Abstract: First-order effects of hypothesized fault conditions are determined by propagating discrete test packets between select nodes and noting the change of path, if any, taken by the test packet under each condition relative to the fault-free path. Tools are provided to create classes of node pairs of interest, and test packets are created only for select classes. The network is analyzed to identify fault conditions that are likely to impact system performance, and only these fault conditions are simulated. By providing a methodology for selecting classes of node pairs to test, and prioritizing the faults to simulate, a first-order survivability analysis of large networks can be performed efficiently and effectively. The efficiency of this technique is also enhanced by providing test packets that are representative of a wide range of possible source-destination combinations, and by evaluating only the source-destination combinations that may be directly affected by each fault condition.

Abstract: A system for reporting medical information to healthcare provider users may require users to acknowledge receipt of information. Information may be sent using a secure instant messaging (SIM) protocol, and users may acknowledge receipt, e.g., by sending a message, or clicking on a uniform resource locator (URL) or button included in the information. Unacknowledged information may be re-sent at designated time intervals, and may have different levels of urgency indicated in the message. Acknowledgement may be tracked by the system, e.g., by recording the user and timestamp of acknowledgement. Feeds or syndications (e.g., RSS, RDF, Atom, etc.) may be used to provide medical information, allowing users to subscribe to feeds for one or more patients. Feeds may be continuously aggregated and updated with the most recent information for each of the patients.

Abstract: First-order effects of hypothesized fault conditions are determined by propagating discrete test packets between select nodes and noting the change of path, if any, taken by the test packet under each condition relative to the fault-free path. Tools are provided to create classes of node pairs of interest, and test packets are created only for select classes. The network is analyzed to identify fault conditions that are likely to impact system performance, and only these fault conditions are simulated. By providing a methodology for selecting classes of node pairs to test, and prioritizing the faults to simulate, a first-order survivability analysis of large networks can be performed efficiently and effectively. The efficiency of this technique is also enhanced by providing test packets that are representative of a wide range of possible source-destination combinations, and by evaluating only the source-destination combinations that may be directly affected by each fault condition.