Analyse de brevets logiciels

• EP996266 : Procédé pour mettre à jour ou remplacer un site web (cf. webcam tour eiffel ou Time Square Cam

• EP974907 : Procédé pour déterminer une organisation de données optimisée

Méthode sur du pur traitement de données. Quand bien même l’algorithme découvert serait génial, un brevet sur cet algorithme en empêche tout amélioration, optimisation, correction des trous de sécurité...

1. A method for determining an optimized data organization in at least one first memory of an essentially digital system comprising of at least said first memory and a second memory, acting as cache for said first memory, said optimized data organization being characteristic for an application to be executed by said digital system, said method comprising the steps of :

• loading a representation of said application, said representation comprising at least of data access instructions on arrays ;
• partitioning said arrays in a plurality of subarrays ;
• distributing said subarrays over said first memory such that an optimal cache performance of said second memory is obtained ; and
• said distribution of said subarrays defines said optimized data organization.

17. A design system for determining an optimized data organization in at least one first memory of an essentially digital system comprising of at least said first memory and a second memory acting as cache for said first memory, said optimized data organization being characteristic for an application, to be executed by said digital system, said design system comprising :

• a memory store for storing a structure representing said application, said structure comprising at least data access instructions on arrays as well as for storing representations of said first and second memory ;
• a first computing device for partitioning said arrays in a plurality of subarrays ;
• a second computing device for distributing said subarrays over said first memory such that an optimal cache performance of said second memory is obtained ; and
• a third computing device for outputting said distribution of said subarrays as said optimized data organization

19. The design system according to claim 17 or 18, wherein optimal cache performance is determined by the least number of conflict misses which would occur on executing said application on said digital system, further comprising a fourth computing device for at least estimating the number of conflict misses which would occur on executing said application on said digital system. The present invention also includes a computer program product comprising any of the method steps or combinations of these in the form of an executable computer program and stored on a computer usable medium.

• EP1128695 : Système de télécommunications, méthode et logiciel pour administrer des relations utilisateur-service

1. Telecommunication system for managing user-service relationships for at least two users belonging to a user group and for at least a first service being provided by a service provider and at least a second service being provided by a service provider, comprising a memory for storing user signals defining users and for storing service signals defining services and for storing relationship signals defining user-service relationships, characterised in that in said memory per first user a first user signal and a first relationship signal defining a relationship between said first user and said first service and a second relationship signal defining a relationship between said first user and said second service are stored, and per second user a second user signal and a third relationship signal defining a relationship between said second user and said first service and a fourth relationship signal defining a relationship between said second user and said second service are stored.

2. Telecommunication system according to claim 1, characterised in that said user signals are first kind of signals, said service signals are second kind of signals and said relationship signals are third kind of signals, with said memory being coupled to a processor for processing at least two kinds of signals for user group purposes.

3. Telecommunication system according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that said user signals are first kind of signals, said service signals are second kind of signals and said relationship signals are third kind of signals, with said memory being coupled to a processor for processing at least two kinds of signals for service provider purposes.

4. Method for managing user-service relationships for at least two users belonging to a user group and for at least a first service being provided by a service provider and at least a second service being provided by a service provider, by storing user signals defining users and by storing service signals defining services and by storing relationship signals defining user-service relationships, characterised in that said method comprises the steps of

storing per first user a first user signal and a first relationship signal defining a relationship between said first user and said first service and a second relationship signal defining a relationship between said first user and said second service,
storing per second user a second user signal and a third relationship signal defining a relationship between said second user and said first service and a fourth relationship signal defining a relationship between said second user and said second service.

5. Method according to claim 4, characterised in that said user signals are first kind of signals, said service signals are second kind of signals and said relationship signals are third kind of signals, with said method comprising the step of

processing at least two kinds of signals for user group purposes.

6. Method according to claim 4 or 5, characterised in that said user signals are first kind of signals, said service signals are second kind of signals and said relationship signals are third kind of signals, with said method comprising the step of

processing at least two kinds of signals for service provider purposes.

