Abstract: A method and system organize and retrieve information using taxonomies, a document classifier, and an autocontextualizer. Documents (or other knowledge containers) in an organization and retrieval subsystem may be manually or automatically classified into taxonomies. Documents are transformed from clear text into a structured record. Automatically constructed indexes help identify when the structured record is an appropriate response to a query. An automatic term extractor creates a list of terms indicative of the documents' subject matter. A subject matter expert identifies the terms relevant to the taxonomies. A term analysis system assigns the relevant terns to one or more taxonomies, and a suitable algorithm is then used to determine the relatedness between each list of terms and its associated taxonomy. The system then clusters documents for each taxonomy in accordance with the weights ascribed to the terms in the taxonomy's list and a directed acyclic graph (DAG) structure is created.

Abstract: A method and system organize and retrieve information using taxonomies, a document classifier, and an autocontextualizer. Documents (or other knowledge containers) in an organization and retrieval subsystem may be manually or automatically classified into taxonomies. Documents are transformed from clear text into a structured record. Automatically constructed indexes help identify when the structured record is an appropriate response to a query. An automatic term extractor creates a list of terms indicative of the documents' subject matter. A subject matter expert identifies the terms relevant to the taxonomies. A term analysis system assigns the relevant terms to one or more taxonomies, and a suitable algorithm is then used to determine the relatedness between each list of terms and its associated taxonomy. The system then clusters documents for each taxonomy in accordance with the weights ascribed to the terms in the taxonomy's list and a directed acyclic graph (DAG) structure is created.

Abstract: Annotating activities are associated with portions of recordings by activity/recording data such as a table in which annotation identifiers are paired with timestamps. To obtain activity/recording data, an image input device, such as a manually positionable scanner or a fixed position camera, can produce an image signal set with information about a manual annotating activity and a recording/playback device can provide a recording portion signal, such as a timestamp, with information about a portion of a recording. The image signal set and the recording portion signal can then be used to automatically obtain the activity/recording data, associating information about the manual annotating activity with information identifying the portion of the recording. The information about the manual annotating activity can be an annotation identifier that includes information about the position or shape of the annotation.

Abstract: A customer relationship management (CRM) or other content provider system and method use a set of predetermined terms organized into predetermined groups. A set of search queries is generated using search templates, ordered generally from approximately more specific to approximately more general, including combinations of such groups. A user-provider session generates session context using, among other things, user query language, user response language, a user selection, or a user attribute. Each search template specifies which ones of the groups require at least one corresponding term in the session context to be present in a document for that document to satisfy a search query generated from that search template. In one example, some groups may include words or terms other than the predetermined terms. Such other words or terms may be defined by other characteristics, such as by their frequency of occurrence in the content.

Abstract: Annotating activities are associated with portions of recordings by activity/recording data such as a table in which annotation identifiers are paired with timestamps. To obtain activity/recording data, an image input device, such as a manually positionable scanner or a fixed position camera, can produce an image signal set with information about a manual annotating activity and a recording/playback device can provide a recording portion signal, such as a timestamp, with information about a portion of a recording. The image signal set and the recording portion signal can then be used to automatically obtain the activity/recording data, associating information about the manual annotating activity with information identifying the portion of the recording. The information about the manual annotating activity can be an annotation identifier that includes information about the position or shape of the annotation.

Abstract: This document discusses, among other things, systems, devices, and methods for implementing an efficient and cost-effective automated content provider that effectively steers a user to relevant stored documents. Word or text features are extracted from user query language, and matched to substantially similar concept features. The concepts are organized in primary groups, such as Activities, Objects, Symptoms, and Products groups, which may be implemented as taxonomies. Documents that include the concept feature are tagged to that concept. A list of links or other document indicators tagged to the matched concepts is displayed for the user. Derived groups map relationships between concepts in the same or different primary groups, so that a particular matched concept results in the display of related concepts for restricting or otherwise changing the documents in play that are displayed for the user. This document also describes techniques for ranking the related concepts for display to the user.

Abstract: This document discusses, among other things, systems and methods for searching for relevant documents in a document corpus. Using, among other things, text provided by a user's query, the system undertakes a dynamic search process that includes at least one ordered sequence of searches. The results of a first search are evaluated to determine how to formulate a second or subsequent search, whether to perform a second or subsequent search, or whether or how to present to the user results from the search or searches performed up to that point. In one example, the first search uses tight criteria in conjunction with the language of the user's query. If the number of documents in the search results do not meet or exceed a threshold value, the search criteria is progressively loosened over subsequent searches. The search list may depend on, among other things, a characteristic of the user query or upon a result returned by a previous search on the user query.

