International Business Machines Corporation

Susan E Waefler

Kenneth Louis Milsted

Craig N Kindell

Brian E Yoder

Michael P Vogt

James T Tsevdos

Ross L Cook

George William Wilhelm, Jr

James Christopher Mahlbacher

Mark D Marik

Michael G Lisanke

George Gregory Gruse

Robert A Palo

Minhtam C Nguyen

Glen E Hamblin

John Dorak

Robert S Barnhill

Nancy Lee Ring

Carlos Portela

Brent C Anderson

Cheryl A Leone

Jose Martinez, Jr

Embodiments of the present invention provide for flexible monitoring of content. The content at a client device can be monitored based on the use and actions performed by the client. In order to monitor the content at the client, a dependency is created between any recipient of the content and a monitor installed at the client device. For example, the content may be encrypted and, when the content is accessed by a potential recipient, the recipient may be required to request a key from the monitor. This activates the monitor to begin recording transaction data and events about the content's use, such as the recipient's identity and the type of actions performed. The monitor can be configured to passively monitor and record the use of the content at the client's device. In addition, the monitor can be configured to provide audit data that indicates the transaction data recorded to a server.

Trainable rule-based computer file usage auditing system

A networked computer system for storing and presenting multimedia data distributes that data among multiple storage devices of the system. The system includes a plurality of computers, each of which supports at least one viewing station. Each viewing station has access to any file on any of the storage devices and can retrieve and display any file on demand. To provide an efficient system and, at the same time, reduce the probability that the viewing of multimedia data may be interrupted, the system allocates resources, prioritizes access to files, and buffers data prior to the data's delivery to video adapters.

System for the management of multiple time-critical data streams

A game manufacturing process includes the steps of a customer's game selection being used to initiate the manufacturing process by scanning a bar code from an empty cartridge box to a selection slip. An appropriate cartridge is identified and erased. The manufacturing system then writes the game cartridge with the content data from a game storage computer and sends information to a printer for producing identification and instructional inserts for the game. The game computer has stored therein the game contents for all of the games. After a game-to-be-'burned' indicia is provided to the game storage computer, and a cartridge is installed, the sequence of loading the game and additional identifying information into a flash RAM contained in the cartridge is commenced. The manufacturing system functions so that if timely connections are not made between the game storage computer and a host computer, the game burner application time counter will not be reset by regularly transmitted and expected transactional data, and the system will only operate for a limited period of time and will then cease to function. The operator can request from the host computer a grace period to resume normal operation of the game burning application. This provides some minimum time between connections, but does not permit the game burner application to run without first transmitting sufficient support data to and from the host computer.

Cartridge manufacturing system for game programs

An apparatus and method for communicating information between a computer and a plurality of peripherals along a plurality of communication channels is disclosed. The computer and peripherals are connected in a succession of stages (cascaded), in a tree-like (hierarchical) communication network configuration. Peripherals in the network include an associated communication unit which is responsible for transmitting and/or receiving data communicated on a communication channel. The communication unit facilitates the transfer of data to, and the receipt of data from, the unit's parent, and also facilitates the transfer of data to, and the receipt of data from, any child units. In the invented method, each communication unit, in parallel, composes those individual messages received from child units into a single composite message and transmits the composite message to the communication unit's parent. The parent, in turn, composes those individual or composite messages it has received into a single composite message and transmits the contents to its parent. This continues until a single composite message is transmitted to the computer for processing. The computer decomposes a composite message into its constituent individual messages and processes individual messages. The computer can also transmit messages to peripherals in a reciprocal manner, that is, by composing a single composite message to be transmitted to the first stage communication unit and thereafter decomposed and distributed to designated nodes within the network.

Apparatus and method for data communication between nodes

A digital data on-demand turnkey system at a customer premise wherein N number of sewers provide for 100% of content distribution of remotely stored digitized information, which information may be previewed in real-time, and product incorporating selected digitized information can be manufactured on-site and within a short response time to a customer's request at a point of sale location. In a retail environment customers, at a point-of-sale location are able to exhaustively search and preview the content database using graphics-based touch screens at consumer kiosks. Previews including audio and video segments are made available. Prompting screens allow customers to make purchasing decisions by stipulating content which is available from any number of categories of subject matter including music. The selected media for the manufacture and production of the digital data may be from a myriad of different selections and can include CD's, cassette tapes, CD ROM technology, reel-to-reel tapes, and video disks, as an example. A master server will be situated geographically so as to be accessible to chain and network subservers. Its geographic and networked location is dependent upon communication network systems and subsystem costs and availability in order to best serve a customer's premise, whether it be a retail store or similar point-of-sale or other end-user location. Security mechanisms that require centralized database authorizations prior to the transmission of content and/or the manufacture of any of the products is provided in addition.

Digital information accessing, delivery and production system

Growing community of inventors

Delray Beach, FL, United States of America

Susan E Waefler