7. A computer program product directly loadable into the internal memory of a digital computer, comprising software code portions for performing the steps of claims 4, 5 or 6, when said product is run on a computer.

8. A computer program product stored on a computer usable medium for managing user-service relationships for at least two users belonging to a user group and for at least a first service being provided by a service provider and at least a second service being provided by a service provider, said computer program product comprising

computer readable means for defining users, computer readable means for defining services, computer readable means for defining user-service relationships, characterised in that said computer program product comprises computer readable means for per first user defining said first user and a first relationship defining a relationship between said first user and said first service and a second relationship defining a relationship between said first user and said second service, computer readable means for per second user defining said second user and a third relationship defining a relationship between said second user and said first service and a fourth relationship defining a relationship between said second user and said second service.

9. A computer program product stored on a computer usable medium according to claim 8, characterised in that at least two of said three computer readable means for defining users, services and user-service relationships, are processable for user group purposes.

10. A computer program product stored on a computer usable medium according to claim 8 or 9, characterised in that at least two of said three computer readable means for defining users, services and user-service relationships, are processable for service provider purposes.

• EP1137225 : Commutateur de paquets et méthode de commutation

Logique algorithmique pure et revendication de programme.

1. A method of transmitting data traffic having a predetermined minimum transmittable element such as any one of a slot and a bit and being received from a number of prioritised sources comprising the steps of :

(a) setting the highest priority source with data traffic waiting for transmission as current transmission source ;
(b) transmitting the data traffic from the current transmission source until completion whilst monitoring the sources for waiting traffic, wherein if traffic is detected from a source with a higher priority than the current transmission source going to step (d) ;
(c) upon completion, going to step (a) ; and,
(d) completing transmission of the current minimum transmittable element and going to step (a).

2. A method according to claim 1, in which step (b) comprises the further steps of adapting the data traffic before transmission to include, where not already present, one or more reassembly indicators for use in reassembling the data traffic upon receipt.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, in which the minimum transmittable element for traffic of asynchronous and bit-synchronous protocols is a bit.

4. A method according to claim 1 or 2, in which the minimum transmittable element for traffic of slot-synchronous protocols is a slot.

5. A method of reassembling a number of traffic streams interleaved within a data stream into a respective output queue for each traffic stream comprising the steps of :

(a) clearing the output queues and selecting a first output queue for receiving the data stream ;
(b) passing the data stream to the selected output queue whilst monitoring the data stream, going to step (c) upon detection of a start indicator and going to step (d) if the end of a traffic stream is determined ;
(c) selecting a further output queue to receive the data stream and going to step (b) ;
(d) if the memory stack contains one or more identifiers of output queues, retrieving the top identifier from the queue, selecting the output queue corresponding to the identifier to receive the data stream and going to step (b), going to step (a) otherwise.

24. A computer program product comprising a number of computer executable instructions for executing the steps of any of claims 1 to 5.

• EP1197877 : Terminal, unité de communication, méthode et produit logiciel

9. Method for use in combination with a terminal comprising a processor and a memory and comprising a browser function running via said processor and said memory for browsing a network and comprising a man-machine-interface for controlling said browser function, characterised in that said method comprises a step of generating an overrule signal for overruling said browser function.

10. Computer program product for performing a browser function in a terminal comprising a processor and a memory for running said browser function for browsing a network and comprising a man-machine-interface for controlling said browser function, characterised in that said computer program product comprises a generator function for generating an overrule function for overruling said browser function.

• EP1274201 : Système de réseau, système de gestion, procédé et produit de logiciel d’ordinateur

Revendication explicite d’un algorithme et d’un programme mettant en œuvre cet algorithme.

2. Network-system according to claim 1, characterised in that said algorithm is defined by at least several constraints and several objectives.

6. Management-system according to claim 5, characterised in that said algorithm is defined by at least several constraints and several objectives.

