Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for configurable pacing in messaging systems. In an embodiment of the invention, a configurable message pacing method has been provided. The method includes receiving a message directed for placement in a repository of an intermediate messaging system into which messages are placed by message producing applications and from which messages are retrieved by message consuming applications. Thereafter, it can be determined if the placement of the received message into the repository will result in a breach of an associated threshold value for the repository. Consequently, a message pacing action can be triggered responsive to the determination that the placement of the received message into the repository will result in a breach of the associated threshold value for the repository.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for performing voice personalization of video content. The personalized media content may include a composition of a background scene having a character, head model data representing an individualized three-dimensional (3D) head model of a user, audio data simulating the user's voice, and a viseme track containing instructions for causing the individualized 3D head model to lip sync the words contained in the audio data. The audio data simulating the user's voice can be generated using a voice transformation process. In certain examples, the audio data is based on a text input or selected by the user (e.g., via a telephone or computer) or a textual dialogue of a background character.

Abstract: This disclosure describes, generally, methods and systems for determining a natural hierarchy for a data set. The method determines one or more pair-wise combinations within the data set. The one or more pair-wise combinations each include a first field and a second field from the database. The method then determines a distinct count for each entry in the first field grouped by the second field of the one or more pair-wise combinations, and determines that the distinct counts for each entry has a value equal to one. The method further includes based on the determination that the distinct counts for each entry have a value equal to one, setting the first field in the pair-wise combination as the parent and the second field in the pair-wise combination as the child in a default hierarchy for the data set.

Abstract: This disclosure describes, generally, methods and systems for determining a natural hierarchy for a data set. The method determines one or more pair-wise combinations within the data set. The one or more pair-wise combinations each include a first field and a second field from the database. The method then determines a distinct count for each entry in the first field grouped by the second field of the one or more pair-wise combinations, and determines that the distinct counts for each entry has a value equal to one. The method further includes based on the determination that the distinct counts for each entry have a value equal to one, setting the first field in the pair-wise combination as the parent and the second field in the pair-wise combination as the child in a default hierarchy for the data set.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for creating personalized media content having multiple content layers in “one-click” fashion by selecting a background media template or by using an end-user media composition tool to create or modify a template. For example, the personalized media content can include at least two separate layers, the data of each being stored independently of one another. The two layers may include a background layer including at least one background character and an intermediate layer including an individualized three-dimensional (3D) head model, alignment information, and lighting information. The personalized media content can be displayed by overlaying the background layer using the alignment intermediate layer using the alignment information and the lighting information. In certain examples, template data associated with the background media is created and subsequently used on multiple occasions in generating personalized media content with various 3D head models.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for performing voice personalization of video content. The personalized media content may include a composition of a background scene having a character, head model data representing an individualized three-dimensional (3D) head model of a user, audio data simulating the user's voice, and a viseme track containing instructions for causing the individualized 3D head model to lip sync the words contained in the audio data. The audio data simulating the user's voice can be generated using a voice transformation process. In certain examples, the audio data is based on a text input or selected by the user (e.g., via a telephone or computer) or a textual dialogue of a background character.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for creating dynamic interactive advertisements using individualized three-dimensional (3D) human models. The interactive advertisements may be automatically generated based on a user profile associated with the viewer or may be created from an advertisement template by the viewer. Once generated, the viewer can alter the content of the interactive advertisement, make comments, rate the advertisement, and/or share it with others. In certain examples, one or more individualized 3D human head models are automatically selected for inclusion in the interactive advertisement based on the profile or preferences of the user without requiring a user selection of the 3D head model.

Abstract: A word game relating to verbal communication and word association. The present invention comprises several six sided dice with letters, a six sided die with numbers, a game board, 4 pawns, one or more timers, and a deck of cards. Each set of lettered dice comprise 4 dice, each with six faces, each face thereof containing one letter of the alphabet, covering the full 26 letter alphabet, excluding X and Z. 100 or more cards are in the deck each card containing a title and sequentially numbered answers. Each team is assigned a pawn to move about the board. The numbered die is used to determine the number of spaces to move a pawn forward. A timer is used to limit time during various turns. The board comprises spaces with colors, numbers and indicia. The colors determine which teams are allowed to participate in a turn. Each pawn color is represented on the board. As an example, the colors of the 4 pawns may be red, blue, green and yellow respectively.

Abstract: The invention concerns an improved electronic mail system, wherein incoming mail is automatically sorted into mailboxes, based on criteria defined by the user. In addition, the user can rank the mailboxes in order of importance, and the mailboxes are presented to the user in the order of rank. The user can also establish thresholds for any measurable characteristic of a mailbox. For example, one measurable characteristic may be the total number of unread messages. The user may choose to be informed when the total number of unread messages exceeds a threshold. If the threshold is set to ten, for example, then, when the eleventh message is received, the system triggers an alarm, notifying the user. The system also includes an interface which displays multiple windows to the user simultaneously, showing not only the contents of mail messages, but also other information about the user's mail, such as the ranking of the mailboxes and the criteria for triggering alarms.

Abstract: A technique is provided for passively browsing the Internet or an intranet by displaying images from web pages on a user's display screen. The user can select an image by clicking on it using a pointer manipulated by a mouse or trackball. A mapping list is maintained that maps the image universal resource locator (URL) for each image to the URL of the web page containing the image. Using the mapping list, the user's web browser can be driven to the web page associated with the image selected by the user. A group of web pages may be defined based on the results of a search, by entering URLs for sites or web pages of interest, using a bookmarks file, based on the currently displayed web page in a web browser, or by determining which web pages are associated with the images stored in an image cache.

Abstract: A technique is provided for passively browsing the Internet or an intranet by displaying images from web pages on a user's display screen. The user can select an image by clicking on it using a pointer manipulated by a mouse or trackball. A mapping list is maintained that maps the image universal resource locator (URL) for each image to the URL of the web page containing the image. Using the mapping list, the user's web browser can be driven to the web page associated with the image selected by the user. A group of web pages may be defined based on the results of a search, by entering URLs for sites or web pages of interest, using a bookmarks file, based on the currently displayed web page in a web browser, or by determining which web pages are associated with the images stored in an image cache.

Abstract: An information retrieval method wherein users may submit a query via a graphical bitmapping technique. The user provides an information retrieval system with a bitmap of a printed, written, or graphical query by either scanning the query with a graphical scanner, or employing a standard facsimile transmission machine. The information retrieval system then performs an optical image/character recognition process upon the received bitmap to determine the content of the query, information is then retried based upon the recognized characters and images. In a particular method of the invention, the user is provided with a bitmap of the retrieved information.

Abstract: Interactive Methods and apparatus for studying similarities of values in very large data sets. The methods and apparatus employ a dotplot in an interactive graphical user interface to make the relationship between the similarities and the data set visible. A variety of filtering, weighting, and compression techniques make it possible to employ the dot plot with sequences of more than 10,000 tokens and to interactively magnify the dot plot, change weighting and display quantization, and view the underlying data. Also disclosed is a technique which is employed in the apparatus for identifying long sequences of similar tokens. The apparatus is used in the study of large bodies of text and code.

Abstract: A method of analyzing a plurality of code segments to determine the similar static and dynamic features of the code segments compares the static and dynamic features of each of the code segments. Each code segment is comprised of one or more lines of program instructions. One or more predetermined static attributes are extracted from each code segment. Each code segment is then run so that the dynamic attributes of the code segment can be determined. The dynamic attributes are extracted from each code segment and a distance function is computed which is based on the extracted static and dynamic attributes for a given pair of code segments. The distance function produces a distance measurement which indicates the relative degree of similarity between the given pair of code segments.

Abstract: A cermet film includes metal particles in an insulator with the metal particles having an average diameter of from about 30A to about 120A. The cermet film has a high resistivity, and low temperature coefficient of resistivity, and is stable under electric fields of up to 10.sup.5 volts/cm. The cermet film can be formed by co-sputtering the metal and the insulator onto a substrate. The sputtered cermet film is then annealed in a reducing atmosphere whereby its resistivity is increased without a corresponding change in its temperature coefficient of resistivity.

Abstract: A layer of electrically insulating material is coated on a reflector. Granular semiconductor particles are uniformly dispersed in the layer of electrically insulating material. The combination forms an efficient absorber for high temperature photothermal conversion of solar energy.

Abstract: A cermet film includes metal particles in an insulator with the metal particles having an average diameter of from about 30A to about 120A. The cermet film has a high resistivity, and low temperature coefficient of resistivity, and is stable under electric fields of up to 10.sup.5 volts/cm. The cermet film can be formed by co-sputtering the metal and the insulator onto a substrate. The sputtered cermet film is then annealed in a reducing atmosphere whereby its resistivity is increased without a corresponding change in its temperature coefficient of resistivity.