Abstract: A material medium, such as an optical fiber or electrical cable, is used to carry services. The material medium is monitored with at least one diagnostic sensor. The diagnostic sensor may measure the operational health of the material medium, or may measure local environmental conditions around the material medium.

Abstract: A method and system for monitoring one or more wireless channels of an Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network are disclosed. For example, the method reads one or more RFID reference tags periodically to obtain RFID reference tag reading results for each time interval. The method then processes the RFID reference tag reading results for monitoring the one or more wireless channels of the RFID network.

Abstract: A material medium, such as an optical fiber or electrical cable, is used to carry services. The material medium is monitored with at least one diagnostic sensor. The diagnostic sensor may measure the operational health of the material medium, or may measure local environmental conditions around the material medium.

Abstract: A material medium, such as an optical fiber or electrical cable, is commonly used to carry services, such as telecommunications or energy service. The current invention identifies the following problems which may be encountered when monitoring a material medium. They are: (1) requiring a time and labor intensive investigation to find a fault, (2) needing a significant change in a current material medium infrastructure to support a monitoring effort, or (3) reducing available bandwidth in a material medium due to a monitoring device intruding into the material medium to send data. These problems are solved, in accordance with a feature of the current invention, by monitoring a material medium with at least one diagnostic sensor, and using an electromagnetic (EM) signal, such as radio frequency (RF), signal to wirelessly transmit the sensor data. The diagnostic sensor may measure the operational health of the material medium, or may measure local environmental conditions around the material medium.

Abstract: A material medium, such as an optical fiber or electrical cable, is commonly used to carry services, such as telecommunications or energy service. The current invention identifies the following problems which may be encountered when monitoring a material medium. They are: (1) requiring a time and labor intensive investigation to find a fault, (2) needing a significant change in a current material medium infrastructure to support a monitoring effort, or (3) reducing available bandwidth in a material medium due to a monitoring device intruding into the material medium to send data. These problems are solved, in accordance with a feature of the current invention, by monitoring a material medium with at least one diagnostic sensor, and using an electromagnetic (EM) signal, such as radio frequency (RF), signal to wirelessly transmit the sensor data. The diagnostic sensor may measure the operational health of the material medium, or may measure local environmental conditions around the material medium.

Abstract: A method of providing video content is disclosed that includes identifying a current user of a set-top box device, where a plurality of users that includes the current user is associated with the set-top box device. The method also includes identifying a first channel associated with the set-top box device, where the set-top box device is tuned to the first channel. Further, the method includes predicting that the current user will select at least one next channel based on historical data associated with the current user. The method also includes streaming video content of the at least one next channel to the set-top box device via a video distribution network while the set-top box device is tuned to the first channel.

Abstract: A method and system for monitoring one or more wireless channels of an Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network are disclosed. For example, the method reads one or more RFID reference tags periodically to obtain RFID reference tag reading results for each time interval. The method then processes the RFID reference tag reading results for monitoring the one or more wireless channels of the RFID network.

Abstract: A system and method of processing data are provided. The method may include encoding a first watermark into a data file to form first watermarked data. The data file may include audio data. The method may also include sending the first watermarked data to a remotely located user device associated with a user. The method may also include receiving a request from the user to resend the audio data. The method may further include encoding a second watermark into the data file to form second watermarked data. The method may also include sending the second watermarked data to the user device.