Abstract: A “directional lapped transform coder” (“DLT Coder”) provides various techniques for designing directional lapped transforms. In general, lapped transforms are factorized into lifting steps. A “directional operator” is then introduced into each lifting step in order to construct the directional lapped transform by selecting data elements from a data signal along a path corresponding to the directional operator. The resulting directional lapped transform preserves the advantages of conventional lapped transforms while also providing more efficient representation directional signals. In various embodiments, the resulting directional lapped transform is used to enable an image/video coding scheme that provides significant improvement over conventional state-of-the-art image lapped transform based coding schemes for images with strong directional correlations.

Abstract: A security-enhanced login technique that provides a convenient and easy-to-use two factor technique to enhance the security of passwords without requiring any changes on the server side of a client-server network. The technique employs a convenient and easy-to-use two-factor technique to generate strong passwords for Web and other applications. In this technique, a convenient or personal device such as a mouse is used as the other factor besides a user password. A secret stored in the mouse or other personal device is hashed together with the password entered by a user and the server ID, to generate a strong, server-specific password which is used to authenticate the user to the server. This password enhancement operation is carried out inside the personal device.

Abstract: An interest point detection technique is presented. More particularly, for each of possibly multiple image pyramid resolutions, a cornerness image is generated. One or more potential interest point locations are identified in the cornerness image. This involves finding locations associated with a pixel that exhibits a higher corner strength value than pixels in a prescribed-sized surrounding pixel neighborhood. The potential interest point locations are then clustered to identify groups that likely derive from a same 2D structure. Potential interest point locations in one or more of the identified groups are respectively combined to produce a single location that represents the combined group. The representative location of each group having one is then designated as an interest point. An optional location refinement can also be implemented.

Abstract: A digital calendar sharing control and visibility system and method for providing a user with control and visibility of digital calendar sharing. The system and method enhance and improve the sharing capabilities of current digital calendar applications. The system and method include a time-based (or expiration) sharing feature that gives a user control over the expiration date of the calendar sharing. The user can expire the sharing after a certain duration or date. The user also can specify a date range or a time range that a person can view in the user's digital calendar. A sharing audits and history feature allows a user to view who has looked at their calendar and what calendar information has been viewed. A private notes section allows a user to enter information that will not be seen by another person, even if that person has sharing permission to view the user's calendar.

Abstract: Multi-pass image resampling technique embodiments are presented that employ a series of one-dimensional filtering, resampling, and shearing stages to achieve good efficiency while maintaining high visual fidelity. In one embodiment, high-quality (multi-tap) image filtering is used inside each one-dimensional resampling stage. Because each stage only uses one-dimensional filtering, the overall computation efficiency is very good and amenable to graphics processing unit (GPU) implementation using pixel shaders. This embodiment also upsamples the image before shearing steps in a direction orthogonal to the shearing to prevent aliasing, and then downsamples the image to its final size with high-quality low-pass filtering. This ensures that none of the stages causes excessive blurring or aliasing.

Abstract: Either vehicle traffic or financial markets data is regularly broadcast in a fixed size packet over a wireless network in a push manner to one or more wireless receiver devices located within a particular service coverage region. A data center stores information specific to the particular region including drive-times strings metadata, drive-times data, drive-times route metadata, traffic incident data and financial markets indicators data. The data center decides upon a particular type of information to be placed into a payload of a next packet to be broadcast and pre-formats this information accordingly without receiving any information from the receiver devices. Data structures are provided which contain data representing the drive-times strings metadata, drive-times data, drive-times route metadata, traffic incident data and financial markets indicators data.

Abstract: A cross-module detection system and method for detecting and monitoring control flow transfers between software modules in a computer system. The system and method detect and monitor control flows entering and exiting the software modules. For a particular module, a checking model is extracted from the binary file of that module. In addition, a relaxed shadow stack is generated. If the module is an original module, meaning that the control flow originated from that module, then the checking model is used to check the validity of the control flow transfer. Otherwise, the relaxed shadow stack is used. An interception module is used to intercept and terminate invalid control flow transfers. If an invalid control flow transfer is detected, then the transfer is terminated. Otherwise, the control flow transfer is allowed to continue.

Abstract: A system and method for teleconferencing and recording of meetings. The system uses a variety of capture devices (a novel 360° camera, a whiteboard camera, a presenter view camera, a remote view camera, and a microphone array) to provide a rich experience for people who want to participate in a meeting from a distance. The system is also combined with speaker clustering, spatial indexing, and time compression to provide a rich experience for people who miss a meeting and want to watch it afterward.

Abstract: A socket connector includes a conductive center receptacle, first outer socket contact having a first socket contact surface, second outer socket contact having a second socket contact surface, and non-conductive socket body. The socket contact surfaces are separated longitudinally along an axis of the receptacle. The socket body maintains the socket contacts electrically isolated from each other and the receptacle whenever the socket connector is not mated with a bi-conducting plug connector. A plug connector includes a conductive center pin, first outer plug contact having a first plug contact surface, second outer plug contact having a second plug contact surface, annular insulator, and non-conductive plug body. The plug contact surfaces are separated longitudinally along an axis of the pin. The plug body and insulator maintain the plug contacts electrically isolated from each other and the pin whenever the plug connector is not mated with a bi-conducting socket connector.

