49th week of 2009 patent applcation highlights part 75 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20090300579 | EVOLVING THE ARCHITECTURE OF A SOFTWARE APPLICATION - The logical architecture of an existing or target application or software system is modeled in the form of one or more architecture diagrams. The existing and target diagrams may be compared. A diagram may be modified by associating physical artifacts from an architecture discovery system or by selecting artifacts identified via a query statement. Rules are associated with the diagrams and validation performed based on the rules and the physical artifacts associated with the diagrams. A report may be produced facilitating further modifications to evolve the architecture represented by the diagrams to the target architecture. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300580 | AUTOMATED METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DEVELOPING AND DEPLOYING PROJECTS IN PARALLEL - Embodiments of the invention are directed to system and method for managing parallel development of projects. One embodiment of the invention is a method of automatically managing processes in the parallel development of an application through a graphical user interface. The graphical user interface manages the automated processes, which are able to complete their tasks without further user interaction. The automated processes managed by the graphical user interface include, provisioning a first development environment and second development environment. The processes also includes deploying a second release of an application to the second development environment, and merging modifications to the second source code and the second content of the second release into a first source code and a first content of the first release. After the releases have been merged together, the process automatically deploys the third release of the application to a production environment for use by users. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300581 | IDENTIFYING STRUCTURED DATA TYPES AS REQUIRING DESIGNATED INITIALIZERS - A technique for enforcing the use of designated initializers in structured type initializations may include determining whether structured data type requires designated initialization, determining whether an initialization of a structured variable declared to use the structured data type employs an improper initializer that is inconsistent with said structured data type, and performing a diagnostic action if the initialization comprises an improper initializer. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300582 | Generation and Synchronization of offline 3D virtual world content - Generation and synchronization of offline three-dimensional (3D) virtual world content that include hosting 3D virtual world content, providing access to a portion of the 3D virtual world content, allowing storing offline of a copy of the accessed portion of the 3D virtual world content, and receiving changes made in the stored offline copy of the accessed portion of the 3D virtual world content and synchronizing the received changes with the hosted 3D virtual world content. The accessed portion of the 3D virtual world content may be recreated offline using a rendering engine on a processing device offline from the hosted 3D virtual world. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300583 | Apparatus, Method, and Computer Program Product for Performing a Software Build - In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus, comprising at least one receiver configured to receive a first software build information and at least one transmitter configured to send a computer program, wherein the computer program is based at least in part on the first software build information and a second software build information, is disclosed. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300584 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING A DEMO APPLIANCE AND MIGRATING THE DEMO APPLIANCE TO A PRODUCTION APPLIANCE - An appliance support module can be configured to receive a request to build a demo software appliance from a user. The appliance support module can be configured to build the demo appliance and to include configuration data in demo software appliance. The appliance support module can be configured to receive a request to migrate the demo software appliance to a production software appliance. The appliance support module can be configured to migrate the demo software appliance by modifying the configuration data in order to provide full functionality to the demo software appliance that was previously limited. The appliance support module can also receive a request to scale the production software appliances. The appliance support module can scale the production software appliance by dividing the applications contained in the production software appliances into separate software appliance. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300585 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TESTING A SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY - A system and method for testing a software development activity of an enterprise application is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes obtaining a software structure specification for an enterprise application and automatically generating test plans using the software structure specification. The method also includes automatically determining at least one test path in each test plan using the software structure specification, and automatically deriving a plurality of test cases using each test path. Further, the method includes executing each of the plurality of test cases and recording test results. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300586 | STAGED AUTOMATED VALIDATION OF WORK PACKETS INPUTS AND DELIVERABLES IN A SOFTWARE FACTORY - A method, system, and computer-readable medium for staged validation of work packets within a software factory are presented. In one embodiment, the method includes creating a preliminary work packet. A validation constraint is appended to the preliminary work packet to create a constrained work packet. The constrained work packet is submitted to the software factory, within which the validation constraint is validated at different stages to confirm that the validation constraint is proper for the constrained work packet. If a validation result fails to meet all requirements of the validation constraint at each stage, the validation constraint is resolved, and the constrained work packet is re-submitted at that stage. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300587 | DETERMINING DOMAIN DATA COVERAGE IN TESTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS - Testing systems and methods are provided for determining domain data coverage of a test of a codebase. The testing system may include a coverage program having a setup module configured to receive user input indicative of a target domain data table to be monitored during the test. The coverage program may further include a test module configured to programmatically generate a shadow table configured to receive coverage data, and to create one or more triggers on the target domain data table. The triggers may be configured, upon firing, to make entries of coverage data in the shadow table indicating that the trigger was fired during the test. The coverage program may also include an output module configured to compare the shadow table and the target domain data table to produce a coverage result, and to display the coverage result via a graphical user interface. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300588 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING DEFINITIONS OF DEBUG CODE OF BASIC INPUT/OUTPUT SYSTEM - An apparatus for acquiring information on debug codes of BIOS includes an information memory module, a detecting module, a control module, and an information display module. The information memory module is capable of storing POST codes and information corresponding to the POST codes. The detecting module is capable of real-time scanning address port of a bus of, for example, a motherboard, and transforming data from the address port to POST codes. The control module is capable of receiving the detected POST codes from the detecting module, and comparing the detected POST codes with the stored POST codes in the information memory module to look up information corresponding to the detected POST codes. An information display module is controlled by the control module and capable of displaying the detected POST codes and the information corresponding to the detected POST codes. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300589 | Electronic Crime Detection and Tracking - A system for electronic crime reduction is provided, comprising a computer system, a database, a malware de-compiler, a malware parser, and an inference engine. The database contains information that associates electronic crime attack signature data with at least one of an individual, a group, and a location. The malware de-compiler, when executed on the computer system, translates a first malware executable to an assembly language version. The first malware is associated with an electronic crime that has been committed. The malware parser, when executed on the computer system, analyzes the assembly language version to identify distinctive coding preferences used to develop the first malware. The inference engine, when executed on the computer system, analyzes the distinctive coding preferences identified by the malware parser application in combination with searching the database to identify one of an individual, a group, and a location associated with the electronic crime. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300590 | STATICALLY SPECULATIVE COMPILATION AND EXECUTION - A system, for use with a compiler architecture framework, includes performing a statically speculative compilation process to extract and use speculative static information, encoding the speculative static information in an instruction set architecture of a processor, and executing a compiled computer program using the speculative static information, wherein executing supports static speculation driven mechanisms and controls. