EDIT

/**

 * Save the state of a table in a cookie such that the page can be reloaded

 *  @param {object} oSettings dataTables settings object

 *  @memberof DataTable#oApi

 */

function _fnSaveState ( oSettings )

{

	if ( !oSettings.oFeatures.bStateSave || oSettings.bDestroying )

	{

		return;

	}

	/* Store the interesting variables */

	var i, iLen, bInfinite=oSettings.oScroll.bInfinite;

	var oState = {

		"iCreate":      new Date().getTime(),

		"iStart":       (bInfinite ? 0 : oSettings._iDisplayStart),

		"iEnd":         (bInfinite ? oSettings._iDisplayLength : oSettings._iDisplayEnd),

		"iLength":      oSettings._iDisplayLength,

		"aaSorting":    $.extend( true, [], oSettings.aaSorting ),

		"oSearch":      $.extend( true, {}, oSettings.oPreviousSearch ),

		"aoSearchCols": $.extend( true, [], oSettings.aoPreSearchCols ),

		"abVisCols":    []

	};

	for ( i=0, iLen=oSettings.aoColumns.length ; i<iLen ; i++ )

	{

		oState.abVisCols.push( oSettings.aoColumns[i].bVisible );

	}

	_fnCallbackFire( oSettings, "aoStateSaveParams", 'stateSaveParams', [oSettings, oState] );

	oSettings.fnStateSave.call( oSettings.oInstance, oSettings, oState );

}

/**

 * Attempt to load a saved table state from a cookie

 *  @param {object} oSettings dataTables settings object

 *  @param {object} oInit DataTables init object so we can override settings

 *  @memberof DataTable#oApi

 */

function _fnLoadState ( oSettings, oInit )

{

	if ( !oSettings.oFeatures.bStateSave )

	{

		return;

	}

	var oData = oSettings.fnStateLoad.call( oSettings.oInstance, oSettings );

	if ( !oData )

	{

		return;

	}

	/* Allow custom and plug-in manipulation functions to alter the saved data set and

	 * cancelling of loading by returning false

	 */

	var abStateLoad = _fnCallbackFire( oSettings, 'aoStateLoadParams', 'stateLoadParams', [oSettings, oData] );

	if ( $.inArray( false, abStateLoad ) !== -1 )

	{

		return;

	}

	/* Store the saved state so it might be accessed at any time */

	oSettings.oLoadedState = $.extend( true, {}, oData );

	/* Restore key features */

	oSettings._iDisplayStart    = oData.iStart;

	oSettings.iInitDisplayStart = oData.iStart;

	oSettings._iDisplayEnd      = oData.iEnd;

	oSettings._iDisplayLength   = oData.iLength;

	oSettings.aaSorting         = oData.aaSorting.slice();

	oSettings.saved_aaSorting   = oData.aaSorting.slice();

	/* Search filtering  */

	$.extend( oSettings.oPreviousSearch, oData.oSearch );

	$.extend( true, oSettings.aoPreSearchCols, oData.aoSearchCols );

	/* Column visibility state

	 * Pass back visibility settings to the init handler, but to do not here override

	 * the init object that the user might have passed in

	 */

	oInit.saved_aoColumns = [];

	for ( var i=0 ; i<oData.abVisCols.length ; i++ )

	{

		oInit.saved_aoColumns[i] = {};

		oInit.saved_aoColumns[i].bVisible = oData.abVisCols[i];

	}

	_fnCallbackFire( oSettings, 'aoStateLoaded', 'stateLoaded', [oSettings, oData] );

}

/**

 * Create a new cookie with a value to store the state of a table

 *  @param {string} sName name of the cookie to create

 *  @param {string} sValue the value the cookie should take

 *  @param {int} iSecs duration of the cookie

 *  @param {string} sBaseName sName is made up of the base + file name - this is the base

 *  @param {function} fnCallback User definable function to modify the cookie

 *  @memberof DataTable#oApi

 */

function _fnCreateCookie ( sName, sValue, iSecs, sBaseName, fnCallback )

{

	var date = new Date();

	date.setTime( date.getTime()+(iSecs*1000) );

	/* 

	 * Shocking but true - it would appear IE has major issues with having the path not having

	 * a trailing slash on it. We need the cookie to be available based on the path, so we

	 * have to append the file name to the cookie name. Appalling. Thanks to vex for adding the

	 * patch to use at least some of the path

	 */

	var aParts = window.location.pathname.split('/');

	var sNameFile = sName + '_' + aParts.pop().replace(/[\/:]/g,"").toLowerCase();

	var sFullCookie, oData;

	if ( fnCallback !== null )

	{

		oData = (typeof $.parseJSON === 'function') ? 

			$.parseJSON( sValue ) : eval( '('+sValue+')' );

		sFullCookie = fnCallback( sNameFile, oData, date.toGMTString(),

			aParts.join('/')+"/" );

	}

	else

	{

		sFullCookie = sNameFile + "=" + encodeURIComponent(sValue) +

			"; expires=" + date.toGMTString() +"; path=" + aParts.join('/')+"/";

	}

	/* Are we going to go over the cookie limit of 4KiB? If so, try to delete a cookies

	 * belonging to DataTables.

	 */

	var

		aCookies =document.cookie.split(';'),

		iNewCookieLen = sFullCookie.split(';')[0].length,

		aOldCookies = [];

	if ( iNewCookieLen+document.cookie.length+10 > 4096 ) /* Magic 10 for padding */

	{

		for ( var i=0, iLen=aCookies.length ; i<iLen ; i++ )

		{

			if ( aCookies[i].indexOf( sBaseName ) != -1 )

			{

				/* It's a DataTables cookie, so eval it and check the time stamp */

				var aSplitCookie = aCookies[i].split('=');

				try {

					oData = eval( '('+decodeURIComponent(aSplitCookie[1])+')' );

					if ( oData && oData.iCreate )

					{

						aOldCookies.push( {

							"name": aSplitCookie[0],

							"time": oData.iCreate

						} );

					}

				}

				catch( e ) {}

			}

		}

		// Make sure we delete the oldest ones first

		aOldCookies.sort( function (a, b) {

			return b.time - a.time;

		} );

		// Eliminate as many old DataTables cookies as we need to

		while ( iNewCookieLen + document.cookie.length + 10 > 4096 ) {

			if ( aOldCookies.length === 0 ) {

				// Deleted all DT cookies and still not enough space. Can't state save

				return;

			}

			var old = aOldCookies.pop();

			document.cookie = old.name+"=; expires=Thu, 01-Jan-1970 00:00:01 GMT; path="+

				aParts.join('/') + "/";

		}

	}

	document.cookie = sFullCookie;

}

/**

 * Read an old cookie to get a cookie with an old table state

 *  @param {string} sName name of the cookie to read

 *  @returns {string} contents of the cookie - or null if no cookie with that name found

 *  @memberof DataTable#oApi

 */

function _fnReadCookie ( sName )

{

	var

		aParts = window.location.pathname.split('/'),

		sNameEQ = sName + '_' + aParts[aParts.length-1].replace(/[\/:]/g,"").toLowerCase() + '=',

	 	sCookieContents = document.cookie.split(';');

	for( var i=0 ; i<sCookieContents.length ; i++ )

	{

		var c = sCookieContents[i];

		while (c.charAt(0)==' ')

		{

			c = c.substring(1,c.length);

		}

		if (c.indexOf(sNameEQ) === 0)

		{

			return decodeURIComponent( c.substring(sNameEQ.length,c.length) );

		}

	}

	return null;

}