Abstract: A process for compressing and decompressing non-keyframes in sequential sets of contemporaneous video frames making up multiple video streams where the video frames in a set depict substantially the same scene from different viewpoints. Each set of contemporaneous video frames has a plurality frames designated as keyframes with the remaining being non-keyframes. In one embodiment, the non-keyframes are compressed using a multi-directional spatial prediction technique. In another embodiment, the non-keyframes of each set of contemporaneous video frames are compressed using a combined chaining and spatial prediction compression technique. The spatial prediction compression technique employed can be a single direction technique where just one reference frame, and so one chain, is used to predict each non-keyframe, or it can be a multi-directional technique where two or more reference frames, and so chains, are used to predict each non-keyframe.

Abstract: A novel enhanced beamforming technique that improves beamforming operations by incorporating a model for the directional gains of the sensors, such as microphones, and provides means of estimating these gains. The technique forms estimates of the relative magnitude responses of the sensors (e.g., microphones) based on the data received at the array and includes those in the beamforming computations.

Abstract: A text-dependent speaker verification technique that uses a generic speaker-independent speech recognizer for robust speaker verification, and uses the acoustical model of a speaker-independent speech recognizer as a background model. Instead of using a likelihood ratio test (LRT) at the utterance level (e.g., the sentence level), which is typical of most speaker verification systems, the present text-dependent speaker verification technique uses weighted sum of likelihood ratios at the sub-unit level (word, tri-phone, or phone) as well as at the utterance level.

Abstract: A system and methods for facilitating adaptive grid-based document layout. More particularly, the adaptive grid-based document layout system and methods feature a new approach to adaptive grid-based document layout that utilizes a set of adaptive templates that are configurable in a range of different pages sizes and viewing conditions. The templates include various element types and constraint-based relationships that define the layout of elements with reference to viewing conditions under which the document content will be displayed and that define other content properties. Through a layout engine and paginator, the adaptive grid-based document layout system and methods determines a desirable sequence of templates to use for adapting document content. Additionally, the adaptive grid-based document layout system and methods provides a template authoring tool and user interface for interactively drawing and arranging layout elements within an adaptive template.

Abstract: A search-centric hierarchical browser history technique that provides for the creation of a Web search history hierarchy organized according to the search queries that a user has conducted. In one embodiment, search queries occupy the highest level of the search history hierarchy and all Web sites/search results relating to a particular search query that the user accessed are hierarchically organized below that query. In another embodiment, queries may also be optionally grouped into a higher-level hierarchy that reflects search topics.

Abstract: A combined digital and mechanical tracking system and process for generating a video using a single digital video camera that tracks a person or object of interest moving in a scene is presented. This generally involves operating the camera at a higher resolution than is needed for the application, and cropping a sub-region out of the image captured that is output as the output video. The person or object being tracked is at least partially contained within the cropped sub-region. As the person or object moves within the field of view of the camera, the location of the cropped sub-region is also moved so as to keep the subject of interest within its boundaries. When the subject of interest moves to the boundary of the FOV of the camera, the camera is mechanically panned to keep the person or object inside its FOV.

Abstract: A “STAC Codec” provides audio transcoding and decoding by processing an encoded audio signal using a backward-adaptive run-length Golomb-Rice (RLGR) decoder to recover transform coefficients of the encoded audio signal. The transform coefficients are then either transcoded in the transform domain to lossy or other formats, or decoded to the time domain by applying an inverse integer-reversible modulated lapped transform (MLT) to the recovered transform coefficients to recover an uncompressed time domain representation compressed audio signal. In additional embodiments, an inter-block spectral estimation and inverse data sorting strategy is used in recovering the transform coefficients from the encoded audio signal.

Abstract: A user interface for improving document layout on arbitrary devices of different resolutions and size using manifold representations of content. Manifold representations of content are: multiple versions of anything that might appear in a document, from text, to images, to even such things as stylistic conventions. The specific content is selected and formatted dynamically, on the fly, by a layout engine in order to best adapt to a given viewing situation. A user interface for authoring and editing such manifold content is disclosed.

Abstract: An ISP-friendly rate allocation system and method that reduces network traffic across ISP boundaries in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, Embodiments of the system and method continuously solve a global optimization problem and dictate accordingly how much bandwidth is allocated on each connection. Embodiments of the system and method minimize load on a server in communication with the P2P network, minimize ISP-unfriendly traffic while keeping the minimum server load unaffected, and maximize peer prefetching. Two different techniques are used to compute rate allocation, including a utility function optimization technique and a minimum cost flow formulation technique. The utility function optimization technique constructs a utility function and optimizes that utility function. The minimum cost flow formulation technique generates a minimum cost flow formulation using a bipartite graph have a vertices set and an edges set. A distributed minimum cost flow formulation is solved using Lagrangian multipliers.

Abstract: A system and method for optimizing the performance of a graphics intensive software program for graphics acceleration hardware. This system and method encompasses a procedure that validates the different functions of a 3D acceleration capable video card, decides whether to use the acceleration hardware and optimizes the software application to selectively use the functions that work on the specific video acceleration card. Functions checked include sub-pixel positioning, opacity, color replacement and fog. If these tests are successful, then the graphics acceleration is used by the software application. However, if the tests are not successful the decision is made not to use graphics accelerator. Those with ordinary skill in the art will realize that it is not necessary to perform all of the tests in a specific order.

Abstract: Matte-based video restoration technique embodiments are presented which model spatio-temporally varying film wear artifacts found in digitized copies of film media. In general, this is accomplished by employing residual color information in recovering of artifact mattes. To this end, the distributions of artifact colors and their fractional contribution to each pixel of each frame being considered are extracted based on color information from the spatial and temporal neighborhoods of the pixel. The extracted information can then be used to restore the video by removing the artifacts.