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300591 | COMPOSABLE AND CANCELABLE DATAFLOW CONTINUATION PASSING - Parallel tasks are created, and the tasks include a first task and a second task. Each task resolves a future. At least one of three possible continuations for each of the tasks is supplied. The three continuations include a success continuation, a cancellation continuation, and a failure continuation. A value is returned as the future of the first task upon a success continuation for the first task. The value from the first task is used in the second task to compute a second future. The cancellation continuation is supplied if the task is cancelled and the failure continuation is supplied if the task does not return a value and the task is not cancelled. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300592 | AUTOMATED DIALOG COMPLIANCE MECHANISMS - Tools and techniques are described for automated dialog compliance mechanisms. Systems provided by this description may include toolkits for developing and debugging software code, with this code operative to create dialog boxes within a user interface. These systems may also include automated dialog compliance mechanisms for receiving requests from the toolkits to evaluate the code against guidelines specified across an enterprise and applicable to constructing the dialog boxes. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300593 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING A SOFTWARE APPLIANCE - A management tool can be included in a software appliance. The management tool can be configured to provide control, management, and maintenance of the software appliance. The management tool can be utilized in order to start/stop, configure, repair, and update a software appliance. The management tool can be configured to provide an interface for management of the software appliance. The interface allows for management of the software appliance and the individual components of the software appliance. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300594 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTENT REPLACEMENT - In accordance with the techniques disclosed herein, a system and method remove undesirable content from original data. A unit of code interpretable to display a unit of content can be replaced with replacement code interpretable to display an alternative unit of content, or no content at all. Advantageously, a user need not view undesirable content. For example, advertisements included in a web page can be removed and/or replaced. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300595 | System and Method for Remotely Updating Control Software in a Vehicle With an Electric Drive System - A method of remotely updating control software in a heavy-duty vehicle having at least one programmed controller including securing the heavy-duty vehicle; determining that the vehicle is secured; establishing a wireless connection with the heavy-duty vehicle; downloading an updated control software; and updating the heavy-duty vehicle's control software with the updated control software in response to the determining that the vehicle is secured. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300596 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PERFORMING A SOFTWARE UPGRADE ON AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE CONNECTED TO A COMPUTER - A method, computer program product, and data processing system for performing a software upgrade on an electronic device connected to a computer. In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a method for upgrading device software on an electronic device connected to a computer through a communications protocol, the computer being connected to a central repository of device software over a communications network, the method comprising: displaying a web page including a scripting language within an Internet browser on the computer, the Internet browser including a scripting engine for executing the scripting language; providing a scripting-language capable device controller for interfacing communications between the scripting engine and the electronic device in accordance with the communications protocol connecting the computer and electronic device; receiving by the Internet browser of a request to install device software onto the electronic device via a user interface element of the web page; receiving by the scripting-language capable device controller of device attribute information from the electronic device through the communications protocol in response to the request; sending the device attribute information from the scripting-language capable device controller to the scripting engine of the Internet browser; sending the device attribute information from the Internet browser; when an upgrade is available, receiving upgrade software for the electronic device in response to the sending the device attribute information, and upgrading device software on the electronic device using the upgrade software using the communications protocol connecting the computer and electronic device. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300597 | APPLICATION LOADING - Extensions or additional software programs that are requested by a computer application running on an application platform are handled in an efficient manner by, among other things, regulating and tracking extensions that are downloaded. This allows the size of the application platform upon which the application is running to remain relatively small so as to mitigate strain on resources when the platform is initially deployed over a network (e.g., the Internet), thus making it easier and more likely for a user to install the application platform (and/or updates thereto). Requested extensions are subsequently added to and/or removed from the (already deployed) application platform based on, among other things, download metrics. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300598 | Apparatus for transmitting software of broadcast receiver and apparatus and method for downloading software of broadcast receiver - A broadcast transmitter, a broadcast receiver and a method of receiving software of the broadcast receiver are disclosed. The method of receiving the software of the broadcast receiver includes receiving software download code information, checking a software download mode based on download mode information included in the received software download code information, requesting input of a download selection command to a user if the download mode information is a user selection mode, and determining whether or not the download of the software is started based on the download selection command received from the user. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300599 | Systems and methods of utilizing virtual machines to protect computer systems - Systems and methods are provided for utilizing virtual machines to protect computer systems. A first virtual machine may be initiated to execute a computer program. When the computer program attempts to access a computer file, a determination may be made of whether the first virtual machine is allowed access to the computer file. If access is allowed, the virtual machine may be permitted access to the computer file, and the computer program may thereafter access the computer file. A first (or “master”) virtual machine may additionally or alternatively cause initiation of a second (or “slave”) virtual machine to access untrusted computer files. Master virtual machines may be configured to communicate with and/or control slave virtual machines. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300600 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND INSTALLATION METHOD - The installation of multiple applications by an installer is executed in a mode that does not display an error message in a display device. Upon an installation performed by the installer ending, the result of the installation performed by the installer is determined. As a result of the determination, an installer that failed at the installation is caused to re-execute the installation of the application whose installation failed in a mode that displays an error message in the display device. As a result of the re-execution, an error message is displayed in the display device by the installer that failed at the installation. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300601 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING A HOSTED APPLIANCE AND MIGRATING THE APPLIANCE TO AN ON-PREMISE ENVIRONMENT - An appliance support module can be configured to build software appliances for use in a hosted environment. The appliance support module can be configured to build the hosted appliances based on a request by a user for the hosted appliances. The appliance support module can be configured to receive a request to migrate the hosted appliances to an on-premise system. To migrate the hosted appliance, the appliance support module can be configured to convert the hosted appliances into a format capable of being supported by the on-premise systems. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300602 | DETERMINING APPLICATION DISTRIBUTION BASED ON APPLICATION STATE TRACKING INFORMATION - A method of distributing applications between a plurality of machines forming a client system. The method includes determining that applications should be distributed to maximize hardware utilization of each or the plurality of machines; determining a plurality of possible configurations of applications among the plurality of machines; creating a list of all possible configurations; comparing the list of all possible configurations to a database of state information; removing configurations from the list if the configuration is the same as a state previously determined to be non-functional to create a pruned list; generating a score for each configuration on the pruned list by comparing each configuration with states information in the database; selecting the configurations with the highest score, the number of configurations equaling the number of machines; and deploying the selected configurations on the plurality of machines. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300603 | Image install of a network appliance - A method and apparatus for installing a network appliance. In one embodiment, the method includes copying an install image pertaining to the network appliance to an install staging area in a memory device of the network appliance, obtaining current installation object data from a server, and saving an up-to-date set of installation objects in the install staging area using the installation object data received from the server. The method may further include marking the install staging area as bootable, rebooting the network appliance, and installing from the install staging area onto the network appliance. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300604 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BUILDING VIRTUAL APPLIANCES USING A REPOSITORY METADATA SERVER AND A DEPENDENCY RESOLUTION SERVICE - A system and method for building virtual appliances using a repository metadata server and a dependency resolution service is provided. In particular, a hosted web service may provide a collaborative environment for managing origin repositories and software dependencies, whereby remote clients may follow a simple and repeatable process for creating virtual appliances. For example, the repository metadata server may cache and parse metadata associated with an origin repository, download software from the origin repository, and generate resolution data that can be used by the dependency resolution service. The dependency resolution service may then use the resolution data to resolve dependencies for a package selected for an appliance, wherein the dependencies may include packages that are required, recommended, suggested, banned, or otherwise a dependency for the selected package. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300605 | VIRTUAL COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE - A system has a virtual overlay infrastructure mapped onto physical resources for processing, storage and network communications, the virtual infrastructure having virtual entities for processing, storage and network communications. Each virtual infrastructure can be passivated by suspending applications, stopping operating systems, and storing state, to enable later reactivation. This is simpler for a complete virtual infrastructure than for groups of virtual entities and physical entities. It enables cloned virtual infrastructure to be created for testing, upgrading or sharing without risk to the parent. On failure, reversion to a previous working clone is feasible. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300606 | VIRTUAL MACHINE MIGRATION WITH DIRECT PHYSICAL ACCESS CONTROL - A data processing system facilitates virtual machine migration with direct physical access control. The illustrative data processing system comprises a software-programmable trap control associated with hardware registers of a computer that selectively vectors execution control of a virtual machine (VM) between a host and a guest. The data processing system further comprises a logic which is configured for execution on the computer that programs the trap control to enable the virtual machine to directly access the hardware registers when the virtual machine is not migrated and to revoke direct access of the hardware registers in preparation for virtual machine migration. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300607 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFICATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CLOUD-BASED VIRTUAL MACHINES - Embodiments relate to systems and methods for identification and management of cloud-based virtual machines. A user requests the instantiation of a set of virtual machines from a cloud computing environment. A cloud management system requests the resources necessary to build the machines from a set of resource servers. After populating the set of virtual machines from the cloud, the cloud management system inserts a token ID into one of the virtual machines to designate that machine as a management instance. An image of that machine can be stored in the cloud management system to represent the configuration of the set of virtual machines, even when the cloud itself lacks permanent storage. When the user wishes to update the set of virtual machines, the cloud management system can insert another token ID into another virtual machine, reconfigure the software, processing, or other resources of that machine as a revised management instance. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300608 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR CLOUD-BASED VIRTUAL MACHINES - A cloud management system can track the usage of the virtual machines in order to determine the fees associated with the user's subscription to the cloud computing environment. The usage can include the resources consumed to support the virtual machines and can include the utilization of the virtual machines by the user or third parties. The cloud management system can determine the fees charged to the user for utilizing the cloud computing environment based on the tracked usage. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300609 | Combining system blueprints, functional layer, and software bits in parallel development of machines - A self-replicating machine includes a virtualization tool, a provisioning tool, and a configuration tool, stored in a distributable self-contained repository of the machine. The machine is able to automatically rebuild itself solely from the tools stored in the distributable self-contained repository. The virtualization tool is configured to build one or more virtual machines on the machine. Each virtual machine has a corresponding operating system and environment. The provisioning tool is configured to provision the one or more virtual machines. The configuration tool is to configure the one or more provisioned virtual machines. A custom configuration management tool further customize and configure the physical machine for specific users. A source code management tool stored in the distributable self-contained repository is configured to develop each virtual machine independently from each other in parallel, and to merge back the developments to a corresponding parent virtual machine. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300610 | Self-replicating machines - A self-replicating machine includes a virtualization tool, a provisioning tool, and a configuration tool, stored in a distributable self-contained repository of the machine. The machine is able to automatically rebuild itself solely from the tools stored in the distributable self-contained repository. The virtualization tool is configured to build one or more virtual machines on the machine. Each virtual machine has a corresponding operating system and environment. The provisioning tool is configured to provision the one or more virtual machines. The configuration tool is to configure the one or more provisioned virtual machines. A custom configuration management tool further customize and configure the physical machine for specific users. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300611 | In-place Shadow Tables for Virtualization - In a computing system having virtualization software including a guest operating system (OS), a method for providing page tables that includes: providing a guest page table used by the guest OS and a shadow page table used by the virtualization software wherein at least a portion of the guest page table and the shadow page table share computer memory. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300612 | Distributing Virtualization Software Address Space in Guest OS Address Space - In a computing system having virtualization software including a guest operating system (OS), a method for operating wherein virtualization software address space is distributed in guest OS address space that includes: granting the guest OS execute, but not read or write, access, to pages in the virtualization software address space. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300613 | INPUT/OUTPUT EMULATION SYSTEM FOR VIRTUAL MACHINE - An I/O emulation system for a virtual machine includes a command interpretation portion including a programmable logic device that detects completion of a plurality of device operating instructions, which corresponds to a device operating request for the virtual machine, output from the guest device driver included, a device control portion that converts the plurality of device operating instructions, which is notified by a virtual machine monitor, into an I/O command and a host device driver that outputs a device operating instruction for the actual device in accordance with the I/O command. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300614 | VIRTUAL-MACHINE CONTROL SYSTEM AND VIRTUAL-MACHINE MOVING METHOD - A virtual-machine control program includes an operational-status inquiry unit that inquires of another machine about a memory usage status of virtual machines realized on another machine; a swapping-target selecting unit that selects a virtual machine capable of being swapped for a virtual machine realized on a machine from among the virtual machines realized on another machine based on information obtained by the operational-status inquiry unit; and a swapping performing unit that swaps the virtual machine realized on the machine for the virtual machine selected by the swapping-target selecting unit. The virtual-machine control program enables to move the virtual machine to another machine without preparing a free space in advance. