Abstract:
A proxy server has a connection to a client computer and to a remote server over the Internet. The proxy server receives a request for an audio file from the client computer and, in response, transmits a requests for the audio file to the remote server. Upon receiving the audio file, the proxy server determines whether transcoding of the audio file is appropriate. If appropriate, the proxy server transcodes the audio file received from the remote server and then transmits the transcoded audio file to the client. Transcoding may include changing the audio file type, compressing the audio file, reducing the number of audio channels, or reducing the sampling rate of the data. The proxy server determines the extent and type of transcoding to be performed on the audio file as the audio file is downloaded from the remote server. The extent and type of transcoding are based on the file formats which the client is capable of handling, the size of the requested audio file, the memory capacity of the client, the bandwidth of the connection between the local server and the client, and the desired level of audio quality. Transcoding may be performed on-the-fly while the requested audio file is being downloaded to the proxy server from the remote server and while the modified audio file is being downloaded from the proxy server to the client.
Abstract:
A proxy server transcodes audio data on behalf of a client computer prior to transmitting the audio data to the client computer. In response to a request from the client computer, the proxy server obtains the audio data from a remote server. If the proxy server determines that transcoding is appropriate, the proxy server transcodes the audio data and transmits the transcoded audio data to the client computer. Transcoding can include changing the type of the audio file, compressing the audio data, reducing the number of audio channels, or reducing the data sampling rate. The proxy server determines the extent and type of transcoding based on file formats that the client computer can process, the size of the requested audio file, the memory capacity of the client computer, the bandwidth of the connection between the proxy server and the client computer, and the desired level of audio quality.
Abstract:
A local server has a connection to a client and to a remote server over the Internet. The local server receives a request for an audio file from the client and, in response, transmits a requests for the audio file to the remote server. Upon receiving the audio file, the local server transcodes the audio file received from the remote server and then transmits the transcoded audio file to the client. Transcoding may include changing the audio file type, compressing the audio file, reducing the number of audio channels, or reducing the sampling rate of the data. The local server determines the extent and type of transcoding to be performed on the audio file as the audio file is downloaded from the remote server. The extent and type of transcoding are based on the file formats which the client is capable of handling, the size of the requested audio file, the memory capacity of the client, the bandwidth of the connection between the local server and the client, and the desired level of audio quality. Transcoding may be performed on-the-fly while the requested audio file is being downloaded to the local server from the remote server and while the modified audio file is being downloaded from the local server to the client.
Abstract:
Systems and methods for allowing challenge messages to be sent directly to a recipient's inbox where normally the challenge message would be sent to a pending folder or deleted. Challenge messages sent between federated messaging services contain a federated token which can be identified, authenticated and validated to determine whether the challenge message should be sent to a recipient's inbox. The federated token can include an authentication portion and a validation portion. Authentication methods for the authentication portion can include, for example, checksums, salts, hashes and digital signatures. Once a federated token is authenticated by decrypting the authentication portion according to one or more of these authentication methods, the federated token is validated by determining the defined use-base and determining whether the receipt of the federated token satisfies the defined use.
Abstract:
Methods for formatting email messages into stylized templates for delivery to a printer. The templates include a variety of different formats to accommodate the various elements of the email message. The available templates can include themed templates, calendars, to-do lists, address books, stationary, and the like. The system and methods format the email message by parsing the elements of the message into component parts and fitting them within a template.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for dispatching document requests in a proxy to more efficiently allocate the document cache space within the proxy is provided. A proxy includes a document cache storing recently requested documents. The proxy is coupled to a client and to a remote server. A Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) is included in the document request. The proxy forwards the request to one of a plurality of proxy servers based upon the URL. According to another aspect of the present invention, the proxy performs a hash function on the URL that maps the URL to exactly one of the plurality of proxy servers. Advantageously, in this manner, mutually exclusive portions of the Web's content can be allocated to particular proxy servers.
Abstract:
Systems and methods to dynamically convert Web content to an interactive program for display on resource constrained television clients are described. In particular, a head-end server in a digital television entertainment system downloads the Web content from an external data source. The head-end server dynamically transcodes the downloaded content into an interactive walled garden program (iWGP) that includes MPEG stills and metadata for delivery to a client in the television entertainment system.
Abstract:
Systems and methods for generating a walled garden program for substantially optimized bandwidth delivery are described. In particular, layers of data that are substantially similar across multiple pages of Web content are identified for subsequent reuse during transcoding operations. To this end, the content pages are transcoded into a program that includes multiple video components. The pages are transcoded such that a layer that was determined to be substantially similar across multiple ones of the pages is not encoded into a respective video component for each substantially similar occurrence of the layer. Rather, the layer and all other substantially similar layers are represented in the program with a single still of the video components and interaction model metadata. By reusing similar components, the amount of data used to represent the Web content is reduced, providing for substantially optimized bandwidth delivery to the client.
Abstract:
A proxy server “platform” is provided that is easily modified and customized to reformat web content in a particular way under certain conditions as determined by the operator of the proxy server. The proxy server retrieves from the Internet web content requested by a client, reformats it into a suitable format for the requesting client, and then forwards the reformatted web content to the requesting client. The proxy server evaluates operator-alterable rules to determine, based on capabilities of the requesting client (and/or on request variables), specifically how to reformat the requested web content so that it will be suitable for passing on to the requesting client. The platform has a “modular” architecture wherein content reformatting is performed by one or more “modules”. The modules are dynamically-linkable into the executing proxy server platform software at run time. The platform is easily customizable by the operator because modules can be deleted and/or added without affecting other modules. Modules are, in one embodiment, written in accordance with the COM modular programming standard so that individual modules can be removed, replaced and/or added without having to modify or recompile other modules. In one embodiment, web content cached on the proxy server is deemed suitable for passing to a requesting client if evaluation of the rules for the request from the client matches the prior evaluation of the rules that gave rise to the original reformatted web content as cached.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for dispatching document requests in a proxy to more efficiently allocate the document cache space within the proxy is provided. A proxy includes a document cache storing recently requested documents. The proxy is coupled to a client and to a remote server. A Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) is included in the document request. The proxy forwards the request to one of a plurality of proxy servers based upon the URL. According to another aspect of the present invention, the proxy performs a hash function on the URL that maps the URL to exactly one of the plurality of proxy servers. Advantageously, in this manner, mutually exclusive portions of the Web's content can be allocated to particular proxy servers.