Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for associating contextual data with communication sessions, in particular in technical help desk scenarios. A context logger service running on a central server or on an individual computing device is used to create a log of application specific, often ephemeral, contextual data for a plurality of applications running one or more systems that are in communication with the context logger service across one or more networks. When a communication session between an initiating entity and a receiving entity to request assistance regarding a subject application running on one of the systems is initiated, and if the communication session is deemed to be a candidate for the automatic association of such context data, at least a portion of the application specific contextual data contained in the log is associated with the communication session and delivered to the receiving entity.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for generating and managing presentities in accordance with a virtual presence server. By way of example, a method for requesting information from at least one server comprises the following steps. A client request, which expresses a request that can not be satisfied by a single existing presentity, is obtained at an intermediate server, wherein the intermediate server operates as a virtual presence server. The virtual presence server (i.e., intermediate server) creates a set of software objects for a virtual presentity, the set of objects embodying logic to combine presence information from one or more of existing presentities and external information sources, in accordance with at least one existing presence server. The virtual presence server creates an association between the request of the client and the created virtual presentity that allows the presence information to be propagated back to the client.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for maintaining and processing provenance data in such data stream processing systems. For example, a method for processing data associated with a data stream received by a data stream processing system, wherein the system comprises a plurality of processing elements, comprising the following steps. A portion of data associated with the data stream is maintained. The maintained data comprises inputs to each processing element that contributed to an output of each processing element. In response to an alert generated by one of the processing elements, a scheduler is triggered to determine when a pre-calculation of a prospective query related to the alert should be executed. In response to the scheduler, at least a portion of the maintained data is used to determine a set of data that contributed to the alert such that the alert-contributing set of data can be used to respond to the prospective query upon arrival thereof.

Abstract: Techniques for supporting a presence virtualization query are provided. The techniques include receiving a virtual query from a client, the virtual query specified in terms of a membership set of members, wherein the membership set comprises a list of presentity uniform resource identifiers (URIs) and a separate transformation function, defined over a set of presence documents of the members in the membership set, redirecting the query to a destination virtual presentity URI whose presence state comprises an aggregation of the presence documents of the list of URIs in the membership set and a corresponding query element (QE) object that manages subscriptions for the URI, adding the client as a watcher for the destination virtual presentity URI, and applying transformation logic specified by the watcher client and notifying a corresponding client of a resulting output.

Abstract: Improved descriptive query techniques are provided. More particularly, techniques are provided for specifying and processing descriptive queries for data providers grouped into provider kinds with hierarchical containment relationships. The query may include arbitrary boolean combinations of arbitrary tests on the values of attributes of the data providers.

Abstract: Improved descriptive query techniques are provided. More particularly, techniques are provided for specifying and processing descriptive queries for data providers grouped into provider kinds with hierarchical containment relationships. The query may include arbitrary boolean combinations of arbitrary tests on the values of attributes of the data providers.

Abstract: A method is provided for performing a classification. The method includes ranking a plurality of features of a training set according to how closely they are correlated to their corresponding classifications, extracting a plurality of features of from input data, selecting a subset of the plurality of features such that a computational resource cost of the subset is less than a predefined computational resource maximum and a degree of utility achieved by a classification of the subset by a selected classifier is optimized and exceeds a predefined utility minimum, predicting one of the features of the sensor data that is not selected for the subset of features from a predefined number of past samples of the feature and adding the predicted feature to the subset of features, and classifying, by a processor, using the selected classifier and the resulting subset of features.

