Abstract: Assemblies, systems, and methods for isolation of target material are provided. In various embodiments, an assembly for target material isolation includes a housing having an upper portion and a lower portion together defining an inner chamber. The inner chamber includes a semi-toroidal shape and the semi-toroidal shape defines a longitudinal axis. The assembly further includes one or more fluidic connection from the exterior of the housing to the inner chamber. An isolation material (e.g., polymer wool and/or magnetic beads) may be disposed within the inner chamber. A system includes a configured to fit at least a portion of the housing and releasably couple the assembly. Upon activation of the motor, the assembly may rotate about the longitudinal axis. An angle of the platform may be adjustable to thereby change the angle of the longitudinal axis about which the assembly rotates.

Abstract: The present invention provides nucleic acid products and corresponding methods for screening a biological sample for the presence of a respiratory infection-causing microorganism.

Abstract: The present invention provides nucleic acid products and corresponding methods for screening a biological sample for the presence of a respiratory infection-causing microorganism.

Abstract: Arbitrary numerical distributions are presented for use in devices having limited processing and storage capabilities by having the device accept strings of arbitrarily distributed numbers from a source outside of the device. In one embodiment, a master controller creates a table of values which follow the desired minimum, maximum, mean, and standard deviation, etc. of the particular desired statistical distribution required. The created table is then communicated to the limited capacity device and can be used whenever a distribution of random values is required. The master controller could have one of several slave devices associated with it in the system. In another embodiment, where the storage capability of the device is large enough to store a table of values with sufficient different entries to create a distribution of satisfactory “randomness” for the particular application, a random number generator within the device is used to select the order of presentation of the table of values.

Abstract: Programming stream communication systems and methods are operable to communicate programming streams to a media transmit facility. An exemplary embodiment receives at the media transmit facility a first packetized programming stream (PPS), the first PPS including a first programming stream (PS) generated by a first local programming provider (LPP); receives at the media transmit facility a second PPS, the second PPS including a second PS generated by a second LPP; multiplexes the first PS and the second PS into a transport channel; and communicates the transport channel from the media transmit facility.

Abstract: An in-band inspection device receives a packet and/or frame, and inspects the packet and/or frame “on the fly.” The device can accept, reject, and/or modify the received packet and/or frame in accordance with the inspection. The device can operate in a fast mode wherein the received packet and/or frame can be transmitted as soon as, for example, a port address in the packet and/or frame is received, or in a slow mode wherein the received packet frame is buffered until, for example, at least the CRC of the packet and/or frame is beginning to be received.

Abstract: A network element is provided with the capability to perform monitoring and/or measurement functions on the element and the network of which it is a part. The monitoring/measurement functionality is implemented by programmable devices to enable the functionality to be modified and updated without removing the network element from service.

Abstract: A communications apparatus includes an input for receiving a data stream being transmitted from a first network node to a second network node using a main channel. A processing resource of the communications apparatus identifies data signifying an idle period within the data stream and determines whether the idle period is at least a suitable minimum duration to support initiating transmission of sub-channel data in place of at least part of the data signifying the idle period. Further, the processing resource is arranged to identify when the idle period is not of the suitable minimum duration and a need arises to transmit the sub-channel data within a predetermined period of time. In such circumstances, the processing resource sends a flow control message upstream to the first network node to halt transmissions therefrom, thereby generating the idle period of at least the suitable minimum duration.

Abstract: A method for real time monitoring of at least one TCP flow involves monitoring TCP packets flowing past a particular point in a TCP network. A flow trace including at least source and destination addresses for each TCP packet is determined and a packet record for each monitored TCP packet within a determined flow trace is created. Each of the packet records includes at least a transmitted order number and an actual received sequence number, from which an expected received sequence number for each packet record is determined and stored in the packet record. The difference between the expected received sequence number for each packet record and the expected received sequence number for the previous packet record is used to thereby determine by how much a particular packet was moved out of sequence.

Abstract: National emergency alert test systems and methods are operable to test a national emergency alert system. An exemplary embodiment initiates a test of the national emergency alert message system, retrieves a national emergency alert test message from a memory, communicates the national emergency alert test message to a programming stream receive system via a local area network, interrupts programming provided in a plurality of program streams, and replaces the interrupted programming in the program streams with the retrieved national emergency alert test message.

Abstract: Programming stream communication systems and methods are operable to communicate programming streams to a media transmit facility. An exemplary embodiment receives at the media transmit facility a first packetized programming stream (PPS), the first PPS including a first programming stream (PS) generated by a first local programming provider (LPP); receives at the media transmit facility a second PPS, the second PPS including a second PS generated by a second LPP; multiplexes the first PS and the second PS into a transport channel; and communicates the transport channel from the media transmit facility.

