Abstract: Provided are methods, data processing systems and computer program product for monitoring user activity and monitoring the effectiveness of objects within a virtual environment such as an immersive, computer-simulated 3D environment. An embodiment of the invention monitors the attention given to a virtual object by one or more avatars, by associating a viewing region with each object that requires attention monitoring, and detecting when an avatar is within the viewing region of the object simultaneously with the object being within an attention region (typically a clipped field of view) of the avatar. The viewing region is a 3D volume within which a surface of the virtual object is deemed to be effectively viewable.

Abstract: Provided are methods, data processing systems and computer program product for monitoring user activity and monitoring the effectiveness of objects within a virtual environment such as an immersive, computer-simulated 3D environment. An embodiment of the invention monitors the attention given to a virtual object by one or more avatars, by associating a viewing region with each object that requires attention monitoring, and detecting when an avatar is within the viewing region of the object simultaneously with the object being within an attention region (typically a clipped field of view) of the avatar. The viewing region is a 3D volume within which a surface of the virtual object is deemed to be effectively viewable.

Abstract: Processes, devices, and articles of manufacture are disclosed for managing the display of advertisements on a web page. Each may be configured for steps that include determining the length of a portion of web page content, assigning a priority to each of a set of advertisements for display on a web page, selecting advertisements for display on a web page, determining the difference between said length of said portion of web page content and the cumulative length of said selected advertisements, and if the length of the advertisement exceeds said difference then omitting the advertisement and selecting another.

Abstract: Operating a data processing system comprises defining a plurality of profiles, each profile comprising a list of one or more applications; receiving a defined user input requesting a switch from a first profile to a second profile; hibernating the (or each) application listed in the first profile; and recalling from hibernation the (or each) application listed in the second profile. Preferably, a graphical user interface is adjusted to reflect a change in status of each application that has been hibernated or recalled from hibernation.

Abstract: Operating a data processing system comprises defining a plurality of profiles, each profile comprising a list of one or more applications; receiving a defined user input requesting a switch from a first profile to a second profile; hibernating the (or each) application listed in the first profile; and recalling from hibernation the (or each) application listed in the second profile. Preferably, a graphical user interface is adjusted to reflect a change in status of each application that has been hibernated or recalled from hibernation.

Abstract: In systems which support oral entry of Personal Identification Number (PIN) values in order to establish access to user accounts, a user is prompted to enter the PIN value for a particular account. The entered PIN value is analyzed by a speech recognition engine to extract both a multi-digit number and the user's expression of that number. The extracted multi-digit number is compared to a multi-digit number stored in a user record associated with the account. If the user previously specified that expression matching is required, the extracted expression of the multi-digit number is compared to a preferred expression stored in the user record. Matches must be found for both the numbers and the form in which those numbers are expressed in order for the user to be authenticated. The user may elect to dispense with the expression matching requirement.

Abstract: This invention relates to a computer simulated environment, such as a virtual world, and to the identification of a user entering the virtual world and user context in the virtual world model. An output of the virtual world model may be rendered using objects in the virtual world model. Previous versions of the rendered objects may then be located in associated user memory and specified differences between the rendered objects and the previous versions of the objects may be identified. A layer of the identified differences may then be rendered on the rendered output of the virtual world model.

Abstract: A private browsing function of a web browser application program may be triggered for a browser by a browser or by a URL provider. Upon receipt of the URI by a web browser, the URI is inspected for the presence of a private browsing indicator. When the URI is found to contain a private browsing indicator, operation of the private browsing function for the web browser application program is triggered.

Abstract: A private browsing function of a web browser application program may be triggered for a browser by a browser or by a URL provider. Upon receipt of the URI by a web browser, the URI is inspected for the presence of a private browsing indicator. When the URI is found to contain a private browsing indicator, operation of the private browsing function for the web browser application program is triggered.

