Abstract: Tongs for food preparation and a method for preparing food using tongs are presented. The tongs include a first and second arm connected to a connecting portion, the arms including each a head portion including a gripper portion for grabbing a food item when the first and second heads are brought toward each other, the gripper portion defining a portion of a cavity for holding the food item, and a spreader portion for inserting into and spreading portions of a receiving food item when the first and second heads are moved away from each other, the gripper portions of the first and second head portions being both disposed on a first side of a center plane, the spreader portions of the first and second head portions being both disposed on a second side of the center plane.

Abstract: Tongs for food preparation and a method for preparing food using tongs are presented. The tongs include a first and second arm connected to a connecting portion, the arms including each a head portion including a gripper portion for grabbing a food item when the first and second heads are brought toward each other, the gripper portion defining a portion of a cavity for holding the food item, and a spreader portion for inserting into and spreading portions of a receiving food item when the first and second heads are moved away from each other, the gripper portions of the first and second head portions being both disposed on a first side of a center plane, the spreader portions of the first and second head portions being both disposed on a second side of the center plane.

Abstract: An instant messaging service is provided using short message service (SMS) messages as the underlying transport layer. A user having a phone to which an MSISDN is assigned can use another entity to generate messages to be transmitted as if they originated from the phone. The SMS message is delivered to the second party's phone as per a normal SMS message and a copy of the SMS message can also be delivered to the sender's phone to provide a full conversation history on all devices. The entity can also be used to receive SMS messages, in which case, delivery of SMS messages to the phone to which the MSISDN is assigned can be suspend to avoid a duplicate notification of incoming messages.

Abstract: Method and corresponding agent in a management system of a network. At least one manager and the agent have at least one old Management Information Table (MIT) containing Management Information (MI) from network resources. A Management Information Module of the agent gathers Management Information (MI) from the network resources into a current MIT. A Database Handling Module of the agent, following an event, associates one manager to the event, verifies if the associated manager is associated with one old MIT, builds a Management Information Notification (MIN) from at least the current MIT, associates the associated manager with the current MIT, freezes the current MIT into a further old MIT and creates a further current MIT. A Communication Module of the agent further sends the built MIN to the associated manager.

Abstract: A method and telecommunications node for synchronising the content of a first node database such as for example of a Manager Management Information Base (MIB) with another node's database, such as for example an Agent MIB. The first node sends a synchronization request to the second node indicating the time when the first node was last updated. The second node scans through a list of changes dating from its own last update until the first node's last update, said scan being performed in a last-in-first-out (LIFO) fashion. If an item was found to be deleted, there is no point in scanning further ahead for creation or changes on this item. If an item was created at a given time, there is no point in scanning further ahead for this item. If an item was changed (i.e. one of its attribute was modified), the scanning continues in order to sum all changes on this item.

Abstract: A method, system and agent for exchanging the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification document number a first node uses, with a second node of the network, so that subsequent communications can be properly carried between the nodes. The first node may be an agent and the second node may be a manager of a management system. The manager sends a GetXXXIRPVersion request message, a GetNotificationCategories request message, or a GetNetworkResourceSchemeId request message, to which the agent responds with an abridged version of the 3GPP TS document number the agent uses in this type of communications, so that the manager is informed of the protocol employed by the agent and can expect communications of the type indicated by the agent.

Abstract: A method and associated agent in a management system of a network, wherein the management system comprises at least one manager and the agent comprises at least one old Management Information Table (MIT) containing Management Information (MI) from a plurality of network resources. The agent comprises a Management Information Module capable of gathering Management Information (MI) from the network resources into a current MIT. The agent also comprises a Database Handling Module capable of, following an event, associating one manager to the event, verifying if the associated manager is associated with one old MIT, building a Management Information Notification (MIN) from at least the current MIT, associating the associated manager with the current MIT, freezing the current MIT into a further old MIT and creating a further current MIT. The agent further comprises a Communication Module capable of sending the built MIN to the associated manager.

Abstract: A directory-search system for an LDAP server is provided to permit faster and more efficient persistent searches of LDAP directories of the server. Directory searches are performed by a proxy interoperably connected to one or more LDAP directories of the server and to one or more clients of the LDAP directories. The proxy searches a portion of the LDAP directories and receives registrations from one or more of the clients. The proxy can combine registrations from multiple clients into a single search of the LDAP directory. Registrations by the clients can be restricted to the portion of the LDAP directories searched by the proxy. The LDAP directories respond to the searches by the proxy by notifying the proxy concerning modifications to entries in the LDAP directories. In response to a determination that modified entries in the LDAP directories matches registration criteria received from one or more clients, the proxy notifies the appropriate clients of the modified entries.