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300615 | METHOD FOR GENERATING A DISTRIBUTED STREAM PROCESSING APPLICATION - Techniques for generating a distributed stream processing application are provided. The techniques include obtaining a declarative description of one or more data stream processing tasks, wherein the declarative description expresses at least one stream processing task, and generating one or more execution units from the declarative description of one or more data stream processing tasks, wherein the one or more execution units are deployable across one or more distributed computing nodes, and comprise a distributed data stream processing application. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300616 | AUTOMATED TASK EXECUTION FOR AN ANALYTE MONITORING SYSTEM - In one aspect, method and apparatus including providing one or more scheduled tasks associated with an analyte monitoring device and executing the scheduled one or more tasks in accordance with a predetermined execution sequence are provided. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300617 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF GENERATING AND MANAGING COMPUTING TASKS - A method, computer program product, and system of managing computing tasks includes storing at least one build information element within at least one attribute of a configuration management tool A computing task is generated from within the configuration management tool based upon, at least in part, the at least one build information element. The computing task is initiated from within the configuration management tool. The computing task is deployed on a computing device. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300618 | Method and Apparatus to Facilitate Negotiation of a Selection of Capabilities to Be Employed When Facilitating a Task - Determine ( | 2009-12-03 |
20090300619 | Product independent orchestration tool - A self-replicating machine includes a virtualization tool, a provisioning tool, and a configuration tool, stored in a distributable self-contained repository of the machine. The machine is able to automatically rebuild itself solely from the tools stored in the distributable self-contained repository. The virtualization tool is configured to build one or more virtual machines on the machine. Each virtual machine has a corresponding operating system and environment. The provisioning tool is configured to provision the one or more virtual machines. The configuration tool is to configure the one or more provisioned virtual machines. A custom configuration management tool further customize and configure the physical machine for specific users. A configuration management tool is configured to orchestrate and automate a deployment process, and to interface with an underlying product having a corresponding functionality. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300620 | CONTROL DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING USER INTERFACE (UI) THEREOF - A control device which displays menus generated based on tasks is provided. The control device includes an input unit which receives a user command for performing a task, and a control unit which, if a task to be performed is selected via the input unit, generates a menu list showing menus for each of a plurality of apparatuses available to perform the selected task. Therefore, it is possible for a user to conveniently perform a desired task. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300621 | Local and Global Data Share - A graphics processing unit is disclosed, the graphics processing unit having a processor having one or more SIMD processing units, and a local data share corresponding to one of the one or more SIMD processing units, the local data share comprising one or more low latency accessible memory regions for each group of threads assigned to one or more execution wavefronts, and a global data share comprising one or more low latency memory regions for each group of threads. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300622 | DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM - An infrastructure and method for processing a transaction using a plurality of target systems. A method is disclosed including: generating a request from a source system, wherein the request includes an initial identifier and a counter value; submitting the request to at least two target systems; processing the request at a first target system and ignoring the request at a second target system based on the initial identifier; submitting a resubmitted request to the at least two target systems if a timely response is not received by the source system, wherein the resubmitted request includes an incremented counter value; and processing the resubmitted request by only one of the first and second target systems based on the incremented counter value. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300623 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ASSIGNING NON-CONTINUAL JOBS TO CANDIDATE PROCESSING NODES IN A STREAM-ORIENTED COMPUTER SYSTEM - A system and method for choosing non-continual jobs to run in a stream-based distributed computer system includes determining a total amount of resources to be consumed by non-continual jobs. A priority threshold is determined above which jobs will be accepted, below which jobs will be rejected. Overall penalties are minimized relative to the priority threshold based on estimated completion times of the jobs. System constraints are applied to ensure that jobs meet set criteria such that a plurality of non-continual jobs are scheduled which consider the system constraints and minimize overall penalties using available resources. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300624 | Tracking data processing in an application carried out on a distributed computing system - Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for tracking data processing in an application carried out on a distributed computing system, the distributed computing system including a plurality of computing nodes connected through a data communications network, the application carried out by a plurality of pluggable processing components installed on the plurality of computing nodes, the pluggable processing components including a pluggable processing provider component and a pluggable processing consumer component, that include: identifying, by the provider component, data satisfying predetermined processing criteria, the criteria specifying that the data is relevant to processing provided by the consumer component; passing, by the provider component, the data to the next pluggable processing component in the application for processing, including maintaining access to the data; receiving, by the consumer component, the data during execution of the application; and sending, by the consumer component, a receipt indicating that the consumer component received the data. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300625 | Managing The Performance Of An Application Carried Out Using A Plurality Of Pluggable Processing Components - Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for managing the performance of an application carried out using a plurality of pluggable processing components, the pluggable processing components executed on a plurality of compute nodes, that include: identifying a current configuration of the pluggable processing components for carrying out the application; receiving a plurality of performance indicators produced during execution of the pluggable processing components; and altering the current configuration of the pluggable processing components in dependence upon the performance indicators and one or more additional pluggable processing components. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300626 | Scheduling for Computing Systems With Multiple Levels of Determinism - In a computing system, a method and system for scheduling software process execution and inter-process communication is introduced. Processes or groups of processes are assigned to execute within timeslots of a schedule according to associated execution frequencies, execution durations and inter-process communication requirements. The schedules allow development and test of the processes to be substantially decoupled from one another so that software engineering cycle time can be reduced. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300627 | SCHEDULER FINALIZATION - A runtime environment allows a scheduler in a process of a computer system to be finalized prior to the process completing. The runtime environment causes execution contexts that are inducted into the scheduler and execution contexts created by the scheduler to be tracked. The runtime environment finalizes the scheduler subsequent to each inducted execution context exiting the scheduler and each created execution context being retired by the scheduler. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300628 | LOG QUEUES IN A PROCESS - A logger in a process of a computer system creates a log queue for each execution context and/or processing resource in the process. A log is created in the log queue for each log request and log information associated with the log request is stored into the log. All logs in each log queue except for the most recently added log in each log queue are flushed prior to the process completing. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300629 | Scheduling of Multiple Tasks in a System Including Multiple Computing Elements - A method for controlling parallel process flow in a system including a central processing unit (CPU) attached to and accessing system memory, and multiple computing elements. The computing elements (CEs) each include a computational core, local memory and a local direct memory access (DMA) unit. The CPU stores in the system memory multiple task queues in a one-to-one correspondence with the computing elements. Each task queue, which includes multiple task descriptors, specifies a sequence of tasks for execution by the corresponding computing element. Upon programming the computing element with task queue information of the task queue, the task descriptors of the task queue in system memory are accessed. The task descriptors of the task queue are stored in the local memory of the computing element. The accessing and the storing of the data by the CEs is performed using the local DMA unit. When the tasks of the task queue are executed by the computing element, the execution is typically performed in parallel by at least two of the computing elements. The CPU is interrupted respectively by the computing elements only upon their fully executing the tasks of their respective task queues. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300630 | WAITING BASED ON A TASK GROUP - A method includes creating a first task group. A plurality of task object representations are added to the first task group. Each representation corresponds to one task object in a first plurality of task objects. A wait operation is performed on the first task group that waits for at least one of the task objects in the first plurality of task objects to complete. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300631 | DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CACHE REPLACEMENT - A data processing system is provided with at least one processing unit ( | 2009-12-03 |
