British Telecommunications

A method of operating a telecommunications network comprising a wireless telecommunications network, having a plurality of access nodes, and a mobile client device, wherein said access nodes are accessible to said mobile client device using a wireless network interface thereof, and the method comprising the steps of: receiving, at the wireless telecommunications network, a travel route for the client device from a first location to a second location, different to the first location; identifying, for the received travel route a set of the plurality of access nodes that are accessible to the mobile client device along the travel route; generating, in dependence upon the received travel route and the identified set of the plurality of access nodes, a Network Availability Plan, NAP, in which said NAP is a timetable and/or a spatial plan indicative of an availability of the identified set of access nodes; communicating the NAP to the mobile client device; and operating the wireless network interface according to the NAP when the mobile client device is travelling along the travel route.

A method (400) performed by a network function, a method (500) performed by a device (102), a network function, and a device (102), for managing groups of devices in a wireless communications system. The method (400) performed by the network function comprises querying (423), by a Group Device Management Function, GDFM (308), a Unified Data Repository, UDR (328), to create a group identifier and a group Quality of Service, QoS, policy for a group; wherein the group QoS policy is a QoS policy that is applied to all members of the group; receiving at the GDFM (308), from the UDR (328), confirmation of the creation of the group identifier; receiving at the GDFM (308), from the UDR (328), confirmation of the creation of the group QoS policy; and identifying, by the GDFM, at least one device as a member of the group by using the group identifier, in order for a wireless communications system to manage the at least one device in accordance with the group QoS policy. The method (500) performed by the device (102) comprises: requesting (510) an Application Function, AF (304), to provide a list of groups; receiving (513), from the AF (304), information related to the list of groups; providing (514), to the AF (304), a group identifier to request to join a group from the list of groups; and receiving (519), from AF (304), a confirmation that the device (102) has successfully joined the group.

According to a first aspect, there is provided a knowledge graph (KG) configured for use in a retrieval augmented generation (RAG) process, the KG comprising: a plurality of nodes, each node representing a respective entity; and one or more edges, each edge connecting a respective pair of the plurality of nodes to one another; wherein each node has event metadata associated with it, that event metadata characterising one or more events in which the entity represented by the respective node was involved. Further aspects comprise: a data structure storing such a KG; a computer-implemented method of updating such a data structure; a computer-implemented RAG method using such a KG; and a computer-implemented method of configuring a network based on an answer to a query produced by performing such a RAG method.

A method of inferring individual journeys in a shared environment, the method comprising the steps of collecting data from at least one sensor positioned in each of a plurality of zones within the shared environment, wherein the data indicates movement or presence of an individual within each zone, determining connections between zones by analysing activations of the at least one sensor positioned in each of the plurality of zones, identifying zones that are directly accessible from one another based on the determined connections; combining the identified connections to determine one or more possible routes through the shared environment, analysing a sequence of sensor activation data indicating movement or presence of an individual within the zones to detect at least one completed journey taken by the individual through the shared environment, and attributing the at least one detected completed journey to the individual. The system comprising at least one sensor positioned in each of a plurality of zones within a shared environment, the sensor configured to collect data indicating movement or presence of an individual within each zone, a data storage module configured to store the collected sensor data, a processor configured to analyse activations of the at least one sensor positioned in each of the plurality of zones to determine connections between zones, identify zones that are directly accessible from one another based on the determined connections, combine the identified connections to determine one or more possible routes through the shared environment, detect at least one completed journey taken by the individual through the shared environment by analysing a sequence of sensor activation data, and attribute the at least one detected completed journey to the individual.

A method performed by a first device in a communication network, the method comprising: receiving a maintenance policy from a second device in the communication network, the second device being an Internet of Things, loT, device, the maintenance policy defining a normal operation of the second device based on an operational parameter of the second device; receiving operational data associated with the second device, the operational data comprising one or more values of the operational parameter of the second device; and determining, using the maintenance policy, whether the operational data is indicative of anomalous operation of the second device.

An apparatus (100) for cable installation, comprising alan: engagement (120) for fixing the apparatus to a cable rod (110) so as to permit bodily movement of the apparatus along with the cable rod; conduit (130), attached to the engagement, and for enclosing a cable (105); split opening (125), formed as a part of the conduit and provided along an entire length of said conduit, wherein said split opening is suitable for slotting the cable into and out of the conduit, and is configured to prevent escape of the cable; and anchor (127) for fixing the cable to the apparatus.

