2643 results about "Wide area" patented technology

Content networking is an emerging technology, where the requests for content accesses are steered by "content routers" that examine not only the destinations but also content descriptors such as URLs and cookies. In the current deployments of content networking, "content routing" is mostly confined to selecting the most appropriate back-end server in virtualized web server clusters. This invention presents a novel content-based routing architecture that is suitable for global content networking. In this content-based routing architecture, a virtual overlay network called the "virtual content network" is superimposed over the physical network. The content network contains content routers as the nodes and "pathways" as links. The content-based routers at the edge of the content network may be either a gateway to the client domain or a gateway to the server domain whereas the interior ones correspond to the content switches dedicated for steering content requests and replies. The pathways are virtual paths along the physical network that connect the corresponding content routers. The invention is based on tagging content requests at the ingress points. The tags are designed to incorporate several different attributes of the content in the routing process. The path chosen for routing the request is the optimal path and is chosen from multiple paths leading to the replicas of the content.

A wireless battery charging system and method includes a self-structuring antenna system for monitoring a wide area and detecting wireless devices within the area, a transceiver for establishing two-way communication with a wireless device detected within the area, and a computer for adjusting the self-structuring antenna system to focus electromagnetic energy beamed to the wireless device according to information received from the wireless device detected within the area. The wireless battery charging system and method preferably includes a charging cradle that has a self-structuring antenna system that monitors a cradle charging area and detects a wireless device in the cradle, a transceiver for establishing two-way communication with the wireless device in the cradle, and a computer for adjusting the self-structuring antenna system to focus electromagnetic near-field energy to the wireless device in the cradle according to information received from the wireless device in the cradle.

The present invention discloses a system and a method to locate moving objects, such as people, pets and vehicles, over a wide area, by attaching small wireless devices, such as Bluetooth transceivers, to said objects and determining the location of said devices. The location of said wireless devices is determined by achieving ad-hoc short range wireless connectivity between said devices and communication devices such as Bluetooth enabled mobile phones that pass by, where said latter communication devices can be located by other means, such as GPS or network-based techniques.

A progressive jackpot system for allowing access to multiple wide area progressive jackpots at a gaming machine is described. The gaming machine connected to the progressive systems can be switched between two or more different progressive games where each progressive game provides the chance to win a different wide area progressive jackpot. The gaming machine may be operable to dynamically connect to and communicate with one or more different progressive systems. Switches can be triggered based upon a player input at the gaming machine or based upon a command received from a remote gaming device.

Systems and methods for tracking, differentiating and awarding loyalty credits to patrons of a gaming establishment are disclosed. Tracking can be facilitated by and loyalty credits can be stored on patron issued loyalty credit instruments such as printed tickets, magnetic-striped cards, room keys, portable wireless devices and smart cards. Loyalty credits can be awarded for and combined with other loyalty credits awarded for gaming activities involving wagers, game play, and possible monetary awards, as well as purchasing activities involving the procurement of food, lodging, entertainment, transportation, merchandise or services. Theoretical all expenditures profiles can be established for patrons based upon the gaming activities and purchasing activities of the patrons. Customized comps can be awarded on the initiative of the gaming establishment and without any specific request from a patron. Such comps can be based on tracked information on gaming activities and purchasing activities of the patrons.

A method, system and apparatus for internetworking WWAN and WLAN are disclosed. More specifically, a method, system, and apparatus for a mobile station to sense and select a WLAN or a WWAN are disclosed. A mobile station may communicate according to an 802.xx wireless local area network air interface protocol via WLAN logic or according to a wireless wide area network air interface protocol via WWAN logic. The mobile station detects RF energy in the 802.xx spectrum and, in response to the energy detection, determines whether there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the mobile station by performing a scanning operation. If there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the mobile station, the mobile station selects the WLAN logic so that it may communicate via an air interface. Under some embodiments, WWAN has information identifying the areas in which capable WLANs operate and the WWAN provisions the mobile station with at least a subset of such information. The mobile station uses such area-identifying information to determine whether to perform the RF energy detection operation. The information may be cell ids, or GPS information.

