An intelligent electronic appliance preferably includes a user interface, data input and/or output port, and an intelligent processor. A preferred embodiment comprises a set top box for interacting with broadband media streams, with an adaptive user interface, content-based media processing and/or media metadata processing, and telecommunications integration. An adaptive user interface models the user, by observation, feedback, and/or explicit input, and presents a user interface and/or executes functions based on the user model. A content-based media processing system analyzes media content, for example audio and video, to understand the content, for example to generate content-descriptive metadata. A media metadata processing system operates on locally or remotely generated metadata to process the media in accordance with the metadata, which may be, for example, an electronic program guide, MPEG 7 data, and/or automatically generated format. A set top box preferably includes digital trick play effects, and incorporated digital rights management features.

Intelligent electronic appliance system and method

A system for integrating video programming with the vast information resources of the Internet. A computer-based system receives a video program with embedded uniform resource locators (URLs). The URLs, the effective addresses of locations or Web sites on the Internet, are interpreted by the system and direct the system to the Web site locations to retrieve related Web pages. Upon receipt of the Web pages by the system, the Web pages are synchronized to the video content for display. The video program signal can be displayed on a video window on a conventional personal computer screen. The actual retrieved Web pages are time stamped to also be displayed, on another portion of the display screen, when predetermined related video content is displayed in the video window. As an alternative, the computer-based system receives the URLs directly through an Internet connection, at times specified by TV broadcasters in advance. The system interprets the URLs and retrieves the appropriate Web pages. The Web pages are synchronized to the video content for display in conjunction with a television program being broadcast to the user at that time. This alternative system allows the URLs to be entered for live transmission to the user.

Enhanced video programming system and method for incorporating and displaying retrieved integrated Internet information segments

An adaptive interface for a programmable system, for predicting a desired user function, based on user history, as well as machine internal status and context. The apparatus receives an input from the user and other data. A predicted input is presented for confirmation by the user, and the predictive mechanism is updated based on this feedback. Also provided is a pattern recognition system for a multimedia device, wherein a user input is matched to a video stream on a conceptual basis, allowing inexact programming of a multimedia device. The system analyzes a data stream for correspondence with a data pattern for processing and storage. The data stream is subjected to adaptive pattern recognition to extract features of interest to provide a highly compressed representation that may be efficiently processed to determine correspondence. Applications of the interface and system include a video cassette recorder (VCR), medical device, vehicle control system, audio device, environmental control system, securities trading terminal, and smart house. The system optionally includes an actuator for effecting the environment of operation, allowing closed-loop feedback operation and automated learning.

Adaptive pattern recognition based control system and method

A facility for improving for performance of an initial user interface for a client-server application is described. The facility selects a proper subset of the user interface elements of the initial user interface. For each selected element, the facility generates a more efficient replacement for the selected element. The facility then generates a revised user interface that includes the unselected elements of the initial user interface, together with the generated replacements for the selected elements of the initial user interface.

Efficient high-interactivity user interface for client-server applications

The size of human fingers and the lack of sensing precision can make precise touch screen interactions difficult. We present a set of five techniques, called Dual Finger Selections, which leverage the recent development of multi-touch sensitive displays to help users select very small targets. These techniques facilitate pixel-accurate targeting by adjusting the control-display ratio with a secondary finger while the primary finger controls the movement of the cursor. We also contribute a "clicking" technique, called SimPress, which reduces motion errors during clicking and allows us to simulate a hover state on devices unable to sense proximity. We implemented our techniques on a multi-touch tabletop prototype that offers computer vision-based tracking. In our formal user study, we tested the performance of our three most promising techniques (Stretch, X-Menu, and Slider) against our baseline (Offset), on four target sizes and three input noise levels. All three chosen techniques outperformed the control technique in terms of error rate reduction and were preferred by our participants, with Stretch being the overall performance and preference winner.

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Precise selection techniques for multi-touch screens

A computer, e.g. a server or computer operated by a network provider sends one or more requesting computers (clients) a most likely predicted-to-be selected (predicted) page of information by determining a preference factor for this page based on one or more pages that are requested by the client. This page is added to a local cache of predicted-to-be-selected pages in the client. Once the predicted-to-be selected page is in the cache, the client can update the appearance of the link (i.e. by changing the color or otherwise changing the appearance of the link indicator) to indicate to the user that the page represented by that link is available in the local cache.

System and method for predictive caching of information pages

A user contracts with an application service provider for hosting a needed application By contracting with a service provider the user may interact with the application by using only a thin client rather than maintaining a thick client The user rents an application from either the service provider or an independent application provider If the user procures the application from an application provider, the application provider negotiates hosting terms with the service provider prior to installing the application into the service provider's warehouse The application provider also checks that the services provided by the service provider meet the minimum requirements of the application Once installed, the service provider may offer the application to other users along with services for the application The user may procure additional services from the service provider for supporting the application A user can then dynamically download the application “on-demand”

System and method for automatically negotiating license agreements and installing arbitrary user-specified applications on application service providers

A method is presented for managing user chat status in a chat application The chat application automatically detects user activity and/or user inactivity external to the chat application and then automatically sets a user chat status value within the chat application based on the detected user activity and/or the detected user inactivity The chat application may automatically set the user's current chat status at a given time, for example: based on retrieved schedule information that reflects the user's activity at that given time; based on application usage information that reflects the user's activity at that given time with other applications; based on telephone usage information that reflects the user's telephone activity at that given time; based on information about the ambient environment that reflects the user's activity or inactivity in the ambient environment at that given time; or some other automatically gathered information

Method and system for automatically stetting chat status based on user activity in local environment

The present invention introduces the notion of a route provider that efficiently and automatically helps and rewards drivers for traversing optimal driving routes. In particular, described is a technique for receiving one or more conditions and criteria associated with map directions over a computer network from a service bureau. The route provider or a third party may reward drivers for traversing preferred routes.

System and method for driving directions based on non-map criteria

A method, computer program product and system for displaying Web services. Web services may be displayed by generating a data model of a description of the Web service. A perspective visitor may be applied to the generated data model where the perspective visitor corresponds to a preselected domain. A perspective of the Web service associated with the preselected domain may be displayed in response to applying the perspective visitor. The perspective visitor may include a visitor pattern for encapsulating an operation to be performed on elements of the data model.

Craig Henry Becker

Papers

System and method for predictive caching of information pages

System and method for automatically negotiating license agreements and installing arbitrary user-specified applications on application service providers

Method and system for automatically stetting chat status based on user activity in local environment

System and method for driving directions based on non-map criteria

Systems and methods for displaying and executing web services in multiple content domains