Patent number: 6400731
    Abstract: A variable rate communication system comprises a transmission device capable of selectively using one of a predetermined plurality of data rates for each frame determined in stages, and a reception device capable of receiving data transmitted by the plurality of data rates, in which the transmission device comprises data rate decision section decides a data rate used with the latest frame to one of data rates used with the frame immediately before and a different data rate from a data rate used with the frame immediately before by one stage, and encoding section for performing a predetermined encoding processing according to the data rate decided by the data rate decision section to a transmission data, and the reception device comprises decoding section for performing a predetermined decoding processing according to the plurality of data rates to a reception data, respectively, narrowing section for narrowing a candidates of the data rates used with a received latest frame to a part of the plurality of data
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2002
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Tatsuo Nitta
  • Patent number: 6396822
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for encoding data for transmission in a communication system provides increased efficiency in bandwidth utilization through higher data rates, lower error rates, lower power levels, and/or increased capacity. A set of orthogonal codes is partitioned into subsets. The data to be transmitted is partitioned into packets of bit sequences, each of which is mapped to an orthogonal code in an assigned subset. The number of members in a particular subset is determined by the relative transmission requirements of the data signal the subset will be used to encode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2002
    Assignee: Hughes Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Feng-Wen Sun, Khalid Karimullah, Lin-Nan Lee
  • Patent number: 6392999
    Abstract: A telecommunication system routes wireless-specific digital frames from a first wireless communication device across a data-oriented network, without vocoding, for information delivery to a second communication device while implementing multi-party conferencing and tone/announcement generating functionality. Tone and announcement generation services are provided while the call path retains the wireless-specific digital frame format between the first wireless communication device and the terminating gateway. When tones are generated by the first wireless communication device, signaling messages are sent directly to the terminating gateway vocoder to initiate the generation of full rate DTMF tones at the terminating network. When tones and announcements are sent to the first wireless communication device, a resource server, working together with a feature server, generates a wireless-encoded version of the tone or announcement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2002
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Chung-Zin Liu, Kenneth Wayne Strom
  • Patent number: 6392989
    Abstract: Method of providing a recovery plan for a connection in a communications network when the connection is disrupted by a failure of a switch, switch or link in the network. In a provisioning phase, a primary plan and recovery plan for a connection to be protected in a communications network are developed. Forwarding information in the form of mapping or forwarding tables is derived from the plans and is distributed to each of the switches in the network. In the event of a failure each switch receives notice of the failure and switches to the recovery plan related to the failure. If and when the failure is repaired or cleared, each switch then switches back to its primary plan. Determining a recovery plan during the provisioning phase is based on the rule that a unit of failure is a switch or group of switches in the network rather than a link, regardless of the actual cause of the failure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2002
    Assignee: CPlane Inc.
    Inventors: Paul Wenceslas Jardetzky, Jaroslaw Joseph Sydir, Balaji Srinivasan
  • Patent number: 6385198
    Abstract: This invention describes a method for controlling the creation of data paths of predefined capacity that is needed for timely forwarding of packets in networks where the switches maintain a common time reference. The invention describes a signaling controller that is responsive to a setup request by computing a route of switches for data transmission, and a transmission schedule, which consists of predetermined time frames in which the switches along the route may forward packets of said setup request. The invention describes a switch signaling controller, which operates in every switch and which sends and is responsive to messages regarding reserving and releasing bandwidth on the switch's ports. The invention describes a protocol by which end-stations, gateways, signaling controller, and switch signaling controllers communicate to establish paths of specified capacities; and algorithms for processing signaling messages and finding transmission schedule in the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2002
    Assignee: Synchrodyne Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Yoram Ofek, Nachum Shacham
  • Patent number: 6381243
    Abstract: A time slot aligner (60) determines delay (in terms of frames) of time slots of a set of frames received on Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PHD) transmission network. In accordance with the time slot frame/delay determination technique of the invention, the time slot aligner finds an initial header of an ATM cell by searching five consecutive time slots in nearby frames of the set of frames. Once the initial header is found, a frame/delay value is determined for each time slot comprising the header. The frame/delay values for selected time slots of the header are then used to form a window which is used for searching for the next header. Searching for a next header for a next ATM cell involves sliding the window to other frames of the set of frames and searching for a value in a successive time slot which will form a HEC byte for a header framed by the sliding window. When a next header is located, a frame/delay determination has to be made only for the last time slot of the header, e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2002
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