Methods and apparatus are described for distributing gaming applications to a plurality of gaming sites located in a plurality of regulatory regions via a wide area network. Each regulatory region has a regulatory scheme associated therewith. A plurality of gaming applications are stored on at least one central server. A subset of the gaming applications are distributed from the at least one central server to at least one of the gaming sites located in one of regulatory regions via the wide area network, the subset of gaming applications being determined according to the associated regulatory scheme.

A portable device (100) communicates with a short range wireless local area network (114) and a wide area communication system (116). The portable device (100) receives a location data from the short range wireless local area network (114). The portable device (100) generates a location sensitive information request to the wide area communication system (116) including the location data received from the short range wireless local area network (114).

Wide-area data communications utilize regional networks transporting IP-over-Ethernet on fiber. For certain Layer 2 services, a regional implementation of the network makes limited use of spanning tree protocol on a backbone ring. Learning bridge operations in switches on associated access rings involve a short default for an aging timer. For use of Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), the connection of each access ring to the backbone ring uses a pair of routers with dual links therebetween. One of these links is bonded to the backbone (OSPF Area 0), whereas the other link is bonded to the Area of the respective access ring. Also, certain routers within each regional network form a mini-autonomous system, for boundary gateway protocol (BGP). The mini-autonomous systems of the regional networks form a confederation. The network utilizes route reflectors in the mini-autonomous systems. The Internet carries confederation commands to and from a designated hub.

A method for paying a progressive jackpot in a wide area progressive system having a progressive controller linked to groups of gaming terminals. Each gaming terminal using software determines, based upon at least the broadcast current progressive jackpot amount and the received wager, at least one fractional portion of the broadcast current progressive jackpot amount that may be won by the player when a progressive event occurs in play of the casino game of chance at the gaming terminal. The fractional progressive jackpot amount is delivered from the gaming terminal back to the progressive controller where it is deducted before the next current progressive jackpot amount is broadcast.

To reduce interference in a communication system (10), a communication unit (42-50) is arranged to initiate establishment of a radio frequency communication with a base station (26-38) by transmitting a system access request on a dedicated, wide area control channel. Upon receipt of the system access request, a base station (32) of the communication system of FIG. 1 responds by forming a narrowbeam control channel to the communication unit and transmitting system control information to the communication unit on the narrowbeam control channel, the system control information transmitted from the array of antenna elements and arranged to identify a narrowbeam communication resource for use in the radio communication. The communication unit (42-50), upon receiving the system control information, then configures itself to utilise the narrowbeam communication resource for the radio communication.

A dual-mode mobile station for accessing a wide-area wireless network according to a first wireless protocol and a small-area wireless network according to a second wireless protocol. The dual-mode mobile station comprises a controller that switches the dual-mode mobile station between a first mode in which the dual-mode mobile station communicates with the wide-area wireless network and a second mode in which the dual-mode mobile station communicates with the small-area wireless network. The controller switches the dual-mode mobile station between the first and second modes depending on a distance between the dual-mode mobile station and an access point of the small-area wireless network. When the dual-mode transceiver enters the first mode, the controller turns off a transceiver that operates in the second mode in order to save power.

The invention provides a method and system for fault-tolerant communication. It utilizes three wide area networks, including the cell phone network, the internet and the telephone network (PSTN). The method and system monitors the wide-area networks and sends warning messages if they cannot be accessed from a local site. Primary failure conditions relate to the access and use of the three wide-area networks. Secondary failure conditions include power outages. The possible fault conditions include: ‘telephone out’, ‘internet out’, ‘wireless radio out’, ‘power out’. If these failure conditions are detected, the method and system alerts the user and redirects voice, text message, and data traffic via a detour over a different wide-area network in order to avoid that failure.A method and system has been disclosed that routs information over one of multiple networks in a fault-tolerant manner. In case of network failure, detour routers allow the start-detour routers to switch the information flow over another network to an end-detour router, where the information flow is switched back to the originally-intended network. Cell radios are utilized, as well as telephones and the internet to provide redundancy and fail-over under ‘telephone out’, ‘internet out’, ‘cell phone out’ conditions. The method has particular strengths in supporting communication even with dynamically assigned addresses, thus assuring that remote users receive monitoring and alarm information in a timely manner.