There is herein described a method of running an application on a cloud platform, the method comprising transmitting a syscall from the application to the cloud platform, performing a comparison of a risk indicator associated with the syscall to a risk tolerance threshold associated with the cloud platform, where the risk indicator is a measure of a level of risk presented by the syscall and the risk tolerance threshold is a measure of a maximum level of risk acceptable to the cloud platform, allowing or preventing the syscall from being processed by the cloud platform depending on an outcome of the comparison.

An optical telecommunications network (100) comprising a/an: Ultra-Stable Signal Optical Source (105), USS-OS, for generating an Ultra-Stable Optical Signal (130), USOS; first Interferometric Stabilisation Device (110-1), ISD, connected to the USS-OS; second ISD (110-2) connected to the USS-OS; first Optical Link (120-1), OL, connecting an output of the first ISD to a first endpoint (115-1), wherein said first OL is bidirectional; second OL (120-2) connecting an output of the second ISD to a second endpoint (115-2); and circulating OL arranged to circulate an optical signal from, and then back to, the second ISD via the second OL and the first OL; wherein: the first ISD is configured to: receive, as an input, the USOS from the USS-OS (310); output, to the first OL, a first modified USOS (260-1) by performing a first frequency shift upon the input USOS (320); determine a first Noise Value, NV, associated with the first OL from interferometric processing of the USOS and a first return USOS (265-1), from the first endpoint, or proximate thereto, of the first modified USOS; and subsequently correct the first modified USOS by modifying the first frequency shift so as to counteract the determined first NV, thereby to output a first corrected USOS (370); the second ISD is configured to: receive (510), as an input, the: USOS from the USS-OS; and first NV; output, to the second OL, a second modified USOS (260-2) by performing a second frequency shift, different to the first frequency shift, upon said input USOS (520); receive, as a further input, a second return USOS (265-2) of the output second modified USOS from the circulating OL and thus via the first OL and the second OL (530); determine a second NV associated with the second OL from interferometric processing of the USOS and the second return USOS, and by using the received first NV; and subsequently correct the second modified USOS by modifying the second frequency shift so as to counteract the determined second NV, thereby to output a second corrected USOS (570).

An optical telecommunications network (100) comprising a/an: Ultra-Stable Signal Optical Source, USS-OS (105), for generating an Ultra-Stable Optical Signal (130), USOS; first Interferometric Stabilisation Device (110-1), ISD, connected to the USS-OS; second ISD (110-2) arranged remotely to the USS-OS and the first ISD; first Optical Link (120-1), OL, connecting an output of the first ISD to a first endpoint (115-1), wherein said first OL is bidirectional; second OL (120-2) connecting the USS-OS to the second ISD; and bridging OL (160-1) arranged proximate the first endpoint and configured to connect the first OL to the second ISD; wherein: the first ISD is configured to: receive, as an input, the USOS from the USS-OS (310); output, to the first OL, a first modified USOS (260-1) by performing a first frequency shift upon the input USOS (320); determine a first Noise Value, NV, associated with the first OL from interferometric processing of the USOS and a first return USOS (265-1), from the first endpoint, or proximate thereto, of the first modified USOS; and subsequently correct the first modified USOS by modifying the first frequency shift so as to counteract the determined first NV, thereby to output a first corrected USOS (370); and the second ISD is configured to: receive (510), as an input, a: from the bridging OL, first noisy USOS (420-1) that is the first modified USOS (260-1) as affected by the first NV due to the first OL; and a second noisy USOS (405-2) that is the USOS as affected by a second NV due to the second OL; generate a second modified USOS (260-2) by performing a second frequency shift, different to the first frequency shift, upon the second noisy USOS (520); determine the second NV from interferometric processing of the first noisy USOS and the second modified USOS; and subsequently correct (560) the second modified USOS by modifying the second frequency shift so as to counteract the determined second NV, thereby to output a second corrected USOS (420-2).

A computer-implemented method of training an intelligent agent system for influencing the operation of a physical system to achieve an objective relating to an intended state of the physical system is described. The method comprises performing a respective reinforcement learning process for an intelligent agent, the reinforcement learning process being conducted within an environment that provides a representation of the physical system, the agent being trained to achieve the objective within the environment by carrying out one or more actions selected from a respective set of available actions, the training being based on a reward that is determined by the reinforcement learning process for each of the training steps. The reinforcement learning process comprises providing, to the agent, a set of observations of the environment of that agent, the agent being configured to select the one or more actions in dependence on the set of observations to achieve the objective, the set of observations being provided in a data structure in which the set of observations are arranged in an order which is dependent on a starting position of the agent and/or a position relating to the objective, within the environment.