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Showing papers on "Personal computer published in 1995"


Patent
22 Nov 1995
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe a method for encoding a message corresponding to an outcome of a computer game, and a computer device and method for decoding the message to detect a fraudulent outcome.
Abstract: A computer device and method for encoding a message corresponding to an outcome of a computer game, and a computer device and method for decoding the message to detect a fraudulent outcome. The computer device used to generate the encoded message includes (1) a memory device containing encoding control code and (2) a processor configured to process the encoding control code in conjunction with a computer game outcome to generate an encoded message containing the computer game outcome and to transmit the encoded message to a human-readable output device, such as a display device. The computer device includes various tamper resistant or tamper evidence features. A secure module containing the processor and memory is used to plug into an existing personal computer or dedicated game device. The method for encoding the message includes the steps of executing a computer game program to generate a computer game outcome, encoding the computer game outcome to generate an encoded message, and providing the encoded message to a user, who may then transmit the encoded message to a device configured for decoding the encoded message to reveal the computer game outcome. A second central or host computer device is used to decode the encoded message. The second computer device has (a) a memory device containing decoding control code and an encoded message corresponding to a computer game outcome and (b) a processor configured to process the code to decode the encoded message to reveal the computer game outcome.

841 citations


Patent
13 Oct 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, an easy to use extendible file synchronization system is introduced for sharing information between a handheld computer system and a personal computer system, which is activated by a single button press.
Abstract: Many users of handheld computer systems maintain databases on the handheld computer systems. To share the information, it is desirable to have a simple method of sharing the information with personal computer systems. An easy to use extendible file synchronization system is introduced for sharing information between a handheld computer system and a personal computer system. The synchronization system is activated by a single button press. The synchronization system proceeds to synchronize data for several different applications that run on the handheld computer system and the personal computer system. If the user gets a new application for the handheld computer system and the personal computer system, then a new library of code is added for synchronizing the databases associate with the new application. The synchronization system automatically recognizes the new library of code and uses it during the next synchronization.

780 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed twelve global start-ups and personally interviewed sever sever employees from each of them to understand the creation dynamics and success characteristics of the start-up experience.
Abstract: Executive Overview If the mouse connected to your personal computer is made by Logitech, Inc.—and there's a good chance it is—then you're plugged into the growing phenomenon of global start-ups. Most people expect new ventures to begin domestically and for their international operations to evolve slowly, but global start-ups are international at inception. Logitech was founded in 1982 by a Swiss and two Italians who had global aspirations from the beginning. The venture was headquartered in both California and Switzerland. The firm's R&D and manufacturing were also split between California and Switzerland, and then quickly spread to Taiwan and Ireland. By 1989, it had revenues of $140 million and 30 percent of the worldwide market for those ubiquitous computer rodents. Was the Logitech experience unique, or might there be a pattern underlying the creation dynamics and success characteristics of global start-ups? To answer these questions, we analyzed twelve such start-ups, and personally interviewed sever...

763 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results indicate that more than an order of magnitude reduction in power can be achieved over current-day design methodologies while maintaining the system throughput; in some cases this can be accomplished while preserving or reducing the implementation area.
Abstract: The increasing demand for portable computing has elevated power consumption to be one of the most critical design parameters. A high-level synthesis system, HYPER-LP, is presented for minimizing power consumption in application specific datapath intensive CMOS circuits using a variety of architectural and computational transformations. The synthesis environment consists of high-level estimation of power consumption, a library of transformation primitives, and heuristic/probabilistic optimization search mechanisms for fast and efficient scanning of the design space. Examples with varying degree of computational complexity and structures are optimized and synthesized using the HYPER-LP system. The results indicate that more than an order of magnitude reduction in power can be achieved over current-day design methodologies while maintaining the system throughput; in some cases this can be accomplished while preserving or reducing the implementation area. >

461 citations


Patent
15 Jun 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, a system supplying information associated with a broadcast television program to a consumer such that said consumer perceives the associated data as the result of two way interactivity with external sources of data such as online services or the Internet is described.
Abstract: A system supplying information associated with a broadcast television program to a consumer such that said consumer perceives the associated data as the result of two way interactivity with external sources of data such as online services or the Internet. The system includes equipment for inserting the associated data into the vertical blanking interval of the television signal on the supplier side of the system. On the receiving side, the system includes a personal computer capable of receiving the television program and storing the associated data locally. The consumer may then interact with the stored associated data in an apparently two way interactive manner. Additional interactivity may be achieved by adding an actual two way communication channel to the personal computer so that online services or the Internet may be accessed. This two way communication channel is made particularly effective if the associated data contains pointers to locations in the online services or the Internet which are particularly relevant to the television program.