The present invention discloses a system and a method to locate moving objects, such as people, pets and vehicles, over a wide area, by attaching small wireless devices, such as Bluetooth transceivers, to said objects and determining the location of said devices. The location of said wireless devices is determined by achieving ad-hoc short range wireless connectivity between said devices and communication devices such as Bluetooth enabled mobile phones that pass by, where said latter communication devices can be located by other means, such as GPS or network-based techniques.

Disclosed are methods, apparatus, and systems, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for providing wide area bonusing over a gaming network from a gaming machine provider. Player identification information associated with a player is received. Gaming machine data is also retrieved. The gaming machine data is associated with the player identification information, and includes information particular to one or more gaming machines played by the player. One or more criteria are applied to the retrieved gaming machine data. A player bonus is issued according to the application of the one or more criteria to the retrieved gaming machine data. The gaming machine data can identify a brand of gaming machines played by the player. The gaming machine data can also include data selected from the group consisting of total number of machines played, gaming machine play history, games played, number of plays per machine, number of plays per game, amounts wagered per machine, amounts wagered per game, and gaming machine location. The gaming machine data can be stored on a portable device carried by the player.

A magnetic stimulation apparatus for central nervous system and circuit thereof and use of the apparatus and method of using the apparatus are shown. Controlling circuit design and outputting wave form signal to a drive power supply circuit enables the drive power supply circuit to output current of corresponding wave form to coils, and by means of the design of the shape, number of turns, size, interval of the coils, generates within a certain region inside the coils a desired time-variant magnetic field which is then applied to the brain of an animal or a human being so that the central nervous system can receive a wide area synergy magnetic stimulation with a precise wave form, high frequency or a combination of a plurality of frequency components, thus achieving the treatment of nervous and psychiatric diseases or brain function improvement in combination with behavior guidance, thought guidance, or psychological guidance.

Computer file archiving systems and techniques are described. Various aspects include wide area high-availability file archiving, volume-level management capabilities of archiving systems, and methods and systems for storing file archiving metadata. The methods and systems described can be used individually or in combination.

Traditional networked file systems like NFS do not extend to wide-area due to network latency and dynamics introduced in the WAN environment. To address that problem, a wide-area networked file system is based on a traditional networked file system (NFS / CIFS) and extends to the WAN environment by introducing a file redirector infrastructure residing between the central file server and clients. The file redirector infrastructure is invisible to both the central server and clients so that the change to NFS is minimal. That minimizes the interruption to the existing file service when deploying WireFS on top of NFS. The system includes an architecture for an enterprise-wide read / write wide area network file system, protocols and data structures for metadata and data management in this system, algorithms for history based prefetching for access latency minimization in metadata operations, and a distributed randomized algorithm for the implementation of global LRU cache replacement scheme.

The present invention describes the use of a space-based Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) magnetic field detector in conjunction with ground-based network of ELF magnetic field detectors. In particular, a space based ELF detection system can be used to perform a wide area search and find precursor earthquake signals in both known and unknown earthquake zones, and a ground-based network of ELF detectors can be used to verify that the signals are indeed earthquake generated signals. The use of this invention will minimize cost and manpower necessary to effectuate an accurate and reliable earthquake detection system.

A cellular wireless packet data communication system containing transmit-only endpoint devices which transmit to receive-only base stations. The system is configured to allow for large area coverage (e.g., a metropolitan area) with far fewer number base stations than are required with conventional two-way cellular systems. The base station coverage areas are configured to overlap, allowing for reception of packets at multiple base stations. A data concentrator resolves redundantly received messages. The network is configurable as a WAN, a LAN, or a combination of the two. Novel modulation techniques (e.g., a 16QAM submodulation together with a 7FSK modulation) are used such that low cost components can be used in the transmitters and receivers while achieving outstanding probability of success performance. The endpoint devices are battery operated and accordingly, are designed for low power consumption and multi-year battery life. The system is used in a variety of applications including remote monitoring and mobile communications.

