Abstract: A method of managing decisions. The method can include identifying decision costs expended or projected to be expended for each of a plurality of decisions in a decision network and determining whether a sum of the decision costs expended or projected to be expended exceed at least one assigned cost threshold warning level. When the sum of the decision costs expended or projected to be expended exceed the assigned cost threshold warning level, a cost warning alert can be automatically generated and electronically communicated. The cost warning alert can indicate that the cost threshold warning level has been exceeded or is projected to be exceeded.

Abstract: A wireless communication unit (200) comprises a radio frequency (RF) receiver for receiving an RF signal and providing the received RF signal to an off-channel signal detector (218) and a quadrature down conversion mixer circuit comprising at least one dynamic matching mixer stage (226, 228, 250, 252). The off-channel signal detector (218) is arranged to detect whether an off-channel signal level of the received RF signal exceeds a threshold and, in response to determining that the received off-channel RF signal exceeds the threshold, the off-channel signal detector (218) deactivates the at least one dynamic matching mixer stage. Also described is a semiconductor that comprises a receiver, and a method of operation therefor.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for ordering results from a query is provided herein. During operation, a spoken query is received and converted to a textual representation, such as a word lattice. Search strings are then created from the word lattice. For example a set search strings may be created from the N-grams, such as unigrams and bigrams, of the word lattice. The search strings may be ordered and truncated based on confidence values assigned to the n-grams by the speech recognition system. The set of search strings are sent to at least one search engine, and search results are obtained. The search results are then re-arranged or reordered based on a semantic similarity between the search results and the word lattice.

Abstract: An antenna assembly includes a ground plane and an element coupled to the ground plane. The element has a center point, a first element portion extending away from the center point on a first side of the center point for a first distance in a first direction, bending at a first approximately 180 degree bend, extending towards the center point for a second distance in a second direction, bending at a second approximately 180 degree bend, and extending away from the center point for a third distance in the first direction. The element also has a second element portion provided on a second side of the center point opposite the first element portion on the first side of the center point, the second element portion being substantially a mirror image of the first element portion.

Abstract: A system and method for providing a polling scheme to improve medium access control (MAC) in a multihop wireless communication network (100) comprising nodes (102) and access points (106). When an access point (106) is the source of data packets being transmitted to a neighbor node (102), a collision-avoidance protocol is employed for the communication. However, when the access point (106) is to be the receiver of data packets transmitted from a neighbor node (102), the access point (106) polls the neighbor node (102) by initiating contact with the neighbor node (102) and inviting the neighbor node (102) to send queued data packets to the access point (106). As a result, the polling process allows the access point (106) to gain limited control over its neighbor nodes (102) and increase the efficiency of the network (100).

Abstract: A voice activity detector (100) includes a frame divider (201) for dividing frames of an input signal into consecutive sub-frames, an energy level estimator (202) for estimating an energy level of the input signal in each of the consecutive sub-frames, a noise eliminator (203) for analyzing the estimated energy levels of sets of the sub-frames to detect and eliminate from enhancement noise sub-frames and to indicate remaining sub-frames as speech sub-frames, and an energy level enhancer (205) for enhancing the estimated energy level for each of the indicated speech sub-frames by an amount which relates to a detected change of the estimated energy level for a current speech sub-frame relative to that for neighboring speech sub-frames.

Abstract: Disclosed is a display element that includes a display screen and a transparent cover overlying the display screen. The output from the display screen is magnified to occupy at least some of the transparent cover. The display element includes an arrangement of diffractive and refractive elements disposed between the display screen and the transparent cover that provide significant magnification without adding significant thickness to the display element. In some embodiments, the diffractive and refractive elements are embodied in a number of optical microelements, in some cases at least one optical microelement per pixel of the display screen. Some embodiments include microlenses that collimate the light emitted by the display screen. The display element can be “anamorphotic,” that is, the magnification in one direction differs from that in another. Some embodiments provide at least two levels of magnification. Liquid matching switches can be used to control the level of magnification.

Abstract: Providing contact information via a directory service comprises a request being received from an originator to obtain at least a portion of contact information associated with a target. A first policy associated with the originator is identified, and a second policy that is associated with the target is identified. Based on at least one of the policies, it is determined whether a portion of the contact information associated with the target is authorized to be presented to the originator. If authorized, the portion of the contact information is presented to the originator. Upon receiving a request from the originator to establish communication with the target, it is determined whether a portion of contact information associated with the originator is authorized to presented to the target based on at least one of the policies. If authorized, the portion of the contact information associated with the originator is presented to the target.

Abstract: A wireless communication device includes a receiver configured to receive a transport block with a sequence of bits wherein A is the number of bits, a first cyclic redundancy check (CRC) coder configured to generate a first block of CRC parity bits on a transport block and to associates the first block of CRC parity bits with the transport block, wherein a number of CRC parity bits in the first block is L, a segmenting entity configured to segment the transport block into multiple code blocks after associating when A+L is larger than 6144, a second CRC coder configured to generate a second block of CRC parity bits on each code block and to associate a second block of CRC parity bits with each code block, and a channel encoder configured to encode each of the code blocks including the associated second block of CRC parity bits if A+L>6144.