458 citations


Patent
07 Jun 1995
TL;DR: An interface device for electronically integrating a plurality of financial services provided at different geographical locations and in different time zones, and delivering such services directly to a customer facility at any time requested by the customer is presented in this article.
Abstract: An interface device for electronically integrating a plurality of financial services provided at different geographical locations and in different time zones, and delivering such services directly to a customer facility at any time requested by the customer. The customer connects to the system whenever desired to access each of the services, and the interface device stores and routes messages between the customers and each of the service providers at the respective times when the customers' facilities and the service providers' facilities are operative. The system can be accessed through a customer's stand-alone personal computer, local area network, and/or mainframe computer. The system also includes a variety of security functions that provide different levels of access to the services for different customers.

452 citations


Patent
07 Jun 1995
TL;DR: In this article, a reload feature was introduced to allow the user to increase the balance of the computer without inconveniencing the user by other means, which allowed the purchase of items or transactions of relatively small monetary value.
Abstract: In a commercial transaction system, a system user uses a personal computer to interact with merchant computers over the Internet to conduct cashless transactions. Each system user computer processes data including a balance stored in the computer's memory and updates the stored data at the end of the transaction. The system is specially designed for purchases of items or transactions of relatively small monetary value. In this manner, the amount of the transaction is deducted from the balance on the computer. In accordance with the invention, when the existing balance associated with the computer does not cover the price of the transaction, the system provides a reload feature which gives the user an option to increase the balance of the computer. Such a feature allows the purchase to be made without inconveniencing the user to increase the balance by other means. Each time the balance is increased by a reload, the user's issuer bank bills the user for the reload amount.

449 citations


Patent
24 Mar 1995
TL;DR: In this article, a personalized real-time information display system was proposed to display a screen saver that includes personalized, up-to-date information such as traffic, weather and sports that is of interest to a particular user.
Abstract: Information "feeds" received from multiple information sources are aggregated, re-formatted and stored in a personalized real time information display system. When the display system receives a request from a user having a personal computer or other similar display device, the system is arranged to respond with information needed to display a screen saver that includes personalized, up to date information, such as traffic, weather and sports, that is of interest to that particular user. Each user has a personalized user profile indicating (a) the categories or types of information that the user desires to receive, such as sports information, weather, investment advisories, and so on, and (b) parameters that specify, for that user, the exact information desired to be received in each category. If the user's personal computer display has remained inactive for a predetermined period of time, the screen saver is activated, causing the personal computer to access the service node, and after interchange of prestored user identification and password data, retrieve information, obtained by the system from a variety of sources, based on the user's individual profile. The retrieved information is displayed on the screen without interrupting the screen saver function, and the displayed personalized data is thereafter updated in the same manner, at user-specified time intervals.

430 citations


Patent
14 Apr 1995
TL;DR: In this article, a system for simulcasting a fully interactive program with a normal conventional program in the same standard video signal bandwidth is presented, which allows active participation by subscribers who have interactive components (600) connected to a television or personal computer display.
Abstract: A system for simulcasting a fully interactive program with a normal conventional program in the same standard video signal bandwidth. It allows active participation by subscribers who have interactive components (600) connected to a television (186) or personal computer display (187), as well as normal viewing of the conventional program by viewers with conventional television sets (186). An important feature is that interactivity is offered as an option, without any degradation or interruption in program content to users who do not have the interactive components (600). Interactivity is personalized through the use of alternative audio responses and/or graphic displays that can be provided as part of the transmitted video signal bandwidth. The interactive elements are presented to the subscriber either immediately after subscriber entry and/or later at transparent 'trigger points' (900). At trigger points (900), program content is subtly altered to present specialized attention to each interactive subscriber.

407 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined the impact of three types of knowledge (subjective knowledge, objective knowledge, and usage experience) on selected aspects of consumer decision making in an electronic shopping scenario in which subjects selected a VCR brand based on brand and attribute information that could be accessed through a personal computer.

