Abstract: Methods and computing devices enable optimized triangle strip generation using forward looking game tree evaluation methods with node evaluation of strip options based on desired performance criteria. The evaluation of possible triangle paths is performed using metrics which may be weighted for each desirable criteria at each move depth. A recursive algorithm may be used to recursively descend through alternative triangle paths and accumulates a score for the path. The final score for each evaluated triangle path at a dead end or maximum depth of evaluation provides a basis for selecting the best alternative path from the base or root triangle for graphic processing. This evaluation or alternative triangle paths may be repeated to select each subsequent triangle for processing or may be repeated after a number of triangles within the selected path have been processed.

Abstract: Methods and computing devices enable the generation of contiguous triangle patches for use in generating triangle strips for processing in a computer graphics engine. A seed triangle is selected and a patch of contiguous triangles is formed by incrementally adding adjacent triangles to the patch at equal steps from the seed triangle until a limit is reached or no more triangles can be added to the patch. Triangles whose vertices are already included in the patch are also added to the patch. If no more triangles can be added to the patch before the vertex limit is reached, a new seed triangle may be selected and another patch generated until the vertex limit is reached. Forming patches of contiguous triangles before generating triangle strips improves memory utilization can speed the processing of computer graphic objects.

Abstract: A method of accessing and updating an electronic phonebook over electronic communications networks such as a telephone and computer networks is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. Embodiments of the invention use telephone identifying information such as the calling party's number to identify, or create, user profiles for customization. The user profile can include personalized phonebook entries that include names and telephone numbers of relevance to the user. Additionally, the voice portal can connect the user to numbers contained in the personalized phonebook in response to spoken commands. The profile can also be updated with additional phonebook entries over the interne using a web browser.

Abstract: The specification and drawing figures describe a method of automatically providing an integrated alert to the user of a mobile wireless communications instrument on the substantial imminent or actual occurrence of an event and geographic location. A programmable algorithm in the form of an executable program is installed in the mobile wireless communications instrument, which is connectable to a location determination system. Optionally a graphical mapping subsystem is included.

Abstract: Methods and computing devices enable the generation of contiguous triangle patches for use in generating triangle strips for processing in a computer graphics engine. A seed triangle is selected and a patch of contiguous triangles is formed by incrementally adding adjacent triangles to the patch at equal steps from the seed triangle until a limit is reached or no more triangles can be added to the patch. Triangles whose vertices are already included in the patch are also added to the patch. If no more triangles can be added to the patch before the vertex limit is reached, a new seed triangle may be selected and another patch generated until the vertex limit is reached. Forming patches of contiguous triangles before generating triangle strips improves memory utilization can speed the processing of computer graphic objects.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing personalized information content over telephones is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. Embodiments of the invention use telephone identifying information such as the calling party's number to identify, or create, user profiles for customization. The personalized content is specific to that user based on her/his telephone identifying information and may be further customized based on the current time, current date, the calling party's locales, and/or the calling party's dialect and speech patterns. In some embodiments, the dialect is selected from a range of common American English dialects according to the locale of the calling party. For example, callers from the Northern Midland will automatically hear a Northern Midland dialect, while callers from the Coastal Southeast will hear that dialect, etc. Individuals can change the dialect to better suit their personal tastes.

Abstract: A method and system for providing efficient menu services for an information processing system that uses a telephone or other form of audio user interface. In one embodiment, the menu services provide effective support for novice users by providing a full listing of available keywords and rotating house advertisements which inform novice users of potential features and information. For experienced users, cues are rendered so that at any time the user can say a desired keyword to invoke the corresponding application. The menu is flat to facilitate its usage. Full keyword listings are rendered after the user is given a brief cue to say a keyword. Service messages rotate words and word prosody. When listening to receive information from the user, after the user has been cued, soft background music or other audible signals are rendered to inform the user that a response may now be spoken to the service.

Abstract: Methods and computing devices enable optimized triangle strip generation using forward looking game tree evaluation methods with node evaluation of strip options based on desired performance criteria. The evaluation of possible triangle paths is performed using metrics which may be weighted for each desirable criteria at each move depth. A recursive algorithm may be used to recursively descend through alternative triangle paths and accumulates a score for the path. The final score for each evaluated triangle path at a dead end or maximum depth of evaluation provides a basis for selecting the best alternative path from the base or root triangle for graphic processing. This evaluation or alternative triangle paths may be repeated to select each subsequent triangle for processing or may be repeated after a number of triangles within the selected path have been processed.

Abstract: A method and system for providing efficient menu services for an information processing system that uses a telephone or other form of audio user interface. In one embodiment, the menu services provide effective support for novice users by providing a full listing of available keywords and rotating house advertisements which inform novice users of potential features and information. For experienced users, cues are rendered so that at any time the user can say a desired keyword to invoke the corresponding application. The menu is flat to facilitate its usage. Full keyword listings are rendered after the user is given a brief cue to say a keyword. Service messages rotate words and word prosody. When listening to receive information from the user, after the user has been cued, soft background music or other audible signals are rendered to inform the user that a response may now be spoken to the service.

