International Business Machines Corporation

Other

Kian-Bon K Sy

Fuyung Lai

Arthur James Stagg

Caglan M Aras

Jon E Fox

Luther B Griffin

Daniel S Abensour

David R Irvin

Gary Roy Shippy

Charles H Jolissaint

Keith N Langston

Patrick M Gannon

John G Stevenson

Stephen Anton Owen

Ronald D Martin

Bradford M Bean

Richard L Partridge

Rao J Cherukuri

Youichi Saitoh, Deceased

Naotaka Aoki

Mehendra J Joshi

William C Schaal

Mahendra J Joshi

A method and apparatus for content coding of Audio-Visual materials is presented. The content coding can then be decoded by a home station where the content coding is collected and processed. The content codes are utilized by the subscribers home station to collect information on the subscribers selection of AVM streams and record information on which AVMs have been presented to the subscriber. An audio-video material distribution system is described for supplying AVM streams to home station via a local distribution network. The home stations decode the content coding from the AVM streams and collect the encoded content codes. The collected content codes are then sent to collection centers for processing. The encoded information may also utilized to provide management of an upstream channel between the home stations and the video distribution node.

Method and apparatus for monitoring audio-visual materials presented to

To efficiently diagnose local and remote adapters without using dedicated hardware in a communication network to which a plurality of terminals are connected through associated adapters, a local logical address which is different from logical addresses reserved for communication between the terminals, is assigned to communication with a local adapter, and a frame including the local logical address and a diagnostic command is transmitted to the local adapter. When a remote adapter is to be diagnosed, a frame including a logical address assigned to communication with a remote terminal associated with that remote adapter, a diagnostic command, and at least one invalid character, is sent out from the local adapter to the network.

System for managing communications between adapters

A method and apparatus for the automatic access control to multimedia presentations at the receiver in accordance with a viewer selected access mode and access classification data encoded into the multimedia presentation. Screening classification codes (SCCs) are embedded in the Audio Visual Material (AVM) delivered to a subscribers home station. The screening classification codes identify the type of content that follows in the AVM stream. For instance, violent content (video and/or audio) provided to a home station may contain a SCC that indicates violent scenes or violent action is forth coming in the AVM stream. The home station takes the SCC that are encoded and/or embedded in the AVM stream and applies a subscriber selected screening criteria. The screening criteria or suppression criteria are AVM manipulation commands. These AVM manipulation commands can blank the audio and/or video, cause the display of the last acceptable frame, perform obscuration transforms on the AVM stream or otherwise manipulate the audio and/or video portions of the AVM stream. The subscriber associates an AVM manipulation command with each of the available SCCs. The home station applies the subscriber desired manipulation commands to the AVM stream. Information on the subscriber selections are provided to an upstream node for subscriber behavior collection analysis.

Method and apparatus for screening audio-visual materials presented to a

The system and method of the present invention provide a mechanism, for the purpose of efficiently interconnecting local area networks (LANs) across a frame relay network, by which LAN stations provide data flow control when the frame relay network becomes congested. The system of the invention comprises a Station Manager at the network end point internetworking unit (IWU) for managing the IWU, a LAN Manager for managing one or more LANs connected to the end point IWU, and Station Managers at each of the LAN stations managing the respective LAN station. In operation, the IWU receives from the frame relay network a congestion notification and the IWU Station Manager broadcasts this notification to its managed LAN station Station Managers. The LAN station Station Managers each examine the notification against its outstanding data to be transmitted and slows down data traffic that is destined for the congested portion of the frame relay network.

System and method for controlling LAN data flow control through a frame

The system and method of the present invention provide a seamless approach for providing ATM connectivity for a Frame Relay DTE using an intelligent Terminal Adapter (TA). Using the system and method of the present invention, an enhanced Frame Relay protocol runs between the DTE and the ATM TA, the Frame Relay DTE is provided with not only the connectivity to the ATM network but also the full advantages of ATM transport mechanism. For instance, the FR DTE can choose to transmit its data using ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL) 1,3/4 or 5. Using the system and method of the present invention, a FR DTE may communicate with another FR DTE or to an ATM DTE through wide area or local area ATM network. The Frame Relay DTE can send data, image, voice, or video traffics across the ATM network via the FR/ATM terminal adapter.

System and method for providing ATM support for frame relay DTEs with a

The system and method of the present invention provide a seamless approach for providing ATM connectivity for a Frame Relay DTE using an intelligent Terminal Adapter (TA). Using the system and method of the present invention, an enhanced Frame Relay protocol runs between the DTE and the ATM TA, the Frame Relay DTE is provided with not only the connectivity to the ATM network but also the full advantages of ATM transport mechanism and, in particular, the connectivity through the ATM network using the SVC connection mechanism. Using the system and method of the present invention, a FR DTE may issue commands to the terminal adapter to set of calls, or connections, with other DTEs (FR or ATM). The terminal adapter then communicates with the ATM network and the destination DTE using the ANSI Q.2931 call establishment procedure (using commands such as Call.sub.-- Set-up, Call.sub.-- Accept, and Call.sub.-- Disconnect) to establish an SVC connection between the communicating DTEs. In addition, the FR DTE sends parameters such as quality of service (QOS), peak bandwidth, etc., so that the Frame Relay DTE can send real-time data, image, voice, or video traffics across the ATM network using the less expensive SVC mechanism.