    Inventor: Ulf Ekstedt
  • Patent number: 6381236
    Abstract: A bi-directional digital transmission method, and system, for sending and receiving digital transmission signals having a frame configuration modulated by an orthogonal frequency division multiplex modulation scheme. A first sending unit in a first transmission station converts first continuous data to a up-direction intermittent transmission signal, and sends it from a first antenna via a first switchover unit. The up-direction intermittent transmission signal is received by a second antenna of a second transmission station, and supplied to a second receiving unit of the second transmission station via a second switchover unit of the second transmission station. The second receiving unit determines whether receiving operation of the up-direction intermittent transmission signal has been established, and if so, restores the original first continuous data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2002
    Assignee: Hitachi Denshi Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsushi Miyashita, Toshiyuki Akiyama, Nobuo Tsukamoto
  • Patent number: 6377540
    Abstract: A conflict resolution center (130 FIG. 1) is used to manage and resolve resource allocation conflicts in communications system (100) including a number of semi-autonomous communications nodes (SACNs). SACN (110) operates semi-autonomously because SACNs cannot independently allocate and de-allocate resources but rather operate within the confines of at least one local neighborhood. SACNs (110) allocate and de-allocate resources locally based on local neighborhood information. A conflict occurs when at least two SACNs try to allocate the same resource. Conflict resolution center (130) resolves conflicts using a number of different procedures. When a conflict can be resolved, conflict resolution center (130) provides resource reallocation data to at least one SACN (110). When a conflict cannot be resolved, conflict resolution center (130) notifies a system administrator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2002
    Assignee: Motorola, Inc.
    Inventors: Shawn Wesley Hogberg, Gerald Joseph Davieau, Victor Hawes Cutler, Jr.
  • Patent number: 6370131
    Abstract: In the CDMA Radio Multiplex Transmission, transfer function of line is inferred by using common pilot signal and synchronous detection is performed accordingly. The transmitting end transmits by periodically inserting pilot symbols into one channel only of multiplexed channels. The receiving end infers line condition (transfer function) from the received pilot symbols and, on the basis of the information thus obtained, performs synchronous detection of each channel multiplexed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2002
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuyuki Miya
  • Patent number: 6370114
    Abstract: The benefits of Transport Control Protocol (TCP) over Available Bit Rate (ABR) Service of an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network is extended to the entire TCP connection by intercepting and modifying TCP congestion control information in accordance with resource information associated with the TCP connection. An algorithm calculates a new advertised window size based on various network resource parameters, such as ABR. The advertised window is adjusted if the newly calculated window size is smaller than the advertised window size. By adjusting the TCP window, the normal extreme fluctuations of the TCP window are avoided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2002
    Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited
    Inventors: Jeffrey T. Gullicksen, Greg M. Bernstein, Gurpreet S. Chhabra
  • Patent number: 6370154
    Abstract: A craft interface device for accessing a telecommunications network having several levels or layers of interactive structure has a graphical user interface for displaying on a monitor a sequence graphical representations of operatively interconnected objects in a respective layer of the telecommunications network, whereby a user can navigate graphically through the network from a highest hierarchical level of objects to a lowest hierarchical level of objects and operational interrelationships. The graphical user interface is operatively connected to a display interactive user input component (e.g., a mouse) for detecting user selection via the input component of a broadband first end point displayed in a first window by the graphical user interface and a broadband second end point displayed in a second window by the graphical user interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2002
    Assignee: Alcatel USA Sourcing, L.P.
    Inventor: Gregory Wickham
  • Patent number: 6363049
    Abstract: An improved Pseudo Noise (PN) code acquisition apparatus and method for Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) systems which utilize a Fourier Transform and which operate in both additive white Gaussian noise and frequency offset environments. The signal to noise ratio (SNR) is generated and used not only to make the decision of when to stop the signal search process but also to adjust the search rate. The Fourier transform is implemented in ASIC hardware to estimate frequency offset. To further speed up its processing, the Fourier transform is performed using shift and add operations by employing canonic sign digit representation of the eigen vector of the Fourier transform. Detection probability is increased and false alarm probability is reduced significantly, especially in a frequency offset environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2002
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Sanguoon Chung
  • Patent number: 6363082
    Abstract: A technique for handling undesired data over a limited bandwidth channel. Specifically, one embodiment in accordance with the present invention operates within an electronic system or device (e.g., personal digital assistant) which can be coupled to a networking environment. An embodiment of the present invention allows higher levels of software operating within an electronic system to directly communicate with and determine the current operation of lower levels of software. As such, a higher level of software is advantageously able to perform appropriate actions in response to activities being performed by a lower level of software.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2002
    Assignee: Palm Computing, Inc.
    Inventors: David Kammer, Steve Elliot, Rich Karstens