400 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an optimization model that identifies the types of component improvements and the level of effort spent on those improvements to maximize one or more performance measures subject to constraints (e.g., cost) in the presence of uncertainty about the component failure rates.
Abstract: After initial production, improvements are often made to components of a system, to upgrade system performance; for example, when designing a later version or release. This paper presents an optimization model that identifies the types of component improvements and the level of effort spent on those improvements to maximize one or more performance measures (e.g., system reliability or availability) subject to constraints (e.g., cost) in the presence of uncertainty about the component failure rates. For each component failure mode, some possible improvements are identified along with their cost and the resulting improvement in failure rates for that failure mode. The objective function is defined as a stochastic function of the performance measure of interest-in this case, 5/sup th/ percentile of the mean time-between-failure distribution. The problem formulation is combinatorial and stochastic. Genetic algorithms are used as the solution method. Our approach is demonstrated on a case study of a personal computer system. Results and comparison with enumeration of the configuration space show that genetic algorithms perform very favorably in the face of noise in the output: they are able to find the optimum over a complicated, high dimensional, nonlinear space in a tiny fraction of the time required for enumeration. The integration of genetic algorithm optimization capabilities with reliability analysis can provide a robust, powerful design-for-reliability tool. >

Patent
03 Aug 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, a photographic image can be viewed at a customers location on her personal computer and images selected for initial printing, reprinting and ordering related image services are provided to a scanner to obtain image data.
Abstract: A photographic image can be viewed at a customers location on her personal computer and images selected for initial printing, reprinting and ordering related image services. Photographic negatives are provided to a scanner to obtain image data. The image data is manipulated to provide a positive image of the photographic negatives and sent to the customers personal computer. The desired prints are then selected and order information is provided, based on the positive image as displayed on the display of the personal computer. The order information is recorded to allow the desired prints and services to be created and the resulting order is sent to a designated addressee.

Patent
Charles Wiecha1
13 Nov 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, the system enables an employee who needs an item which must be ordered from a supplier to select the item from an electronic catalog displayed on a personal computer and submit an order for approval and processing directly, bypassing both the normal paper approvals and the manual verification of the order by the organization's Purchasing department.
Abstract: Current corporate purchasing procedures are labor-intensive and therefore costly. The system enables an employee who needs an item which must be ordered from a supplier to select the item from an electronic catalog displayed on a personal computer and submit an order for approval and processing directly, by-passing both the normal paper approvals and the manual verification of the order by the organization's Purchasing department. It achieves this by means of an electronic catalog accessible from the employee's own personal computer, and a computer network and associated services linking the enterprise to one or more suppliers.

Patent
17 Jul 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a system that combines television and VCR controls with standard personal computer keyboard controls. But the system is not suitable for use with a touchpad which is food contamination resistant.
Abstract: An entertainment system has a personal computer as the heart of the system with a large screen VGA quality monitor as the display of choice. The system has digital satellite broadcast reception, decompression and display capability with multiple radio frequency remote control devices which transmit self identifying signals and have power adjustment capabilities. These capabilities are used to provide context sensitive groups of keys which may be defined to affect only selected applications running in a windowing environment. In addition, the remote control devices combine television and VCR controls with standard personal computer keyboard controls. A keyboard remote also integrates a touchpad which is food contamination resistant and may also be used for user verification. Included in the system is the ability to recognize verbal communications in video signals and maintain a database of such text which is searchable to help identify desired programming in real time.

Patent
15 Nov 1995
TL;DR: An interactive consumer product promotion method and match game as mentioned in this paper includes a database which is accessed for an information screen displayed on an interactive electronic terminal, such as a personal computer, interactive television, in-store kiosk, etc.
Abstract: An interactive consumer product promotion method and match game includes a database which is accessed for an information screen displayed on an interactive electronic terminal, such as a personal computer, interactive television, in-store kiosk, etc. The displayed information screen typically includes a listing of popular consumer product categories, such as "Detergents"; "Cereals"; "Motor Oil"; "Cookies"; "Crackers"; etc. along with a matrix of spaces representing a match game such as Bingo or Keno. In each space in the displayed matrix a symbol is displayed. The game is played by comparing selected consumer product categories with preselected spaces on the matrix to detect matches and corresponding prizes. Coupons and/or rebate offers for products with the selected categories are downloaded for printing by the consumer. A personalized rebate form can be printed which allows the consumer to collectively submit multiple register receipts and/or UPC codes for selected products, via mail or electronic scanning, in order to secure a single combined electronic or mailed rebate payment.