Abstract: A voice portal supporting telephone to web server commerce is described. The voice portal allows users to access web servers using a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), optionally including the use of a secure sockets layer (SSL) protocol, to complete commercial transactions. Additionally, embodiments of the invention can employ a one word commerce model that abstracts the particular model used by various electronic commerce vendors' web sites. The one word commerce model permits a user to identify a product and signal her/his purchase intentions with a single word, phrase, or touch-tone command. The voice portal can then complete the transaction supplying the electronic commerce vendor necessary information about the purchaser, e.g., her/his address, telephone number, electronic mail address, credit card information, etc. As needed, the voice portal can prompt the purchaser for information.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing personalized information content over telephones is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. Embodiments of the invention use telephone identifying information such as the calling party's number to identify, or create, user profiles for customization. The personalized content is specific to that user based on her/his telephone identifying information and may be further customized based on the current time, current date, the calling party's locales, and/or the calling party's dialect and speech patterns. Also, the telephone identifying information may support targeted advertising, content, and purchasing recommendations specific to that user. The system may use a voice password and/or touch-tone login system when appropriate to distinguish the caller or verify the caller's identity for specific activities.

Abstract: A method and system for providing efficient menu services for an information processing system that uses a telephone or other form of audio user interface. In one embodiment, the menu services provide effective support for novice users by providing a full listing of available keywords and rotating house advertisements which inform novice users of potential features and information. For experienced users, cues are rendered so that at any time the user can say a desired keyword to invoke the corresponding application. The menu is flat to facilitate its usage. Full keyword listings are rendered after the user is given a brief cue to say a keyword. Service messages rotate words and word prosody. When listening to receive information from the user, after the user has been cued, soft background music or other audible signals are rendered to inform the user that a response may now be spoken to the service.

Abstract: A method and system for providing efficient menu services for an information processing system that uses a telephone or other form of audio user interface. In one embodiment, the menu services provide effective support for novice users by providing a full listing of available keywords and rotating house advertisements which inform novice users of potential features and information. For experienced users, cues are rendered so that at any time the user can say a desired keyword to invoke the corresponding application. The menu is flat to facilitate its usage. Full keyword listings are rendered after the user is given a brief cue to say a keyword. Service messages rotate words and word prosody. When listening to receive information from the user, after the user has been cued, soft background music or other audible signals are rendered to inform the user that a response may now be spoken to the service.

Abstract: A zero-footprint remotely hosted phone application development environment is described. The environment allows a developer to use a standard computer without any specialized software (in some embodiments all that is necessary is a web browser and network access) together with a telephone to develop sophisticated phone applications that use speech recognition and/or touch tone inputs to perform tasks, access web-based information, and/or perform commercial transactions. Some embodiments support concurrent call flow tracking that allows a developer to observe, using a web browser, the execution of her/his application. A variety of reusable libraries are provided to enable the developer to leverage well-developed libraries for common playback, input, and computational tasks. Embodiments support rapid application deployment from the development environment to hosted application deployment to the intended audience.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for potentiating a specific immune response to an antigen in a mammal in need thereof. The method comprises administering to the mammal an effective amount of Ov-ASP, or at least one subunit of Ov-ASP, and an antigenic moiety.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing streaming content over telephones is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. Embodiments of the invention use allows users to place a telephone call to access the voice portal. The user can access many different types of content. This content can include text based content which is read to the user by a text to speech system (e.g., news reports, stock prices, text content of Internet sites), audio content which can be played to the user (e.g., voicemail messages, music), and streaming audio content (e.g., Internet broadcast radio shows, streaming news reports, and streaming live broadcasts). This content can be accessed from many different places. For example, the content can be retrieved from a news feed, a local streaming content server, an audio repository, and/or an Internet based streaming content server. The streaming content allows the user to access live web broadcasts even though the user may not have access to a computer.

Abstract: A method is provided for processing tree like data structures in a streaming manner. An initial context of name/value bindings is set up. A tree of objects is constructed. Each element in the tree of objects is represented as a function object that accepts a context parameter and a target parameter that it can send a stream of start, content, and end events to represent tree output. The parse tree of objects is examined for element names that are recognized as commands. The commands are converted to special function objects that implement command's semantics. Other elements, that are not recognized as commands, are mapped to a default function object.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing personalized information content over telephones is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. Embodiments of the invention use telephone identifying information such as the calling party's number to identify, or create, user profiles for customization. The personalized content is specific to that user based on her/his telephone identifying information and may be further customized based on the current time, current date, the calling party's locales, and/or the calling party's dialect and speech patterns. Also, the telephone identifying information may support targeted advertising, content, and purchasing recommendations specific to that user. The system may use a voice password and/or touch-tone login system when appropriate to distinguish the caller or verify the caller's identity for specific activities.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing personalized information content over telephones is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. Embodiments of the invention use telephone identifying information such as the calling party's number to identify, or create, user profiles for customization. The personalized content is specific to that user based on her/his telephone identifying information and may be further customized based on the current time, current date, the calling party's locales, and/or the calling party's dialect and speech patterns. Also, the telephone identifying information may support targeted advertising, content, and purchasing recommendations specific to that user. The system may use a voice password and/or touch-tone login system when appropriate to distinguish the caller or verify the caller's identity for specific activities.

Abstract: A phone based loyalty rewards approach is described. The approach focuses on rewarding certain behaviors by maintaining a rewards balance usable for services such as free telephone calls. Users can be awarded some initial value of rewards balance at registration and then can earn additional rewards through their activities. Calls can be placed using voice dialing against a user supplied address book in one embodiment. Additionally, the rewards can be directly integrated with an advanced dial tone service offering and minutes spent on phone calls beyond the then available rewards balance charged to the user. The rewards are designed to encourage behaviors such as full and accurate registrations, regular usage, trying new features, etc.