10. Computer program product for running an algorithm in a management-system for use in a network-system comprising at least a first IP-network comprising first nodes, at least two of these first nodes being first edge-nodes, a second IP-network comprising second nodes, a transport-network comprising channel-switches for switching channels, and said management-system for managing networks in an overlay environment, characterised in that said management-system comprises a converter for converting IP-traffic-signals into transport-traffic-signals thereby assuming that both IP-networks are coupled via a star-network with said transport-network corresponding to a star of said star-network, and an optimiser for in response to said converting optimising a use of channels in said transport-network according to said algorithm, which algorithm is defined by at least several constraints and several objectives, with said computer program product comprising at least several constraint-functions and several objective-functions.

• EP1274011 : Méthode et système pour guider et enregistrer une requête

Méthode de pur traitement de données et revendication de programme conforme à l’article 5-2 de la version de la directive donnée par le Conseil.

20. A computer program product stored on a computer usable medium or in a file for downloading over a computer network, comprising computer readable program means for causing a computer system to perform a method according to anyone of the preceding claims 1 to 10 when the program is run on the computer system.

• EP1289189 : Système de gestion de réseau, réseau, procédé et produit logiciel

9. Computer program product to be run via a processor system comprising a processor and a memory for storing information parameters for managing a network comprising nodes, characterised in that said computer program product comprises an adapting function for, in response to a receival of new information parameters, with said memory comprising old information parameters, adapting information parameters in said memory via intermediate states.

10. Computer program product according to claim 9, characterised in that said computer program product comprises an optimising function for optimising said adapting.

• EP1298647 : Dispositif et méthode pour transmettre et recevoir des signaux de parole, comportant un module de reconnaissance et un module de codage couplés

Revendication de procédé et de programme à la portée suffisamment étendue pour bloquer tout un secteur de la reconnaissance vocale.

7. A method for transmitting of natural speech comprising the steps of :

• determining at least one speech parameter of a speech synthesis model,
• recognizing the natural speech,
• transmitting the at least one speech parameter and the data being representative of the recognized speech.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising continuously determining the at least one speech parameter and / or determining the at least one speech parameter before the transmission by means of a user training session and / or using an initial value for the at least one speech parameter.

9. A method for receiving of natural speech comprising the steps of :

• receiving of at least one speech parameter of a speech synthesis -* model and receiving data being representative of recognized speech,
• means for generating a speech signal based on the at least one speech parameter and based on the data being representative of the recognized speech.

10. A computer program product for performing a method in accordance with anyone of the claims 7, 8 or 9.

• EP1301018 : Méthode et appareil pour modifier un signal numérique dans un domaine codé

Exploitation d’un maquis de brevets.

1. A method for modifying a digital signal being represented by a set of parameter values of a speech and/or audio synthesis model
characterized by modifying the digital signal in the coded domain by modifying at least one of the parameter values in a way to replicate a wanted operation in the original domain.

13. A computer program product comprising means for performing a method for anyone of the preceding claims 1 to 10.

• EP1300982 : Dispositif et procédé de géstion de réseau

9. Method for managing traffic signals in a network comprising nodes/links, which method comprises a first step of calculating solutions defining intermediate nodes/links situated between sources and destinations for transporting said traffic signals from said sources to said destinations via said intermediate nodes/links and comprises a second step of calculating route information per solution, with node/link parameter signals defining nodes/links and traffic parameter signals defining said traffic signals to be transported via nodes/links being stored in a memory, characterised in that said method comprises a third step of selecting a solution per situation, with said memory comprising node/link parameter signals and traffic parameter signals for several situations, and with solutions being calculated for each situation.

10. Computer program product for managing traffic signals in a network comprising nodes/links, which computer program product is to be run via processor coupled to a memory for storing node/link parameter signals defining nodes/links and for storing traffic parameter signals defining said traffic signals to be transported via nodes/links, which computer program product comprises a first function of calculating solutions defining intermediate nodes/links situated between sources and destinations for transporting said traffic signals from said sources to said destinations via said intermediate nodes/links and comprises a second function of calculating route information per solution, characterised in that said computer program product comprises a third function of selecting a solution per situation, with said memory comprising node/link parameter signals and traffic parameter signals for several situations, and with solutions being calculated for each situation.

