British Telecommunications Patente

A dynamic overlay network system comprising: a plurality of decoy resources deployed over an existing network infrastructure, the existing network infrastructure comprising one or more host network machines; wherein the plurality of decoy resources is arranged to run in a plurality of containers; the plurality of containers is arranged to run on the one or more host network machines; and containers of the plurality of containers are arranged to communicate with each other whereby to mimic operational network traffic.

A method of identifying architectural components in a legacy software system, comprising extracting structural and/or functional relationship between software components from the legacy software system, applying predefined semantic markers derived from historical development data to classify software components, and generating an output indicating the classification for use in system refactoring or migration. A system comprising a processor and a data storage module configured to store source code of the legacy software system, predefined semantic markers, extracted relationships, and classification results, wherein the processor extracts relationships, evaluates them against predefined markers, identifies and classifies software components, and generates an output indicating classified components and their roles. The system facilitates structured analysis of legacy software, applying predefined semantic markers from historical development data to automate classification and role assignment in legacy software systems, improving software migration and refactoring efficiency.

There is herein described a method of sensing, the method comprising performing an optical sensing operation on an optical fibre, wherein, if the optical sensing operation indicates the presence of a disturbance in the vicinity of the optical fibre, the method further comprises performing a distributed acoustic sensing operation on the optical fibre.

A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a prompt for an artificial intelligence, Al, model, the prompt comprising a sequence of input tokens; obtaining data indicative of a read rate; obtaining a matrix embedding of at least some of the input tokens of the sequence of input tokens; obtaining a positional encoding matrix which encodes the position of each of at least some of the input tokens within the sequence of input tokens; and combining the matrix embedding and the positional encoding matrix to generate an encodings matrix. The encodings matrix encodes only: a first subset of the sequence of input tokens, wherein the first subset comprises fewer tokens than the sequence of input tokens; and a position of each of the first subset of input tokens within the sequence of input tokens. The first subset of the sequence of input tokens is determined based on the read rate.

A computer-implemented method comprising: accessing source code for a software system from a codebase, the software system comprising a plurality of software components, each software component of the plurality of software components having an interface with at least another software component of the plurality of software components; receiving one or more pre-defined inputs for a first software component of the plurality of software components; obtaining a hypothesized model of at least a part of the software system, the hypothesized model defining one or more hypothesized interactions between the software components during processing of the one or more pre-defined inputs by the plurality of software components; obtaining one or more log statements relating to one or more historic executions of at least one software component of the plurality of software components, each log statement comprising a label indicative of the software component that generated it; identifying, using the one or more log statements and for each input from the one or more pre-defined inputs, one or more interactions between the software components; and generating, based on the identified one or more interactions, a respective association score for each of the one or more hypothesized interactions.

A method of managing content delivery to a client device by way of a proxy and a multicast transmitter in a hybrid unicast/multicast content delivery system. A plurality of proxies are used to handle unicast GET requests for content segments from its associated client device. Those requests can be forwarded over unicast directly to a unicast content server before receiving the response over unicast and forwarding that to the client device over unicast. Alternatively, those GET requests can be forwarded to the multicast transmitter where they can trigger a multicast response for delivering the requested content segment on a multicast channel. The multicast transmitter can be configured to send over the multicast channel to connected proxies an advance notification that the content segment will be transmitted over the multicast channel shortly. Proxies receiving the advance notification do not need to send any GET requests for that segment to the multicast transmitter, but instead send a HEAD request directly to the content server, in the knowledge that the content segment will be received over multicast shortly.

The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method and system for semi-automated schema matching in a data processing environment. Schema data from at least one data source is received and normalised into a domain-level abstraction using a predefined transformation rule. At least one schema matching algorithm analyses syntactic and semantic similarities between schema elements to generate candidate correspondences. A confidence score is computed for each correspondence using a machine learning-based confidence model or a fuzzy Boolean-based confidence model, and a subset of correspondences are presented to a user via an interactive interface for validation. The schema matching model is iteratively updated by propagating semantic context from at least one user-confirmed mapping, refining the model to improve future schema matching predictions. Semantic context derived from user-confirmed mapping is used to identify unmapped schema elements that share a base type with confirmed elements, adjusting confidence scores for those unmapped elements. Validated schema mappings are stored in a repository for later retrieval and use. The system further supports re-evaluating schema correspondence based on updated schema structures, ensuring schema mappings remain consistent as schemas evolve.

