Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method for processing or correcting metadata used to characterize content such as images, video, books, or music, where that metadata may be provided by a community of users or other source. The metadata may be searched as part of a process of identifying and accessing content of interest to a user or of sharing content among users of a network. The metadata is typically a string or strings of characters that is submitted by a community, so that the accuracy of specific data cannot be guaranteed and consistent formats and unambiguous descriptions may not be used by all members of the community.

Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method to assist in the discovery of music or other content by members of a social network. The present invention permits network members to network together and share information about their music collections and listening habits with a processing platform and with each other. The processing platform processes music library content and playback related data to produce similarity and compatibility measures between artists (that is, an artist-to-artist measure) and between network members (that is, a network member-to-network member measure). By combining the content and playback related data with filtering mechanisms, recommendation techniques (which may be based on the calculated measures), and set membership concepts, the present invention provides network members of the network with tools to discover artists and/or songs that are likely to be of interest to them.

Abstract: A zero-footprint remotely hosted phone application development environment is described. The environment allows a developer to use a standard computer without any specialized software (in some embodiments all that is necessary is a web browser and network access) together with a telephone to develop sophisticated phone applications that use speech recognition and/or touch tone inputs to perform tasks, access web-based information, and/or perform commercial transactions. For example, in preparation for a sales pitch for selling hosting services, a non-programmer can develop a short application appropriate to the target customer. After the pitch, access to the demonstration could be given to the target customer to allow them to more fully develop the application. When the target customer is satisfied with the application, they can have their application live for their actual (as opposed to test users) at a suitable phone number simply by having the hosting provider configure the appropriate access.

Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method to assist in the discovery of music or other content by members of a social network. The present invention permits network members to network together and share information about their music collections and listening habits with a processing platform and with each other. The processing platform processes music library content and playback related data to produce similarity and compatibility measures between artists (that is, an artist-to-artist measure) and between network members (that is, a network member-to-network member measure). By combining the content and playback related data with filtering mechanisms, recommendation techniques (which may be based on the calculated measures), and set membership concepts, the present invention provides network members of the network with tools to discover artists and/or songs that are likely to be of interest to them.

Abstract: A method of accessing and updating an electronic phonebook over electronic communications networks such as a telephone and computer networks is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. Embodiments of the invention use telephone identifying information such as the calling party's number to identify, or create, user profiles for customization. The user profile can include personalized phonebook entries that include names and telephone numbers of relevance to the user. Additionally, the voice portal can connect the user to numbers contained in the personalized phonebook in response to spoken commands. The profile can also be updated with additional phonebook entries over the interne using a web browser.

Abstract: An in-page embeddable platform provides media selection (for inclusion in a playlist or interactive feature) and playlist editing capabilities that may be accessed by a user from a 3rd party web page. The platform allows a web site administrator to present an interactive playlist feature on a web site in manner that is integrated with the characteristics of the web page. Visitors to the web site may customize the playlist dynamically, without leaving the web site. An in-page user interface allows users to select new media, or to re-order or remove media from the playlist directly from the web page. The playlist may be edited or contributed to by any number of users, enabling collaborative media selection. The media-selection capability may be used directly in the context of selecting songs to add to a playlist, or it may be used in a standalone fashion.

Abstract: Methods and systems automatically download computer software components from a computer network like the Internet or an intranet. The methods and systems can be used to provide dynamic or interactive multimedia components in HTML documents with HTML <OBJECT> tags. The HTML <OBJECT> tags can contain parameters including uniform resource locators (URLs) which reference dynamic or interactive multimedia components on remote computers. Network browsers and other applications can obtain computer software components from a computer network like the Internet or an intranet in a uniform, portable, architecture-neutral, robust manner. The computer software components obtained can be used to provide a variety of new multimedia functionality to an application program.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing personalized information content over telephones is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. Embodiments of the invention use telephone identifying information such as the calling party's number to identify, or create, user profiles for customization. The personalized content is specific to that user based on her/his telephone identifying information and may be further customized based on the current time, current date, the calling party's locales, and/or the calling party's dialect and speech patterns. In some embodiments, the dialect is selected from a range of common American English dialects according to the locale of the calling party. For example, callers from the Northern Midland will automatically hear a Northern Midland dialect, while callers from the Coastal Southeast will hear that dialect, etc. Individuals can change the dialect to better suit their personal tastes.

Abstract: A method and system for providing efficient menu services for an information processing system that uses a telephone or other form of audio user interface. In one embodiment, the menu services provide effective support for novice users by providing a full listing of available keywords and rotating house advertisements which inform novice users of potential features and information. For experienced users, cues are rendered so that at any time the user can say a desired keyword to invoke the corresponding application. The menu is flat to facilitate its usage. Full keyword listings are rendered after the user is given a brief cue to say a keyword. Service messages rotate words and word prosody. When listening to receive information from the user, after the user has been cued, soft background music or other audible signals are rendered to inform the user that a response may now be spoken to the service.

Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method for providing targeted content to users of a social network. The system, apparatus, and method may be used to provide advertisements, promotions, and other relevant content to a user of a social network based on analysis of the user's preferences, interests, and tastes as expressed in data contained in the user's social network. Additional targeted-content may be selected and provided to a user based on the preferences, interests, and tastes of a user's friends within the social network.

