We ask if the ubiquity of WiFi can be leveraged to provide cheap connectivity from moving vehicles for common applications such as Web browsing and VoIP. Driven by this question, we conduct a study of connection quality available to vehicular WiFi clients based on measurements from testbeds in two different cities. We find that current WiFi handoff methods, in which clients communicate with one basestation at a time, lead to frequent disruptions in connectivity. We also find that clients can overcome many disruptions by communicating with multiple basestations simultaneously. These findings lead us to develop ViFi, a protocol that opportunistically exploits basestation diversity to minimize disruptions and support interactive applications for mobile clients. ViFi uses a decentralized and lightweight probabilistic algorithm for coordination between participating basestations. Our evaluation using a two-month long deployment and trace-driven simulations shows that its link-layer performance comes close to an ideal diversity-based protocol. Using two applications, VoIP and short TCP transfers, we show that the link layer performance improvement translates to better application performance. In our deployment, ViFi doubles the number of successful short TCP transfers and doubles the length of disruption-free VoIP sessions compared to an existing WiFi-style handoff protocol.

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Interactive wifi connectivity for moving vehicles

The present invention provides computer-based systems and methods directed to maintaining a database of user profiles based, respectively, on user interaction with third-party systems. The invention includes the processes of: accessing a unique user profile associated with a unique user; automatically collecting, by an agent module executing on a processor associated with a first system, data associated with the unique user based at least in part on the unique user's interaction with a system unassociated with the first system; evaluating by the processor the collected data and searching available databases to identify potential items of interest to the unique user based at least in part on the unique user profile and the collected data; determining a set of predicted items of interest to the unique user from the identified potential items of interest; and presenting at a display associated with the unique user data representing the set of predicted items of interest. In one implementation, the invention provides an intelligent agent possessing a level of “awareness” concerning individual users associated with user profiles or accounts and is adapted to access private and public databases, websites, resources, and other systems to efficiently collect, filter and deliver/present content and resources of interest to the individual user in a predictive fashion.

Method and system for relationship management and intelligent agent

Systems and methods for profile matching and promotion. Location-related data and other profile characteristics are used for promotion and for matching of businesses, venues and other entities with user specified criteria.

System and method for location based matching and promotion

A computer-implemented method and system are provided for generating media recommendations in a media recommendation network. Aspects of the method and system include receiving by a server a plurality of play histories of media items from a plurality of users of devices, wherein at least a portion of the media items are tagged with corresponding time and location data indicating a time and location of play; receiving by the server a media recommendation request from a requester, including receiving seed information indicating a current location of the requester; using at least one of user preferences of the requester and the seed information to identify correlated users from which to search corresponding play histories from among the plurality of play histories; comparing the seed information to the corresponding play histories and generating a list of related media items contained therein; and returning the list of related media items to the requester.

Method and system for generating media recommendations in a distributed environment based on tagging play history information with location information

Described is a technology by which by which information (an electronic note from a producer) that is available for delivery to a client consumer is only selectively delivered. The selective delivery may be based on metadata associated with the information, client identity data and other criteria, including a location of a client device. The information to selectively deliver may be obtained from an external information source, or generated by a service, such as when the user is near a location of interest. The client may report location changes, such as a rate corresponding to a rate of location change of the client. An information service scale to any practical number of clients via client state servers and location (of interest) servers, with each client state server associated with a set of one or more clients, and each location server associated with a set of one or more regions.

Selective communication of targeted information

Autoband's distributed networking intelligence provides a novel architecture capable of dynamically reconfiguring communications pathways consisting of links whose transmission media are opportunistically and dynamically selectable. At least one constituent node in such automatically configurable transient pathways is mobile, for example, information (source) server, intervening router node(s), gateway server and/or client device. Additionally, Autoband's ad hoc communications pathways may seamlessly and dynamically integrate (i.e., “graft”) into standard fixed node networks such as terrestrial networks, other wireless networks or combinations thereof. These communications may consist of point-to-point or multicast links. An economic market-based approach further assures allocation of available network resources (i.e., bandwidth and processing) needed to achieve the most optimally resource efficient communications pathway configurations for the totality of communications. Consequently, optimal network resource allocation and efficiency at a system-wide level is continuously achieved.

Method and apparatus for establishing ad hoc communications pathways between source and destination nodes in a communications network

A system is provided that preserves data privacy for the Individual—I and Private Data Owner (PDO) while granting data access to the User—U and Accessor who need such data to perform their usual and customary business functions. The method and system completely control the User's access to the Private Data Owner's Private Data by replacing Identifying Information for the User—U, Individual—I, Accessor and PDO with pseudonyms. This assures the overall privacy of individuals, throughout the course of collecting, storing, accessing, analyzing and sharing detailed private records among different organizations engaged in providing and/or consuming services and/or products. Access Control Rule Sets (“ACRS”) consist of instructions which prescribe the terms and conditions for permitting Users to access the PDO's Pseudonymized and Actual Private data in accordance with the rules governing their authorization to access such data.

Use of proxy servers and pseudonymous transactions to maintain individual's privacy in the competitive business of maintaining personal history databases

A computer system is adapted to predict the likelihood, temporal (or developmental) state, possible location(s), rate of spread or “infectiousness”, etc. of a potential epidemic. A wide and diverse range of inputs and associated parameters are inputted into the system some of which may be statistically correlatable with certain hidden states including those which are temporally oriented disease stages of progression as well as other types of attributes. A Dynamic Bayesian Belief Network or other adaptive or machine learning method is used for the probabilistic analysis. The system statistically analyzes and reanalyzes the totality of all recently updated information (and within the context of all past information), as can efficiently be modeled by the Dynamic Bayesian Belief Network or other adaptive or machine learning method to provide updated predictions and to suggest a recommended reactive protocol to an epidemic.

Sdi (sdi for epi-demics)

A secure data interchange will allow pharmaceutical and biotechnological interests to securely share and profit from biochemical and biophysical data. The purpose of the interchange is to maintain the proprietary value of such data by guarding its exposure to other users while allowing some of its scientific value to be passed along. Specifically, users submit data in conjunction with, and conditional upon, various rules and conditions of use. The system itself, as a trusted third party, is supported by a diverse set of human and machine experts. When productive correlations and complementarities in different users' interests or data are detected, the information is passed back to the users in accordance with the desired level of transparency. Automated means are provided for data matching and selective determination of which particular data to release and to whom in view of the data's conditions of use ascribed. Efficient market exchange mechanisms are explored.

Bhupinder Madan

Papers

Method and apparatus for establishing ad hoc communications pathways between source and destination nodes in a communications network

Use of proxy servers and pseudonymous transactions to maintain individual's privacy in the competitive business of maintaining personal history databases

Sdi (sdi for epi-demics)

Secure data interchange of biochemical and biological data in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry