Abstract: A system and method recognize a context or environment, within which a mobile communication device is resides, without necessarily knowing the actual location of the mobile communication device. The system and method establish one or more communication rules for the mobile communication device based upon the recognized context.

Abstract: A mechanism by which the originator of a message can establish one or more mandatory characteristics for a response is disclosed. In the illustrative embodiment, the originator of a message can specify a priority for responses to the message, and all responses will automatically be forced to have that priority. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, the priority requirement is enforced by automatically setting the appropriate priority level in a graphical user interface (GUI) by which the recipient responds to the message, and making this portion of the GUI inactive so that the priority cannot be changed. The illustrative embodiment also enables the originator to specify other mandatory characteristics for responses, including what telecommunications terminal(s) the response will be directed to (e.g., cell phone, personal computer, etc.), and how the response will be sent (e.g., email, a short message service [SMS] text message, instant messaging [IM], etc.).

Abstract: A ConnectIcon View is employed to establish collaborative communications between a plurality of participants in a group. Specifically, it is a dynamic visual representation of the participants of a group being invited to communicate together with their presence information, lists of documents and URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) to be examined, and a set of mechanisms (email, chat, voice, and the like) to initiate communication, each of which can be billed to the originator or otherwise as desired. The available presence information allows a user to employ the best mode of communicating for the instant purpose, namely, either asynchronous communication or synchronous communication.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for enabling a user of a telecommunications terminal to specify desired characteristics for the recipient of a call in lieu of a contact identifier are disclosed. The illustrative embodiment enables a user to specify one or more of the following criteria for a recipient: (i) a role requirement that specifies a role (e.g., a nurse, a doctor, etc.); (ii) a capability requirement that specifies one or more capabilities (e.g., able to speak Spanish, etc.); (iii) a location requirement (e.g., on the third floor of Building A, etc.); and (iv) a cardinality descriptor for the number of recipients (e.g., one recipient, at least three recipients, etc.). The illustrative embodiment also employs availability data (e.g., a schedule, etc.) and rules to determine whether a particular person is available to receive a call.

Abstract: A ConnectIcon View is employed to establish collaborative communications between a plurality of participants in a group. Specifically, it is a dynamic visual representation of the participants of a group being invited to communicate together with their presence information, lists of documents and URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) to be examined, and a set of mechanisms (email, chat, voice, and the like) to initiate communication, each of which can be billed to the originator or otherwise as desired. The available presence information allows a user to employ the best mode of communicating for the instant purpose, namely, either asynchronous communication or synchronous communication.

Abstract: A selected image view generator is disclosed for generating a selected portion of a larger compressed image. A selected image view from an overall image is generated with significantly reduced computation and reduced latency (for video processing). Frame insensitivity permits selected image views to be formed from static images or from a video stream. Multiple users can simultaneously control a selected view received from an image source. Remote cameras can be panned electronically, rather than physically. The overall compressed image may be encoded using a suitable intra-frame macroblock-based image encoder, provided that each macroblock is encoded independently. Each macroblock optionally contains a macroblock identifier indicating the position of the macroblock in a given image. Each transmitted overall image and selected image view optionally includes a frame header indicating the number of macroblocks in the transmitted image.

Abstract: A selected image view generator is disclosed for generating a selected portion of a larger compressed image. A selected image view from an overall image is generated with significantly reduced computation and reduced latency (for video processing). Frame insensitivity permits selected image views to be formed from static images or from a video stream. Multiple users can simultaneously control a selected view received from an image source. Remote cameras can be panned electronically, rather than physically. The overall compressed image may be encoded using a suitable intra-frame macroblock-based image encoder. A portion of the DC coefficient values are recomputed when generating the selected image view from the overall image, to reflect the reordering of the pixels in the selected image view (that results in a portion of the pixels being adjacent to different pixels than they were in a subimage).

Abstract: A video conferencing system and method that uses a central multimedia bridge to combine multimedia signals from a plurality of conference participants into a single composite signal for each participant. The system gives each conference participant the ability to customize their individual display of other participants, including keying in and out selected portions of the display and overlapping displayed images, and the ability to identify individual images in a composed video stream by click and drag operations or the like. The system uses a chain of video composing modules that can be extended as necessary to combine video signal streams from any number of conference participants in real time. Multimedia association software is provided for associating different media types to enhance display and manipulation capabilities for multimedia uses. The system also allows each user to dynamically change who can receive the information they provide to the conference.