1. A method for ring management in an Ethernet network comprising
a plurality of redundancy managers in a ring, which can switch into an active or a passive mode, wherein
a rank number is assigned to each of the plurality of redundancy managers, each of the pluarlity of redundancy managers transmits test packets with at least one of a corresponding source address and rank number,
each of the other pluarlity of redundancy managers in the ring check the received test packets, add a corresponding rank numbers when required, and forward the test packets,
nodes without a redundancy manager function in the ring forward the test packet unchanged, and each of the plurality of redundancy managers, that receives its own test packet transmitted over the ring, evaluates the test packet, and switches from an active mode into a passive mode or remains in the passive mode, when its own rank number is higher than the rank number of another one of the plurality of redundancy managers inserted in the test packet.
2. The method according to claim 1,
wherein
an active one of the plurality of redundancy managers replaces the received minimum rank number with its own rank number in a rank number field of the received test packet, if its own rank number is less than a received rank number.
3. The method according to claim 2,
wherein
an active one of the plurality of redundancy managers, upon reception of its own test packet sent back over the ring, analyses its own test packet and switches into a passive mode, if the received rank number in its own test packet is lower than its own rank number, otherwise the active one of the plurality of redundancy managers remains active.
4. The method according to claim 2,
wherein
a passive one of the pluarlity of redundancy managers, upon reception of its own test packet sent back over the ring, analyses its own test packet and switches to an active mode if the received minimum rank number
is not lower than its own rank number or if the rank number field is empty, otherwise the passive one of the plurality of redundancy managers remains passive-.
5. The method according to claim 1,
wherein
one of the pluarity of redundancy managers, upon reception of a test packet, replaces a minimum rank number in a rank number field of the received test packet with its own rank number, if its own rank number is less than a received rank number.
6. The method according to claim 5,
wherein
one of the plurality of redundancy managers, upon reception of its own test packet sent back over the ring,
analyses its own test packet and switches into the passive mode or remains in the passive mode if its own rank number is higher than the received rank number, otherwise the one of the plurality of redundancy managers switches into or remains in the active mode.
7. The method according to claim 1,
wherein
an active rank number or a minimum active rank number of an active one of the pluarlity of redundancy managers is stored in a separate minimum active rank number field in the test packet, and
a passive rank Number or a minimum passive rank number of a passive one of the plurality of redundancy managers is stored in a minimum passive rank number field in the test packet.
8. The method according to claim 7,
wherein
a passive one of the pluarlity of redundancy managers replaces a received minimum passive rank number in a received test packet with its own passive rank number, when its passive rank number is lower than the passive minimum rank number,
an active one of the pluarlity of redundancy managers replaces a received minimum active rank number in a received test packet with its own active rank number, when its own active rank number is lower than the active minimum rank number, and
the passive one of the plurality of redundancy managers, upon reception of its own test packet sent back over the ring, analyses its own test packet and switches to the active mode if the received minimum passive rank number and the received minimum active rank number inserted in its own test packet are not lower than its own rank numbers, and
the active one of the plurality of redundancy managers, upon reception of its own test packet sent back over the ring, analyses its own test packet and switches to the passive mode if the received active minimum rank number inserted in its own test packet is lower than its own active rank number.
9. The method according to claim 1,
wherein
the one of the pluarlity of redundancy managers rank numbers are changed or the active one of the plurality of redundancy managers is disabled by a management system to change from the active one of the pluarity of redundancy managers to another active one of the pluarity of redundancy managers.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for communication using an integrated messagememo comprising of voiceover and a user interaction event on a background.
2. Claim 1, where the background is an image or a video or a frame from a video or a synthetically generated virtual image or a pre-canned template or any displayable file format or a 2D projection image of a 3D object.
3. Claim 1, where the events correspond to sketching activity of a user or manipulations that correspond to 2D transformation of the background (pan, zoom, rotation etc.) or manipulations that correspond to 3D transformation of a 3D image or correspond to capture of text input activity or correspond to commands to display precanned symbols or commands to start and stop the capture of voiceover.
4. Claim 1, where there are transitions effects from one background to another in the integrated messagememo.
5. Claim 1, the timeline used for the user interaction event animation is derived either from the voiceover, background video or both. The timeline may be compressed or expanded, either manually or automatically.
6. Claim 1, where the voiceover could be multiple tracks of audio mixed in, such as background music, sound effects and the user voice recording.
7. Claim 3, where the sketch may fade, change color or jiggle spatially as a function of time.
8. Claim 1, where the audio, video and image effects (transformations) may be applied to the corresponding media elements in Skqueak. These transformations may be windowing, cropping, splitting and re-assembling, spatial, temporal, frequency, pixel or neighborhood based.
9. A system for communication using an integrated messagememo comprising of a voiceover and a user-interaction event on a background comprising:
a. audio capturing means for voiceovers;
b. user interaction capturing means for events;
c. processing means to select a background and correlate the voiceover with user interaction events; and
d. persisting the various elements so that it can be retrieved later.
10. Claim 9, where the background is an image or a video or a frame from a video or a synthetically generated virtual image or a pre-canned template or any displayable file format or a 2D projection image of a 3D object.
11. Claim 9, where the events correspond to sketching activity of a user or manipulations that correspond to 2D transformation of the background (pan, zoom, rotation etc.) or manipulations that correspond to 3D transformation of a 3D image or correspond to capture of text input activity or correspond to commands to display precanned symbols or commands to start and stop of capture of voiceover.
12. Claim 9, where there are transitions effects from one background to another in the integrated messagememo.
13. Claim 9, the timeline used for the user interaction event animation is derived either from the voiceover, background video or both. The timeline may be compressed or expanded, either manually or automatically.
14. Claim 9, where the voiceover could be multiple tracks of audio mixed in such as background music, sound effects and the user voice recording.
15. Claim 11, where the sketch may fade, change color or jiggle spatially as a function of time.
16. Claim 9, where the audio, video and image effects (transformations) may be applied to the corresponding media elements in Skqueak. These transformations may be windowing, cropping, splitting and re-assembling, spatial, temporal, frequency, pixel or neighborhood based.
17. Claim 9, the various elements are persisted on the device used for creation andor uploaded to a server.
18. Claim 9, the device used for creation the various elements is a mobile, handheld device, laptop or desktop computer.
19. Claim 9, the software used for manipulating the various elements is a native application or software that is downloaded to a client browser.
20. The audio may be transcribed so as to enhance the searchability of Skqueaks by various users. In addition, the user may be able to click on a subset of the transcribed audio and be able to jump to the corresponding point in the timeline in the Skqueak. The users may also be able to click on graphical information elements in the background in the viewer and jump to the appropriate point in the timeline in the Skqueak.