Abstract: An apparatus, system and method for facilitating decision-making in connection with management of enterprise assets are disclosed. A real time expert decision support module is interfaced with an access portal including a navigation table for asset management, and with an historical parameter database associated with a distributed control system of plant end sensors and actuated control elements of a production process. The access portal and navigation table provide access to tools in the support module that facilitate real time decision making information delivery to the functional teams that support an asset, line of sight management performance models of team performance, practical performance analysis tools that extract information in real time from the process control system and other sources of asset data for translation into actionable information, and a real time interactive schematic environment.

Abstract: The invention includes a system and method for a gaming device to determine when to offer a player an opportunity to play using a “jackpot only” pay table. The player may choose to accept the gaming device's offer to switch from using a conventional pay table to using a pay table that only pays top payout amounts. Play with a jackpot only pay table may only require a small wager amount as compared to play with a conventional pay table. Play with a jackpot only pay table may be automated to generate outcomes quickly to allow a player to relatively inexpensively avoid spending time playing a gaming device perceived to be in a “cold period.”

Abstract: Method, system, and program product for searching unstructured data. The unstructured data, as text data or image data, is searched by first searching the unstructured data through an extended search broker. The extended search broker has intermediary components between a search requestor and a search agent for unstructured data searching. The search agent returns the search results to the broker for aggregation. The broker aggregates the search results and returns the search results to a wrapper. The wrapper then takes result attributes from the aggregated search results and makes the attributes available, e.g., as one or more columns in a nickname table. This nickname table is searchable by a relational database using a structured query language.

Abstract: A method for determining and displaying the status of a user selectable parameter associated with a song stored in a digital audio player. The method allows a handheld player that has limited computing power to easily determine the status of the user selectable features and display the status. The method includes generating a preference table that is stored in a mass storage device associated with the player. The preference table includes an entry for each selected song stored on the mass storage device, wherein each entry includes a unique identifier and data fields having data indicative of the status of the user selectable parameters. The unique identifiers correspond to the unique identifiers stored in a playlist file. During navigation of the playlist, the unique identifier is compared with the preference table to identify the corresponding entry and the applicable data field is read to determine the status of the user selectable parameters and to display the status information.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for displaying information to a user on a display device of a computer system. In one general aspect, the invention provides for the display of a first view having a plurality of objects in a table of rows and columns on the display device. Each object is displayed as a row in the table and has a plurality of fields, where each field is in a column of the table. A blank input row corresponding to the table is displayed, having input fields corresponding to the columns of the table. An input is received in the form of a character string in a selected input field of the input row. A filter command is received, causing a filtering function to be performed on a field of the objects corresponding to the selected input field of the input row using the character string, and filtered data is displayed.

Abstract: A LAN modem permits unambiguous routing for multiple workstations located on a LAN to each gain access through the LAN modem to any one of a number of different remote servers located on a number of different remote networks using a combination of public port number and public address of the workstation. There are instances where sessions are changed between the same workstation/server. This changing of sessions changes the public port numbers associated with each session, which destroys the above unambiguous routing, since the combination of a public destination IP address and a private destination port number is no longer the same unique value contained in an address translation table of the LAN modem. A four step hierarchical procedure is provided in which the LAN modem determines which workstation the packet is to be routed based upon value of fields stored in the network address translation (NAT) table or value of fields stored in a static table. The NAT table or static table entries are compared to the values of fields stored in the packet header.

Abstract: An ACPI-compatible system is provided that comprises a database for storing a device-specific descriptor for a hardware device. The system further comprises an ACPI agent operable to autonomously construct an ACPI table entry for the hardware device using the device-specific descriptor. Also, a method for an ACPI-compatible system autonomously constructing an ACPI table entry for a hardware device is provided. The method comprises receiving from firmware associated with the hardware device, a device-specific descriptor for such hardware device, and an ACPI agent executing on the ACPI-compatible system using the device-specific descriptor to autonomously construct an ACPI table entry for the hardware device.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for indexing annotations made for a variety of different type (i.e., heterogeneous) data objects are provided. A set of parameters uniquely identifying an annotated data object may be converted to an index comprising a set of index values, each corresponding to a column in a homogeneous index table. In order to accommodate the indexing of heterogeneous data objects, a mapping may be provided for each different type (or classification) of data object that may be annotated, that defines how the identifying parameters of that type will be mapped to the columns of the homogeneous index table.

