Abstract: The present invention is directed towards representing the native document settings of an application in a markup language such as XML. Applications that are capable of parsing the markup language are then able to parse the saved document settings and handle the document accordingly. Document settings saved in XML are human-readable, which simplifies maintenance of the document by humans.

Abstract: The encoding and distribution of schema for multimedia content descriptions are described. Before the schema is sent to a system for use, it is encoded by assigning a first token for each component in the schema and a second token for each attribute of each component. In one aspect, a signifier is sent first to signal that the schema is to be sent in a particular format. In one aspect, the schema is sent as a whole entity first. In another aspect, some of the components of the schema are sent first, followed by the schema that refers to these components. In another aspect, the schema is sent first, followed by a set of component types. When the decoder receives the signifier and encoded schema, it looks up values for the first and second tokens in a look up table for all components and attributes to decode the schema.

Abstract: A egocentric network including an author, a document created by the author, the document for dissemination over a computer network, a recipient for receiving the document from the author, a first egocentric network monitor for presenting a visual and/or audio representation of a point of view of the author for the document and a point of involvement for the document, a second egocentric network monitor for presenting a visual and/or audio representation of a point of view of the recipient for the document and a point of involvement for the document, and a point of involvement for said document. In addition, methods and apparatuses for sharing and communicating information over a computer network are included.

Abstract: A system for dynamically adapting a presentation generated with a scalable application to a display screen of any of a plurality of heterogeneous device platforms is disclosed. The system includes a device platform and a transformation module. The device platform is one of the heterogeneous device platforms and includes a display screen. The device platform is operable to initiate generation of a hierarchical configuration representing a plurality of graphical user interface components. The transformation module is operable to selectively arrange the graphical user interface components on a page as a function of the hierarchical configuration. In the addition, the transformation module is operable to selectively transform the graphical user interface components to maximize the fill of the display screen by the page.

Abstract: A method, system and apparatus for selecting, displaying, managing, tracking and transferring access to content of Internet web pages and other sources has programming permitting a user to create custom selections of selected image, animation, movie and text content items, and other types of content items from web pages or other sources from the same or different network sources containing multiple content items in an independent, resizable, rescalable browser window; permitting the user to transfer access to the custom selection of content items to a recipient; permitting the user or recipient to navigate quickly to a source of a content item in the custom selection; and permitting the user to define search keywords for performing searches related to content items in a custom selection; and other features. A method of tracking viewing and sharing activities of content items and custom selections of content items by users and recipients is also disclosed.

Abstract: A system and method for graphically showing the animation order of animated elements in a presentation program or other software. The invention consists of a User Interface (UI) widget which shows the order of the animation in the presentation. This UI employs an animation On Object User Interface (OOUI), or animation tag, that is preferably a rectangular control that encloses a number, and labels the order in which objects are animated. Each animation OOUI or animation tag is associated with an object on a display during creation and editing. The animation OOUI or tag is preferably placed in close proximity to the object it is associated with, rather than in a separate window or dialog box, and is hence termed ‘On Object’. The animation tag is active and responds to computer input device selection actions. Each animation OOUI is typically associated with an animation list.

Abstract: A method of providing selected text into a computer includes selecting a character in a range of characters and selecting a word as a function of the selected character. The word is presented to the user and an action is received from the user pertaining to the selected character.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for presenting a variety of content from a multitude of sources broadcast from a head end server to a client device. The broadcast content comprises HTML input from broadcast, cache, the internet or other sources is processed by a lay out engine for image positioning to avoid overlapping and shaped for appearance on a client device. The image is transferred to a client device in a client compatible code for presentation to a user on a client device.

Abstract: An XML client abstraction layer for providing an XML page description as an abstraction of an HTML page at design time. A style sheet XSLT translator is used to derive the run time code from the XML page. Additional features or improvements may be added through an XML parser.

Abstract: A method for creating a rights data dictionary for definition of terms of a rights expression language is disclosed. The data dictionary may be used in computer operations on rights expression metadata, such as for digital rights management applications. The data dictionary may also be used for translating between expressions in different rights expression languages, thereby enabling interoperability of rights expressions. The rights data dictionary is organized according to a hierarchical schema. Terms are added to the data dictionary according to specified rules that relate to a basic term set, and in particular, are begotten from act type terms. The schema includes a “context” term of the basic term set that is assigned a meaning signifying a circumstance in which at least the basic action occurs. Other terms may be developed from the context term and defined by their relationship to it.

Abstract: A pen-based computing system supports organizing, editing, and rendering handwritten digital ink. A given page of text may include several word flows, but the flows may be prevented from overlapping one another, and each word and stroke may be assigned to only one flow on the page. Various functions are available to open up additional space in a flow, to reflow the words in a flow, and to normalize the spacing between words in a flow.