20090300632 | WORK REQUEST CONTROL SYSTEM - A work request control system for receiving work requests from input devices provides a priority queuing mechanism for performance of tasks by a finite pool of heterogeneous resources. An input receives work requests from input devices and an attribute mechanism receives the work requests and determines the values of each of multiple attributes for each work request. A queue mechanism calculates using the multiple attributes and by considering each request as a multi-dimensional eigenvector the relative distance of each eigenvector in relation to a reference eigenvector and asserts the work requests in a priority order determined by the relative distance of each eigenvector. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300633 | Method and System for Scheduling and Controlling Backups in a Computer System - A method, system, and article to manage a backup procedure of one or more backup tasks in a computing system. A backup window within which the backup tasks are to be executed is defined, and the backup tasks within the backup window are scheduled. The process of the backup procedure is controlled during execution. The process of controlling the backup procedure includes calculating the prospective duration of all actually running and all future backup tasks, and cancelling low priority backup tasks in case a higher priority backup task is projected to continue beyond an end time (T | 2009-12-03 |
20090300634 | Method and System for Register Management - A system and method of allocating registers in a register array to multiple workloads is disclosed. The method identifies an incoming workload as belonging to a first process group or a second process group, and allocates one or more target registers from the register array to the incoming workload. The register array is logically divided to a first ring and a second ring such that the first ring and the second ring have at least one register in common. The first process group is allocated registers in the first ring and the second process group is allocated registers in the second ring. Target registers in the first ring are allocated in order of sequentially decreasing register addresses and target registers in the second ring are allocated in order of sequentially increasing register addresses. Also disclosed are methods and systems for allocation of registers in an array of general purpose registers, methods and systems for allocation of registers to processes including shader processes in graphics processing units. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300635 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING A MARKETPLACE FOR CLOUD-BASED NETWORKS - A cloud marketplace system can be configured to communicate with multiple cloud computing environments in order to ascertain the details for the resources and services provided by the cloud computing environments. The cloud marketplace system can be configured receive a request for information pertaining to the resources or services provided by or available in the cloud computing environments. The cloud marketplace system can be configured to generate a marketplace report detailing the resource and service data matching the request. The cloud marketplace system can be configured to utilize the resource and service data to provide migration services for virtual machines initiated in the cloud computing environments. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300636 | REGAINING CONTROL OF A PROCESSING RESOURCE THAT EXECUTES AN EXTERNAL EXECUTION CONTEXT - A scheduler in a process of a computer system allows an external execution context to execute on a processing resource allocated to the scheduler. The scheduler provides control of the processing resource to the external execution context. The scheduler registers for a notification of an exit event associated with the external execution context. In response to receiving the notification that the exit event has occurred, the scheduler regains control of the processing resource and causes a task associated with an execution context controlled by the scheduler to be executed by the processing resource. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300637 | SCHEDULER INSTANCES IN A PROCESS - A runtime environment of a computer system is provided that creates first and second scheduler instances in a process. Each scheduler instance includes allocated processing resources and is assigned a set of tasks for execution. Each scheduler instance schedules tasks for execution using the allocated processing resources to perform the work of the process. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300638 | MEMORY ALLOCATORS CORRESPONDING TO PROCESSOR RESOURCES - A memory allocator is provided for each processor resource in a process of a computer system. Each memory allocator includes a set of pages, a locally freed list of objects, and a remotely freed list of objects. Each memory allocator requests the pages from an operating system and allocates objects to all execution contexts executing on a corresponding processing resource. Each memory allocator attempts to allocate an object from the locally freed list before allocating an object from the remotely freed list or an allocated page. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300639 | RESOURCE ACQUISITION AND MANIPULATION FROM WITHIN A VIRTUAL UNIVERSE - The present invention is directed to a system, method and program product that allows a user to access resources on a local computer during a session with a virtual universe. Disclosed is a system that obtains an inventory of resources from the client computer and generates renderings of the resources in the virtual universe. Also included is a resource interaction system for allowing an avatar to interact with the resources in the virtual universe, wherein the resource interaction system provides a transport facility for loading resources from the client computer to the virtual universe. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300640 | ALLOCATION IDENTIFICATION APPARATUS OF I/O PORTS, METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING ALLOCATION THEREOF AND INFORMATION PROCESSOR - An allocation identification apparatus of input/output ports of an information processor (PC) operated as two or more virtual information processors, includes input/output ports (I/O ports) allocated to the virtual information processors, an identification information generating part (a hyper visor) that identifies the virtual information processors to which the input/output ports of the information processor are assigned and that generates identification information thereof, and a display part that displays the identification information generated by the identification information generating part. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300641 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SUPPORTING A VIRTUAL APPLIANCE - A system and method for supporting a virtual appliance is provided. In particular, a support engine may include an update server that can manage a workflow to update an appliance in response to detecting upstream updates to one or more software components that have been installed for the appliance. For example, the workflow may generally include managing a rebuild the appliance to install the upstream updates and further managing an integration test to verify that the rebuilt appliance behaves correctly with the upstream updates installed. In addition, the support engine may further include a support analysis manager that can analyze the software components that have been installed for the appliance in view of various heuristic rules to generate a support statement indicating whether support is available for the appliance. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300642 | FILE INPUT/OUTPUT SCHEDULER - Handling of input or output (I/O) to or from a media device may be implemented in a system having a memory, a processor unit with a main processor and an auxiliary processor having an associated local memory, and the media device. An incoming I/O request received from an application running on the processor unit may be serviced according to the schedule. A set of processor executable instructions configured to implement I/O handling may include media filter layers. I/O handling may alternatively comprise: receiving an incoming I/O request from an application running on a main processor; inserting the request into a schedule embodied in the main memory; and implementing the request according to the schedule and one or more filters, at least one of which is implemented by an auxiliary processor. