Abstract: A system and method for effectively transmitting content items to electronic devices includes a content server that is configured to access and store various types of content information. A recommendation engine of the content server analyzes network statistics and client profiles to identify appropriate content items for device users of the electronic devices. A transmitter receives the targeted content items from the content server, and responsively provides the content items to the electronic devices by broadcasting the content items over a unidirectional telecommunications link.

Abstract: A camera system includes an image sensor and a processing apparatus receiving image frames from the sensor before and after receipt of a user picture signal. The processing apparatus discards frames that do not meet a quality criterion such as under-exposed frames. Also, the processing apparatus compresses only a subset of remaining frames, specifically, those that meet a compression amount threshold. The remaining frames are presented to a user, who can select a representative frame as the “picture” that was taken.

Abstract: A system and method for efficiently performing image processing operations includes a camera device that is configured to automatically capture an image sequence of related offset images that correspond to a particular selected photographic target. The camera device then transmits the captured image sequence to an image processing server through an electronic network. The image processing server perform one or more processing-intensive operations upon the received image sequence to thereby produce an enhanced image that may then be transmitted to any appropriate image destination.

Abstract: When a user selects digital zooming in a camera such as might be included in a wireless telephone or PDA, a series of images are automatically obtained and superimposed using super-resolution techniques to produce an improved digital zoom image transparently to the user.

Abstract: A system for handling transmitted electronic information includes a transmitter with an encoder that performs a parity encoding procedure. The encoder creates parity blocks for embedding in transmission packets. The parity blocks may be based upon data segments from one or more of the transmission packets. The system also includes a receiver with a decoder that utilizes the parity blocks for performing a packet validation procedure to identify corrupted packets from among the transmission packets. The decoder also performs a packet reconstruction procedure with selected ones of the data segments and the parity blocks to produce reconstructed data segments for the corrupted packets.

Abstract: When a user selects digital zooming in a camera such as might be included in a wireless telephone or PDA, a series of images are automatically obtained and superimposed using super-resolution techniques to produce an improved digital zoom image transparently to the user.

Abstract: Images are offloaded from a portable camera automatically to a network server at the time the images are taken, transparently to a user of the camera. The server executes processing functions on the images and returns the output of the processing over the network to the camera and/or other user-defined destination device to thereby relieve the camera processor of potentially complex processing chores.

Abstract: One dimensional (1D) histograms, one for each row of an image, are determined simultaneously and in parallel with each other to achieve an O(1) time complexity, and are then added to determine a two dimensional (2D) histogram from which desired characteristic values such as median, minimum, and maximum can be determined exactly as opposed to merely being estimated. The characteristic value can be applied to the image to reduce noise or to achieve artistic effects in the image.

Abstract: A system and method for effectively transmitting content items to electronic devices includes a content server that is configured to access and store various types of content information. A recommendation engine of the content server analyzes network statistics and client profiles to identify appropriate content items for device users of the electronic devices. A transmitter receives the targeted content items from the content server, and responsively provides the content items to the electronic devices by broadcasting the content items over a unidirectional telecommunications link.

Abstract: When a user selects digital zooming in a camera such as might be included in a wireless telephone or PDA, a series of images are automatically obtained and superimposed using super-resolution techniques to produce an improved digital zoom image transparently to the user.

Abstract: A receiver of network data dynamically filters packets by packet type from a network device CPU based on usage information, such as time, day, location, and feature (e.g., “video” or “application”) selection.

Abstract: Images are offloaded from a portable camera automatically to a network server at the time the images are taken, transparently to a user of the camera. The server executes processing functions on the images and returns the output of the processing over the network to the camera and/or other user-defined destination device to thereby relieve the camera processor of potentially complex processing chores.

Abstract: When a user selects digital zooming in a camera such as might be included in a wireless telephone or PDA, a series of images are automatically obtained and superimposed using super-resolution techniques to produce an improved digital zoom image transparently to the user.

Abstract: A receiver of network data dynamically filters packets by packet type from a network device CPU based on usage information, such as time, day, location, and feature (e.g., “video” or “application”) selection.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method for applying a filter to an image comprising: receiving a filter setting, selecting a selected filter from a family of filters stored on a computer-readable storage medium, based at least on the filter setting, wherein the family of filters comprises a plurality of filters each being an approximation of a function on different orders, and applying the selected filter to a stored image with a processor.

Abstract: When a user selects digital zooming in a camera such as might be included in a wireless telephone or PDA, a series of images are automatically obtained and superimposed using super-resolution techniques to produce an improved digital zoom image transparently to the user.

Abstract: Packets detected to be lost from a unidirectional interface such as an ATSC tuner are requested from the source or a peer using a different physical interface. The packets may be retransmitted for reception over either interface.

Abstract: A cost function is stochastically optimized using, e.g., simulated annealing to render a neighborhood of entities based on which content recommendations can be provided to a user of a home entertainment system. The cost function represents a normalized sum of rating similarity scores from entities of the neighborhood that are related to content items viewed by the user.

Abstract: Images from the video camera of a computer are compared over time, e.g., every few milliseconds, to determine from the pixel data if motion of the computer matches template motion associated with an earthquake P-wave. If so, a warning is generated, uploaded to a communication network, and propagated over the network to other computers.

Abstract: A system and method for effectively supporting content distribution in an electronic network includes a content server and a peer-to-peer network of client devices. The content server stores content items received from a content provider. A recommendation engine of the content server creates a global recommendation list to identify an optimal global candidate from among the stored content items for performing an automatic and transparent content download procedure. The recommendation engine creates the global recommendation list by analyzing selectable content-ranking criteria from a plurality of device users of the client devices. The content server then downloads the optimal global candidate from the stored content items to one or more identified target devices during the content download procedure.