A network management system manages the operation of a home security system in a communication network, such as a mesh network. The home security system can include multiple components such as a camera, a lighting device, a security alarm, a doorbell switch and doorbell chime, and a fingerprint sensor, which connect with the communication network to perform various operations. The network management system monitors environmental parameters of the communication network, such as parameters associated with the access points and components of the home security system, determines an access point to which a component of the home security system is to be connected for efficient operation of the home security system, and connects the component to the communication network via the determined access point.

Use of multiple sensors to determine whether motion of an object is occurring in an area is described. In one aspect, an infrared (IR) sensor can be supplemented with a radar sensor to determine whether the determined motion of an object is not a false positive.

A specialized network (“merchant”) node to facilitate fast distribution of blockchain transactions over a network of interconnected nodes, as subset of which are merchant nodes interconnected by an overlay network. The merchant node includes a memory storing an assigned portion of a distributed mempool structured as a distributed hash table, the distributed mempool containing pending transactions awaiting confirmation. The merchant node operates by receiving a transaction, including a transaction identifier; hashing the new transaction identifier to obtain a key; determining, using the key, whether the transaction is stored in the distributed mempool or not and, if not, then storing the transaction in the distributed mempool as a pending transaction; and sending the transaction to a set of nodes other than merchant nodes using peer-to-peer connections. The invention may be used in conjunction with the Bitcoin blockchain or an alternative.

The concepts and technologies disclosed herein are directed to a network-assisted Raft consensus protocol, referred to herein as “NetRaft.” According to one aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a system can include a plurality of servers operating in a server cluster, and a plurality of P4 switches corresponding to the plurality of servers. Each server of the plurality of servers can include a back-end that executes a complete Raft algorithm to perform leader election, log replication, and log commitment of a Raft consensus algorithm. Each P4 switch of the plurality of P4 switches can include a front-end that executes a partial Raft algorithm to perform the log replication and the log commitment of the Raft consensus algorithm. The back-end can maintain a complete state for responding to requests that cannot be fulfilled by the front-end. The requests can include read requests and/or write requests.

A control device may be configured to delay an attachment procedure while attachment messages are being transmitted over the network. The control device may be configured to initiate an attachment procedure with a router device on a network at the end a back-off period of time. The attachment procedure may include transmitting attachment messages (e.g., parent request messages) that enable the control device to transmit and receive messages over the network through the router device. During the back-off period of time, the control device may determine an attachment message is received from another control device on the network. And, if an attachment message (e.g., a parent request messages and/or a link request message) is received from another control device, the control device may increase the back-off period of time (e.g., delaying when the control device initiates its attachment procedure).

A method for autonomously routing data using in a peer-to-peer computer network, includes automatically updating a peer-to-peer computer network comprising a plurality of nodes and automatically relaying data from the first node to a second node by one of the neighbor nodes associated with the first node. The method further includes automatically sending pulse messages from a first node to neighbor nodes and candidate nodes, dynamically adjusting time intervals between the pulse messages, receiving return pulses by the first node from some of the neighbor nodes and the candidate nodes, calculating round-trip times (RTTs) between the first node and the neighbor nodes or the candidate nodes, sorting the nodes in the neighbor nodes and the candidate nodes into a plurality of orbital bins, and automatically selecting and assigning a node from the orbital bins to update neighbor nodes associated with the first node.

The Internet can be configured to provide communications to a large number of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. Devices can be designed to address the need for network layers, from central servers, through gateways, down to edge devices, to grow unhindered, to discover and make accessible connected resources, and to support the ability to hide and compartmentalize connected resources. Network protocols can be part of the fabric supporting human accessible services that operate regardless of location, time, or space. Innovations can include service delivery and associated infrastructure, such as hardware and software. Services may be provided in accordance with specified Quality of Service (QoS) terms. The use of IoT devices and networks can be included in a heterogeneous network of connectivity including wired and wireless technologies.

Computer-implemented methods and systems are provided which are suitable for implementation in transaction validation nodes of a blockchain network. Modified blockchain node structures, network architectures, and protocols for handling large numbers of transactions and large transaction blocks are described. The invention is particularly suited, but not limited, to use with the Bitcoin blockchain. A computer-implemented method is provided which includes: (i) receiving transactions from the blockchain network; (ii) validating transactions received from the blockchain network; (iii) maintaining a distributed, decentralized storage of validated transactions with other transaction validation nodes in the blockchain network; and (iv) distributing data corresponding to said validated transactions to the blockchain network for mining.

Computer-implemented methods and systems are provided which are suitable for implementation in transaction validation nodes of a blockchain network. Modified blockchain node structures, network architectures, and protocols for handling large numbers of transactions and large transaction blocks are described. The invention is particularly suited, but not limited, to use with the Bitcoin blockchain. A computer-implemented method is provided which includes: (i) receiving transactions from the blockchain network; (ii) validating transactions received from the blockchain network; (iii) maintaining a distributed, decentralized storage of validated transactions with other transaction validation nodes in the blockchain network; and (iv) distributing data corresponding to said validated transactions to the blockchain network for mining.

A plurality of distributed network nodes may provide a decentralized access gateway to multiple, diverse types of databases. The plurality of distributed network nodes may host a private party blockchain. Each node may execute a peer-to-peer (P2P) client to perform operations associated with the private party blockchain. A subset of the nodes may be configured as validator nodes that may implement gossip protocols to cooperatively validate one or more database operations and generate a new block for the private party blockchain. Another subset of nodes may be configured as host nodes that may receive the new block and update a corresponding local copy of the private party blockchain appending the new block. Utilizing the co-operative validation of database operations and the updates appending the new blocks, the private party blockchain may maintain an immutable digital record of access and updates to the multiple and diverse types of databases.