Abstract: A vehicle data archive system is provided. An instrumentation interface receives at least one sensory data signal of the vehicle. A memory stores the at least one sensory data signal. A first transponder responds to a periodic provider signal of a trusted third party (TTP)/service provider for creating a corresponding shared encryption key, which is used to generate a digital signature from the stored data, the signature may be stored with the data or returned to the TTP/service provider. The signature is used to authenticate the data stored in the archive system. The encryption value used to generate the signature may be stored locally in the data archive or obtained from the TTP/service provider. The data in the data archive may also be stored without encryption. The system also allows an authorized user to delete a portion of the stored encrypted sensory data.

Abstract: The present invention is a data formatting method for data in a digital communication network. The first step in the method is to identify a predetermined number of blocks in the data stream, each block including several data values. The blocks are shuffled by skipping a number of blocks of the input data between consecutive blocks of transmitted data and periodically resetting the skip pointer to transmit the skipped blocks as a part of a later skip operation. The shuffled blocks are then transmitted through the network and reordered again at the other side to recreate the original data stream. Others blocks are similarly reordered and transmitted. The shuffling of the blocks of data reduces long-term dependency in the data while maintaining local order.

Abstract: An entertainment device is provided. The entertainment device includes a main processing station which provides an output signal. The main processing station includes a control interface. A front panel is removably connected to the control interface. The front panel includes a memory for storing multimedia content. The front panel provides control parameters to the main processing station. The content of the memory is provided to the main audio processing station for output. In addition, the front panel processes and presents the stored multimedia content as a portable device. Both control parameters and multimedia (e.g. audio or video) information may be exchanged between the front panel and the main processing station. The front panel also includes a telecommunications device and an alarm transponder.

Abstract: The trusted computer network is protected behind a gateway that includes a bastion host and screening router which blocks all URLs associated with the trusted network. The bastion host includes a remote client authentication mechanism and web proxy component that verifies and translates incoming URL requests from authenticated remote clients. Authentication is performed using one-time passwords that are stored on a portable storage device. The user configures the portable storage device by operating configuration software from the protected side of the gateway. The portable storage device also stores plug-in software to enable the client computer to properly retrieve the one-time password and exchange authentication messages with the bastion host. Further security is obtained by basing the one-time password on an encrypted version of the user's PIN. A symmetric key used to encrypt the PIN is stored in a protected area within the portable storage device.

Abstract: A simple and efficient scheme is used to predict the number of bits needed to block of discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients with variable length coding (VLC). The scheme defines an easily computable parameter that has a strong correlation with the number of bits needed to encode the DCT data. Then a second order polynomial is developed to approximate the correlation and is used to predict the number of VLC bits that will be produced if a corresponding quantization matrix is used. The approach can be used to streamline the encoding/transcoding process for DV, and the result on that is presented. A further feature is the ability to present multiple results for multiple quantization matrixes.

Abstract: The admission control algorithm implements measurement-based connection admission control using effective envelopes of an arriving traffic aggregate and the service curves of the corresponding departing traffic aggregate. The approach provides the statistical service guarantees to a variety of service classes. According to the admission control algorithm, arriving traffic is admitted if the sum of the effective envelopes of the arriving traffic entering a network and admitted traffic currently in the network is less than or equal to the service curve.

Abstract: A method is provided for reliable real-time data streaming in a multimedia delivery system. The system is implemented using a real-time protocol that is based on the well-known Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) suite which provides a framework for implementing near real-time reliable data delivery over non real-time unreliable data link layer technologies (e.g., Ethernet). These protocols provide near real-time reliable or best feasible data streaming while utilizing best effort unreliable network services (e.g., Internet). Under the Reliable protocol, an entire data block, including any missing or lost data packets, is reconstructed from all of the individual data packets through the use of a selective negative acknowledgement (NACK) mechanism. In contrast, the Best Feasible protocol sacrifices some of the data packet's reliability by not retransmitting “late” packets.

Abstract: Multi-media servers provide clients with streaming data requiring soft real-time guarantee and static data requiring a large amount of storage space. The servers use a pull-mode protocol to communicate with clients through a real-time network. Separate data and control channels enhance the soft real-time capability of the server. The data channel conforms to open standard protocol. A switched data link layer for the control channel permits separate intrahost control messages that may be multicast and broadcast. The distributed file system selects a specific data block size based upon the compression technique employed to enhance soft real-time guarantee. A hierarchal data structure combined with merging empty data blocks minimizes disk fragmentation. Data blocks are striped across multiple disks to improve disk utilization. A local buffer and a queue for both read and write requests provides support for simultaneous read and write data streams.

Abstract: Multiple media push engines communicate with the multimedia client through a multi casting network that may incorporate multiple delivery paths. The streaming data representing media selections for delivery are distributed across multiple media push engines using a non-hierarchial coding technique in which the data are represented as a set of substream components, capable of being reconstituted from fewer than all of the components of the original data stream. The higher the number of components used in reconstitution, the higher the quality of service is provided by the reconstituted stream. Admission control to the group multicast session is administered in a distributed fashion, where an admission control unit opens the multicast stream, with all subsequent admission control decisions being made by the media push engines themselves.