Abstract: A system and method for prospecting digital information is provided. A home evergreen index for a home subject area within a corpus of digital information is maintained and includes topic models matched to the corpus. A frontier evergreen index for a frontier subject area within the corpus topically distinct from the home subject area is identified. Quality assessments for frontier articles from the corpus identified by the topic models of the frontier evergreen index are obtained. The frontier articles with positive quality assessments are reclassified against the topic models in the home evergreen index. The frontier articles are provided in a display with home articles previously classified against the topic models in the home evergreen index.

Abstract: A multi-modal call is accepted from a caller through a telephony interface, which accommodates multi-modal calls including at least one of verbal speech and text messaging. Incoming speech in the multi-modal call is converted into transcribed text. Incoming text messaging is matched with the transcribed text. The multi-modal call is automatically assigned through a session manager to a session under operation of a live agent. The transcribed text and incoming text messaging are progressively processed during the session through an agent application by performing a customer support scenario interactively monitored and controlled by the live agent.

Abstract: A portable digital media player and method for providing convenient music logging is provided. A music collection is maintained and includes music stored in digital media form on a portable digital media player. A music sample is recorded from an ambient environment and is encoded in digital media form. Information is added to the music recommendation to describe the music sample, to identify the recommender, to capture a context of the music sample, and to optionally specify a rating. A sampling event is saved, which includes the music sample and the information, in a log file on the player. At least part of the information from the sampling event is integrated into a display of the music collection on the player. The information is displayed as integrated. Action upon the music sample is facilitated through playback or addition of the music to the music collection through an external source.

Abstract: A system and method for providing a dynamic user interface including a plurality of logical layers is presented. A user interface is provided via a heads-up display generator. Clusters including one or more concepts arranged proximal to each other such cluster to form a cluster spine is provided in a data layer. Controls to operate on a view of the cluster spines are provided in a control layer. Information about the clusters is provided in a concepts layer. A compass logically framing the cluster spines is provided in a heads-up display layer. A label to identify one such concept in one or more of the cluster spines appearing within the compass is generated. A plurality of slots positioned circumferentially around the compass is defined. Each label is assigned to the slot outside of the compass for the cluster spine having a closest angularity to the slot.

Abstract: A system and method for setting a rideshare transaction fee is provided. Data is maintained for rideshare transactions, each associated with a route. At least one rideshare transaction that travels along a particular route is identified. A number of drivers offering transportation on that particular route and a number of passengers seeking transportation on the particular route are determined. A transaction fee for the rideshare transaction along the particular route is set. The transaction fee is increased when there are more passengers seeking transportation than drivers offering transportation. The transaction fee is decreased when there are more drivers offering transportation than passengers seeking transportation.

Abstract: A system and method for enabling two computer systems to communicate over an audio communications channel, such as a voice telephony connection. Such a system includes a software application that enables a user's computer to call, interrogate, download, and manage a voicemail account stored on a telephone company's computer, without human intervention. A voicemail retrieved from the telephone company's computer can be stored in a digital format on the user's computer. In such a format, the voicemail can be readily archived, or even distributed throughout a network, such as the Internet, in a digital form, such as an email attachment. Preferably a computationally efficient audio recognition algorithm is employed by the user's computer to respond to and navigate the automated audio menu of the telephone company's computer.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method for facilitating ancillary use of a wireless service device is provided. A multiplicity of wireless service devices interoperable on a service network are discovered. A primary function performable by a subscriber and an ancillary function performable by a non-subscriber through use of each device through arrangement with the service network and based on availability of capacity for excess transmission bandwidth are determined. The devices that includes an available capacity to perform the ancillary function over the service network are identified. The ancillary function is performed using independent processing at least one of the devices. The ancillary function is also performed using distributed processing in conjunction with at least one other of the devices through the combination, modification and integration of data from the two or more such devices.

Abstract: A system and method for balancing agent console load during automated call processing is provided. A plurality of agent consoles are operated in a call center. Progress of a call session of a caller that is calling into the call center at each agent console is monitored. An absolute upper limit on a number of the call sessions allowed at each agent console at any given time is assigned. A load of call session assignments on each agent console is balanced. Objective and subjective conditions pertinent to each assigned call session are continually collected from each agent console. The objective and subjective conditions that affect call session availability are updated for each agent console. The objective and subjective conditions are evaluated against the absolute upper limit to determine a load factor. Each call session is assigned to one such agent console within bounds applicable to the load factor.