• EP1313244 : Dispositif et procédé de communication dans un réseau de communication mobile numérique

Tentative de monopoliser les logiciels permettant d’administrer un réseau de téléphonie mobile.

10. A computer program product comprising program means for
monitoring of network traffic of a digital mobile communication network, such as a UMTS network, selection of an interleaving length depending on network traffic, indicating of a selection of the interleaving length to an end-user communication device.

• EP1315089 : Méthode et système de surveillance pour sécuriser l’affichage d’un diagramme graphique sur une unité d’affichage à matrices

Revendication de procédé et de programme, brevet trivial et étendu sur du traitement et de l’affichage de données. Seule la revendication 4 comprend un élément technique, qui n’est pas nouveau, ni l’objet d’une activité inventive.

1. A method for securing the display of a mimic diagram on a matrix display unit, the methods comprising the steps of :

• displaying the mimic diagram on the matrix display unit with a background having a gray value,
• cyclically varying the gray value between a first gray value and a second gray value.

2. The method of claim 1, whereby the gray value is varied from the first gray value to the second gray value in discrete gray value steps.

3. The method of claim 1, whereby the cycle-time of the cyclic variation of the gray value is between 0,2 seconds and 30 seconds, preferably between 20 seconds and 25 seconds.

4. The method of claim 1, whereby the matrix display unit comprises a thin-film-transistor (TFT) liquid-crystal display (LCD).

5. The method of claim 1, whereby the gray value is varied by about 10 percent on a gray value scale from black to white.

6. The method of claim 5 the gray value being varied between black and eight percent.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising cyclically shifting of the mimic diagram between a first and a second position on the matrix display unit, whereby the shifting is performed after a time interval, preferably in the order of eight hours.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying a regular pattern of geometric objects on the matrix display unit, the objects being spaced apart by at least twice the extend of a matrix column or a matrix row of the matrix display unit.

9. A computer program product for performing a method in accordance with anyone of the preceding claims 1 to 8.

• EP1328062 : Ensemble en cascade de filtres d’ordre inférieur et méthode pour sa conception

Revendication de programme conforme à l’article 5-2 de la version de la directive donnée par le Conseil.

12. A computer program product comprising code segments which when executed on a computer generate a design of a plurality of cascaded filters described in accordance with any of the methods of claims 1 to 5.

13. A computer program product according to claim 12, stored on a data carrier.

• EP1349342 : Procédé, unité de sorties, terminal, et produits de programmes informatiques de reconstruction d’ un flux de données continu dans un point de reception d’un réseau à commutation de paquets

Revendication sur un procédé et un programme de streaming, les détails de l’algorithme n’étant pas décrits dans les revendications...

1. Method for reconstructing non-continuous packetized data of a continuous data stream (A5) like streamed media, voice, audio, or video from a data connection into a continuous data stream (A6) at the receiving point (B3, B4, B5) of a packet-based network (B1), comprising the steps of

• providing of at least one estimation method (Figure 4 : « Estimation ») based on at least one characteristic value (Figure 5,6 : « Estimation ») concerning data connections (A3, B2) of the kind intended for,
• gathering measurements of at least one value (Figure 5,6 : « Estimation ») characterizing the data connection,
• evaluating a de-jittering delay for the data connection by predicted parameters (Figure 5,6 : « Estimation ») taking into account the at least one provided value and the at least one gathered value,
• delaying and converting the data packets following the evaluated de-jittering delay (Figure 3, 4 ; Figure 5 : « Estimation », « Stream », « Receive »).

4. A computer program product including software code portions for performing steps of Claim 1 for a terminal (Figure 5).

5. A computer program product including software code portions for performing steps of Claim 1 for an output unit (Figure 5).

