Abstract: A system, method, and program product for accessing or retrieving on a computer network the required software to process a file is disclosed. According to the invention, it is determined, when accessing a file, whether or not software required to process this file is already installed on the user's computing device, depending upon the type of the file. If the required software is not installed on the user's device, the address of a server from which this software can be downloaded or accessed through the network is extracted and decoded from the filename of the accessed file. A browser or file transfer program is launched on the user's computing device and a request for the required software package is sent from the user's computing device to the server corresponding to the decoded address from which it is downloaded or accessed. The software is then unpacked, if necessary, and installed so as to process the accessed file.

Abstract: A method for processing a physical document. A record is created in a selections table stored in a user device. Creating the record includes entering into the record: a document number that identifies both the physical document and an electronic document that is an electronic copy of the physical document, a page number that identifies a page of the physical document and a corresponding page of the electronic document, and a network address of a server that stores the electronic document. The user device receives an identification of where a selected region within the page of the physical document is located within the page. The received identification is inserted into the record of the selections table. Selected data in the record of the selections table may be sent to a user workstation, such that the selected data includes the document number, the page number, and the network address.

Abstract: Method of invisibly embedding into a text document generated by a licensed software the License Identification Signature of the software wherein each original copy of the software has been assigned a unique Software License Code (SLC) and a unique License Identification Key (LIK) by a Licensing Authority, such a method comprising the steps of computing a Document Hash Value (DHV) of the text document (12), getting from the DHV a License Identification Code (LIC) of the text document by using the LUK (14), and embedding (18) invisibly into the text document the License Identification Signature (LIS) formed by the SLC, DHV and LIC after the LIS has been encoded by using character attributes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for locating items on a physical document and a method for creating a geographical link from an electronic document to the physical document. The geographical link is created by encoding, in a geographic link to the physical document, geographic coordinates of a referenced item in the electronic document. The electronic document is not derived from the physical document. Locating items on the physical document includes calibrating an opto-touch foil that is aligned on the physical document, including processing a calibration location included in locations appearing in the physical document and referred to in the electronic document. For each location, foil coordinates of the opto-touch foil corresponding to where each location appears in the physical document are computed utilizing geographic coordinates of each location and a generated calibration relationship between the geographic coordinates of the calibration location and calibration foil coordinates of the opto-touch foil.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer program products for automatically scheduling and rescheduling tasks based on predictable, observable, or measurable events, and on conditions occurring in the vicinity of the user's location. A plurality of tasks are defined by the user. Events or conditions depending on the user's location and affecting the opportunity or the feasibility of the tasks are associated with these tasks. Task schedules are assigned, merged, or permuted to dynamically provide the user with a feasible and convenient agenda.

Abstract: A system to telephonically access information related with items printed on a physical document. Items marked on the physical document or on any other physical surface is touched with a finger. The system includes a touch foil placed over (or under) the document, for reading the coordinates of selected marked items, a telephone set for receiving the coordinates of the items selected by the user and for dialing to an interactive voice response (IVR) service used for accessing and retrieving selected hyperlinked documents from the web through a documents proxy server, for converting retrieved documents to synthesized speech, and for providing to the user through the telephone network, the selected documents that have been converted into speech.

Abstract: System, method and program product for managing a file attached to an e-mail. The attached file's file name is obtained. A voice message file address is received and encoded into a modified address to comply with file naming rules of a recipient computer. A composite file name results from inserting the modified address into the attached file's file name and is displayed in the e-mail. The recipient computer extracts the modified address from the composite file name in the e-mail and decodes the modified address to obtain the voice message file address. Using the voice message file address, the recipient computer requests and receives the voice message file. The voice message is analyzed and verified prior to accessing the attached file. Verifying the voice message includes comparing a voice of the voice message to a voice signature.

Abstract: A system, method, and program product for accessing or retrieving on a computer network the required software to process a file is disclosed. According to the invention, it is determined, when accessing a file, whether or not software required to process this file is already installed on the user's computing device, depending upon the type of the file. If the required software is not installed on the user's device, the address of a server from which this software can be downloaded or accessed through the network is extracted and decoded from the filename of the accessed file. A browser or file transfer program is launched on the user's computing device and a request for the required software package is sent from the user's computing device to the server corresponding to the decoded address from which it is downloaded or accessed. The software is then unpacked, if necessary, and installed so as to process the accessed file.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a system and method to telephonically access information related with items printed on a physical document, simply by touching with a finger items marked on the physical document or on any other physical surface. The system includes a touch foil placed over (or under) the document, for reading the coordinates of selected marked items, a telephone set for receiving the coordinates of the items selected by the user and for dialing to an interactive voice response (IVR) service used for accessing and retrieving selected hyperlinked documents from the web through a documents proxy server, for converting retrieved documents to synthesized speech, and for providing to the user through the telephone network, the selected documents that have been converted into speech.

Abstract: System and method for managing a file attached to an e-mail. Added to a file name of the attached file is an address or derivation of the address from which a voice message associated with the attached file can be accessed. The file name with the address is displayed in the e-mail adjacent to an icon for the attached file. The derivation of the address is formed by identifying character(s) in the address or syntax of the address which are incompatible with file naming rules of a computer to receive the file and replacing the incompatible character(s) or syntax with corresponding character(s) or syntax which are compatible with file naming rules of the computer to receive the file. The address or derivation of the address can be merged with the file name. The voice message can describe a content of the file.

Abstract: A system, method, and program product for accessing or retrieving on a computer network the required software to process a file is disclosed. It is determined, when accessing a file, whether or not software required to process this file is already installed on the user's computing device, depending upon the type of the file. If the required software is not installed on the user's device, the address of a server from which this software can be downloaded or accessed through the network is extracted and decoded from the filename of the accessed file. A browser or file transfer program is launched on the user's computing device and a request for the required software package is sent from the user's computing device to the server corresponding to the decoded address from which it is downloaded or accessed. The software is then unpacked, if necessary, and installed so as to process the accessed file.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a system and method for selecting and accessing multimedia information and/or services located on one or a plurality of servers connected to a communication network simply by touching with a finger items marked on a physical document or on any other physical surface. The system includes a touch foil placed over (or under) the document for reading coordinates of selected marked items, and a user workstation for accessing the information and/or the service associated with the selected marked items. Items marked on the documents are selected by pressing the touch foil placed over (or under) the document. Once a marked item is selected, the user workstation receives from the touch foil a signal indicating the position of the selected marked item. The user workstation identifies in a hyperlink table a server and within this server the information and/or the service associated with the position of the selected marked item.

Abstract: According to the method of the invention, a set of target files is linked to a main file by encoding the target addresses or URLs of these target files into the primary filename of the main file. Separator characters are used to distinguish the primary filename of the main file and the encoded address of each linked target file. Linked target files may be of any kind including, source files of the main file, metadata, multimedia information and services. Since most file systems do not accept certain characters on valid filenames, addresses of linked target files are encoded so that any forbidden character is replaced by an associated authorized character. A lexicography table stores all pairs of forbidden and corresponding authorized characters. Likewise, since filenames length is generally limited to 256 characters, the encoding process may be optimized to reduce the length of the encoded addresses or URLs.

Abstract: System and method to enable blind people to detect and access hyperlinks within Braille documents. A proximity sensing foil placed under a Braille page senses the position of a reader's fingertips and provides coordinates of the sensed position. A workstation computes the distance between the sensed position and the predefined positions hyperlinks the page is known to contain, which are initially stored in a hyperlink table. When the user's fingertips are positioned over a hyperlink, the computed distance is less than a threshold value, in which case an acoustic signal alerts the user that a hyperlink is present. The user may then access the hyperlink.

Abstract: A system, method and program product for presenting and selecting an active region of a physical document page. A transparent electro-luminescent tablet or touch sensitive plate positioned over the physical document page is coupled and identified to the workstation. The workstation stores information defining an active region for the physical document page and a hyperlink to a web page. The workstation directs the tablet or plate to display the active region over the physical document page. A user touches a point within the active region. In response, the tablet or plate conveys the touch point to the workstation which displays on a computer screen the hyperlink. The active region can be identified by an outline that encompasses the active region and can encompass another such active region, so that touching a point within the inner active region elicits display of hyperlinks or documents related to both active regions.

Abstract: Method and system for verifying the authenticity and integrity of files transmitted through a computer network. Authentication information is encoded in the filename of the file. In a preferred embodiment, authentication information is provided by computing a hash value of the file, computing a digital signature of the hash value using a private key, and encoding the digital signature in the filename of the file at a predetermined position or using delimiters, to create a signed filename. Upon reception of a file, the encoded digital signature is extracted from the signed filename. Then, the encoded hash value of the file is recovered using a public key and extracted digital signature, and compared with the hash value computed on the file. If the decoded and computed hash values are identical, the received file is processed as authentic.

Abstract: Method of invisibly embedding and hiding data into a text document by modifying selected invisible attributes of invisible characters on a plurality of inter-word intervals, comprising the steps of selecting (10) at least one attribute that is invisible on the space characters used as inter-word intervals, transforming (14) the document into a canonical form by setting on all inter-word intervals the values of the selected attribute to the same default value, encoding (18) the data to be embedded and hidden into the document as an ordered set of values corresponding to the different values of the selected attribute, selecting (20) a set of inter-word intervals among all inter-word intervals corresponding to a set of space characters and replacing (22) on each space character of this set of space characters, default attribute values by the corresponding encoded data.

Abstract: A method of authenticating a text document with links to a plurality of files by modifying at least a selected attribute of invisible characters on a plurality of inter-word intervals of the text document, this method comprising the steps of computing (step 10) a one-way hash function of each file in order to obtain a hash value composed of a subset of hash digits for each one, encoding (step 16) each subset of a plurality of subsets of space characters in the document by replacing in each subset of space characters, the value of the selected attribute for each space character by a corresponding encoded hash digit of each subset of hash digits corresponding to each file, computing (step 18) the electronic signature of the encoded text document by using a public-key algorithm composed of a subset of signature digits, and encoding (step 20) another subset of space characters in the encoded document by replacing the value of the selected attribute for each space character by a corresponding encoded signature dig

Abstract: The present invention generally relates to interactive hypermedia systems and more particularly to a method and system for locating on a physical document items referenced in another physical document. The present invention discloses a method and system for creating hyperlinks from items (e.g. words, pictures, foot notes, symbols, icons) on a first physical document to particular points on a second physical document (manuscript or printed document), for activating these hyperlinks simply by touching the first document, and for highlighting by means of a light emitting source, the position of the items on the second document. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention discloses a method and system for highlighting on a hard-copy map the geographic positions of places referenced in a hard-copy document.

Abstract: A system and method for searching, accessing, retrieving, representing and browsing geographic or location related information from the Web (i.e.: HTML documents that describe physical places), including a geographic distribution of places where selectable types of resources are located or certain types of services provided. A user may select any one of the automatically mapped locations and browse the information for this location. Documents accessible through the Web are tagged with the cartographic coordinates of the physical location referenced in the document and, optionally, with attributes of this physical location. Also provided is a method for searching and retrieving the tagged documents from a computer system by queries specifying parameters such as the cartographic coordinates of a reference location, the size of the geographic area to search around this reference location, and/or attributes of the locations to search inside that geographic area.