Patent
07 Jun 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a communication system comprising a voice message system for storing and retrieving voice messages and facsimile data, a computer database accessing system for transferring text messages from a separate computer system and converting the text messages into voice messages, and a personal computer.
Abstract: In summary, the present invention is a communication system comprising a voice message system for storing and retrieving voice messages and facsimile data, a computer database accessing system for storing and retrieving text messages from a separate computer system and for converting the text messages into voice messages, and a personal computer which allows a user to generate and receive voices messages, facsimile data, and text messages. The systems are integrated via a network which coordinates the functions of each individual system. Additionally, the input/output ports of the voice message system and the computer database accessing system are connected in a parallel fashion to a personal computer. In this configuration, a user may access voice messages, facsimile messages, and text messages through the personal computer.

Book
01 Aug 1995
TL;DR: WJM as discussed by the authors is a flâneur who is an early adopter of the "inhox" model, which is used by many of the authors of this paper.
Abstract: My name is wjm@mit.edu (though I have many aliases), and I am an flâneur. I hang out on the network. The keyboard is my cafe. Each morning I turn to some nearby machine - my modest personal computer at home, a more powerful workstation in one of the offices or laboratories that I frequent, or a laptop in a hotel room-to log into electronic mail. I click on an icon to open an "inhox" filled with messages from round the world-replies to technical questions, queries for me to answer, drafts of papers, submissions of student work, appointments, travel and meeting arrangements. hits of business, greetings. reminders, chitchat, gossip, cornplaints, tips, jokes, flirtation. I type replies immediately, then drop them into an "otubox," from which they are forwarded automatically to the appropriate destinations. (Note the scare quotes. "Box" is a very loose metaphor. and I will come back to that later.) If I have time before I finish gulping my coffee. I also check the wire services and a couple of specialized news services to which I subscribe, then glance at the latest weather report. This ritual is repeated whenever I have a spare moment during the day.

Patent
07 Jun 1995
TL;DR: A system for communicating with a global electronic delivery system that integrates a plurality of financial services provided at different geographical locations and in different time zones, and delivery such services directly to a customer facility at any time requested by the customer is described in this paper.
Abstract: A system for communicating with a global electronic delivery system that integrates a plurality of financial services provided at different geographical locations and in different time zones, and delivery such services directly to a customer facility at any time requested by the customer. The customer connects to the system whenever desired to access each of the services, and the delivery system stores and routes messages between the customers and each of the service providers at the respective times when the customers' facilities and the service providers' facilities are operative. The communications system can comprise a stand-alone personal computer, a local area network, and/or a mainframe computer. The communicates system also includes a variety of security functions that provide different levels of access to the services for different customers.

Patent
13 Nov 1995
TL;DR: In this article, a personal onboard information system for use in a vehicle is presented, which includes a portable, personal computer including a touch-responsive screen and a cradle mounted on the vehicle for detachably receiving the computer.
Abstract: A personal onboard information system for use in a vehicle. The system includes a portable, personal computer including a touch-responsive screen and a cradle mounted on the vehicle for detachably receiving the computer. The computer is programmed to generate characters of preset size on a display on the screen. The cradle has a lamp for illuminating the computer screen and a power supply for supplying the computer with power when the computer is in the cradle. The system further includes an interface communicating with the computer for formatting the display for use of the computer in the vehicle when the computer is in the cradle. The interface is resident in the computer or in the cradle and causes the display to display characters relatively larger than the characters of preset size so that the characters can be easily viewed by a passenger thereby facilitating use of the computer in the vehicle.

PatentDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a real-time random access animation user interface environment referred to as interFACE enables a user to create and control animated lip-synchronized images or objects utilizing a personal computer for use in the users programs and products.
Abstract: A random access animation user interface environment referred to as interFACE enabling a user to create and control animated lip-synchronized images or objects utilizing a personal computer for use in the users programs and products. A real-time random-access interface driver (RAVE) together with a descriptive authoring language (RAVEL) is used to provide synthesized actors ("synactors"). The synactors may represent real or imaginary persons or animated characters, objects or scenes. The synactors may be created and programmed to perform actions including speech which are not sequentially pre-stored records of previously enacted events. Furthermore, animation and sound synchronization may be produced automatically and in real-time. Sounds and visual images of a real or imaginary person or animated character associated with those sounds are input to a system and may be decomposed into constituent parts to produce fragmentary images and sounds. A set of characteristics is utilized to define a digital model of the motions and sounds of a particular synactor. The general purpose system is provided for random access and display of synactor images on a frame-by-frame basis, which is organized and synchronized with sound. Both synthetic speech and digitized recording may provide the speech for synactors.