Abstract: We present the BHUNT scheme for automatically discovering algebraic constraints between pairs of columns in relational data. The constraints may be "fuzzy" in that they hold for most, but not all, of the records, and the columns may be in the same table or different tables. Such constraints are of interest in the context of both data mining and query optimization, and the BHUNT methodology can potentially be adapted to discover fuzzy functional dependencies and other useful relationships. BHUNT first identifies candidate sets of column value pairs that are likely to satisfy an algebraic constraint. This discovery process exploits both system catalog information and data samples, and employs pruning heuristics to control processing costs. For each candidate, BHUNT constructs algebraic constraints by applying statistical histogramming, segmentation, or clustering techniques to samples of column values. Using results from the theory of tolerance intervals, the sample sizes can be chosen to control the number of "exception" records that fail to satisfy the discovered constraints. In query-optimization mode, BHUNT can automatically partition the data into normal and exception records. During subsequent query processing, queries can be modified to incorporate the constraints; the optimizer uses the constraints to identify new, more efficient access paths. The results are then combined with the results of executing the original query against the (small) set of exception records. Experiments on a very large database using a prototype implementation of BHUNT show reductions in table accesses of up to two orders of magnitude, leading to speedups in query processing by up to a factor of 6.8.

Abstract: A system for protecting software against piracy while protecting a user's privacy enables enhancements to the protection software in a user device and extended protections against piracy. The protection system allows the user device to postpone validation of purchased tags stored in a tag table for installed software and to re-establish ownership of a tag table to recover from invalidation of a tag table identifier value resulting from revelation of a tag table identifier value. Continued use of the tag table is provided by the use of credits associated with a tag table. A protection center is protected against denial of service attacks by making calls to the protection center cost time or money to the attackers.

Abstract: Methods and systems for conducting gaming activities are disclosed. In one method, wagers are placed on a game and cards are dispensed. An indicia of a play card is used to determine an outcome of the game. A feature bet is included, wherein if the indicia of the play card is a predetermined indicia, an indicia of the second card is identified. If a predetermined indicia on the second card is identified, a feature bet payoff is made to players that wagered on the feature bet. A method and system for a roulette game are also disclosed. A roulette wheel is used to determine which card of a deck of cards determines the outcome of the roulette game. A craps game system and method are further described. Dice are used to determine which card of a deck of cards determines the outcome of the craps game.

Abstract: Textual elements and unambiguous locations paths corresponding to textual elements and/or their ancestors are extracted from a tree-structured document such as an XML document and stored in relational database structures. Textual elements are stored in a table comprising a column of textual elements and an identity column. The unambiguous location paths are stored in a second table in rows comprising the location path, the identity form the first table corresponding to the first textual element that is a descendant of the location path, the identity from the first table corresponding to the last textual element that is a descendant of the location path, and the name of the element located by the location path.

Abstract: The method of and apparatus for providing localized information from an internet server or portal to a user without requiring the user to enter their location information preferably maintains a location table of the IP addresses for wireless access points and the location information for the access point. When a user accesses a portal through a wireless access point to obtain localized information, the portal then determines, using the IP address for the wireless access point and the location table, the location information corresponding to that wireless access point. The portal then provides the localized information to the user for their location based on the location information obtained from the location table without requiring the user to know or enter the location information. In an alternative embodiment, the location information is maintained at the wireless access point and automatically provided to the portal from the wireless access point.

Abstract: A shareable application program interface (API) and network data model infrastructure which is used in combination with a relational database to provide data storage and processing functions for network data. The network data model is stored in relational tables that describe a set of nodes and links forming a network wherein each node represents an object of interest and each link represents a relationship between two nodes. A generic node table contains a row describing each node in the network, and a generic link table contains row data describing each link. In addition, a path table whose contents are commonly generated by network analysis procedures contains rows which describe corresponding paths each consisting of an alternating sequence of nodes and links. The sequence of links in each path are identified in a separate path-link table. The system provides two application program interfaces, a PL/SQL API and a Java API, which permit executing application programs to use stored procedures for creating the node and link tables, store data describing nodes and links in the tables, and perform standard operations on the network data.

Abstract: In some embodiments, a system and method for mapping the logical chip selects to a physical chip select. A chip select remapping unit receives logical chip select associated with a dual in-line memory module. The chip select remapping unit converts the logical chip select vector through a redirection table that maps the logical memory ranks to available physical memory ranks.

