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

An intelligent automated assistant system engages with the user in an integrated, conversational manner using natural language dialog, and invokes external services when appropriate to obtain information or perform various actions. The system can be implemented using any of a number of different platforms, such as the web, email, smartphone, and the like, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the system is based on sets of interrelated domains and tasks, and employs additional functionally powered by external services with which the system can interact.

Intelligent Automated Assistant

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

An intelligent media device, comprising a packet data communications interface; a media communication interface for receiving audio and/or video data; a digital memory for persistently storing received audio and/or video data; and an intelligent server for generating a virtual interface for controlling the media communication interface and the digital memory through said packet data communications interface. The intelligent server may be adaptive. A variety of devices may be interfaced through the packet data communications interface, including telephony, imaging, videoconferencing, security, alarm, environmental control, vehicular, illumination system, domestic appliance; fluid and handling systems, as well as consumer electronic devices. A digital rights manager for enforcing a set of externally supplied restrictions associated with the received audio and/or video data may be incorporated, with a cryptographic processor for selectively cryptoprocessing audio and/or video data in dependence on said rights manager being provided to limit access to the audio and/or video data content.

Media recording device with packet data interface

A method for presenting to an end-user the intermediate matching search results of a keyword search in an index list of information. The method comprising the steps of: coupling to a search engine a graphical user interface for accepting keyword search terms for searching the indexed list of information with the search engine; receiving one or more keyword search terms with one or more separation characters separating there between; performing a keyword search with the one or more keyword search terms received when a separation character is received; and presenting the number of documents matching the keyword search terms to the end-user presenting a graphical menu item on a display. A system and method of metadata search ranking is disclosed. The present invention utilizes a combination of popularity and/or relevancy to determine a search ranking for a given search result association.

Metadata search results ranking system

A method of automatically aligning a written transcript with speech in video and audio clips. The disclosed technique involves as a basic component an automatic speech recognizer. The automatic speech recognizer decodes speech (recorded on a tape) and produces a file with a decoded text. This decoded text is then matched with the original written transcript via identification of similar words or clusters of words. The results of this matching is an alignment of the speech with the original transcript. The method can be used (a) to create indexing of video clips, (b) for "teleprompting" (i.e. showing the next portion of text when someone is reading from a television screen), or (c) to enhance editing of a text that was dictated to a stenographer or recorded on a tape for its subsequent textual reproduction by a typist.

Automatic indexing and aligning of audio and text using speech recognition

Topically relevant objects in an object database are first identified using any generally known methods to obtain a set of topically relevant objects (topically relevant set). Parents, and in alternative embodiments other ancestors, of one or more of the topically relevant objects are identified according to directional structural relationships that the parents have with respect to the topically relevant objects. These objects form a set of structurally relevant objects (structurally relevant set). In some embodiments, the user query identifies one or more of these structural relationships. The topically relevant objects are then organized under one or more of their respective parents to form a hierarchy level of both (topically relevant and structurally relevant) sets of objects. In some preferred embodiments, the process can iterate to create more than one hierarchy level.

System and method for hierarchically grouping and ranking a set of objects in a query context based on one or more relationships

The novel notepad of the invention provides a convenient interface into the capabilities of computer technology from paper based information. The notepad has a form factor similar to a clipboard wherein the board portion includes a digitizing tablet and the clip portion includes an optical scanner. A battery-powered embedded processor and associated peripherals provide for capturing and storing information in a variety of forms including at least scanning information, digitized stylus information and audio annotation. An important feature of the invention is the linking of these different forms of information via software so that while the information is readily available for efficient processing, it is also combinable so as to recreate the annotated document through conventional means.

Method and apparatus for improving the paper interface to computing systems

In a handwriting recognition system a method for differentiating a first character from a second character having similar characteristics. The method includes the steps of determining during a training session at least one pairwise discriminant measure associated with the first character and with the second character. The step of determining includes a step of evaluating with a potential discriminant measure a plurality of prototype first characters and a plurality of prototype second characters. Subsequently, during a handwriting recognition session, the method evaluates with at least one of the previously determined discriminant measures selected from a set of same an input character identified as being either the first prototype character or the second prototype character. The step of evaluating includes a step of analyzing a stroke or strokes associated with the input character in accordance with one or more of the pairwise discriminant measures selected from the set, summing the results of each discriminant measure analysis to obtain a result for each of the pair of characters associated with the pairwise discriminate measure, and selecting a character from the pair that has a maximum value result.

Hamed Abdelfattah Ellozy

Papers

Automatic indexing and aligning of audio and text using speech recognition

System and method for hierarchically grouping and ranking a set of objects in a query context based on one or more relationships

Method and apparatus for improving the paper interface to computing systems

Handwriting recognition employing pairwise discriminant measures

Automatic indexing of audio using speech recognition