Patent
31 May 1995
TL;DR: In this article, a game of skill or chance played simultaneously by several participants remote from each other also provides for interleaved interactive advertising, where each participant has a control unit or a personal computer or processor which can handle the interleaving advertising as a separate computer task which means that the other game task can always continue to operate in the background.
Abstract: A game of skill or chance played simultaneously by several participants remote from each other also provides for interleaved interactive advertising. Each participant has a control unit or a personal computer or processor which can handle the interleaved advertising as a separate computer task which means that the other game task can always continue to operate in the background.

Patent
25 May 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a digital replacement for an analog audio tape recorder, which can record audio programming digitally in a faster than real-time format and can play back audio programming, where such programming has been digitized and stored in data files using a variety of compression/decompression algorithms.
Abstract: A digital replacement for an analog audio tape recorder can record audio programming digitally in a faster than real time format and can play back audio programming, where such programming has been digitized and stored in data files using a variety of compression/decompression algorithms. Audio programming is stored digitally on a non-volatile medium, such as a hard drive, or in a flash EPROM, or other solid state non-volatile memory. The device includes a hard drive, a modem for connection to a data base via an on-line service, a keyboard, a display, and an audio system. The device uniquely combines the remote data access capability resident in a personal computer with a set of tailored, streamlined control functions to simplify, automate, and render seamless the process of selecting audio program material; ordering the program material from a service; receiving acknowledgment of the order and receiving the program material via automatic download for storage in a hard drive; playback of the program material when and where the user desires, with fully streamlined control functions; and control of the user interface functionality on the keyboard through a setup mode of operation.

Patent
17 Jul 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, an entertainment system has a personal computer as the heart of the system with a large screen VGA quality monitor as the display of choice, and the system has digital satellite broadcast reception, decompression and display capability with multiple radio frequency remote control devices which transmit self identifying signals and have power adjustment capabilities.
Abstract: An entertainment system has a personal computer as the heart of the system with a large screen VGA quality monitor as the display of choice The system has digital satellite broadcast reception, decompression and display capability with multiple radio frequency remote control devices which transmit self identifying signals and have power adjustment capabilities These capabilities are used to provide context sensitive groups of keys which may be defined to affect only selected applications running in a windowing environment In addition, the remote control devices combine television and VCR controls with standard personal computer keyboard controls A keyboard remote also integrates a touchpad which is food contamination resistant and may also be used for user verification Included in the system is the ability to recognize verbal communications in video signals and maintain a database of such text which is searchable to help identify desired programming in real time

Patent
Nguyen Nam D1
07 Sep 1995
TL;DR: A Personal Communications Terminal (PCT) as mentioned in this paper is a case having a first half hingedly connected to a second half, where the first half is connected to the second half.
Abstract: A personal communications terminal (PCT) in a case having a first half hingedly connected to a second half. The PCT operates in an open and a closed position and comprises a mobile telephone unit and a personal digital assistant (PDA) unit electronically connected to the mobile telephone unit. The PDA unit is a fully functional personal computer. The PDA unit comprises a memory for application software programs, a memory for data, a processor for performing operations with the data and the application programs, a modem for passing data between the PDA unit and the mobile telephone unit, and a mobile data interface for passing data between the PDA unit and the mobile telephone unit without utilizing the modem. When the PCT is in the open position, it forms two interior faces which include a PDA display screen on one face and a full alpha-numeric keyboard on the other face. The PCT may be operated as a standard wireless telephone, as a personal computer, or in an integrated mode for FAX, wireless data transfer, or sending and receiving short message service (SMS) messages.

Patent
Randal Lee Bertram1
31 May 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, a display controller and video reception circuitry cooperate for displaying full motion video visual images occupying substantially the entire viewable screen area and a menu display occupying a minor portion of the screen area.
Abstract: A video display, which may be a television receiver with associated set top device, an intelligent television receiver, or a personal computer system enabled for television display, has associated therewith a remote control which controls modification of the visual images displayed. By use of the remote control, a human observer may cause a processor controlling the video display to execute a control program formulated in a particularly concise language and controlling the display of menus and the like. Menus are displayed as overlays onto a live motion video image. A display controller and video reception circuitry cooperating for displaying full motion video visual images occupying substantially the entirety of a viewable screen area and a menu display occupying a minor portion of the screen area and overlying the full motion video visual images.