Abstract: This document discusses, among other things, systems and methods for assisting a knowledge engineer in associating intelligence with content. An example system classifies a set of documents to concept nodes in a knowledge map that includes multiple taxonomies. A candidate feature extractor automatically extracts features from the documents. The candidate features are displayed with other information on a user-interface (UI). The other displayed information may include information regarding how relevant terms are to various concept nodes; such information may be obtained from a prior classification iteration. From the candidate features and accompanying information and/or personal knowledge, a knowledge engineer selects features and assigns the selected features to concept nodes. The documents are classified using the user-selected features and corresponding concept node assignments.

Abstract: A system and remote control device that controls an appliance, and obtains a desired function of the appliance, by invoking a remote procedure call in a remote server which will thereby actually control the appliance. The remote control device comprises a sensor; sensor responsive means for capturing information provided by the sensor, wherein the captured information at least contains parameters representative of the identification of the appliance, user-profile parameters, parameters representative of the address of the remote server, and a function name indicating the function to be performed by the appliance; marshalling means for encoding the captured information and for packaging the captured information into data in a remote procedure call format; and a transmitter for establishing a communication protocol with the remote server in order to transmit the packaged data to the remote server so that the remote server may execute the remote procedure call.

Abstract: Automatic actions can be obtained through a network using an area of marking medium with machine-readable markings that encode an action/medium identifier. The action/medium identifier identifies an action that can be produced through the network, and also identifies the area of marking medium. For example, it may include a globally unique or network-wide page identifier as well as an action identifier that can be used to produce an action described by data associated with a counterpart digital page. Or it can include both a page identifier and a location identifier, with the location identifier also identifying an action that relates to the page's digital counterpart. Or it can include a document identifier and an action identifier. Or it can be a globally unique or network-wide sticker identifier that can be used to identify a document, a peripheral device, or another object to which the sticker is attached, and that also produces an action through the network.

Abstract: A method is provided for automatically classifying text into categories. In operation, a plurality of tokens or features are manually or automatically associated with each category. A weight is then coupled to each feature, wherein the weight indicates a degree of association between the feature and the category. Next, a document is parsed into a plurality of unique tokens with associated counts, wherein the counts are indicative of the number of times the feature appears in the document. A category score representative of a sum of products of each feature count in the document times the corresponding feature weight in the category for each document is then computed. Next, the category scores are sorted by perspective, and a document is classified into a particular category, provided the category score exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Abstract: An identifier of an action that can be produced through a network, such as a page identifier or other substrate identifier with a counterpart digital page accessible through a network, is used to obtain a network address. The identifier is provided to a first machine such as a router, and the first machine uses the identifier to obtain a first network address that is for a set of identifier values that includes the identifier's value. The first network address is then used to provide the identifier to a second machine such as a server. The second machine uses the identifier to obtain a second network address that is for the value of the identifier. The second network address, when provided on the network, produces the action identified by the value of the identifier. The identifier can be read from a coded substrate by image input circuitry and the image signals can be used by a third machine, such as a processor in a pointer, to provide the identifier to the first machine.

Abstract: Automatic actions can be obtained through a network using an area of marking medium with machine-readable markings that encode an action/medium identifier. The action/medium identifier identifies an action that can be produced through the network, and also identifies the area of marking medium. For example, it may include a globally unique or network-wide page identifier as well as an action identifier that can be used to produce an action described by data associated with a counterpart digital page. Or it can include both a page identifier and a location identifier, with the location identifier also identifying an action that relates to the page's digital counterpart. Or it can include a document identifier and an action identifier. Or it can be a globally unique or network-wide sticker identifier that can be used to identify a document, a peripheral device, or another object to which the sticker is attached, and that also produces an action through the network.

Abstract: A method and system are disclosed for retrieving information through the use of a multi-stage interaction with a client to identify particular knowledge content associated with a knowledge map. The present invention is an application program running on a server accessed via the world-wide web or other data network using standard Internet protocols, a web browser and web server software. In addition to an automated portion, the present invention allows a human dialog designer to model the way the system elicits information, giving a human feel to the dialog and a better customer experience. In operation, users start a dialog by directing their web browser to a designated web page. This web page asks the user some initial questions that are then passed to a dialog engine. The dialog engine then applies its methods and algorithms to a knowledge map, using dialog control information\ and the user's responses to provide feedback to the user.