A computer-implemented method of validating a sensor of a plurality of sensors monitoring the health of a subject. The method comprises obtaining sensor data and reference data for a first sensor of the plurality of sensors and comparing the sensor data with the reference data. A ticket, comprising an assigned status, is generated for the first sensor based on a result of the comparing. The assigned status is validated by comparing the sensor data to additional sensor data from a second sensor of the plurality of sensors. A certificate of the first sensor is updated with the ticket comprising the validated status of the first sensor.

A method of managing content delivery to a client device by way of a proxy and a multicast transmitter in a hybrid unicast/multicast content delivery system. A plurality of proxies are used to handle unicast GET requests for content segments from its associated client device. Those requests can be forwarded over unicast directly to a unicast content server before receiving the response over unicast and forwarding that to the client device over unicast. Alternatively, those GET requests can be forwarded to the multicast transmitter where they can trigger a multicast response for delivering the requested content segment on a multicast channel. The multicast transmitter can be configured to count the number of GET requests received for a segment and compare that to what the multicast transmitter needs, and send an indicator, such as a probability or range of delay values, based on that comparison to the proxies. This indicator is then used by proxies to determine when and how to transmit a GET request for a subsequent segment to the multicast transmitter or to transmit it as a HEAD request to the content server.

A method (300), and a data processing system, DPS (110), for determining an updated software architecture (112) from an initial software architecture. The method comprises receiving (302), at the DPS (110), data (102) specifying the initial software architecture; receiving (304), at the DPS (110), a Software Quality Model, SQM (104), that defines attributes for assessing the quality of a software architecture for a system; receiving (306), at the DPS (110), a set of desired attributes for the updated software architecture (112), the desired attributes being attributes specified in the SQM (104); modelling (308), by the DPS (110), one or more transformed software architectures (320, 330, 340) based on the initial software architecture and one or more architectural design patterns, wherein the one or more architectural design patterns are stored in a memory location (108) that is communicatively coupled to the DPS (110); calculating (310), by the DPS (110), a quality attribute (321, 331, 341) for each of the transformed software architectures (320, 330, 340) using the SQM (104) and the set of desired attributes; selecting (312), by the DPS (110), one of the transformed software architectures based on the quality attributes; and outputting (316), by the DPS (110), the selected software architecture as the updated software architecture (112) for the system.

A method (300) for operating a computer system (100), said computer system comprising a: first Audio Communication Machine (110-1), ACM; and second ACM (110-2) that is communicatively connected to the second ACM via a telecommunications network (120) over a first communication link (130); and wherein the first ACM and the second ACM each respectively comprise a first and a second: Machine Natural Language Text Generator (240), MNLTG; audio processor (210), including a: Machine Speech-to-Text Processor (260), MStTP, for converting speech into text; Machine Text-to-Speech Synthesiser (270), MTtSS, for converting text generated by the MNLTG into speech; and Identifier Generator (230), IG, for generating an identifier, ID, denoting machinegenerated communications; and wherein the method comprises the steps of: generating, at the first ACM (310): an ID, using the first IG; first text, using the first MNLTG; first speech, from said generated first text and using the first MTtSS; and audio data comprising the generated first speech and the ID; communicating (310), from the first ACM to the second ACM, via the first communication link, the generated audio data; receiving (320), at the second ACM, the communicated audio data; identifying, using the second audio processor, the ID within the communicated audio data; and in response to the second ACM identifying the ID, the second ACM communicating, to the first ACM, a textual response, generated by the second MNLTG, to the first speech (330-1). Corresponding methods of operating the first ACM and the second ACM are also provided. A computer system, first ACM and a second ACM are also provided.

A computer-implemented method for integration testing a software application, the method comprising: receiving, at a Data Processing System, DPS, data comprising executable code for a plurality of tests, wherein each test from the plurality of tests is for testing a part of the software application; receiving, at the DPS, quality data that quantifies the quality of different parts of the software application based on a software quality model; receiving, at the DPS, historical data, wherein the historical data comprises information of previous executions of tests on the software application; determining, by the DPS, a score for each test of the plurality of tests based on the historical data and the quality data, to quantify the effectiveness of each test of the plurality of tests on the parts of the software application; determining, by the DPS, an order in which the plurality of tests is to be performed based on the score for each test and the quality data; and outputting, by the DPS, a schedule for use in the integration testing of the software application, wherein the schedule includes the order in which the plurality of tests is to be performed.