Method and apparatus for information conveyance in an end user device of a packet-based communication service where the end user device is connected to a PSTN-based communication device includes detecting a power up condition of the end user device connected to the PSTN-based communication device, detecting a packet-based network connection, retrieving an end user profile from the packet-based communication service attempting a communication registration operation and displaying one or more non-binary type messages at the end user device regarding the status of the communication service. The apparatus for enhanced information conveyance includes a main body having a local area packet network connection means, a wide area packet network connection means and a non-packet network connection means for connection of a PSTN-based communication device and a display panel body adapted to display information regarding the status of the communication service in a non-binary manner.

The present invention contributes to advancements in the art of inventory management and distribution by providing a system and method for processing, distributing, and tracking reusable inventory items. Reusable articles, such as surgical garments and accessories, are adapted with radio frequency identification (“RFID”) tags having unique identification numbers. A “reader” is used to retrieve stored information from the tags without requiring direct contact or clear line-of-sight. The reusable articles are processed and distributed using an inventory management system wherein lifecycle data is obtained for each reusable article. The reusable articles are distributed to the end users from central processing facilities, used, returned, cleaned, inspected, folded, sterilized, and returned to inventory for re-distribution. Periodic quality control inspections are conducted in response to predetermined usage parameters. The use of RFID tags and a corresponding computer network allows for the acquisition of data corresponding to each reusable article within a distribution system having multiple remote distribution and processing facilities. The acquired data is transmitted to a central computer processing system via a secured wide area computer network for use and analysis. Data processing computer servers at each remote distribution and processing facility electronically linked to a central data processing server provide a fail-safe network for acquired data.

An automated security provisioning protocol is provided for wide area network communication devices in an open device environment, such as cellular communication devices in a machine-to-machine (M2M) environment. For example, a method for performing a security provisioning protocol between a first communication device and a second communication device over at least one wide area communication network comprises the following steps from the perspective of the first communication device. The first communication device automatically uses access information not previously provisioned in the wide area communication network to gain access to the wide area communication network for an initial purpose of communicating with the second communication device. The first communication device, upon gaining access to the wide area communication network, automatically performs an authenticated key exchange operation with the second communication device over the wide area communication network and establishes a secure communication key as a result of the authenticated key exchange operation for subsequent use by the first communication device for secure communications. The wide area communication network is operated by a first entity and the second communication device is operated by a second entity.

An apparatus, system and method in an electrical system using power system information or data associated therewith having a time component associated therewith sampled or obtained from the electrical system at a local and a remote location, wherein the local and remote data are time aligned and used to provide control, monitoring, metering, and / or automation to the electrical system. The local IED may be adapted to receive power system data from the remote IED, time align the local and remote synchronized power system data, and perform math operations on the local and remote power system data.

A method for the seamless switching of a wireless device between wireless wide area networks (WWANs) and wireless local area networks (WLANs) includes automatically detecting the available WWANs and WLANs, selecting one of the available networks for use by the wireless device, and connecting the wireless device to the selected network. The method also includes maintaining the network connection by monitoring the connection and, upon determining that the connection has been lost, selecting a another available network for use and connecting the wireless device the other network. Additionally, the method communicates information about the availability networks and connection status to a user of the wireless device, which allows the user to manually switch the wireless device connection from the automatically selected available network to another available network. Further, a wireless device implements the above described method.

A wide area communication network includes at least two hub sites which are interconnected by a communication backbone Each hub site provides wireless coverage in at least one sector. At least two remote sites reside in each sectors and are coupled to a corresponding hub site via a point to multi point broadband wireless system. The network preferably includes at least one service node which is accessible to the remote sites via the hub sites and backbone.

A method, system and a badge utilized therein utilize both the radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) parts of the electromagnetic spectrum to locate subjects (i.e. objects and persons) within a tracking environment. The system includes a battery-operated, microprocessor-based badge for each subject to be located. Each badge automatically transmits: (1) shorter interval, digitized, infrared light signals to identify a delimited area zone of its subject's location; (2) shorter interval, digitized, lower power RF signals to provide a local area zone of its subject's location; and (3) longer interval, digitized, higher power RF signals to provide a wide area zone of its subject's location. Each badge transmits uniquely identifiable IR and higher power RF signals upon actuation of one or more push button switches integrated on the badge or a change of state of one or more external switch connections. Each higher power, longer interval, RF signal is a “supervisory” pulse. This pulse informs a host computer that the badge is in range of an RF receiver and is functional.