• EP1311083 : Gestion de règles de conduite pour la fourniture de qualité de service

20. A computer program product for use with a server in a policy-based Internet Protocol network having devices, said computer program product comprising :

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium that, when used with the server, causes the server to effect policy processing for provisioning quality of service via a user interface, wherein the user interface provides a graphic user interface for the user to set up quality of service (QoS) provisioning across the network devices ;
• a computer readable program code means for allowing the user to specify a priority to provision quality of service for data processing network devices via the graphic user interface to policy processing ; and
  and a computer readable program code means for allowing a user to define and implement network policies for provisioning quality of service via the graphic user interface to the policy processing.

• EP1363429 : Groupage logique de ports physiques en une interface logique pour augmenter la bande passante

This is a patent on obvious frequently used technology for routing equipement (what make the internet move TCP/IP packets move).

As you should know it is perfectly possible to route IP packet with a piece of software running in a standard piece of hardware (PC). Many firewall are indeed running with Linux iptable/netfilter and many internet router are working with OpenBSD and it’s implementation of BGP/OSPF or using the old and buggy Zebra.

This look very much like CiscoSystem « EtherChannel » (like on the Catalyst Switch family) or a NortelNetworks « Trunk » (for NortelNetworks Passport 1000 and 8600 and BayStack equipement formely BayNetworks). The word « Trunk » and « Channel » are commonly used for that... however Cisco and Nortel usage of those word is conflicting.

Cisco « invented » the PAgP protocol/state_machine (Port Aggregation Protocol), later I guess a IEEE 802 sub-committee « invented » the LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) to standardise this bundle of physicaly link to make a logical link. I guess this was focusing on Ethernet technology.

The same way that « multiple physicale build a logical » is used in Multilink PPP (Point to Point Protocol). That should have been standardised by IETF in some RFC (Request for comment).

There are also a lot of unamed bundeling of physical link to make a logical link in Cisco implementation of HDLC (when using 2 * 2M link to have more bandwidth).

What is « new » in Claim 1 and is more likely in noone of those de-facto (or de-jure) « standard » is the « hardware implementation » of « one or more processors ». Indeed that typicaly low end device have one processor that does all the work. Making EtherChannel or Multilink PPP work in a distributed (CPUs) environment is a bit less simplistic (but not to a man skilled in the art).

Most of the time the way to ballance the traffic on the physical link is not standardised. So it is up to the vendor to find out a good way to do it. Most will ballance on : * Destination IP (Claim 3) * Source IP * Destination IP (* could be a XOR function then a modulo the number of link) (Claim 6) * other

One of the common problem is that we want to have all the packet from A to B to use the same physical link (to avoid out of order delivery). This is most frequently archieved using the XOR trick where XOR + MOD as in Claim 6.

The hashing in Claim 4 is just a shortcut to speedup the decision process so that you fastly know wich physical port to take. Hashing just mean a mapping from a bit space (IP address space 2^32) to a small space (number of physical link space).

I don’t know what they want with « indexing a first table to determine a second table associated with said logical interface » in claim 2 and 8 but obviously you must have a table of all the logical interface. And for each logical interface you must have a table of all the physical interface that belong to it. How else would you implement this... I don’t know it sound to obvious.

The « blade » reference in Claim 5 might indicate that they are talking about a distributed (or modular) architecture where a physical blade hold one or many physical interface. So when you need to send a packet out you need to know Blade#/Interface#. This is very typical.

Claim 19 perfectly describe a distributed router architecture as you can find in Nortel (Bay Network) router (ASN BN) but without switch fabric as it is a BUS technology. You can find the same thing (with switching fabric) with the Passport 1100 and 8600 Switch family from Nortel Networks.

You can also find this in the Cisco world with hardware like Cisco 12000 router or the Catalyst 6500 = Cisco 7600 router.

From an Alcatel point of view it look like a XyLan switch (an aquisition of Alcatel) wich has a distributed architecture and an ATM-like switching backplane.

This patent application should be rejected because of obvious prior art !!!

What is obvious here is that they claim the methode then it’s software and hardware and partially software and hardware implementation.