A method of determining a network quality indicator for an optical distribution network is described. The method comprises estimating an expected power level between two points of the optical distribution network, the expected power level being estimated based on respective assumed attenuation associated with intervening optical components between the two points, on an optical path ranging length, and on a power level variance allowance. In this way, an accurate estimation of what the power level between two points should be can be ascertained, taking account knowledge of the actual physical infrastructure and real-world experience of attenuation.

A computer-implemented method of identifying one or more pairs of related entities in a source text, the method comprising: obtaining a set of one or more occurrences of a first entity in the source text and identifying a set of candidate entity pairings. Identifying the set of candidate entity pairings comprises: for each occurrence of the first entity in the set, identifying in the source text one or more occurrences of a further entity, which is different to the first entity, which are nearest to the respective occurrence of the first entity in the source text; and identifying a candidate entity pairing as comprising the respective occurrence of the first entity and one of the identified one or more occurrences of a further entity. The method further comprises, for each candidate entity pairing: determining a distance in the source text between the respective occurrence of the first entity and the respective occurrence of the further entity so that each candidate entity pairing has an associated distance value; carrying out a first filtering stage, wherein the first filtering stage comprises filtering the set of candidate entity pairings based on the associated distance values for the respective candidate entity pairings to obtain a shortlist of candidate entity pairings; and carrying out a second filtering stage, wherein the second filtering stage comprises filtering the shortlist of candidate entity pairings based on one or more semantic characteristics and/or one or more structural characteristics associated with at least a portion of the source text to obtain a final list of one or more pairs of related entities.

A method of authenticating a new device to a network is described, which comprises receiving a request from the new device, the request being associated with a Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD) file, and authenticating the new device to the network in dependence on the content of the MUD file. In this way, it is possible to provide for unique authentication without the need for user input and without revealing private information to participating parties/devices.

A real-time machine learning (ML) model updating method is described, which comprises monitoring input data to a deployed ML model, detecting drift of the input data over time, identifying new patterns in the input data, and responsive to detected drift, retraining the ML model using the identified new patterns. In some implementations, the ML model is deployed in a cyber-threat detection application operating on a computer network, wherein the input data comprises network metadata, and wherein the new patterns are indicative of new network threats. In this way, a need for real-time monitoring of ML models for detecting the changes in the behaviour of known threats and exposing the ML models to the newly identified traits of the threat can be provided to achieve a reliable threat detection system.

A method of monitoring device health is described, which comprises continuously monitoring a plurality of characteristics of a device, and generating a device health score in dependence on a weighted combination of a plurality of functions, each function relating to one or more of the monitored characteristics of the device. In this way, a single value scoring may be used to characterise the current health of a device. This score may be used in a variety of way to improve performance, avoid faults, or take other actions.

A method and system of recommending follow-up actions in a task execution process, the method comprising capturing language-based features from spoken comments made during task execution, acquiring visual data of the task environment using at least one sensor, processing the acquired visual data to detect and classify equipment-related and environment-related features, generating a structured representation of the task execution by combining the classified visual features with the captured language-based features, applying a trained learning model to analyse the structured representation and determine a recommended follow-up action based on learned correlations between prior task execution patterns and follow-up actions, and outputting the recommended follow-up action. The system comprises at least one sensor configured to acquire visual data, a speech recognition module for processing spoken comments, a data storage module for storing acquired data, and a processor configured to classify detected features, generate a structured representation of the task, apply a trained learning model, and output a recommended follow-up action.

A computer-implemented method for image segmentation for defining colour groups in an image, the method comprising: determining a plurality of segments from an image formed of pixels using a segmentation model, wherein each segment comprises data points that correspond to the pixels from the image; determining a colour value for each data point in each segment based on the CIE L*u*v* colour space; merging the plurality of segments into one or more groups in the CIE L*u*v* colour space; determining, for each group, a boundary based on the data points in that group; sorting each data point of each group into a bin based on the CIE L*u*v* colour space, wherein each bin comprises data points from only a single group; converting the colour values of the data points in each bin into a list of Red Green Blue, RGB, values; and merging the lists of RGB value to create an array of RGB values that fall within a group's limits, wherein the group's limits are defined by the range of colour values of the data points of the group.