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300643 | USING HARDWARE SUPPORT TO REDUCE SYNCHRONIZATION COSTS IN MULTITHREADED APPLICATIONS - A processor configured to synchronize threads in multithreaded applications. The processor includes first and second registers. The processor stores a first bitmask in the first register and a second bitmask in the second register. For each bitmask, each bit corresponds with one of multiple threads. A given bit in the first bitmask indicates the corresponding thread has been assigned to execute a portion of a unit of work. A corresponding bit in the second bitmask indicates the corresponding thread has completed execution of its assigned portion of the unit of work. The processor receives updates to the second bitmask in the second register and provides an indication that the unit of work has been completed in response to detecting that for each bit in the first bitmask that corresponds to a thread that is assigned work, a corresponding bit in the second bitmask indicates its corresponding thread has completed its assigned work. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300644 | Method to Detect a Deadlock Condition by Monitoring Firmware Inactivity During the System IPL Process - A method for managing deadlock in a data processing system during an IPL process includes monitoring the usage of locks in the Hardware Object Model (HOM) of the data processing system. The process further includes detecting a deadlock condition in response to an indication of the IPL process in the data processing system entering a hung state when at least one lock is in use. The process further includes handling the deadlock condition by performing one or more of the following: recording error information for the deadlock condition, and terminating the IPL process. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300645 | Virtualization with In-place Translation - In a computing system having virtualization software including a guest operating system (OS), a method for executing guest OS instructions that includes: replacing each of one or more guest OS instructions with: (a) a translated instruction, which translated instruction is a one-to-one translation, or (b) a trap instruction. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300646 | ADAPTING BETWEEN COUPLED AND DECOUPLED PROVIDER INTERFACES - Adapters are provided to convert a decoupled provider interface to a coupled provider interface and/or to convert a coupled provider interface to a decoupled provider interface. A decoupled provider may indirectly expose a data model by providing one or more of a sequence of unchanging views of data via snapshots and snapshot update events. A coupled provider may directly expose a dynamic data model or view and model update events. A decoupled consumer of data may consume data that is provided in snapshots and snapshot update events while a coupled consumer may consume data in the form of a dynamic data model and model update events. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300647 | Canonicalization of Badly-Formed Messages - The canonicalization of input messages having application specific data into a canonical message format, regardless of whether those native messages are well-formed. When a message is accessed, as long as the message is processable, the message is canonicalized. If the native message is well-formed, then a canonical message is generated that includes the application specific data in a schema understood by the application. On the other hand, if the native message is not well-formed, the canonical message is generated in a manner that the canonical message may be used to access the raw bits of the message, and that includes sufficient information for some downstream processing to determine that the message was not well-formed. That downstream processing may optionally then perform compensatory actions to regain access to the application specific data, and may potentially use information from the canonicalized message to do so. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300648 | Continuation-Based Runtime Callback Invocation - Activity callbacks in a continuation-based runtime. At framework-definition time, a framework activity is authored. The framework activity may have an environmental logic portion the processes input or output parameters whose values will be supplied to and/or received from an activity callback. The framework activity also includes a callback invocation portion that, during execution time, will actually provide parameter value(s) to and/or receive parameter value(s) from the activity callback. The framework activity serves as a framework that operates with any activity callback that has one or more characteristics. Such activity callbacks may not even be defined at framework-definition time. Instead, the framework activity may be used multiple times in the same applications, or in different applications to thereby provide core framework functionality, while allowing application developers to plug in activity callbacks that meet the custom needs of the application. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300649 | Sharing An Object Among Multiple Applications - Allowing multiple software applications to share an object of an application system is provided. Each of the multiple software applications is associated with a line of business (LOB) system and is associated with a solution ID. The application system may receive a request to establish a first binding between the object and a first LOB entity instance for a first software application. The first binding between the object and the first LOB entity instance may then be established. The application system may further receive a request to establish a second binding between the object and a second LOB entity instance for a second software application. The second binding between the object and the second LOB entity instance will be established when the first and second software applications have matching solution IDs and compatible sharing levels to the object. The application system may therefore establish user interface and data sharing between the first and second LOB entity instances in the object. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300650 | DATA FLOW NETWORK - A compositional model referred to as a source-target pattern for connecting processes into process networks in a general, flexible, and extensible manner is provided. The model allows common process algebra constructs to be combined with data flow networks to form process networks. Process algebraic operations may be expressed in terms of the compositional model to form data flow networks that provide fully interoperable process algebraic operations between processes. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300651 | Thread To Thread Communication - Thread to thread communication is provided. A first thread registers with a gateway for receiving communication. Registration includes identifying a location for receiving messages. The gateway maps message payloads received from second threads to the location of the first thread. The first thread detects a payload in the location and consumes it for processing. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300652 | QUEUE DISPATCH USING DEFERRED ACKNOWLEDGEMENT - Dispatching an incoming message from a queue into message transfer session(s) from which message consumers may draw messages. The message is reversibly received from the queue, whereupon a context of a message is identified. If the context correlates to an existing message transfer session, the message is ultimately assigned to a message transfer session. If the context does not correlate to an existing message transfer session, a new message transfer session is created, and the message is assigned to that new message transfer session. Upon receiving an acknowledgement of successful processing of the message, the removal of the message from the queue-like communication medium is assured. Upon receiving an acknowledgement of unsuccessful processing of the message, the message is restored to the queue-like communication medium. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300653 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DYNAMIC CONFIGURATION OF INTERCEPTORS IN A CLIENT-SERVER ENVIRONMENT - A computer implemented method/system of creating and managing one or more interceptors. The method comprises the steps of intrinsically chaining the interceptors, and storing state information, in at least one of the chained interceptors, directed to a reference to the next interceptor. A server computer in a client-sever environment that includes a processor configured to generate one or more interceptors and to intrinsically chain the interceptors, and a memory associated with at least one of the chained interceptors and configured to store state information directed to a reference to the next interceptor thereof. The method/system, in various embodiments, includes dissimilar interceptors, callbacks, and flyweight pattern weighting. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300654 | Collection access in a parallel environment - Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with collection access are described. One example system includes a data store to store a set of listener object identifiers. A listener object identifier identifies a member of a set (or collection) of listener objects. A Listener object initiates an action in response to an occurrence of an event associated with a member of a set of external logics. A member of the set of external logics invokes a notify process to trigger actions. The example system may also include storing the listener object identifiers in an array to allow instances of the notify process to operate in parallel. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300655 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INTERFACE DATA UTILIZATION - Methods and system for interface data utilization are described. In one embodiment, source interface data may be provided from a provider. The source interface data may be capable of being used to provide a source user interface for a networked resource associated with the provider. A user request may be received through the source user interface. A service call may be provided over a network to an application based on the receiving of the user request. The application may be associated with an application manager. Response data may be received over the network from the application based on the service call. Target interface data may be rendered based on the response data. The target interface data may be provided from the provider. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300656 | MOBILE APPLICATIONS - Providing a framework for developing, deploying and managing sophisticated mobile solutions, with a simple Web-like programming model that integrates with existing enterprise components. Mobile applications may consist of a data model definition, user interface templates, a client side controller, which includes scripts that define actions, and, on the server side, a collection of conduits, which describe how to mediate between the data model and the enterprise. In one embodiment, the occasionally-connected application server assumes that data used by mobile applications is persistently stored and managed by external systems. The occasionally-connected data model can be a METAdata description of the mobile application's anticipated usage of this data, and be optimized to enable the efficient traversal and synchronization of this data between occasionally connected devices and external systems. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300657 | INTELLIGENT MENU IN A COMMUNICATION DEVICE - The invention relates to a method for launching an application in a communication device, comprising the steps of detecting, in the communication device, one or more terms during communication between at least two parts wherein at least one of the parts is a person, comparing the terms with stored terms in a database, identifying one or more key terms depending on the comparison, determining a launch criteria based on the identified key terms, and launching at least one application, based on the launch criteria, in the communication device. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300658 | DEFINING, DISTRIBUTING AND PRESENTING DEVICE EXPERIENCES - Platforms and techniques for defining, authorizing/authenticating, distributing, and presenting dynamic device experiences using a number of hierarchically-related, declarative language data structures, such as extensible markup language (“XML”) elements or attributes. A dynamic device experience is presented when two electronic devices are in communication via a communication medium. The data structures are processed to present a graphical user interface to a user—the graphical user interface implements a dynamic device experience associated with the other electronic device. In one exemplary scenario, independent hardware vendors (“IHVs”) author XML documents that include device experience information (such as branding or advertising information, access to Web services or applications, and access to device functionality), in the form of items of data stored in the data structures. The XML documents are verified against a predetermined schema, secured using a cryptographic technique such as a digital signature, and discovered/distributed in flexible, tamper-resistant manners. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300659 | Device Managing System and Program - A device managing system, includes: a storage unit configured to store management information on at least two devices, the management information including at least one of a history of utilizing as a default device, specification, and a record of use; a determination unit configured to acquire the management information, and configured to determine a default candidate from the devices based on an indicator included in the acquired management information; and a setting unit configured to set the determined default candidate as a default device. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300660 | Paravirtualization acceleration through single root I/O virtualization - The present invention is directed to an information handling system device for operatively coupling with a device implementing Input/Output (I/O) virtualization for data transmission. The information handling system device may be configured for executing an operating system control program to manage one or more guest operating systems on the information handling system device. The operating system control program may include a paravirtualization driver for formulating a work queue entry according to the I/O virtualization of the device. Data may be transmitted between the one or more guest operating systems and the device via the paravirtualization driver. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300661 | Installer System and Installer Program - An installer system, includes: a detection unit configured to detect at least one device driver having been installed in a computer, in response to an installation instruction to install a device driver to be installed; an output unit configured to set at least one of the device driver detected by the detection unit as at least one device driver to be uninstalled and configured to output a screen for displaying information on the device driver to be uninstalled, the screen to which an uninstallation instruction can be input; and an uninstaller unit configured to uninstall the device driver to be uninstalled in response to the uninstallation instruction. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300662 | Mechanism for collocation in a Java virtual machine of JSLEE and Java EE - In one embodiment, a mechanism for collocation in a JAVA Virtual Machine of Java™ APIs for Intelligent Networks Service Logic Execution Environment (JSLEE) and Java™ Enterprise Edition (J2EE) is disclosed. In one embodiment, a system includes an integrated application server including JSLEE and J2EE, one or more resource adapters communicably coupled to the integrated application server, and one or more management interfaces communicably coupled to the integrated application server. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300663 | APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR PRODUCING ATOM FEEDS WITH J2CA ADAPTERS - A servlet for enabling communications between a client having an Atom feed reader and an Enterprise Information System (EIS). The servlet enables communications between the client and the EIS by acting as a proxy for an J2CA resource adapter deployed on an application server. The servlet receives HTTP requests from the Atom feed reader and translates those requests into appropriate adapter function calls based on the specified HTTP function and the provided key information. The servlet then invokes the appropriate functions and receives the response from the adapter. If a single object is returned by the adapter, the servlet translates the object into Atom-compliant XML and transmits it to the Atom feed reader as the response. If multiple objects are returned, the servlet generates a list of URLs which uniquely specify and identify each object returned by the adapter and provides this list to the Atom feed reader. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300664 | RECORDING APPARATUS - A recording apparatus includes a tray in which a recording material is to be set, the tray being reciprocated between a first position where the tray is exposed to allow the recording material to be set therein and a second position shifted from the first position in a first direction, where the tray is stored; a transporting mechanism that applies transportation force for reciprocating the tray; and a transportation-force transmitting member that is connected to the tray to mediate transmission of the transportation force to the tray and is capable of increasing or decreasing a space occupied by the transportation-force transmitting member in the direction of reciprocation. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300665 | DISC DEVICE - The disc device includes a casing, a drive unit, a disc processor swingably supported in the casing, and a first shift cam that swings the disc processor. The first shift cam restricts the swing of the disc processor to place the disc processor to each of an escape state, a clamp state, and a standby state. The standby state is a state in which the optical disc clamped to the turntable is allowed to keep a position apart from the opposing face of the casing while the disc processor is swung from the escape state to the clamp state. Accordingly, with no need to detect the position in the standby state with an arrangement such as separately-provided sensor, the disc processor can be placed in such a swinging state that the turntable can be controlled to be slightly rotated during the double clamp operation in a simplified arrangement. While preventing clamp failures, the optical disc can be favorably processed. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300666 | Disk loading device and disk device - A disk loading device includes a driving roller ( | 2009-12-03 |