Abstract: Mobile wireless devices may receive data streams from multiple remote sensors. The sensors may have limited power supplies and memory capacity. Aspects of the invention use statistical characteristics of the sensor data streams and the cost of acquiring a single element of each stream to determine what sequence the sensors should send their data streams in. The cost of acquiring the data may be, modified dynamically, depending on parameters such as block size. Additional factors, such as a sensor's buffer capacity, may limit the amount of stream elements that may be cached and affect the sensors' stream transmit sequence. The evaluation order may be dynamically modified using an event processing engine, to reflect both changing statistics of underlying sensor stream tuples and time-varying acquisition costs associated with individual streams. This helps to increase in the operational lifetime of the sensors and associated monitoring applications.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention enable very rapid intervention on detection of computer network attacks by viruses or other malicious code. Targeted disruption of links between selected nodes in the network is used to hinder the spread of such malicious code. This applies to e-mail and other modes of communication. For instance, identification of and response to an attack may occur within 5-10 minutes instead of the hours or days timescale associated with known signature-based virus protection techniques. Aspects of the invention directly adapt to observed patterns of social contacts and exchanges to provide a substantial increase, e.g., on the order of a 10-fold increase, in the time until a virus affects 70-80% of network users. This provides anti-virus inoculation mechanisms significant time, for instance on the order of 1-2 additional days, before an attack disrupts worldwide communication networks.

Abstract: A scalable middleware for supporting energy-efficient, long-term remote health monitoring and the capture and transmission of relative causative contextual history where data is collected using physiological sensors and transported back to the middleware through a mobile device serving as a gateway. The key to energy efficient operations lies in the adoption of an Activity Triggered Deep Monitoring paradigm, where data collection episodes are triggered only when the system is determined to possess a specified set of causative contexts. The system supports on-demand collection of causative contextual history using a low-overhead provenance collection sub-system. In a preferred embodiment the behavior of this sub-system is configured using an application-defined context composition graph. The resulting causative context history stream provides valuable insight into the states and conditions surround sensor readings and allows improved human interpretation of the ‘episodic’ sensor data streams.

Abstract: Techniques for supporting a presence virtualization query are provided. The techniques include receiving a virtual query from a client, the virtual query specified in terms of a membership set of members, wherein the membership set comprises a list of presentity uniform resource identifiers (URIs) and a separate transformation function, defined over a set of presence documents of the members in the membership set, redirecting the query to a destination virtual presentity URI whose presence state comprises an aggregation of the presence documents of the list of URIs in the membership set and a corresponding query element (QE) object that manages subscriptions for the URI, adding the client as a watcher for the destination virtual presentity URI, and applying transformation logic specified by the watcher client and notifying a corresponding client of a resulting output.

Abstract: A method, system, and computer program for dynamically setting up collaborative associations between a group of users, computing resources, and/or communication devices, where the constituents of the collaborative association are chosen based on a variety of contextual criteria. The dynamic collaboration enabler component determines the explicit identities of the parties that should be a part of the collaboration. The group of individual entities involved in the collaboration can change dynamically during the lifetime of the collaboration, based on appropriate changes in the contextual data. Such contextual data refers to both state variables associated with the collaboration software or infrastructure itself, or to the state of entities external to the collaboration. The duration of the collaborative association is specified either explicitly or through a set of context related conditions.

Abstract: A method for continually controlling the collective behavior of a set of computing devices in a distributed data processing system. A gateway node disseminates a specification request comprising a set of parameters to a set of computing devices. The gateway node may be unaware of the number and identity of individual computing devices. Each computing node receiving the request determines whether its attributes satisfy the predicates expressed in the specification request. If so, the node processes the parameters in the specification request and modifies its own behavior based on the values in the parameters of the specification request. Subsequently, the gateway node may also observe the quality of information (QoI) values communicated from the set of computing devices. The gateway node iteratively modifies the parameters disseminated in subsequent specification requests based on a divergence between a computed quality of information value and a desired quality of information value.

Abstract: A method for continually controlling the collective behavior of a set of computing devices in a distributed data processing system. A gateway node disseminates a specification request comprising a set of parameters to a set of computing devices. The gateway node may be unaware of the number and identity of individual computing devices. Each computing node receiving the request determines whether its attributes satisfy the predicates expressed in the specification request. If so, the node processes the parameters in the specification request and modifies its own behavior based on the values in the parameters of the specification request. Subsequently, the gateway node may also observe the quality of information (QoI) values communicated from the set of computing devices. The gateway node iteratively modifies the parameters disseminated in subsequent specification requests based on a divergence between a computed quality of information value and a desired quality of information value.