Abstract: Alarms are processed in view of an historical context to determine instances of correlation such that alarms are partitioned into correlation sets where the alarms within one set have a high probability of being caused by the same network fault. As each new alarm is received, a check is made to se whether a managed object originating that alarm is a member of a previous set and is already in an alarmed state. If so, the alarm is added to that managed object. If not, a set is built containing that alarmed managed object and its related managed objects as determined from consideration of alarm propagation rules and network topology. That set is then compared with previously built sets to determine the existence of any correlation as measured by whether the sets share managed objects in common or satisfy some other correlation test. When such correlation is found, the sets are merged together to form a larger set relating to the same network fault.

Abstract: An alarm notification structure, method, system, and management node for uniquely identifying alarm notifications. When a condition is met, a new alarm notification is created, the alarm comprising a SystemDN field identifying the alarm supplier that created the alarm, an alarm attribute carrying a payload and an alarm identifier field for uniquely identifying the alarm. The alarm identifier field comprises a path portion including a series of nodes corresponding to the path followed by the alarm, and the alarm identification as originally assigned. Each time the alarm is relayed by an intermediate node, that node appends its identity to the path portion of the alarm identifier field. When an operation is performed on the alarm, such as an acknowledgement operation, the alarm identifier field is used and sent in the acknowledgement message, so that intermediate nodes can know the path to be followed back for acknowledging the alarm.

Abstract: In a management system, a method, system, and agent for dynamically connecting event producers to event consumers, when the type of event notifications requested by event consumer(s) matches the type of event notification issued event producer(s). The agent receives advertisement or subscription request from event producers and consumers, and detects a match between the type of event notifications created by event producers and requested by event consumers. When a match is detected, the agent dynamically connects the egress port of the event producer to the ingress port of the event consumer. When another subscription request is received by the agent from another event consumer for the same type of event notifications, the agent first detects the optimal duplication node for duplicating the event notifications before sending them to both event consumers.

Abstract: A method, system and agent for exchanging the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification document number a first node uses, with a second node of the network, so that subsequent communications can be properly carried between the nodes. The first node may be an agent and the second node may be a manager of a management system. The manager sends a GetXXXIRPVersion request message, a GetNotificationCategories request message, or a GetNetworkResourceSchemeId request message, to which the agent responds with an abridged version of the 3GPP TS document number the agent uses in this type of communications, so that the manager is informed of the protocol employed by the agent and can expect communications of the type indicated by the agent.

Abstract: In an Alarm Management System (AMS) a method and a management network entity for forwarding and processing Alarm Information (AI) such as alarm notifications and alarm lists. The management network entity, that may be an Alarm Collector (AC), receives the AI from an upstream network entity such as an Alarm Reporter (AR) or another AC in a Forwarding Process (FP) that relays the AI concomitantly to at least one downstream network entity and to a Verification Process (VP) that synchronizes the internal Alarm List (IAL) of the management network entity. The forwarding of the AI may include filtering the AI based on the preferences of the downstream network entity. The FP and the VP are separated processes, software modules or software applications, that may run in parallel on the same, or on separated processors.

Abstract: An Event Management System (EMS) for logging and correlating alarm events in a network, and a method of efficiently integrating the EMS, which communicates in a standard format, with external devices and external viewers which communicate in device-specific formats. A plurality of core EMS components which log and correlate events are functionally separated from a plurality of EMS boundary components which interact with external devices and external viewers. The boundary components perform both generic external interface functions and device-specific functions. An external device's information, including a class and location for a protocol handler and a content handler for the external device, is stored in an information repository associated with the EMS. When a connection is initiated from the external device to one of the boundary components, the boundary component obtains the external device information from the information repository.

Abstract: A system and method of correlating alarms from a plurality of network elements (NEs) in a large communications network. A plurality of uncorrelated alarms are collected by an alarm collector from alarm reporters. An alarm correlator then partitions the alarms into correlated alarm clusters such that alarms of one cluster have a high probability that they are caused by one network fault. The partitioning of the alarms is performed by creating alarm sets, expanding the alarm sets into alarm domains, and merging the alarm domains into alarm clusters if predefined conditions are met. The sets are formed by selecting an alarmed NE at the highest network hierarchy level which is not tagged, finding all of its contained NEs, and finding NEs that are peer-related to those contained NEs that are in an alarmed state. The sets are expanded into domains by finding NEs that are not in an alarmed state which contain the highest level alarmed NE in each alarm set.

Abstract: An Event Management System (EMS) for logging and correlating alarm events in a network, and a method of efficiently integrating the EMS, which communicates in a standard format, with external devices and external viewers which communicate in device-specific formats. A plurality of core EMS components which log and correlate events are functionally separated from a plurality of EMS boundary components which interact with external devices and external viewers. The boundary components perform both generic external interface functions and device-specific functions. An external device's information, including a class and location for a protocol handler and a content handler for the external device, is stored in an information repository associated with the EMS. When a connection is initiated from the external device to one of the boundary components, the boundary component obtains the external device information from the information repository.