Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for a roller cover that can be installed in a conveyor system. The roller cover includes a plate that is configured to be positioned over a roller in the conveyor system. The plate is configured to restrict a movement of an item that is transported by the conveyor system. A first fin and a second fin extend from the plate. The first fin and the second fin attach the roller cover to the conveyor system.

Abstract: A dye for a fluid of an electrowetting element, the dye having a general formula selected from the group consisting of: wherein Q has the general formula: -Het1R1 or -Het1R1R2; V has the general formula: -Het2R3 or -Het2R3R4; Het1 and Het2 are heteroatoms; R1 and R3 are H; R2 and R4 are any functional group; T and U are any functional group; W, X, Y and Z are H or an alkyl group; and F, G, L and M are H or an alkyl group, and with the proviso that the dye does not have the general formula: The present invention further relates to a fluid comprising a dye of the present invention, an electrowetting element and an optical display device comprising the fluid, and a use of the dye to reduce photo-bleaching.

Abstract: The present inventive concept relates to an electrowetting display device including a lyophobic colloid material and a polymer resin such as an organic layer or a polyimide (PI), and a lyophobic layer including a supporting layer supporting the lyophobic colloid material and using a photoreactive fluorine-based surfactant for a fluorine-based material to be positioned above and for a hardened photoreactive material layer to be positioned below through exposure in a single step without separately performing a hydrophilic treatment and then a water-repellent treatment, thereby reducing the number of processes, the manufacturing time, and the cost.

Abstract: A user of a personal computing device may identify an item of interest provided by a network-based service for which additional information is desired. Customer service agents (CSAs) of the network-based service may be contacted by the user to respond to queries. To assess the quality of a contact, a contact review service may record the contact between the CSA and the user and edit the contact to reduce its length for ease of review. The edited contact may be submitted to one or more reviewers to obtain reviews characterizing the contact quality. Reviewers may include CSAs not participating in the contact or other human reviewers. The reviewers may return their reviews to the contact review service, which generates a composite review from the returned reviews. The composite review may be employed for CSA evaluation and/or training purposes, amongst others.

Abstract: Methods and systems for transmission of noise parameters for improving automatic speech recognition are disclosed. A system includes one or more microphones, wherein each microphone is configured to produce an audio signal. The system also includes a noise reduction module configured to generate a noise-reduced audio signal and a noise parameter. Furthermore, the system includes a transmitter configured to transmit, to a computing device, the noise-reduced audio signal and a noise parameter. The computing device may use the noise parameter in obtaining a model to use for performing automatic speech recognition.

Abstract: Managing power feeds includes monitoring a waveform of a high-voltage power feed supplied to an electrical load to detect potential interruption of the high-voltage power feed and switching to another power feed to supply power to the electrical load in response to identifying the waveform pattern. Monitoring a waveform includes processing the waveform to determine if one or more waveform patterns are present in the waveform. A waveform pattern indicates, by its presence in a waveform of a power feed, a power event associated with the power feed, and some waveform patterns indicate potential interruption of the power feed. Switching to another power feed in response to determining potential interruption of the power feed based on waveform monitoring enables an uninterrupted power supply.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for material handling in an order fulfillment center. An order fulfillment system may include inventory storage, a processing area, and a control system. The inventory storage may in some instances include two storage areas, and in some cases the processing area may be disposed between the two storage areas. The processing area may include a router module that is configured to receive inventory items that have been picked from the inventory storage. Inventory items may be received by the router module via conveyance receptacles (e.g., totes, bins) that are conveyed using a conveyor mechanism. The processing area may also include a plurality of processing modules that may be configured to receive inventory items from the router module. In some instances, the processing modules may receive the inventory items via conveyance receptacles that are conveyed using the conveyor mechanism.

Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for generating a service call pattern for a system. A monitor is installed on a first and a second service call channel. Each service call channel is used by a first and second system under test, respectively. Through the monitor, service calls are received from the respective system under test. The service calls are issued to at least one service. A first service call pattern is generated based at least in part on the plurality of service calls issued by the first system under test. A second service call pattern is generated based at least in part on the plurality of service calls issued by the second under test. The first service call pattern report and the second service call pattern report are compared. An error condition if the comparison indicates a difference greater than a predefined threshold.

Abstract: A network-based production service is configured to process client requests for the production service via a network, capture production request data defining the requests and store the production request data in a data store. A test system comprising one or more controllers creates test jobs according to a test plan for testing the production service. The test plan creates a test profile for using specified production request data to simulate a load on the production service. Each job created by the test plan specifies a portion of production request data. A job queue receives and queues test jobs from one or more controllers configured to add test jobs to the job queue according to the test plan. Workers access jobs from the job queue and the production request data from the data store as specified in each job and replay the production request data to the production service.

Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for facilitating an assisted shopping experience. A speech input can be captured and transcribed. The transcribed speech input can be transmitted to a customer service agent in a data session that is contemporaneous with a voice session. The customer service agent can then facilitate an assisted shopping experience via the voice session and data session.

Abstract: Systems and methods in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure enable use of a keyboard to navigate a webpage presented in a web browser. According to an embodiment, a two-dimensional grid is placed over a webpage and elements of the webpage are assigned to the nearest cells of the grid. The grid specifies the directional and distance relations among the various elements of the webpage. Functionality is provided that enables users to quickly navigate the elements of the webpage using arrow keys of a keyboard. For example, if a selection indicator is currently focused on a webpage element that is assigned to a particular cell of the grid, a press of the left-arrow key moves the selection indicator leftward along the grid to the element that is assigned to the nearest leftward cell. The same functionality is applied to up-arrow, down-arrow, and right-arrow keys. Further, functionality is provided that enables users to quickly navigate the elements of the webpage using hotkeys.

Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for balancing a load on a queue among multiple consumers. A target polling hit rate is derived for at least one queue from a consumer load. The consumer load dictates a read rate of the at least one queue. The consumer load on the at least one queue is adjusted responsive to a difference between the target polling hit rate and an observed polling hit rate for the at least one queue.

Abstract: Anonymous mobile payments enable a user to make and/or receive payments without disclosing personal or private information to another party. In some aspects, a provider of a payment may request an anonymous payment for a specified value from a host. In response, the host may transmit to the provider a code that is available for redemption. The provider may then relay the code to a recipient, who may redeem the code from the host. In other aspects, a recipient may request a temporary identifier (special code) from a host. The recipient may relay the temporary identifier to a provider, who may in turn transmit a payment, via the host, using the temporary identifier. The recipient may then claim the payment from the host. In additional aspects, the codes of the anonymous payments may include expiration times and/or restrictions on a number of uses of the code.

Abstract: Methods and systems for analyzing camera lenses and presenting information regarding camera lenses performance are described. An interactive user interface is provided over a network for display on a user terminal by a computer system. A user request is received at the computer system from the user terminal for lens data from a first lens. Lens data, including test data obtained via a first digital image captured using the first lens at the first focal length setting and the first aperture setting is accessed from memory and transmitted to interactive user interface. The interactive user interface is configured to display an identification of the first camera body, an identification of the first lens, the first focal length setting used to capture the image, and the first aperture setting used to capture the image. Using the lens test data, the interactive user interface generates and displays sharpness graph data.

Abstract: Features are disclosed for generating markers for elements or other portions of an audio presentation so that a speech processing system may determine which portion of the audio presentation a user utterance refers to. For example, an utterance may include a pronoun with no explicit antecedent. The marker may be used to associate the utterance with the corresponding content portion for processing. The markers can be provided to a client device with a text-to-speech (“TTS”) presentation. The markers may then be provided to a speech processing system along with a user utterance captured by the client device. The speech processing system, which may include automatic speech recognition (“ASR”) modules and/or natural language understanding (“NLU”) modules, can generate hints based on the marker. The hints can be provided to the ASR and/or NLU modules in order to aid in processing the meaning or intent of a user utterance.

Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for assessing the quality of a node that comprises a collection of items containing textual data. The homogeneity of the node can be related to its quality. Highly ranked descriptive terms used in the node are identified and quality score is calculated that provides a measure of the quality of the node. Additionally, a node can be examined for outliers to improve node quality.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for vibration cancellation are disclosed. Vibration data from one or more vibration detectors associated with a storage device is collected. The vibration data represents vibrations experienced by the storage device. In response to the vibration data from the one or more vibration detectors, one or more movements for respective ones of one or more counter-vibration actuators to at least partially cancel of the vibrations experienced by the storage device is calculated. The one or more counter-vibration actuators perform the one or more movements.

Abstract: Some implementations provide a connector element that may be movable from a retracted position within a cavity to an extended position for contacting an external contact element that may be positioned proximate to an exterior end of the cavity. In some implementations, at least one of the external contact element or the connector element may include a magnet for causing the connector element to extend from the retracted position into contact with the external contact element for forming an electrical connection. In some implementations, a mechanical actuator may be provided for extending the connector element into contact with the external contact element. In some implementations, an actuator having a motive element may extend the connector element into contact with the external contact element based on a detected proximity or an identification of an accessory associated with the external contact element. Some implementations may also include an optical connection.

Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for implementing wireless service for a wireless device. In a representative embodiment, a service initiation system is executed in a computing device that communicates with a service provider system over a network to activate a wireless service associated with a newly purchased wireless device. The service initiation system also generates a network page to send to a client over the network, where the network page has a component that initiates a porting of a contact designation associated with a prior wireless device to the newly purchased wireless device separate from the activation of the wireless service for the newly purchased wireless device.