Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Fan Yang

Wenwu Zhu

Ya-Qin Zhang

Kun Tan

Yunxin Liu

Junfeng Zhou

Qian Zhang

Guobin Shen

Yongqiang Xiong

Kwok Tai Philip Mok

Songwu Lu

Lionel Ming Shuan Ni

Kaishun Wu

XinYan Zhang

A digital linear voltage regulator includes a power stage (), arranged in a hierarchical grouping of power stage units. The power stage () is configured to deliver power to a load (). The digital linear voltage regulator further includes a mixed-signal controller (), configured to control each power stage unit in the power stage () by conditionally adjust a number of active power stage units in the power stage () based on a comparison of a feedback voltage of the load () and a reference voltage; wherein the hierarchical grouping of power stage units comprises N levels; wherein the power stage () comprises a number of MNth level units, and an Nth level unit comprising a number of M(N&#x2212;1)th level units; and wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 3, and Mand Mare integers greater than or equal to 1.

Three-dimensional power stage and adaptive pipeline control

Kinship between electronic files among personal networked devices may be ascertained between the files by determining an operational relationship between the files and with a similarity measurement.

File kinship for multimedia data tracking

Systems, methods, and apparatus are described that employ specially designed interference patterns to build an in-band side channel without degrading the effective throughput of the main channel. A first device () includes a control component () that generates control information and an interference component () that transmits the control information () through emission of patterned interference data concurrently while other users are transmitting other data (). A second device () receives the patterned interference data and the other data via a single antenna () and decodes the patterned interference data to extract the control data (). The first device () transmits the other data () on a side channel () that resides in the same spectrum as the main channel () in which the other data () is emitted. The first device () encodes the interference patterns such that the control data () can be safely transmitted and extracted without effecting other data transmission. In one aspect, devices () can employ a dynamic cooperation multi-access channel (DC-MAC) protocol () to schedule transmission of the other data () on the main channel (), and to employ the side channel () for control and coordination.

Transmitting and/or receiving data in a side channel

An application programming interface and related system is presented for a middleware communication space that provides asynchronous message delivery service for partially connected mobile ad hoc networks. Embodiments of the present invention use mobile devices to bridge separated islands of networks and store and propagate messages. The system and software architecture supports methods for messaging caching, transferring and routing. More specifically, embodiments provide methods and systems that extend a communication space concept into a distributed environment and combine it with the standard Web Services technologies, i.e, SOAP, and WS series protocols. The communication space provides an extension of Web Services to mobile ad hoc networks and provides asynchronous message caching, transferring and routing.

Hierarchical application programming interface for communication middleware in partially connected mobile ad hoc networks

A method and system is presented for path discovery and asynchronous message transfer in a partially connected middleware communication space comprising mobile ad hoc networks. Embodiments of the present invention use mobile devices to bridge separated islands of networks and store and propagate messages. The system and software architecture supports methods for routing, messaging caching, and transferring. More specifically, embodiments provide methods and systems that extend a communication space concept into a distributed environment and combine it with the standard Web Services technologies, i.e., SOAP, and WS series protocols. The communication space provides an extension of Web Services to mobile ad hoc networks and provides asynchronous message caching, transferring and routing.

Path discovery and message transfer in partially connected mobile ad hoc networks

Systems and methods are described for using a mobile phone to remotely control a computing device. In one implementation, a communication channel between the mobile phone and the computing device uses an overlay network, such as an instant messaging (IM) service, to exchange communication data packets. An exemplary system includes a flexible layered architecture&#x2014;which allows tailoring the system for remote control of various applications using various network configurations. Based on the overlay protocol used, a transport protocol layer can provide helpful application programming interfaces (APIs). On top of the transport protocol layer, a remote control protocol defines a framework for packet exchange of extensible commands, customizable for remote control of diverse applications. Use of paired-key encryption, IM accounts, and buddy lists ensure that communications between mobile phone and remote computer are secure.

Using a mobile phone to remotely control a computer via an overlay network

Systems and methods are described for using a mobile phone to control a computing device. In one implementation, a communication protocol stack is established that includes a wireless layer, such as a BLUETOOTH wireless protocol (IEEE Standard 802.15.1) stack, a communication layer that multiplexes the wireless layer into virtual channels, and an application adaptation layer by which the mobile phone controls and previews content from each of multiple applications on the computing device. The communication protocol stack dynamically maps mobile phone keys to computer keyboard messages for controlling the applications on the computing device. A data packet structure is established for communications between the mobile phone and the computing device via the communication protocol stack.

Using a mobile phone to control a personal computer

A peer-to-peer (P2P) probing/network quality of service (QoS) analysis system utilizes a UDP-based probing tool for determining latency, bandwidth, and packet loss ratio between peers in a network. The probing tool enables network QoS probing between peers that connect through a network address translator. The list of peers to probe is provided by a connection server based on prior probe results and an estimate of the network condition. The list includes those peers which are predicted to have the best QoS with the requesting peer. Once the list is obtained, the requesting peer probes the actual QoS to each peer on the list, and returns these results to the connection server. P2P probing in parallel using a modified packet-pair scheme is utilized. If anomalous results are obtained, a hop-by-hop probing scheme is utilized to determine the QoS of each link. In such a scheme, differential destination measurement is utilized.

Peer-to-peer method of quality of service (QoS) probing and analysis and infrastructure employing same

A resource allocation of multiple compressed AV streams delivered over the Internet is disclosed that achieves end-to-end optimal quality through a multimedia streaming TCP-friendly transport (MSTFP) protocol that adaptively estimates the network bandwidth while smoothing the sending rate. Resources allocated dynamically according to a media encoding distortion and network degradation algorithm. A scheme is also disclosed for dynamically estimating the available network bandwidth for streaming of objects, such as MPEG4 multiple video objects, in conjunction with the MSTFP protocol. The scheme can account for packet-loss rates to minimize end-to-end distortion for media delivery.

Resource allocation in multi-stream IP network for optimized quality of service

A system for content (e.g., streaming media) is presented comprising a server, to provide media content on request through a wireline network, coupled to a wireless host through a network gateway. The network gateway establishes a communication channel from the server to the wireless host through both a wireline network and a wireless network, wherein the communication channel includes a transport layer protocol with control parameters for network elements of each of the wireline network and the wireless network. This abstract itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. The scope of the present invention is pointed out in the appending claims.

Architecture and related methods for streaming media content through heterogeneous networks

The present technique for automating service discovery and the set-up of a wireless network improves a user's experience when setting-up the wireless network and using one or more services. The technique includes automatic neighbor/service discovery using special beacons transmitted from wireless devices. Each special beacon identifies the wireless device (i.e., host) that transmitted the beacon along with the services provided by the device. For each special beacon that is received, a corresponding host name and the service provided by it are displayed in a graphical user interface. A user may select one or more of the host names and initiate a transmission of a network set-up and service request. The network set-up and service request identifies the selected host names and invites each selected host name to become a member of a wireless network. After the network has been set up, the service may be invoked automatically.

Growing community of inventors

Hong Kong, China

Fan Yang