Abstract: A method of enrolling voice information of an individual in a repository is disclosed. The individual may be associated with a contributing entity and the repository may be used by multiple entities within a consortium for creating, accessing or enhancing one or more forms of utterances associated with an individual. The method comprises establishing a predefined certification process for enrollment by multiple contributing entities of individual voice information in a repository, capturing one or more utterances from an individual associated with a contributing entity while the individual communicates over a network and storing one or more forms of the captured utterance associated with the individual along with information identifying the contributing entity associated with the individual in the repository.

Abstract: The idea of the present invention is to define a set of rules that: determine the set of actions that apply based on the context of a selected object and UI operating system environment (known hereafter as Filter Rules), determine for a selected action it's input values, again based on the above context (known hereafter as Input Rules) and determine the set of backend tasks to run in order to perform that action (known here after as Task Rules). A software engine is postulated that will consume these rules, performing the operations described above. The advantages of such an implementation are a system that can be adapted to changing conditions by altering or augmenting the rules in its database.

Abstract: A natural convection steam cooking device with a cooking cavity having a floor defining a lower boundary thereof and a sidewall defining a side boundary thereof, the floor having a plurality of first holes therein, the sidewall having a plurality of second holes therein; a steam chamber disposed below the cooking cavity and along the sidewall, the steam chamber having a pool disposed below the floor; wherein the steam enters the cooking cavity from the steam chamber via both the first holes and the second holes; and wherein the steam circulates within the device in an unforced manner by natural convection. The first holes and the second holes may have a ratio of cross-sectional areas of approximately 2:3. And method(s) of providing steam to, and design of steam flow for, a cooking cavity of a commercial steam cooking device.

Abstract: A method of operating a steam food cooking device having a cooking cavity, a pool disposed below the cooking cavity; and a heat source for heating water in the pool so at to generate steam includes: a) in response to turning on the cooking device, initiating a water flow into the pool and substantially simultaneously activating the heat source to generate heat; and b) thereafter, controlling the on/off state of the heat source based on a thermal sensor and circulating steam within the device by unforced natural convection. The pool may be thereafter automatically drained in response to turning off the cooking device prior to repeating steps a and b. The water inflow into the pool may be via an inlet disposed proximate a lower side of the bottom. Steam cooking devices suitable for such method(s) are also described.

Abstract: A task-like user interface is provided for Web-based applications. Preferred embodiments enable users to initiate multiple instances of tasks within a single Web application, where independent state information is retained for each instance. Each user-initiated task also has a prescribed life cycle with a definite start and end. Resources allocated to perform various activities can therefore be released when the activity ends. Optionally, contextual information can be passed to a task upon invocation. Support for persisting a currently-viewable work unit as a user-selectable favorite may optionally be provided.

Abstract: A function is added to a Web page that communicates with a refresh control helper. The Web page is associated with a session identifier. If an information update that affects the Web page occur, an update notification is associated with the session identifier. Periodically, the function in the Web page sends the session identifier to the refresh control helper. The refresh control helper calls a refresh controller and passes the session identifier. The refresh controller checks a data store to determine if update notifications associated with the session identifier have been received. If updates are available for the page, the refresh controller informs the refresh control helper that new data is available and removes any update notifications for the session identifier from the data store. The refresh control helper then informs the function in the Web page that new data is available and the function requests a page reload.