Abstract: A circuit (10) to acquire a more-preferred stored SID element (62) includes memory (20) and logic circuitry (30). The memory (20) stores a roaming list (60), such as a PRL, that includes a plurality of SID elements ranked according to an order of preference including at least one more-preferred stored SID element (62) and at least one less-preferred stored SID element (64). The logic circuitry (30) is coupled to the memory (20) and performs a first more-preferred SID acquisition sequence (80) and then second more-preferred SID acquisition sequence (82). The second more-preferred SID acquisition sequence (82) includes repeatedly attempting acquisition of the at least one more-preferred stored SID element (62) during the second more-preferred SID acquisition sequence (82) while also attempting to acquire the at least one less-preferred SID element (64) if desired.

Abstract: There is disclosed a portable electronic device comprising a display providing a visual representation of a widget. For one embodiment, the visual representation comprises a first window including a textual content and a second window including a graphical content. The first and second windows are situated within a periphery of the visual representation such that the first window overlaps part of the second window and a portion of the graphical content of the second window is obscured by the first window. For other embodiments, the visual representation comprises first window including a peripheral boundary surrounding a textual content and a second window including a textual heading or graphical content, and a graphical icon overlaying a part of the graphical content. A portion of the peripheral border of the first window includes an outwardly protruding section directed towards the graphical icon of the second window.

Abstract: In a mobile device, a method of interacting with a first social networking website by way of a network includes communicating indirectly with the first social networking website by interacting with an intermediate web server by way of the network, the intermediate web server in turn being in communication with the first social networking website. The method further includes determining, based at least in part upon a user input received at the mobile device, that the mobile device should communicate directly with the first social networking website in a manner not involving the intermediate web server. The method also includes communicating with the first social networking website directly in the manner not involving the intermediate web server. In another embodiment, the method relates to interacting with a plurality of social networking sites including a first social networking website and a second social networking site.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method of facilitating communication between a first content provider website and a mobile device includes obtaining first information from the content provider website via a first network at a web server, the first information not including any email message, where the obtaining includes pulling by way of a back end portion of the web server the first information from the content provider website. The method also includes processing in at least one of the back end portion and a front end portion of the web server the first information so as to provide processed first information, and transmitting a notice of new content in the first information from the front end portion of the web server onto a push channel established on either the first network or a second network for receipt by the mobile device.

Abstract: There is disclosed a wireless communication device comprising a display providing a visual representation of a widget. For one embodiment, a wireless transceiver receives a textual content and a tag, a processor determines whether the wireless transceiver has received a graphical content associated with the textual content and the tag. The display provides the textual content in a first window and the graphical content adjacent to the first window in response to determining that the graphical content has been received. The display provides the textual content in a larger, second window in response to determining that the graphical content has not been received. For another embodiment, the wireless transceiver receives a textual content, a graphical content, and a content identifier corresponding to a content header.

Abstract: A session control method includes establishing a locationing session between a mobile device and a remotely located server over a network, sending information related to the geographical location of the mobile device to the remotely located server after establishing the locationing session, and providing two or more notifications via the mobile device, at predetermined intervals or in response to an event, that the locationing session is active. The user may then validate or invalidate the active session, thereby providing greater control of such information. Additional configuration options are provided to the user in order to control the nature and distribution of such locationing data.

Abstract: A method and location server (120) enable determining a position of a target device (105). The method includes receiving at the location server (120), from the target device (105), a distance message identifying a relative distance between the target device (105) and one or more base stations (115). Next, it is determined at the location server (120) that a primary positioning method is unavailable. In response to the primary positioning method being unavailable, a position of the target device (105) is determined using both a) an alternative positioning method and b) the relative distance between the target device (105) and the one or more base stations (115) that was identified in the distance message.

Abstract: A recursive lambda rule engine (114, 302) includes a first multiplier (204) that sequentially multiplies each of series of inputs by a nonlinearity determining parameter and supplies results to a second multiplier (214) that multiplies the output of the first multiplier (204) by a previous output of the engine (114, 302). A three input adder (220, 228) sequentially sums the output of the second multiplier (214), inputs from the series of inputs, and the previous output of the engine (114, 302). A shift register (244) is used to feedback the output of the engine (114, 302) to the three input adder (220, 228) and second multiplier (214). A MUX (234) is used to route an initial value through the shift register (244) for the first cycle of operation.

Abstract: A portable electronics device (110, 210) having a self illuminating display (112, 200, 400, 402, 404, 406, 500, 600, 700) that reduces both the thickness of known displays and processing steps in the fabrication thereof is provided. The portable electronic device (110, 210) includes an electrowetting display (112, 200, 400, 402, 404, 406, 500, 600, 700) having a plurality of layers (416, 420; 222, 210; 322, 312; 722, 712) defining a cavity (419) containing a mixture of a first fluid (418, 536, 736) and a second fluid (410, 560, 660, 730) positioned in the cavity (419). First circuitry (424) is configured to be coupled to a first voltage source (422) for selectively repositioning the second fluid (410, 560, 660, 730) in relation to the first fluid (418, 536, 736).

Abstract: A method, a mobile system, and a mobile network operator are disclosed. A transceiver 302 may send an identity of at least one peer of a peer-to-peer content distribution network 400 to a mobile network operator 106. The transceiver 302 may receive a network provided ranking 862 of the at least one peer of the peer-to-peer content distribution network 400 from the mobile network operator 106. A processor 304 may select a peer-to-peer partner based on the network provided ranking 862.

Abstract: A mobile station (105, 200) operable in a wireless communication system (100), the mobile station including means (218, 202 of 105) for reporting to a location server (104) of the system a current location of the mobile station and a controller (201 of 105) for controlling the means for reporting to report to the location server a current location of a second mobile station (107) detected to be near to the mobile station. A wireless communication system (100) in which the mobile station is operable and a method (500) operable in the system are also described.