Abstract: According to the teachings of the present invention there are provided a system and method for automatically supporting one or more registered products at a computing device, the computing device being enabled to communicate via a communication network to a support web server, the method comprising: downloading to the computing device a software agent; diagnosing malfunctions of the one or more products at the computing device and transmitting the malfunctions to said web server; communicating from the support web server to the software agent one or more solutions in response to receiving the malfunctions; and installing at least one of the one or more solutions thus transmitted at the computing device.

Abstract: A speaker recognition technique is provided that can operate within the memory and processing constraints of existing portable computing devices. A smaller memory footprint and computational efficiency are achieved using single Gaussian models for each enrolled speaker. During enrollment, features are extracted from one or more enrollment utterances from each enrolled speaker, to generate a target speaker model based on a sample covariance matrix. During a recognition phase, features are extracted from one or more test utterances to generate a test utterance model that is also based on the sample covariance matrix. A sphericity ratio is computed that compares the test utterance model to the target speaker model, as well as a background model. The sphericity ratio indicates how similar test utterance speech is to the speech used when the user was enrolled, as represented by the target speaker model, and how dissimilar the test utterance speech is from the background model.

Abstract: An apparatus for data transfer using radio frequency (RF) energy, includes a first software application that sources and links the data transfer, a second software application for controlling a communications hardware for the data transfer, a hardware device for formatting the data and gaining access to a media, and a physical layer interface hardware, coupled to selectively receive a signal representing the data from the hardware device and to provide an output to the hardware device, for sending and receiving a radio frequency communication. The second software application for controlling the communications hardware uses a target data transmission media of infrared light.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for identifying speakers participating in an audio-video source, whether or not such speakers have been previously registered or enrolled. A speaker segmentation system separates the speakers and identifies all possible frames where there is a segment boundary between non-homogeneous speech portions. A hierarchical speaker tree clustering system clusters homogeneous segments (generally corresponding to the same speaker), and assigns a cluster identifier to each detected segment, whether or not the actual name of the speaker is known. A hierarchical enrolled speaker database is used that includes one or more background models for unenrolled speakers to assign a speaker to each identified segment.

Abstract: A system (and method) includes a first substrate having both a transparent region and alternating opaque and transparent regions with respect to incident electromagnetic radiation, a radiation diffuser at least partially transparent to the incident electromagnetic radiation, a coupler for attaching the radiation diffuser to the first substrate to form a diffuser-substrate interface, a polymer used for affixing the first substrate to a second substrate, the polymer positioned between the first substrate and the second substrate along at least a peripheral region common to both the first and the second substrates, and a source of electromagnetic radiation incident onto the diffuser attached to the substrate for polymerizing the polymer.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are disclosed for detecting non-target language references in an audio transcription or speech recognition system using a confidence score. The confidence score may be based on (i) a probabilistic engine score provided by a speech recognition system, (ii) additional scores based on background models, or (iii) a combination of the foregoing. The engine score provided by the speech recognition system for a given input speech utterance reflects the degree of acoustic and linguistic match of the utterance with the trained target language. The background models are created or trained based on speech data in other languages, which may or may not include the target language itself. A number of types of background language models may be employed for each modeled language, including one or more of (i) prosodic models; (ii) acoustic models; (iii) phonotactic models; and (iv) keyword spotting models.

Abstract: A biometrics security method and apparatus are disclosed that restrict the ability of a user to access a device or facility using a portion of biometric data to validate the user's identity. Upon a user request to access a secure device or facility, the central biometric security system initially sends a first request for a specific sample of a portion of the user's biometric information. The specific sample may be identified, for example, using a set of image coordinates. A second request is also sent to retrieve the biometric prototype from a database of registered users. The central biometric security system then compares the user biometrics portion with the corresponding biometrics prototype portions. The user receives access to the requested device if the user biometrics portion(s) matches the corresponding biometrics prototype portions. In one variation, the biometric security system transmits a security agent to the user's computing device upon a user request to access a remote device.

Abstract: A flexibly interfaceable portable computing device includes a display coupled to a processor, which is coupled or selectively coupled to either or both of a keyboard and a recording unit. The display and the keyboard provide a first user interface to the processor. The recording unit is superimposable with a removable markable surface. A stylus allows user marking on the markable surface. The stylus provides a stroke signal and a stroke mark. The recording unit, the markable surface, and the stylus provide a second user interface to the processor. Optionally, the display also contributes to providing the second user interface to the processor. Switching among viewing modes for the display, and synchronization of information between the processor and a processor of the recording unit are also provided. A casing can enfold the display, the keyboard, and the recording unit to form a relatively slim profile.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and system for automatically configuring a user's portable device, include a module for inferring a current location of the user, and a module for configuring the portable device based on information contained in a configuration of the current location.

Abstract: A single stack bipolar logic AND gate for low power applications comprising: a first differential pair of transistors, each transistor of the first differential pair having base, emitter and collector terminals, a base of a first transistor of the first differential pair receiving an input signal A and a base of the second transistor of the first differential pair receiving its complement signal {overscore (A)}, the emitters of each transistor of the first differential pair being connected at a common node to a first constant current source; a second differential pair of transistors, each transistor of the second differential pair having base, emitter and collector terminals, a base of a first transistor of the second differential pair receiving an input signal B and a base of the second transistor of the second differential pair receiving its complement signal {overscore (B)}, the emitters of each transistor of the second differential pair being connected at a common node to a second constant current source;

Abstract: The present invention uses multiple broadcast television channels to distribute high volume of data to a client device from a server. Multiple analog channels are broadcast, at least one of which contains video/audio programs and control data inserted into the analog signal's VBI; and at least one separate channel contains a digital data stream which is modulated onto an analog channel and associated with channels containing those video/audio programs. STBs designed to implement this invention are equipped with at least two tuners in order to tune to two of those channels simultaneously. One tuner is used to tune to the video/audio channel, and extract the control data in the VBI. The second tuner is used to tune to the channels containing the data itself.

Abstract: A photodetector (and method for producing the same) includes a semiconductor substrate, a buried insulator formed on the substrate, a buried mirror formed on the buried insulator, a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) layer formed on the conductor, alternating n-type and p-type doped fingers formed in the semiconductor-on-insulator layer, and a backside contact to one of the p-type doped fingers and the n-type doped fingers.

Abstract: The present invention provides techniques for classifying disparities and source vectors for 7B/8B and 9B/10B transmission codes, which are then used to minimize the complexity of decoding and encoding for 16B/18B codes. The classifications are determined for source vectors and for disparity for coded vectors. The vector classifications are selected in a predetermined manner so that the number of classifications is minimized for bit mapping, disparity control, or both. Additionally, the number of bits changed for bit mapping is minimized. Decoding of 7B/8B and 9B/10B transmission codes is performed by converting coded vectors into a single image and then performing decoding operations to decode the single image of the coded vectors. The single image is a primary coded vector, and an alternate coded vector is an inverted version of the primary coded vector. Techniques are presented for using 5B/6B, 7B/8B and 9B/10B transmission codes in other transmission codes such as 12B/14B and 17B/20B transmission codes.

Abstract: A phase detector for a clock and data recovery circuit from random non-return-to zero (NRZ) data signal includes a plurality (e.g., preferably three) edge-triggered flip-flops. The incoming NRZ data are sampled by a pair of edge-triggered flip-flops using the transition of the clock generated by the clock recovery circuit. A third edge-triggered flip-flop processes the outputs from the edge-triggered flip-flop pair to indicate whether the generated clock leads or lags the received data.