Abstract: A display system configured to communicate tissue proximity data from a plurality of electrodes includes a display. The display outputs a circular graphical representation. The circular graphical representation includes a plurality of color areas forming a first circular shape. Each of the color areas communicate a categorized value for a respective electrode indicative of tissue proximity for the respective electrode. A plurality of graph areas form a second circular shape. Each of the graph areas communicate a relative value for the respective electrode indicative of the tissue proximity for the respective electrode.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile of a user, present the user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user during a communication exchange between the user and the avatar, identify from the one or more responses a need to determine a medical status of the user, establish communications with a medical diagnostic system, receive physiological information associated with the user, submit the physiological information to the medical diagnostic system, receive from the medical diagnostic system a diagnostic analysis of the physiological information, and present the diagnostic analysis to at least one of the user and a medical agent of the user, wherein the user is presented the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile of a user, present the user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user during a communication exchange between the user and the avatar, identify from the one or more responses a need to determine a medical status of the user, establish communications with a medical diagnostic system, receive physiological information associated with the user, submit the physiological information to the medical diagnostic system, receive from the medical diagnostic system a diagnostic analysis of the physiological information, and present the diagnostic analysis to at least one of the user and a medical agent of the user, wherein the user is presented the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a system having a controller to present an overlay to be combined with media content during presentation at each of a plurality of computing devices to illustrate a collection of user-generated comments temporally associated with portions of the media content, wherein the portions of the media content comprise portions of a media on demand presentation in an interactive television network, collect the user-generated comments from the plurality of computing devices, identify target portions of the media content that each satisfy a threshold number of comments and non-target portions of the media content that do not satisfy the threshold number of comments, generate comment groups of the user-generated comments, and provide the comment groups to the plurality of computing devices for presentation in the overlay.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile, cause a presentation device to present a user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user, identify from the one or more responses a need to communicate with a merchant system, establish a communication session with the merchant system, receive a notification from the merchant system of a merchant avatar engine, establish communication with the merchant avatar engine, adapt the characteristics of the avatar at least in part according to instructions supplied by the merchant avatar engine, and cause the presentation device to present the user the adapted avatar. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile, cause a presentation device to present a user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user, identify from the one or more responses a need to communicate with a merchant system, establish a communication session with the merchant system, receive a notification from the merchant system of a merchant avatar engine, establish communication with the merchant avatar engine, adapt the characteristics of the avatar at least in part according to instructions supplied by the merchant avatar engine, and cause the presentation device to present the user the adapted avatar. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a computing device, including a controller to: transmit a client program having a graphical user interface to a media device operating in an interactive television network, wherein the client program presents a symbolic overlay that superimposes onto media content received by the media device and enables the media device to associate commentary with the media content received at the media device; and conduct searches for one of consumer products or consumer services associated with the media content based on the commentary regarding the media content. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile of a user, present the user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user during a communication exchange between the user and the avatar, identify from the one or more responses a need to determine a medical status of the user, establish communications with a medical diagnostic system, receive physiological information associated with the user, submit the physiological information to the medical diagnostic system, receive from the medical diagnostic system a diagnostic analysis of the physiological information, and present the diagnostic analysis to at least one of the user and a medical agent of the user, wherein the user is presented the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a system having a controller to present an overlay combined with a presentation of media content at each of a plurality of computing devices on an electronic communications network to illustrate a collection of one or more commentaries temporally associated with portions of the presented media content where the portions of the presented media content comprises portions of a teleconference workflow meeting, to collect one or more commentaries from each of the plurality of computing devices, and to present the commentaries from the plurality of computing devices. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile of a user, present the user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user during a communication exchange between the user and the avatar, identify from the one or more responses a need to determine a medical status of the user, establish communications with a medical diagnostic system, receive physiological information associated with the user, submit the physiological information to the medical diagnostic system, receive from the medical diagnostic system a diagnostic analysis of the physiological information, and present the diagnostic analysis to at least one of the user and a medical agent of the user, wherein the user is presented the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A mobile device include a processor coupled to memory media, a touch interface coupled to the processor, a wireless interface coupled to the processor, and a display aligned with the touch interface and coupled to the processor. The memory media includes processor executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including remotely controlling a set top box associated with a client of a multimedia service provider and retrieving client-specific information from a client-specific websites provided by the service provider.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile, cause a presentation device to present a user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user, identify from the one or more responses a need to communicate with a merchant system, establish a communication session with the merchant system, receive a notification from the merchant system of a merchant avatar engine, establish communication with the merchant avatar engine, adapt the characteristics of the avatar at least in part according to instructions supplied by the merchant avatar engine, and cause the presentation device to present the user the adapted avatar. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a computing device, including a controller to: transmit a client program having a graphical user interface to a media device operating in an interactive television network, wherein the client program presents a symbolic overlay that superimposes onto media content received by the media device and enables the media device to associate commentary with the media content received at the media device; and conduct searches for one of consumer products or consumer services associated with the media content based on the commentary regarding the media content. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a first computing device having a controller to present an avatar having characteristics that correlate to a user profile and that conform to operating characteristics of the first computing device, and transmit to a second computing device operational information associated with the avatar for reproducing at least in part the avatar at said second computing device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile, cause a presentation device to present a user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user, identify from the one or more responses a need to communicate with a merchant system, establish a communication session with the merchant system, receive a notification from the merchant system of a merchant avatar engine, establish communication with the merchant avatar engine, adapt the characteristics of the avatar at least in part according to instructions supplied by the merchant avatar engine, and cause the presentation device to present the user the adapted avatar. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a computing device, including a controller to: transmit a client program having a graphical user interface to a media device operating in an interactive television network, wherein the client program presents a symbolic overlay that superimposes onto media content received by the media device and enables the media device to associate commentary with the media content received at the media device; and conduct searches for one of consumer products or consumer services associated with the media content based on the commentary regarding the media content. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer readable-media for providing an automatic synthetically generated voice describing media content, the method comprising receiving one or more pieces of metadata for a primary media content, selecting at least one piece of metadata for output, and outputting the at least one piece of metadata as synthetically generated speech with the primary media content. Other aspects of the invention involve alternative output, output speech simultaneously with the primary media content, output speech during gaps in the primary media content, translate metadata in foreign language, tailor voice, accent, and language to match the metadata and/or primary media content. A user may control output via a user interface or output may be customized based on preferences in a user profile.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a computing device, including a controller to: transmit a client program having a graphical user interface to a media device operating in an interactive television network, wherein the client program presents a symbolic overlay that superimposes onto media content received by the media device and enables the media device to associate commentary with the media content received at the media device; and present the commentary by symbolic representations in a carrousel format within a window of the presentation of the symbolic overlay and in a vicinity of the media content. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media processor having a controller to present media content provided by a media content source operating in an interactive television (iTV) network, access a client program which presents an overlay that superimposes onto the media content, wherein the client program enables the media processor to associate at least a portion of the media content with a user-generated comment, receive the user-generated comment, wherein the user-generated comment provides commentary on the portion of the media content, associate the user-generated comment with the portion of the media content, and transmit the user-generated comment to a third party for determination of marketing parameters of the portion of the media content. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile of a user, present the user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user during a communication exchange between the avatar and the user, identify from the one or more responses a need to engage in an e-commerce transaction, engage in a commercial exchange with a merchant system according to the e-commerce transaction, identify a commercial status of the e-commerce transaction from the commercial exchange with the merchant system, and present the user by way of the avatar the commercial status of the e-commerce transaction. Other embodiments are disclosed.