Abstract: A method of storing a hierarchical document in a relational database comprises parsing a hierarchical document, associating a unique identifier with respective parsed nodes of the document which includes information about the hierarchical position of the node in the document, and storing the node with its identifier in a table of a relational database. A relational database comprising a table having an node field for storing an node of a hierarchical document, and an identifier field for storing an identifier associated with each respective node stored in the node field is also described, as is a method of writing a hierarchical document comprising reading data from a relational database which is representative of nodes of a hierarchical document, generating predetermined software events for respective read nodes, and passing the software events to a content handler which is arranged to translate each software event into a written node of the hierarchical document.

Abstract: A software module referred to as a content manager is provided for loading and maintaining a variety of data and associated metadata in a computer database. The data may be loaded in the form of individual documents that support business preparation or sales presentations where only one copy of each document is stored in the database. The metadata may be loaded in the form of attributes of the documents. A table of users may also be loaded in the database including a geographic or business division for each user. A role is assigned to the user, thereby granting access privileges to certain views of the database. An online user interface software module is also provided for remote access to the documents. Searches may be conducted by a variety of attributes. Documents may be associated into visual presentations or multiple presentations merged into one presentation. Three types of presentations private, shared, and global are supported. The user may also print, view, or download, email, post to website, or fax the documents and presentations.

Abstract: Content-based addressing is used to navigate forward, backward and in a circular fashion through documents in a content space. To enable backward navigation, a descriptor file is created for a new version that contains not only a message digest for the new version, but also a message digest of the older document. A message digest is created for the descriptor file. A user navigates backward starting with the message digest of the descriptor file. To enable forward navigation, a mapping table maps a message digest of an older document into the message digest of the new version. A high-level descriptor file contains the message digest of the original document and the message digest of the mapping table. The message digest of the high-level descriptor file is returned to the user. A user navigates forward starting with the high-level descriptor file message digest. To enable circular navigation, a mapping table maps a message digest of a second document into a message digest of a version of the second document containing a message digest of a first document. The techniques are combined to allow navigation through a complex content space.

Abstract: A system and method for testing an application includes modules capable of reading data from one or more data tables and providing the data as input to the application. The input data is correlated by test case, so that each module may provide different input data for each test case. The system also includes a controller that executes the modules. The controller is capable of determining an execution order for the modules by reading a flow table. The flow table correlates each test case with one or more modules, and further correlates each module within the test case with an execution order. The system may read results that the application generates in response to the input data, and correlate the results with the test case and module in a results table. The results table may also contain expected results, and the system may compare the actual results with the expected results to determine whether the application is functioning properly.

Abstract: Performing operations on multidimensional data managed by a relational database system is facilitated by registration of solved cubes with a RDBMS. A solved cube is an abstract construct likened to a view or a table on relational data and contains not only base data, but also aggregated measure data that is base data that has been processed across multiple levels of a hierarchical dimension. In an embodiment, a solved cube may provide all the pre-computed aggregated data for a particular context that the solved cube represents. In another embodiment, a solved cube may not provide any pre-computed data, but may provide several procedures, operations and/or instructions that can be executed to compute aggregated data for a particular context that the solved cube represents. A solved cube is registered with a RDBMS by providing metadata that defines a given solved cube. Therefore, a database server is able interpret the metadata, and to perform operations on the given solved cube based on the metadata.

Abstract: A flash memory, and a flash memory access method and apparatus allowing memory access and error block recovery by creating a mapping table representing a physical address and status of a data block into a map block of the flash memory and referring to the mapping table. The flash memory includes a map block having a first mapping table containing a physical address allocated to each of blocks constituting a data block and status information of each of the blocks, a second mapping table containing mapping information between the physical address and a logical address on each of the blocks in the first mapping table from which error blocks are excluded, and a third mapping table in which most recent mapping information is written and processed by a specified value to minimize an update operation of the second mapping table.

Abstract: A security scheme method and system for authorizing users to access and read data within a table, while only being able to modify selected data rows based on the user's authorities set by a composite of authorities within security tables of the system. Therein, a user of the invention is allowed to retrieve any data from a table while the security scheme limits that data the user is allowed to modify by setting the limit rules within these security tables. These limit rules may simultaneously monitor a plurality of field names existing within selected tables. The security scheme also enables the security tables to automatically open and close access to tables or quads by the security scheme setting flags before, during, after, or combinations thereof, the running of a session for loading tables.

