Apple Inc.

About: Apple Inc. is a company organization based out in Herzliya, Israel. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Signal & User interface. The organization has 15687 authors who have published 22600 publications receiving 624507 citations. The organization is also known as: Apple Computer, Inc. & Apple Computer Inc.

Systems and methods for mapping phonemes for text to speech synthesis

Abstract: Algorithms for synthesizing speech used to identify media assets are provided. Speech may be selectively synthesized form text strings associated with media assets. A text string may be normalized and its native language determined for obtaining a target phoneme for providing human-sounding speech in a language (e.g., dialect or accent) that is familiar to a user. The algorithms may be implemented on a system including several dedicated render engines. The system may be part of a back end coupled to a front end including storage for media assets and associated synthesized speech, and a request processor for receiving and processing requests that result in providing the synthesized speech. The front end may communicate media assets and associated synthesized speech content over a network to host devices coupled to portable electronic devices on which the media assets and synthesized speech are played back.

Framework for graphics animation and compositing operations

Abstract: A framework for performing graphics animation and compositing operations has a layer tree for interfacing with the application and a render tree for interfacing with a render engine. Layers in the layer tree can be content, windows, views, video, images, text, media, or any other type of object for a user interface of an application. The application commits change to the state of the layers of the layer tree. The application does not need to include explicit code for animating the changes to the layers. Instead, an animation is determined for animating the change in state. In determining the animation, the framework can define a set of predetermined animations based on motion, visibility, and transition. The determined animation is explicitly applied to the affected layers in the render tree. A render engine renders from the render tree into a frame buffer for display on the computer system. Those portions of the render tree that have changed relative to prior versions can be tracked to improve resource management.

Smooth spline surfaces over irregular meshes

Abstract: An algorithm for creating smooth spline surfaces over irregular meshes is presented. The algorithm is a generalization of quadratic B-splines; that is, if a mesh is (locally) regular, the resulting surface is equivalent to a B-spline. Otherwise, the resulting surface has a degree 3 or 4 parametric polynomial representation. A construction is given for representing the surface as a collection of tangent plane continuous triangular Be´zier patches. The algorithm is simple, efficient, and generates aesthetically pleasing shapes.

Method and apparatus for the manipulation of text on a computer display screen

Abstract: A means and method for directly manipulating text on a computer display screen. A selected block of text is first identified for manipulation. After being identified, the selected block of text is highlighted on the display screen using contrasting colors or a reverse video. A text manipulation handle associated with the selected text block is displayed. The user may then directly manipulate the selected text block by positioning a cursor within the text manipulation handle and activating a signal generation device. When this occurs, the selected text block may be moved around the display screen while remaining visible using the cursor control device as long as the signal generation device remains active. A shadow image and insertion marker associated with the selected text block is displayed while the selected text block is moveable. A cutting or copying operation may be selected when the signal generation device is activated. The cutting operation removes the selected text block from the available text leaving a blank area at its original position. The copying operation retains the original selected text block in its previous position in the available text. When the signal generation device is deactivated, the selected text block is inserted or pasted into the available text at the position indicated by the insertion marker. The available text is then reformatted to achieve continuity in the lines of available text.

Memory Device with adaptive capacity

Abstract: A method for data storage in a memory (28) that includes a plurality of analog memory cells (32) includes estimating respective achievable storage capacities of the analog memory cells. The memory cells are assigned respective storage configurations defining quantities of data to be stored in the memory cells based on the estimated achievable capacities. The data is stored in the memory cells in accordance with the respective assigned storage configurations. The achievable storage capacities of the analog memory cells are re-estimated after the memory has been installed in a host system and used for storing the data in the host system. The storage configurations are modified responsively to the re-estimated achievable capacities.