System and method for providing SVC service through an ATM network for

A network has a plurality of devices connected together in pairs. When a physical connection between a pair of devices is initiated, the devices exchange information regarding a unique device identifier, and details of the physical connection. This information is provided in a report to a network manager. When a failure occurs on the network, the connection information is used to locate the failure.

Network device information exchange

A terminal adapter interfaces between a Data Terminating Equipment (DTE) and either a Frame Relay or a Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS) telecommunications network so that the type of network over which the DTE is communicating is transparent to the DTE. The terminal adapter performs mapping from one protocol to another so that a native frame relay DTE can access an SMDS network and so that a native SMDS DTE can access a frame relay network. The address mapping method performed by the terminal adapter uses a parallel table look-up technique which reduces the chance of collision (when two or more addresses hash into the same table entry), eliminates the traditional comparison function to detect a collision, and eliminates the traditional pointer technique when a collision occurs.

Combined terminal adapter for SMDS and frame relay high speed data

In complex networks, data frames may be routed through different systems having different frame or addressing requirements. When the frames are transferred or bridged between such systems, known changes may have to be made in the frame contents to accommodate these requirements. To maintain the integrity of error checking provided by Cyclical Redundancy Checking (CRC) techniques, a system receiving a frame uses an improved Frame Check Sequence value modification technique which modifies a Frame Check Sequence (FCS) field value only as a function of the known or planned changes to be made in the frame. If unplanned changes (that is, errors) are introduced at the receiving system, application of standard CRC error checking techniques at the next system to receive the frame will indicate those errors.

Preservation of CRC integrity upon intentional data alteration during

The architecture provides a frame format and procedure for routing messages through a single ring or multi-ring communication system. Stations associated with the exchange of messages are located on the single ring or on different rings of the multi-ring communication system. The rings are connected by bridges to form a local area network. The frame format includes a plurality of control bits positioned within a Routing Information (RI) field, a frame control field and a frame status field. Messages are generated and structured in accordance with the frame format. A group of the control bits, in each message, is set with initial values according to the message type. Thus, different messages are characterized by a different sequence of control bit settings. A routing algorithm analyzes the message and depending on the status of the control bits, the message is processed and ultimately switched to its proper destination.

Routing architecture for a multi-ring local area network

A method and apparatus for protecting the integrity of data in a multi-loop communication network is disclosed. A source station generates and forwards a frame with a unique format and a frame check sequence (FCS). At each bridge, an algorithm is provided to process the frame. If the frame is at a source bridge and not discarded, the FCS is preserved by encapsulating it in the Information field. The source bridge generates a new FCS, appends it to the frame and forwards the frame. Thereafter, each intermediate bridge generates its own FCS, appends it to the frame and forwards the frame. At the target bridge, no FCS is generated. The preserved FCS is forwarded as the FCS of the frame.

Routing mechanism with encapsulated FCS for a multi-ring local area

The described embodiment provides storage control (PSCF) for overlapping the handling of processor store requests between their generation by an instruction execution means (IPPF) and their presentation to system main storage (MS). The embodiment uses a store counter, an inpointer counter, an outpointer counter, a translator pointer register, an output counter and a plurality of registers sets to process and control the sequencing of all store requests so that the PSCF can output them to MS in the order received from the IPPF. The embodiment uses the counters to coordinate the varying delays in PSCF processing of plural store request contained in different register sets and the translator. The store counter obtains independence between plural IPPF operand address (OA) registers which send the store requests and plural PSCF register sets which handle the store request. The number of OA registers is made independent of the number of register sets. The store counter is also used for serializing instruction control.

High speed store request processing control

The disclosed embodiments filter out many unnecessary interrogations of the cache directories of processors in a multiprocessor (MP) system, thereby reducing the required size of the buffer invalidation address stack (BIAS) with each associated processor, and increasing the efficiency of each processor by allowing it to access its cache during the machine cycles which in prior MP's had been required for invalidation interrogation. Invalidation interrogation of each remote processor cache directory may be done when each channel or processor generates a store request to a shared main storage. A filter memory is provided with each BIAS in the MP. The filter memory records the cache block address in each invalidation request transferred to its associated BIAS. The filter memory deletes an address when it is deleted from the cache directory and retains the most recent cache access requests. The filter memory may have one or more registers, or be an array. Invalidation interrogation addresses from each remote processor and from local and/or remote channels are received and compared against each valid address recorded in the filter memory. If they compare unequal, the received address is recorded in the filter memory as a valid address, and it is gated into BIAS to perform a cache interrogation. If equal, the inputted address is prevented from entering the filter memory or the BIAS, so that it cannot cause any cache interrogation. Deletion from the filter memory is done when the associated processor fetches a block of data into its cache. Deletion may be of all entries in the filter memory, or of only a valid entry having an address equal to the block fetch address in a fetch address register (FAR). Deletion may be done by resetting a valid bit with each entry.

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Cary, NC, United States of America

Kian-Bon K Sy