Abstract: A method controls one or more attributes of a secondary video stream for display in combination with a primary video stream. The method comprises: identifying a primary video stream; identifying a secondary video stream; assigning one or more settings for one or more attributes of said secondary video stream to a predetermined set of one or more user identifiers; identifying the user identifier associated with a given video processing module; determining the one or more attribute settings assigned to the user identifier; and processing the secondary video stream for display in combination with the primary video stream in accordance with the one or more attribute settings for the user identifier.

Abstract: This invention relates to a computer simulated environment, such as a virtual world, and to the identification of a user entering the virtual world and user context in the virtual world model. An output of the virtual world model may be rendered using objects in the virtual world model. Previous versions of the rendered objects may then be located in associated user memory and specified differences between the rendered objects and the previous versions of the objects may be identified. A layer of the identified differences may then be rendered on the rendered output of the virtual world model.

Abstract: Provided are methods, data processing systems and computer program product for monitoring user activity and monitoring the effectiveness of objects within a virtual environment such as an immersive, computer-simulated 3D environment. An embodiment of the invention monitors the attention given to a virtual object by one or more avatars, by associating a viewing region with each object that requires attention monitoring, and detecting when an avatar is within the viewing region of the object simultaneously with the object being within an attention region (typically a clipped field of view) of the avatar. The viewing region is a 3D volume within which a surface of the virtual object is deemed to be effectively viewable.

Abstract: A method for identifying relevant shared resources for a requested browser criterion, the method comprising the steps of: receiving browser monitoring data for a shared resource, the browser monitoring data including an identification of a browser criterion; recording the browser monitoring data to a monitoring data store; parsing the monitoring data in the monitoring data store to identify relevant monitoring data for the requested browser criterion; and identifying shared resources associated with the relevant monitoring data.

Abstract: An interactive voice response method and system comprising a VoiceXML browser for processing an interaction with a user. A music score (for example a MIDI file) describing background music for playing during the interaction, and a music synthesizer for generating background music from the music score and from acoustic parameters are included. Acoustic parameters are generated whereby the music synthesizer may be controlled independently of the music score to change the audio environment during an interaction.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and software are disclosed for managing a network of nodes in a manner that enables the effect of the performance of one node on its neighbouring nodes in the network to be controlled.

Abstract: A speech recognition system prompts a user to provide a first utterance, which is recorded. Speech recognition is performed on the first user utterance to yield a recognition result. The user is prompted to provide a second user utterance, which is recorded, processed and compared to the first utterance to detect at least one acoustic difference. The acoustic model used by the speech recognition engine is modified as a function of the acoustic difference.

Abstract: In systems which support oral entry of Personal Identification Number (PIN) values in order to establish access to user accounts, a user is prompted to enter the PIN value for a particular account. The entered PIN value is analyzed by a speech recognition engine to extract both a multi-digit number and the user's expression of that number. The extracted multi-digit number is compared to a multi-digit number stored in a user record associated with the account. If the user previously specified that expression matching is required, the extracted expression of the multi-digit number is compared to a preferred expression stored in the user record. Matches must be found for both the numbers and the form in which those numbers are expressed in order for the user to be authenticated. The user may elect to dispense with the expression matching requirement.

Abstract: An automatic speech recognition (ASR) system includes a speech-responsive application and a recognition engine. The ASR system generates user prompts to elicit certain spoken inputs, and the speech-responsive application performs operations when the spoken inputs are recognised. The recognition engine compares sounds within an input audio signal with phones within an acoustic model, to identify candidate matching phones. A recognition confidence score is calculated for each candidate matching phone, and the confidence scores are used to help identify one or more likely sequences of matching phones that appear to match a word within the grammar of the speech-responsive application. The per-phone confidence scores are evaluated against predefined confidence score criteria (for example, identifying scores below a ‘low confidence’ threshold) and the results of the evaluation are used to influence subsequent selection of user prompts.

Abstract: An interactive voice response method and system comprising a VoiceXML browser for processing an interaction with a user. A music score (for example a MIDI file) describing background music for playing during the interaction, and a music synthesizer for generating background music from the music score and from acoustic parameters are included. Acoustic parameters are generated whereby the music synthesizer may be controlled independently of the music score to change the audio environment during an interaction.