Abstract: Communication is carried out using devices with user-maintained modes that enable synchronous content sharing and communication. Each user-maintained mode enables a lightweight interface for positioning content in a conversation by initiating and terminating data transmission through user produced feedback to create a shared conversational experience.

Abstract: A forum monitoring device allows an agent to monitor the traffic in a computer-mediated discussion. When the agent determines that there is a significant degree of traffic on a particular topic, or other predetermined rules are satisfied, the agent proposes to the contributors of messages on that topic that a new discussion forum, for example, a new discussion list, be created. If any of the contributors agrees to this suggestion, a new discussion forum, or child forum, is created by the agent. The agent and the contributors are then automatically subscribed to the child forum, and an invitation to join the new forum is sent optionally to the full membership of the parent forum plus any other recipients of postings on the topic.

Abstract: A system and method for thematically grouping documents into clusters is provided. Concepts are extracted from a plurality of documents. The concepts include nouns or noun phrases. A number of occurrences for each concept are determined within each document. A bounded range is applied to the concepts and a subset of the concepts is selected by removing the concepts that fall outside the bounded range. The bounded range includes upper edge conditions and lower edge conditions. Themes are generated from the subset of concepts by identifying two or more concepts with common semantic meaning. Clusters of the documents are generated based on the themes.

Abstract: A system and method for facilitating visual social communication through co-browsing is provided. A social session is established and includes a plurality of Web browsers. Each Web browser is loaded with social session code, which displays a social viewport. Substantially similar portions of Web content are synchronously displayed in the social viewport of each Web browser. A social change is displayed in the social viewport of one such Web browser. The social change is partitioned into at least one social change segment Each social change segment is transmitted to each other of the Web browsers. Each social change segment is received and displayed in the other Web browsers, such that the social change is reproduced smoothly in the Web browsers as the social change is progressively created.

Abstract: A system and method for automated synchronized co-browsing is provided. A co-browse session is established and includes a plurality of Web browsers. Each Web browser is loaded with social session code, which displays a social viewport. Web content is obtained in response to a request from one such Web browser. The Web content is provided to each Web browser. Substantially similar portions of the Web content are made viewable in each social viewport by selectively resizing the social viewports of the Web browsers.

Abstract: A system and method for redistributing interest in a hierarchical data structure representation is provided. A data representation of a hierarchical data structure includes depth levels having one or more blocks of sibling nodes associated with node interest characteristics. Two or more of the sibling nodes are combined as aggregates into elided subsets. One of the elided subsets is selected and expanded to reveal the aggregated sibling nodes. A breadth of the depth level in which the block is located is determined. A further determination that the breadth exceeds a constrained breadth extent for the data representation is made. The breadth is decreased by ordering the sibling nodes in the depth level by their node interest characteristic and by combining at least a portion of the sibling nodes into the elided subset based on the respective node interest characteristics such that the breadth does not exceed the constrained breadth extent.

Abstract: A system and method for providing a topic-directed search is provided, which advantageously harnesses user-provided topical indexes and an ability to characterize indexes according to how articles fall under their topical organizations. A corpus of articles and an index that includes topics from the articles is maintained. For each topic, a coarse-grained topic model is built, which includes the characteristic words included in the articles relating to the topic and scores assigned to the characteristic words. A search query is executed against the index. The topics that match the search terms are chosen by their scores. The topics that match the coarse-grained topic models and the articles corresponding to the search query are presented. In contrast to conventional search engines, search results are organized according to topic and search results can be offered across multiple indexes, where part of returned results are selected from most-relevant indexes with their most-relevant topics.

Abstract: A system and method for image performing classification through generative models of features occurring in an image. Category-conditional probability distributions of features occurring in a plurality of training images are maintained. Each distribution is assigned to a category. The features occurring in an unclassified image are identified. Category-conditional likelihoods for the identified features are determined using the category-conditional probability distributions for each category. The unclassified image is assigned to one such category based upon the category-conditional likelihoods.

Abstract: A system and method for providing self-installing software components for network service execution is presented. A basic communication framework is established with a service host system executing a network service software component to provide a network service. Availability of the network service software component is determined and prerequisites against a runtime environment are verified through the service host system. A code bundle providing the network service software component through the service host system logically grouped with installation instructions for the network service software component is executed.

Abstract: A marker is derived from an interaction between a person and an agent of a business and the agent's user interface. A part of a speech signal that corresponds to a portion of the person's special information is located with the marker. The speech signal results from the interaction between the person and the agent. The part of the speech signal that corresponds to the portion of the person's special information is rendered unintelligible.