Abstract: A method, system, and computer program for dynamically adjusting the workload of an active resource associated with at least one parent workload group. The parent workload group includes a collection of workload units, with each associated to a key identifier such that workload units belonging to the parent workload group share an identical sequence of values at a specified depth value of the key identifier. The active resource independently determines whether an overload condition exists. If an overload condition exists, the depth value of the parent workload group is increased. The active resource may also consolidate a workload group if an under-load condition exists. Dynamically adjusting the workload of an active resource can be used as part of a method or system to dynamically adjust the workload of a distributed computing application across a dynamically varying set of active resources, and subsequently redirecting entities to the dynamically changing target resource.

Abstract: A Web services-oriented service provider middleware architecture and implementation is provided that integrates the performance monitoring of individual CPs, along with other dynamic contextual conditions, in the automatic selection of appropriate CPs. In the architecture, a CP's performance is evaluated not only in terms of network or service-level parameters, but also via other business processes (e.g., complaint handling). The selection of multiple Web services occurs through an initial filtering of a set of feasible workflows for each task depending on business agreements and end user needs, and a subsequent dynamic context-based selection of the most appropriate workflow. A workflow filtering and ranking engine uses metarules to guide the optimisation process and help in selecting and ranking the feasible workflows. The component services in the workflows are evaluated by evaluator processes of information sources. The workflow engine outputs the workflows in their preference ranking.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for generating and managing presentities in accordance with a virtual presence server. By way of example, a method for requesting information from at least one server comprises the following steps. A client request, which expresses a request that can not be satisfied by a single existing presentity, is obtained at an intermediate server, wherein the intermediate server operates as a virtual presence server. The virtual presence server (i.e., intermediate server) creates a set of software objects for a virtual presentity, the set of objects embodying logic to combine presence information from one or more of existing presentities and external information sources, in accordance with at least one existing presence server. The virtual presence server creates an association between the request of the client and the created virtual presentity that allows the presence information to be propagated back to the client.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for maintaining and processing provenance data in such data stream processing systems. For example, a method for processing data associated with a data stream received by a data stream processing system, wherein the system comprises a plurality of processing elements, comprising the following steps. A portion of data associated with the data stream is maintained. The maintained data comprises inputs to each processing element that contributed to an output of each processing element. In response to an alert generated by one of the processing elements, a scheduler is triggered to determine when a pre-calculation of a prospective query related to the alert should be executed. In response to the scheduler, at least a portion of the maintained data is used to determine a set of data that contributed to the alert such that the alert-contributing set of data can be used to respond to the prospective query upon arrival thereof.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for determining and validating provenance data in such data stream processing systems. For example, a method for processing data associated with a data stream received by a data stream processing system, wherein the system comprises a plurality of processing elements, comprises the following steps. Input data elements and output data elements associated with at least one processing element of the plurality of processing elements are obtained. One or more intervals are computed for the processing element using data representing observations of associations between inputs elements and output elements of the processing element, wherein, for a given one of the intervals, one or more particular input elements contained within the given interval are determined to have contributed to a particular output element. In another method, intervals are specified, and then validated by comparing the specified intervals against intervals computed based on observations.

Abstract: A method is provided for selecting features for classification that trades classification efficiency for computational resources. The method includes ranking a plurality of features of a training set according to how closely they are correlated to their corresponding classifications, receiving sensor data including a plurality of features, and selecting a subset of the features of the sensor data, according to the ranking of the features of the training data such that a computational resource cost of the subset is less than a predefined computational resource maximum and the degree of utility achieved by a classification of the subset of features by a selected classifier is optimized and exceeds a predefined utility minimum.