Abstract: A method for determining the ability of a vehicle to start, in order to detect the operational capability of a battery, in particular of a vehicle battery, in a particularly simple and reliable way. Current values and voltage values of the battery are sensed during a predefined time window, in particular while the vehicle is being started. An internal resistance of the battery is determined by reference to the current values and the voltage values by means of linear regression, and a reference resistance value for the starting behavior of the vehicle is determined by reference to a maximum value for the current and a minimum value for the voltage which are sensed within the predefined time window. A value which represents the ability to start is determined by reference to a comparison between the internal resistance and the reference resistance value.

Abstract: Admission of a new disk stream is based on probability of overcommitting disk bandwidth based on parameters related to the disk. This fixed parameters are determined either by obtaining or by investigating the desk. Probability functions of the disk parameters may be obtained. Exemplary disk parameters may be disk seek time, probabilistic determination of the amount of data exchange during a single exchange, and probabilistic information about reading versus writing.

Abstract: A data stream recorder system, for multi-stream recording and retrieval of utilizes a number of gateways, each for sending and receiving packets containing streaming multimedia content data at real-time rates via a packet data network. A session manager communicates via the network with source client devices and receiver client devices, to establish and control recording and retrieval sessions. The manager assigns sessions to the gateways for the sending and receiving of the packets to and from client devices. Content is distributed across storage devices associated in storage nodes. Each of the gateways receives packets containing content data at real time rates during a recording session and distributes the received packets from the session across all of the storage nodes. A scheduler of each respective storage node distributes content data from packets distributed to the respective storage node, across all of the digital storage devices of the respective storage node.

Abstract: Systems and techniques are provided for using a multi-threshold buffer model to smooth data transmission to a client. A client to receive data such as streaming media data may include a buffer. A server to transmit data to the client may transmit the data to the client at a first server transmission rate. The client buffer level may be determined at different times; for example, a first buffer level may be determined at a first time and a second buffer level may be determined at a second time. If the buffer level is at a threshold level or has passed a threshold level between the first and second times, server transmission rate information may be determined and may be sent to the server.

Abstract: According to the invention, in a method for determining the ability of a vehicle to start, in order to detect the operational capability of a battery, in particular of a vehicle battery, in a particularly simple and reliable way, current values and voltage values of the battery are sensed during a predefined time window, in particular while the vehicle is being started, an internal resistance of the battery being determined by reference to the current values and the voltage values by means of linear regression, and a reference resistance value for the starting behavior of the vehicle being determined by reference to a maximum value for the current and a minimum value for the voltage which are sensed within the predefined time window, a value which represents the ability to start being determined by reference to a comparison between the internal resistance and the reference resistance value.

Abstract: Systems and techniques to pseudorandomly place and redistribute data blocks in a storage system. In general, in one implementation, the techniques include: distributing data blocks over multiple storage devices according to a reproducible pseudorandom sequence that provides load balancing across the storage devices, and determining current storage locations of the data blocks by reproducing the pseudorandom sequence. The techniques may also include: distributing data blocks over multiple storage devices according to a reproducible pseudorandom sequence, in response to initiation of a storage scaling operation, pseudorandomly redistributing a selected subset of the data blocks and saving information describing the storage scaling operation, determining current storage locations based on the pseudorandom sequence and the saved scaling operation information, and accessing the data blocks according to the determined current storage locations.

Abstract: Systems and techniques are provided for using a multi-threshold buffer model to smooth data transmission to a client. A client to receive data such as streaming media data may include a buffer. A server to transmit data to the client may transmit the data to the client at a first server transmission rate. The client buffer level may be determined at different times; for example, a first buffer level may be determined at a first time and a second buffer level may be determined at a second time. If the buffer level is at a threshold level or has passed a threshold level between the first and second times, server transmission rate information may be determined and may be sent to the server.

Abstract: Systems and techniques for transmitting a data stream to a client include transmitting a data segment from one of a plurality of nodes of a continuous media server to a client according to a scheduler on the node. A system includes a plurality of data processing devices, each data processing device coupled with at least one storage device. Each data processing device includes a scheduler to schedule transmission of the data segment to a client in sequence with other data segments, and a module to transmit the data segment to the client.