Methods and apparatus for boot time reduction in a processor and programmable logic device environment are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a multicore processor including a first core and a second core. A bootstrap processor is to initialize the first core into a standby mode and initialize the second core into a non-standby mode. A programmable logic device is to be programmed with instructions to be executed by the programmable logic device by the second core via a first connection initialized by the second core. The bootstrap processor is to, upon completion of the programming of the programmable logic device, initialize a data connection between the programmable logic device and the second core.

Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage system is provided that includes storage drives each comprising a PCIe interface, and configured to store data and retrieve the data stored on associated storage media responsive to data transactions received over a switched PCIe fabric. The data storage system includes processors configured to each manage only an associated subset of the storage drives over the switched PCIe fabric. A first processor is configured to identify first data packets received over a network interface associated with the first processor within a network buffer of the first processor as comprising a storage operation associated with at least one of the plurality of storage drives managed by a second processor, and responsively transfer the first data packets into a network buffer of the second processor.

A method of determining which of at least two connected mobile devices is to function as a host device, wherein the mobile devices first determine which of them is to act as an initial host device and which is to act as an initial peripheral device. The initial host device then receives instructions from a user as to which of the mobile devices is to be the host device. If the instructions indicate that the initial host device is to be the host device, the initial host device controls, as host device, the initial peripheral device as a peripheral device, and if the instructions indicate that the initial peripheral device is to be the host device, the initial host device passes control to the initial peripheral device to enable the initial peripheral device to control, as host device, the initial host device as a peripheral device.

An interface comprises routing circuitry configured to receive data items from a data source device and to route the received data items to a data sink device by either a first data path including a data buffer or a second data path, in response to an indication of a current state of a data sink device; the routing circuitry being configured to route the received data item by the first data path and to initiate a transition of the data sink device to a ready state in response to an indication that the data sink device is in a quiescent mode and currently not ready to receive the data item, the routing circuitry being configured to hold the data item at the buffer and to inhibit the data source device from sending further data items until the routing circuitry receives a subsequent indication that the data sink device is ready to receive the data item; and the routing circuitry being configured to route the received data item by the second data path in response to an indication that the data sink device is currently ready to receive the data item.

A Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal in a retail environment is communicatively connected to one or more POS peripheral devices. Each POS peripheral device is associated with a configuration file that defines configuration settings for the POS peripheral device and environmental context information for the POS terminal and the POS controller. The configuration files are prioritized according to various criteria, and used to re-configure POS applications executing on the POS to operate optimally with the particular POS peripheral device. Additionally, the prioritized configuration files control the POS applications to update the configuration information.

A high speed intelligent network recorder for recording a plurality of flows of network data packets into and out of a computer network over a relevant data time window is disclosed. The high speed intelligent network recorder includes a printed circuit board; a high speed network switching device mounted to the printed circuit board; and an X column by Y row array of a plurality of intelligent hard drives with micro-computers mounted to the printed circuit board and coupled in parallel with the high speed network switching device.

A method for network recording is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes the following: receiving a plurality of incoming packets, wherein each incoming packet belongs to a conversation flow; forming a capture stream of packet records for the incoming packets; and performing intelligent load balancing on the capture stream of packet records, the load balancing including reading the metadata for each packet record, determining a packet record is part of either a hot flow or a cold flow, selecting a destination node for each packet record based on the flow hash, and steering the packet record to one of a plurality of encapsulation buffers based on the destination node, wherein a cold flow tends to be maintained in a flow coherency at a node. The method may further include operations that include querying and back-testing in order to enable distributed analytics by using low cost, low band width nodes.

A control system includes a first expander board and a second expander board. The first expander board selects a first data segment from a first data signal according to a first clock signal. The second expander board is electrically connected to the first expander board. The second expander board is configured to receive the first data segment and the first clock signal of the first expander board. The second expander board selects a second data segment from a second data signal according to a second clock signal and sequentially outputs the first data segment and the second data segment. The sequentially output form of the first data segment and the second data segment from the second expander board is a serial data signal.

A device is configured to operate in an industrial automation environment. The device includes a processing unit, a memory, an industrial communication interface to communicate with an external device via an industrial communication protocol, and a serial peripheral interface to communicate with a peripheral board during operation of the device. The device is configured to receive configuration data related to an industrial automation function of the device via the serial peripheral interface and store the received configuration data in the memory, when the serial peripheral interface is coupled to an external memory device. When the serial peripheral interface is coupled to the peripheral board, the device is configured to operate to perform the industrial automation function, in accordance with the received configuration data.

An audio system includes a base station, an interface that enables transmission of audio content from a handheld media device to the base station via a cable, and one or more remote speakers configured to receive the audio content from the base station. The base station includes a housing, a speaker integrated within the housing to produce an audible signal from the audio content provided by the handheld media device, and a transceiver integrated within the housing for wirelessly transmitting the audio content to the one or more remote speakers. The one or more remote speakers are configured to wirelessly relay the audio content, thereby to supply the audio content beyond the transmission range of the transceiver.

An audio system includes a base station, an interface that enables transmission of audio content from a handheld media device to the base station via a cable, and one or more remote speakers configured to receive the audio content from the base station. The base station includes a housing, a speaker integrated within the housing to produce an audible signal from the audio content provided by the handheld media device, and a transceiver integrated within the housing for wirelessly transmitting the audio content to the one or more remote speakers. The one or more remote speakers are configured to wirelessly relay the audio content, thereby to supply the audio content beyond the transmission range of the transceiver.