Patent
09 May 1995
TL;DR: In this article, the integration of piezoelectric speaker panels and microphones into a personal computer with a sound card to form a novel multimedia computer is described, which is also applied to enhance performance of a voice recognition system included in the computer.
Abstract: This invention involves the integration of piezoelectric speaker panels (66, 67) and microphones (68) into a personal computer (65) with a sound card to form a novel multimedia computer. In addition noise cancellation electronics and algorithms are also applied to enhance performance of a voice recognition system included in the computer.

Patent
06 Jun 1995
TL;DR: In this article, a method for promoting a sponsor's products by providing a consumer or potential consumer with sponsor-paid access to the Internet includes the step of distributing a floppy disc with Internet access software thereon.
Abstract: A method for promoting a sponsor's products by providing a consumer or potential consumer with sponsor-paid access to the Internet includes the step of distributing a floppy disc with Internet access software thereon. Associated with the floppy disc is a unique PIN number along with instructions on installing and using the Internet access software on a personal computer (PC). The Internet access software accesses and "handshakes" with an "Internet Entry Server", which verifies the PIN number, provides the access and times the sponsor paid Internet access time. In return, the Internet Entry Server performs as registration process which includes a number of personal questions and custom data gathering queries tailored by the sponsor for response by the user and initially gives the user a mandatory "guided tour" of the sponsor's Internet Home Page and domain where the user is exposed to current products and/or services of the sponsor and can download promotional coupons, product information, etc. The user is then released to browse the Internet and, after the free time is over, user paid refresh options are provided.

Patent
17 Jul 1995
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a system that combines television and VCR controls with standard personal computer keyboard controls. But the system is not suitable for use with a touchpad which is food contamination resistant.
Abstract: An entertainment system has a personal computer as the heart of the system with a large screen VGA quality monitor as the display of choice. The system has digital satellite broadcast reception, decompression and display capability with multiple radio frequency remote control devices which transmit self identifying signals and have power adjustment capabilities. These capabilities are used to provide context sensitive groups of keys which may be defined to affect only selected applications running in a windowing environment. In addition, the remote control devices combine television and VCR controls with standard personal computer keyboard controls. A keyboard remote also integrates a touchpad which is food contamination resistant and may also be used for user verification. Included in the system is the ability to recognize verbal communications in video signals and maintain a database of such text which is searchable to help identify desired programming in real time.

Patent
17 Jul 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a system that combines television and VCR controls with standard personal computer keyboard controls. But the system is not suitable for use with a touchpad which is food contamination resistant.
Abstract: An entertainment system has a personal computer as the heart of the system with a large screen VGA quality monitor as the display of choice. The system has digital satellite broadcast reception, decompression and display capability with multiple radio frequency remote control devices which transmit self identifying signals and have power adjustment capabilities. These capabilities are used to provide context sensitive groups of keys which may be defined to affect only selected applications running in a windowing environment. In addition, the remote control devices combine television and VCR controls with standard personal computer keyboard controls. A keyboard remote also integrates a touchpad which is food contamination resistant and may also be used for user verification. Included in the system is the ability to recognize verbal communications in video signals and maintain a database of such text which is searchable to help identify desired programming in real time.

Patent
27 Oct 1995
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an interactive, customer-accessible data processing system embodied in a programmed personal computer that induces customers of a restaurant, store or other business to enter information about themselves into the system.
Abstract: An interactive, customer-accessible data processing system embodied in a programmed personal computer that induces customers of a restaurant, store or other business to enter information about themselves into the system. The information, which may include names, addresses, dates and answers to survey questions, is entered into data fields displayed on a display screen. The system enables a business to generate promotional messages tailored to customers based on the customer-entered information. For example, a business can readily generate birthday offer letters to customers based on their name, address, and birth date simply by selecting an option provided by the system. To induce customers to enter the necessary information, the system flashes an incentive message on the computer display screen. The message may offer to enter a customer into a drawing or other contest in return for the customer entering the necessary information into the system.