Abstract: This invention relates in general to methods for receiving and interpreting an alphanumeric input string entered on a telephone keypad using one keystroke per input string character. The set of matching objects in a database are selected and sorted and presented to the user as an ordered list from which the user may select the desired item on the list through a further numeric keystroke entry or through a spoken selection that is matched against a restricted voice recognition grammar for improved recognition accuracy. In an alternative embodiment, the matching objects in the database are selected and sorted and the response associated with each matched object is presented in sorted sequence.

Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method are provided to assist users to access and process information about a group of friends who are members of a third party social network in order to determine compatibility between the user and each friend or determine the most-compatible friends within that social network. In some embodiments, the system and method may obtain login or other authentication data regarding a user to access the user information on the third party social network, such as a list of friends (e.g., a buddy list) specified within the third party social network. After accessing the list of friends, information regarding each friend's preferences, interests, likes, dislikes, etc. may also be obtained from the third party social network. Subsequently, a compatibility measure between the user and each friend in the list is determined based on the obtained information regarding the friend and the user.

Abstract: A method and system for providing efficient menu services for an information processing system that uses a telephone or other form of audio user interface. In one embodiment, the menu services provide effective support for novice users by providing a full listing of available keywords and rotating house advertisements which inform novice users of potential features and information. For experienced users, cues are rendered so that at any time the user can say a desired keyword to invoke the corresponding application. The menu is flat to facilitate its usage. Full keyword listings are rendered after the user is given a brief cue to say a keyword. Service messages rotate words and word prosody. When listening to receive information from the user, after the user has been cued, soft background music or other audible signals are rendered to inform the user that a response may now be spoken to the service.

Abstract: A voice portal supporting telephone to web server commerce is described. The voice portal allows users to access web servers using a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), optionally including the use of a secure sockets layer (SSL) protocol, to complete commercial transactions. Additionally, embodiments of the invention can employ a one word commerce model that abstracts the particular model used by various electronic commerce vendors' web sites. The one word commerce model permits a user to identify a product and signal her/his purchase intentions with a single word, phrase, or touch-tone command. The voice portal can then complete the transaction supplying the electronic commerce vendor necessary information about the purchaser, e.g., her/his address, telephone number, electronic mail address, credit card information, etc. As needed, the voice portal can prompt the purchaser for information.

Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method to assist in the discovery of music or other content by members of a social network. The present invention permits network members to network together and share information about their music collections and listening habits with a processing platform and with each other. The processing platform processes music library content and playback related data to produce similarity and compatibility measures between artists (that is, an artist-to-artist measure) and between network members (that is, a network member-to-network member measure). By combining the content and playback related data with filtering mechanisms, recommendation techniques (which may be based on the calculated measures), and set membership concepts, the present invention provides network members of the network with tools to discover artists and/or songs that are likely to be of interest to them.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing personalized information content over telephones is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. Embodiments of the invention use telephone identifying information such as the calling party's number to identify, or create, user profiles for customization. The personalized content is specific to that user based on her/his telephone identifying information and may be further customized based on the current time, current date, the calling party's locales, and/or the calling party's dialect and speech patterns. Also, the telephone identifying information may support targeted advertising, content, and purchasing recommendations specific to that user. The system may use a voice password and/or touch-tone login system when appropriate to distinguish the caller or verify the caller's identity for specific activities.

Abstract: A method and system for providing efficient menu services for an information processing system that uses a telephone or other form of audio user interface. In one embodiment, the menu services provide effective support for novice users by providing a full listing of available keywords and rotating house advertisements which inform novice users of potential features and information. For experienced users, cues are rendered so that at any time the user can say a desired keyword to invoke the corresponding application. The menu is flat to facilitate its usage. Full keyword listings are rendered after the user is given a brief cue to say a keyword. Service messages rotate words and word prosody. When listening to receive information from the user, after the user has been cued, soft background music or other audible signals are rendered to inform the user that a response may now be spoken to the service.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for learning data values over time as they are entered by a user on a form such as a web page form. An Internet web browser can be modified to suggest previously used data values for any form field that is the same as or similar to a previously used form field. Application programs that use the web browser can gain access to previously used form field values even if they have no knowledge of the field names. Software in a web browser associates field names across different Universal Resource Locators (URLs), so that when a user enters a value into a field (e.g., username) at a first web site, that same value can be automatically suggested when the user displays a different form on a different web site that uses the same field name.

Abstract: A method and system for providing efficient menu services for an information processing system that uses a telephone or other form of audio user interface. In one embodiment, the menu services provide effective support for novice users by providing a full listing of available keywords and rotating house advertisements which inform novice users of potential features and information. For experienced users, cues are rendered so that at any time the user can say a desired keyword to invoke the corresponding application. The menu is flat to facilitate its usage. Full keyword listings are rendered after the user is given a brief cue to say a keyword. Service messages rotate words and word prosody. When listening to receive information from the user, after the user has been cued, soft background music or other audible signals are rendered to inform the user that a response may now be spoken to the service.

Abstract: A zero-footprint remotely hosted phone application development environment is described. The environment allows a developer to use a standard computer without any specialized software (in some embodiments all that is necessary is a web browser and network access) together with a telephone to develop sophisticated phone applications that use speech recognition and/or touch tone inputs to perform tasks, access web-based information, and/or perform commercial transactions. Some embodiments support concurrent call flow tracking that allows a developer to observe, using a web browser, the execution of her/his application. A variety of reusable libraries are provided to enable the developer to leverage well-developed libraries for common playback, input, and computational tasks. Embodiments support rapid application deployment from the development environment to hosted application deployment to the intended audience.