Abstract: A lack of power and extensibility in their query languages has seriously limited the generality of DBMSs and hampered their ability to support data mining applications. Thus, there is a pressing need for more general mechanisms for extending DBMSs to support efficiently database-centric data mining appliacations. To satisfy this need, we propose a new extensibility mechanism for SQL-compliant DBMSs, and demonstrate its power in supporting decision support applications. The key extension is the ability of defining new table functions and aggregate functions in SQL— rather than in external procedural languages as Object-Relational (O-R) DBMSs currently do. This simple extension turns SQL into a powerful language for decision-support applications, including ROLAPs, time-series queries, stream-oriented processing, and data mining functions. First, we discuss the use of ATLaS for data mining applications, and then the architecture and techniques used

Abstract: A method of and system for searching unstructured data stored in a database. In one embodiment the method comprises storing a plurality of electronic records in a common repository of electronic records in the database that provides an audit trail that cannot be altered or disabled by users of the system where each electronic record comprises unstructured data stored in a character large-object (CLOB) format in a column of a table of the database; creating a security protocol that protects the electronic records against unauthorized access; and creating a query designed to identify electronic records in the database that meet criteria designated in the query. The method further comprises modifying the query in accordance with the security protocol to create a modified query prior to executing the query and running the modified query against the unstructured data. In one particular implementation, the unstructured data comprises a well-formed XML document stored within a column of a table stored in the database.

Abstract: A method and system of node location management in a distributed node system. A management server of a distributed node system includes a table manager, a node location manager, and a client manager. The table manager is adapted to load a first table including various information for node identifiers. The information includes: a location identifier, a hardware identifier, and configuration parameters. The node location manager is adapted to detect a new hardware identifier for a location identifier and to send a modification message to the table manager. The modification message comprises a new hardware identifier for a location identifier. Further, the table manager is adapted to update the first table responsive to a such modification message. The client manager is adapted to generate at least a second table in a client server according to the first table and to update the second table when the first table is updated.

Abstract: Method and Apparatus are disclosed for determining the position of a portable device in a wireless network formed by a plurality of base stations. In an embodiment an apparatus for determining a location of a wireless device in a wireless communication network provided by a plurality of base stations is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a signal strength table and a positioning service module. The signal strength table characterizes signal strengths relative to each of plurality base stations at each of a plurality of locations in the wireless communication network. The positioning service module correlates an actual received signal strength for a communication with the wireless device with at least one of the received signal strengths in the signal strength table, to determine the position of the wireless device. Alternate means and methods are also disclosed for determining the position of the portable device.

Abstract: It is made possible to update software appropriately. When additional software is installed, update management data for the additional software is generated. When the update management data for the additional software is attached to the additional software in advance, that data is used. If the update management data is not attached, cycles for confirming the presence of updates and the like are determined based on the nature of the software, and the update management data is thus generated. Then, the generated update management data is set in an update management table. The presence of software updates is checked for based on the cycles for confirming the presence of updates in the update management table.

Abstract: A system and method are provided for an information management system (IMS) having an underlying relational database management system (RDBMS) that allows applications to access the RDBMS directly for improved performance without going through the IMS, while maintaining access control. An access control list (ACL) is generated, with tables in the RDBMS being bound using codes in the ACL. At run time or, more preferably, pre-run time, user-defined functions (UDF) evaluate access control attributes and generate an access authorization table, which is joined with the appropriate information table(s) in response to a query against a view on the table. The view is presented to the querying user. Thus, access control rules are encapsulated in the view that is presented to the user.

Abstract: Typical conventional database security scheme mechanisms are integrated in either the application or database. Maintenance of the security scheme, therefore, such as changes and modifications, impose changes to the application and/or database. Configurations of the invention employ a security filter for intercepting database streams, such as data access transactions, between an application and the a data repository, such as a relational database. A security filter deployed between the application and database inspects the stream of transactions between the application and the database. The security filter, by nonintrusively interrogating the transactions, provides a content-aware capability for seamlessly and nondestructively enforcing data level security. A security policy, codifying security requirements for the users and table of the database, employs rules concerning restricted data items. The filter intercepts transactions and determines if the transaction triggers rules of the security policy. If the transactions contain restricted data items, the security filter modifies the transaction to eliminate the restricted data items.