20090300667 | Actuator for accessing moving storage media, board used for and method for manufacturing the actuator - An actuator for accessing moving storage media carrying substantially parallel information tracks has a suspension wire holder, a lens holder with a lens, and suspension wires connecting the suspension wire holder and the lens holder. According to the invention the suspension wire holder and the lens holder are constituted by a suspension wire holder part and a lens holder part of a single actuator blank made from insulating material, and are arranged coplanarly relative to each other the same way as they were while still connected to the actuator blank. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300668 | OPEN CABLE APPLICATION PLATFORM (OCAP) AND SET-TOP BOX (STB)-BASED BILL NOTIFICATION AND PAYMENT APPLICATION - One exemplary aspect is advanced multimedia communications via OCAP using customer specific profiles resident in the STB for bill management. Aspects of the invention also relate to managing payment preferences, auto payment of bills or invoices, managing bill notification preferences, triggering a notification to be sent to one or more of an associated device and the STB upon receipt of a bill, analyzing an incoming bill with an intelligent agent and optionally initiating a communication to the vendor associated with a bill based on the analysis, acquiring additional information about the bill including an image of the bill and/or additional details, and forwarding invoice information to a destination associated with the STB. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300669 | PORTABLE MULTI-PURPOSE AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS, APPARATUS AND METHODS - Portable multi-purpose audience measurement systems, apparatus and methods are disclosed. An example method to monitor a media presentation device disclosed herein comprises sensing a media content signal output by the media presentation device using a portable device separate from the media presentation device, the portable device supporting media metering functionality and native functionality, attempting to detect a code encoded in the sensed media content signal using the portable device, and generating a signature from the sensed media content signal using the portable device when the portable device is electrically coupled to an external power supply or the portable device has at least a threshold amount of local battery power, but not generating the signature when the portable device is not electrically coupled to the external power supply and the portable device does not have at least the threshold amount of local battery power. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300670 | PRESENTING MEDIA CONTENT TO A PLURALITY OF REMOTE VIEWING DEVICES - Methods and systems for processing and provisioning media content for display on a viewer device are provided. An example method may comprise accessing an advertisement database to obtain a plurality of advertisement media components The advertisement media components may be provided by an advertisement provider that pays to have the advertisement media components accessible. An entertainment database may be accessed to obtain a plurality of entertainment media components, the plurality of entertainment media components being provided by an entertainment provider that receives payment to make the entertainment media components accessible. Thereafter, the entertainment media components may be interspersed between the advertisement media components to provide viewer media content. An award associated with the viewer media content may be selectively allocated and the media content is communicated to at least one viewer device for viewing. A notification may be sent to the viewer device when the award has been awarded. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300671 | Controlling Access to Multimedia Content - A disclosed access control application and an associated method for managing access to multimedia content include enabling an administrator, e.g., a parent, to create a user account for a user, e.g., a child, and a password and a profile for the user account. The method further includes assigning an access level to the user and generating an initial set of content access indicator (CAIs) based on the access level. The initial CAI influences or determines the user's ability to access content associated with the access level. The method further includes modifying at least one of the CAIs in response to a request from the administrator. When a user subsequently send a navigation signal or command while the user account is active, the navigation signal is processed based at least in part on the CAIs to prevent the user from accessing content that the applicable CAI indicates as being restricted. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300672 | Method of Associating Program Content Data in a Digital Television Network - There is provided a method of associating program content data in a peer-to-peer digital television network. The network comprises a program content source, a network comprising a plurality of network nodes operable to receive data blocks corresponding to program content propagated from the program content source, and at least one user node coupled to the network. The method includes steps of: (a) receiving one or more user profiles of the at least one user node; (b) matching the one or more user profiles with the program content for determining preferential program content for presentation to the at least one user; (c ) including identifiers of the preferential program content in the one or more program content lists for receipt at the at least one user node; (d) procuring for the at least one user node the preferential program content using the identifiers from the plurality of network nodes; and (e) selectively presenting at least part of the preferential program content to the at least one user node. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300673 | Peer- to- peer set-top box system - A content sharing system, for implementation in a requesting peer, to receive at least a part of a chunk from a serving peer, the chunk being part of a content item, the requesting peer being operationally connected to a plurality of peers including the serving peer via a communications network, the content item being media content originally broadcast in a media stream by a Headend to at least some of the peers, the system including a metadata module to receive chunk metadata identifying the location of the chunk based on an identifier in the media stream originally broadcast by the Headend, a content transfer module to request the at least part of the chunk from the serving peer based on the chunk metadata, and receive the at least part of the chunk from the serving peer. Related apparatus and methods are also described. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300674 | METHOD, SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING ENHANCED PROGRAMMING INFORMATION - A method, system and apparatus for delivering enhanced programming information. In some non-limiting embodiments the method comprises obtaining channel grid information for identifying a programming event, the programming event being associated to an occurrence interval. The method further comprises receiving a dynamic program description associated with the programming event. Receiving of the dynamic program description is executed during the occurrence interval associated to the programming event. The channel grid information is then augmented with the dynamic program description. The disclosed method, system and apparatus enable the subscriber to ascertain the current status of the programming event occurring on one or more channels to potentially enable the subscriber to make a more informed decision as to which specific programming event to select for viewing. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300675 | Targeted television advertisements associated with online users' preferred television programs or channels - In an automatic, computer-implemented method, a selected television advertisement is presented automatically in association with a television program or channel, which in turn is selected based at least in part on information from an online user profile that contains information indicating a user's preference for that television program or channel. The television advertisement is selected based at least in part on additional information from the online user profile that is unrelated to the selected television program or channel. The selected television advertisement is presented on or during the selected television program or channel via a set-top box, which has a set-top box identifier associated with the online user profile. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300676 | GENERATING A COMBINED VIDEO STREAM FROM MULTIPLE INPUT VIDEO STREAMS - Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for generating a combined video stream from multiple input video streams. A first video stream including a first product commercial generated to be played at a first playback speed and a second video stream including a second product commercial generated to be played at a second playback speed are processed. The second playback speed is faster than the first playback speed. A combined video stream is generated including a first panel in each frame to display the first video stream and a second panel in each frame to display the second video stream. When the combined video stream is played at the first playback speed the second video stream is rendered to appear at a slower speed than the second playback speed for which it was generated. When the combined video stream is played at the second playback speed the first video speed is rendered to appear at a faster speed than the first playback speed for which it was generated. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300677 | INTEGRATION OF CONTROL DATA INTO DIGITAL BROADCAST CONTENT FOR ACCESS TO ANCILLARY INFORMATION - Ancillary information associated with one or more images embedded in a digital broadcast data stream may be accessed by a digital broadcast receiving device. The device may include a receiver unit, a processor, and a memory. The processor may execute program instructions to access the ancillary information. Control data may be associated with one or more visual components of one or more video images. The control data and images may be combined into a digital broadcast data stream. The device may receive the images and control data. The images may be presented on a display device. The receiving device may use the control data to present or store a perceptible indication that ancillary information is associated with the visual components in conjunction with presenting the images. The device may use the control data to present or store the ancillary information in response to an input signal. | 2009-12-03 |
20090300678 | BROADCAST RECEIVING APPARATUS TO PROVIDE EXTERNAL DEVICES WITH A LIST OF RECORDED FILES, METHOD FOR PROVIDING RECORDED FILE, AND SYSTEM USING THE SAME - A broadcast receiving apparatus, and a method and system for providing recorded files are provided. The broadcast receiving apparatus generates a recorded file list having information regarding addresses at which recorded files are stored, and transmits the generated recorded file list to an external apparatus. Therefore, a user may conveniently use files recorded on a TV. | 2009-12-03 |