There is provided a computer-implemented method for applying a Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD) correction to an image. The method comprises: receiving an input comprising the image; identifying a pair of objects in the image, the pair of objects comprising a first object having a first colour and a second object having a second colour, the first colour and the second colour forming a confusing colour pair based on a type of CVD, the identifying including assigning a respective descriptor to each of the first object and the second object; selecting a CVD correction to apply to the pair of objects, the CVD correction being selected based on the respective descriptors of the first object and the second object; and applying the CVD correction to the pair of objects.

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, 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).

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).

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.

There is herein described a method of operating a data centre in response to a reduction in a power supply to the data centre, the method comprising using state information to relocate one or more high priority applications running on the one or more servers, away from the one or more servers, where the state information comprises information relating to one or more servers located at the data centre and/or one or more applications running on the one or more servers.

A computer-implemented authentication method comprising an authenticator: obtaining a user profile; obtaining a device profile in respect of a profiled device; obtaining authentication data based on output of a sensor; determining a user authentication result based on a comparison of the authentication data and the user profile; determining a device authentication result based on a comparison of the authentication data and the device profile; and causing a level of resource access to be granted to a current user of a functional device, through that functional device, in dependence on both the user authentication result and the device authentication result.

An apparatus (100) for detecting an Electro-Magnetic, EM, field (170), said apparatus comprising a: first Rydberg-Atom EM Field Detector, RAEM-FD (107-1), configured to detect a first EM field (170-1); second RAEM-FD (107-2) configured to detect a second EM field (170-2); and waveguide (105) arranged and configured to guide propagation of the first and second EM fields towards the first and second RAEM-FDs.

A cooling system (100) for thermal management of a component (102), the cooling system (100) comprising: a coolant circuit (104) comprising a plurality of sections; a magnetohydrodynamic pump (114) configured to pump a coolant around the coolant circuit (104) by applying a first electric field and a first magnetic field through a first section (106) of the plurality of sections, the first magnetic field being applied by a first electromagnet (124) of the magnetohydrodynamic pump (114), the first electromagnet (124) being an alternating current electromagnet, the coolant being an electrically conducting fluid comprising ferromagnetic particles; a substrate (126) comprising a second section (108) of the plurality of sections, the second section (108) being for fluidic communication of the coolant and for positioning adjacent the component; and a magnetic refrigerator (109) configured to, after heat is absorbed by the coolant in the second section (108) of the coolant circuit (104), cool the coolant by a magnetocaloric effect.

A method (200) of operating a wireless telecommunications system (100) comprising an ElectroMagnetic Transmitter (105), EMT, and a Rydberg-Atom Receiver (110), RAR, for detecting an EM field (170) from the EMT, and the method comprising the steps of: providing (210), to the EMT and to the RAR, a communication configuration for enabling transmission, by the EMT, of a data signal encoded within a wireless multi-band transmission, and for enabling reception, by the RAR, of said wireless multi-band transmission; configuring (220) the EMT and the RAR according to the provided communication configuration; transmitting (230), by the EMT and whilst the EMT is configured according to the communication configuration, the wireless multi-band transmission having encoded therewithin the data signal; receiving (240), by the RAR and whilst the RAR is configured according to the communication configuration, the wireless multi-band transmission; and processing the wireless multi-band transmission so as to derive the data signal.

There is herein described, a method of Distributed Acoustic Sensing, the method comprising transmitting an optical sensing signal into an optical fibre located in a channel, measuring an intensity of a return signal, the return signal comprising a component of the optical sensing signal that has been backscattered from a target location in the optical fibre, performing a comparison of the measured intensity of the return signal to a threshold, if the comparison indicates that the intensity of the return signal is greater than the threshold, determining that a blockage may be present in the channel in the vicinity of the target location.

A method of managing the transmission of unicast packets in a wireless local area network to client devices that are sensitive to collisions from transmissions to other client devices. These client devices that are sensitive to collisions, termed collision sensitive nodes, are typically associated with a problem access point, which are access points that share a coverage area with another access point but are not themselves in direct communication range of each other. A collision sensitive node is paired with each client device that is associated with the other access point to generate a respective collision node pair. Unicast packets directed to any client device in a collision node pair are scheduled to introduce a delay to their delivery so as to reduce the likelihood causing a collision at the collision sensitive node.

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