Abstract: A hub is configured to provide voice control without assistance from a remote system, which allows the hub to provide a user with the ability to control second devices in an environment by issuing voice commands, even when the hub is unable to communicate with the remote system over a wide area network (e.g., the Internet). The hub is also configured to execute rules without assistance from the remote system, which allows the hub to execute rules, even when the hub is unable to communicate with the remote system over a wide area network (e.g., the Internet).

Abstract: A user interface for use with a document comparison program that allows a user to efficiently and effectively examine results from the document comparison is described. The user interface has at least one frame for displaying one or more overview bars. Each overview bar represents a document. An overview bar includes sub-bands or segments where each segment represents a passage in the document that matches a passage in at least one other document. Each sub-band is assigned a color and the same color is used to highlight text or content in the passage that matches another passage. By activating the sub-band, e.g. a point-and-click operation using a mouse, the user can pull up the corresponding passage in another frame displaying content from the document. This activation is implemented through an internal link, such as an HTML hypertext link. The user can also activate the text portion in the document and bring up the matching passage in another document in another frame in the user interface.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for comparing an input or query file to a set of files to detect similarities between the query file and the set of files, and digitally shredding files that match, to some degree, the query file and doing so from within the comparison feature. Using a comparison program, the query file is compared with each non-query file in a data processing system, ranging from a stand-alone computer to an enterprise computing network. A list of non-query files having some degree of similarity with the query file is compiled and presented to the user via a user interface within the comparison program. Certain or all non-query files can then be deleted by marking the names of those non-query files in the list. The comparison program can be of the type using either clustering or coalescing, or both, known hashing techniques, or other comparison algorithms.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for comparing an input or query file to a set of files to detect similarities and formatting the output comparison data are described. An input query file that can be segmented into multiple query file substrings is received. A query file substring is selected and used to search a storage area containing multiple ordered file substrings that were taken from previously analyzed files. If the selected query file substring matches any of the multiple ordered file substrings, match data relating to the match between the selected query file substring and the matching ordered file substring is stored in a temporary file. The matching ordered file substring and another ordered file substring are joined if the matching ordered file substring and the second ordered file substring are in a particular sequence and if the selected query file substring and a second query file substring are in the same particular sequence.