Abstract: A communications apparatus is capable of being disposed in-line in a communications link that supports a main communications channel. The communications link connects a first host to a second host. The communications apparatus comprises an application logic that supports a sub-channel within the main channel. When the main channel is potentially faulty, the application logic is arranged to monitor the main channel to determine an error condition and send a message by replacing data reserved for control purposes in order to communicate the error condition as sub-channel data.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure embody a multi-master two-wire serial bus that comprises two or more chained two-wire serial busses. The chained two-wire serial busses include a host two-wire serial bus with a first master device and one or more slave devices. One or more chained two-wire serial busses are coupled to the host bus wherein one or more slave devices on the host two-wire serial bus operate as second master devices, which comprise a digital state machine including a two-wire serial slave component coupled to the master device and a two-wire serial master component coupled to the slave devices on the chained two-wire serial bus. The digital state machine emulates a slave device on the host two-wire serial bus and a master device on the chained two-wire serial bus.

Abstract: An in-line network simulator is provided that disrupts packets traveling through it to simulate network conditions. According to one embodiment, a method comprises receiving, at an in-line network simulator, packets sent from a source node to a destination node. The in-line network simulator classifies the received packets into respective ones of a plurality of different classifications, and disrupts the received packets based on corresponding disruption characteristics defined for their respective classifications. Such disrupting of the packets may include selectively performing at least one of delaying, dropping, and reordering of the received packets.

Abstract: By equipping receiving devices in a network with synchronizable clocks it is possible to periodically send an “impulse” signal that is received by all of the clocks at the same (or relatively the same) instant of time. The accuracy of the impulse clock need not be high, only that its signal reach all the clocks approximately at the same time. In one embodiment, a transmitting device, upon receipt of the synchronizing impulse signal, sends a packet of data bearing the sending device's epoch time-stamp to a receiving device. The data packet makes its way through the network element to the receiving device and the time-stamp is used by the receiving device to calculate the difference between the epoch time of the receiver and the epoch time of the sender. Effectively, this procedure removes the unknown network element transit times from the equation and allows the devices to operate in a synchronized manner.

Abstract: A monitoring apparatus for detection of a malicious attack in a communications network comprises a pattern matching engine (406), a data store (408) and an alert generator (410, 412). The pattern matching engine (406) is arranged to receive a bit stream and identify a characteristic of a malicious attack from at least one datagram represented by at least part of the bit stream. The data store (408) is operably coupled to the pattern matching engine and the data store (408) is arranged to retain identification data to enable the pattern matching engine to identify the characteristic of the malicious attack. The alert generator (410, 412) is arranged to generate an alert in response to an identification of the characteristic of the malicious attack. The data store (408) is remotely updatable.

Abstract: Circuitry is included to recover the monitorable, e.g. GMII, interface into the path between the actual MAC/PHY device being used and the RJ45 connector to allow PTP circuitry to monitor the transmission and reception of the Ethernet Frames.

Abstract: Time synchronization for network devices with reduced processing requirements for slaves. A master sends a time request message to the slave, including the time T1 at which it sent the message. The slave receives the time request message and records the time T2 at which it received the message. The slave sends a time response message to the master that includes the time T2, the time T1 at which the time request message was sent, and the time T3 at which it sent the time response message. The master receives the time response message and records the time T4 at which it was received. The master estimates the one-way delay from the times T1, T2, T3 and T4. The master determines whether the slave's clock is synchronized with the master's clock and if not, sends a sync message that contains information usable by the slave to sync its clock.

Abstract: An in-band inspection device receives a packet and/or frame, and inspects the packet and/or frame “on the fly.” The device can accept, reject, and/or modify the received packet and/or frame in accordance with the inspection. The device can operate in a fast mode wherein the received packet and/or frame can be transmitted as soon as, for example, a port address in the packet and/or frame is received, or in a slow mode wherein the received packet frame is buffered until, for example, at least the CRC of the packet and/or frame is beginning to be received.

Abstract: A communications system comprises a first network node coupled to a second network node so as to support a first main channel and a second main channel. A communications apparatus is coupled in-line between the first and second network nodes to support a first sub-channel in the first main channel and second sub-channel in the second main channel. The communications apparatus is arranged to determine whether an alternative sub-channel to the first sub-channel is required. If required, the communications apparatus selects the second sub-channel as the alternative sub-channel for communicating the sub-channel data.