Abstract: A system for providing network load distribution including a network having a number of portals that are configured to access portal services hosted by the network and a plurality of control nodes on the network that are configured to establish data connections with the portals on the network. The control nodes form a virtual local area network (VLAN) that includes multicast islands and singlecast bridges for broadcasting data to other nodes on the network. When a portal requests to access a portal service hosted on the network, a portal having the requested service is identified and authenticated by one of the control nodes, and a data connection is established between the identified portal and the requesting portal for sharing the requested service.

Abstract: System for providing software application updates to multiple clients on a network including a server component and a client component. The version of the software application on the client component is compared with the version of the application stored on the server component to determine whether the client's version is outdated. If an update is necessary, a first data transmission channel is established between the client and server components and the client recursively works through each file of the software application and sends a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) to the server for each file. The server recursively compares each CRC from the client with the equivalent file on the server to determine which files need to be updated or deleted. A second data transmission channel is established to transmit any updates to the client component.

Abstract: An artificial intelligence dialogue processor is an integrated software solution that mimics human behavior including a dialogue oriented knowledge database that contains static and dynamic data relating to human scenarios. The knowledge base is composed in a proprietary XML-based universal format and the processor further includes translation, processing, and analysis components that facilitate composition of the core knowledge base and are responsible for processing vocal and/or textual and/or video input, extracting emotional characteristics of the input, and producing instructions on how to respond to the customer with the appropriate substantive response and emotion based on relevant information found in the knowledge base.

Abstract: A conferencing system that enables communication between at least two portals on a network. An audiovisual feature enables users at portals simultaneously see and hear each other from their respective portals. A remote control feature enables the portals to share, display, and/or control software applications or an entire desktop from a remote location. A media streamer feature enables a host portal in a conference to stream local media files to other portals. A text data transfer feature enables real time transfer of text and binary data between portals. A file transfer feature enables portals participating in a conference to physically transfer files between them. An input/out feature enables a portal participating in a conference to detect and send data to peripheral devices connected to the ports of another portals participating in the conference.

Abstract: A system for providing audiovisual media to a plurality of portals on a network including a central request server on the network that stores the media, at least one requesting portal that requests the media from the central request server, and a gateway server that is selected by the central request server to process the request from the requesting portal. The central request server replicates the media onto the selected gateway server and the selected gateway server replicates the media onto the requesting portal.

Abstract: A communication system and method that provides efficient, global load balancing and enables data transfer over the internet without being blocked by firewalls an proxies. The system includes a plurality of remote portals that place requests and receive responses. A request is sent to a plurality of gateway servers. The first gateway server to respond, considering any performance delays, is selected to process the request. The request is then passed to a plurality of routers. The first router to respond, considering any performance delays, processes the request and converts it into a response. The response is sent back to the gateway server and then to the portal. Data is transferred between the portals using a transport module which is a client interface that establishes connections between portals, a transport channel that is an application interface that transmits timely data, and proxy that assists the transport module in bypassing firewalls.