Patents by Inventor Muriel Médard

Muriel Médard has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20030155490
    Abstract: Apparatus and techniques for detecting malfunctions, anomalies and attacks upon optical devices of a transparent all-optical network, including amplified links and optical nodes, of the network. A portion of an input signal of the optical device and a portion of an output signal from the optical device are coupled to an optical processing unit and a an optical to electrical signal converter. The electrical output signal of the converter is coupled to an electronic processing unit which generates a difference signal which is a function of the input and output signal portions for comparison to a predetermined set of parameters. The result of the comparison is an alarm signal indicative of the occurrence of a malfunction. Also described is an optical comparator capable of generating the difference signal which is indicative of perturbations in the optical device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2003
    Publication date: August 21, 2003
    Inventors: Muriel Medard, Stephen R. Chinn
  • Patent number: 6603112
    Abstract: Apparatus and techniques for detecting malfunctions, anomalies and attacks upon optical devices of a transparent all-optical network, including amplified links and optical nodes of the network. A portion of an input signal of the optical device and a portion of an output signal from the optical device are coupled to an optical processing unit and a an optical to electrical signal converter. The electrical output signal of the converter is coupled to an electronic processing unit which generates a difference signal which is a function of the input and output signal portions for comparison to a predetermined set of parameters. The result of the comparison is an alarm signal indicative of the occurrence of a malfunction. Also described is an optical comparator capable of generating the difference signal which is indicative of perturbations in the optical device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2003
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Muriel Medard, Stephen R. Chinn
  • Patent number: 6507012
    Abstract: Apparatus and techniques for detecting malfunctions, anomalies and attacks upon optical devices of a transparent all-optical network, including amplified links and optical nodes, of the network. A portion of an input signal of the optical device and a portion of an output signal from the optical device are coupled to an optical processing unit and a an optical to electrical signal converter. The electrical output signal of the converter is coupled to an electronic processing unit which generates a difference signal which is a function of the input and output signal portions for comparison to a predetermined set of parameters. The result of the comparison is an alarm signal indicative of the occurrence of a malfunction. Also described is an optical comparator capable of generating the difference signal which is indicative of perturbations in the optical device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2003
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Muriel Medard, Stephen R. Chinn
  • Patent number: 6442694
    Abstract: A technique for isolating faults in a communication network is described. The techniques can be utilized in high speed communications networks such as all-optical networks (AONs). The technique is distributed, requires only local network node information and can localize attacks for a variety of network applications. The technique is particularly well suited to the problem of attack propagation which arises in AONs. The technique finds application in a variety of network restoration paradigms, including but not limited to automatic protection switching and loopback protection and provides proper network operation reduced, or in some cases no data loss and bounded delay time regardless of the location of the attack or the physical span of the network. Since the technique is distributed, and its associated delays do not depend on the number of nodes in the network. Hence the technique avoids the computational complexity inherent to centralized approaches. It is thus scalable and relatively rapid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2002
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Ruth Bergman, Muriel Medard
  • Patent number: 6201870
    Abstract: A pseudorandom sequence generator including a first feedback shift register having at least one input and at least one output and a first controller having an output in communication with the at least one input of the first feedback shift register; the first feedback shift register operating at a first speed S1 and the first controller operating at a second speed S2. In one embodiment the first speed S1 of the first feedback shift register is an integer multiple of the second speed S2 of the first controller. In another embodiment the first feedback shift register includes a shift register having an input, an output, and at least one tap; and a feedback function generator having a first input in communication with the at least one tap of the shift register, a second input in communication with the output of the first controller, and an output in communication with the input of the shift register; the feedback function generator includes at least one feedback function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2001
    Assignees: Massachusetts Institue of Technology, Northeastern University
    Inventors: Muriel Medard, John D. Moores, Katherine L. Hall, Kristin A. Rauschenbach, Salil Parikh, Agnes H. Chan
  • Patent number: 6047331
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for generating first and second tree topologies for any source node in a network which can be represented as a node or an edge redundant graph, such that any node in the graph remains connected to the source node via at least one tree even after the failure of a node or an edge. This technique provides a recovery mechanism upon detection of a failure in a network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2000
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Muriel Medard, Steven G. Finn, Richard A. Barry, Robert G. Gallager