Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for providing an I/O extension for a mobile device. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises: a first interface to the mobile device; a second interface to a cloud; a third interface to a display device; a fourth interface to one or more user input devices; and a controller, coupled to the first, second, third and fourth interfaces, to coordinate information exchange between the mobile device, the cloud and the one or more user input devices to enable display on the display device of data from the mobile device and the cloud, including full-resolution rendered web pages from a full browser running on the mobile device.

Abstract: An automatic printing assistant application for documents in electronic form is provided by virtue of the present invention. In certain embodiments, an elongated thumbnail image of all or part of an electronically stored document is displayed. A section of the document of interest to the reader is emphasized. Movement of the emphasized area in the elongated thumbnail image assists the user with the selection of sections or pages of the document for printing. The operation of the assistant is personalizable for a particular user by setting of a sensitivity level and selection of relevant topics of interest. Some embodiments of the assistant are also capable of improved performance over time by both automatic and manual feedback. The assistant is usable with many popular electronic document formats.

Abstract: A system and method for monitoring events from a media stream and triggering an action in response to detected events. The action is preferably based on information relating to the event received by the system. The system can generate a paper document that reflects some aspects of the detected event such as a summary describing the event. The system can also generate a network message (e.g., email or paging call) in response to the detected event. In other embodiments, the system stores multimedia in memory in response to the detected event. The system can also generate an audio on a speaker or a video on a video display system attached to the printer based on the detected event.

Abstract: A Mixed Media Reality (MMR) system and associated techniques provide mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types (e.g., printed paper as a first medium and digital content and/or web link as a second medium). The MMR system includes an action processor and methods, and an MMR document with having an associated action. The MMR document specifies different actions for different MMR documents, and creates any number of MMR documents for a particular location on any media, thereby allowing the MMR architecture to serve as a universal trigger or initiator for additional processing. The action processor receives the output of the MMR recognition process which yields an MMR document including at least one action. The action processor executes that action which includes various commands to the MMR system or other systems coupled to the MMR system.

Abstract: A mixed media reality (MMR) system includes an MMR user, a MMR computer, a user printer that produces a printed document, a networked media server, an office portal, a service provider server, an electronic display that is electrically connected to a set-top box, a document scanner, a network, a capture device, a cellular infrastructure, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology, Bluetooth® technology, infrared (IR) technology, wired technology, and a geo location mechanism. The MMR system provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types, such as printed paper as a first medium and a digital photograph, digital movie, digital audio file, or web link as a second medium. Furthermore, the MMR system facilitates business methods that take advantage of the combination of a portable electronic device, voice mail or email, and a paper document.

Abstract: A Mixed Media Reality (MMR) system and associated techniques are disclosed. The MMR system provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types. In one embodiment of the present invention, the MMR system includes an action processor and method, and MMR documents with an associated action. The MMR document structure specifies different actions for different MMR documents combined with the ability to create any number of MMR documents for a particular location on any media, which allows the MMR architecture to serve as a universal trigger or initiator for additional processing. In another embodiment, the MMR system, in particular MMR recognition and the input/output capabilities of the capture device, are used as a control mechanism for a third party system.

Abstract: Techniques for introducing devices to device families. Membership in a device family allows a device certain privileges such as the ability to engage in secure communications with another device in the same device family. A device is made a member of a device family by communicating to the device from a base station a ticket that is representative of the device family. The base station may also generate a paper receipt confirming the membership of the device in the device family.

Abstract: Techniques for generating fingerprints for articles and using the fingerprints for various applications. Scan-related parameter values, including the area of an article scanned, may be specified and varied from one scan to another for collecting data points used for generating fingerprints for articles. A paper shredder is provided that is configured to, prior to shredding a paper sheet, scan the paper sheet and generate a fingerprint for the paper sheet. Fingerprints may also be generated for media keys that are used to access media data. The fingerprint generated for a media key may be used to authenticate the media key. Access to media data corresponding to the media key may be made contingent on successful authentication of the media key.

Abstract: A printer with an embedded multimedia server is described that includes a processor primarily allocated for print control and another processor for executing a multimedia server for interfacing with hardware and/or software interfaces for various forms of media. Examples of such interfaces include, a network interface, a VGA port, transcoding hardware, wireless interfaces and a (USB) port. Examples of types of media processed include video, audio and text. The multimedia server performs multimedia content processing, particularly for time-based data, examples of which include editing, formatting, scheduling capture of content, searching, recognition, and event detection. Additionally, the printer can provide a multimedia storage database. The printer provides a user interface on its chassis that can provide a web browser, so that a user can interact directly with the printer for indicating preferences for multimedia content processing and/or selection for printing onto a desired output medium.

Abstract: The system of the present invention includes a media-printing interface that allows users to interact with a multimedia transformation process and format multimedia data to generate a representation of multimedia data. The present invention provides a user interface that permits users to interact with media content analysis and media representation generation. A media analysis software module receives media content analysis instructions from the user through the user interface, and the media analysis software module analyzes and recognizes features of the media content, such as faces, speech, text, etc. The media representation can be generated in a paper-based format, in digital format, and in any other representation formats. The user interface includes a number of fields through which the user can view media content and modify the media representation being generated.

Abstract: A mixed media reality (MMR) system includes an MMR user, a MMR computer, a user printer that produces a printed document, a networked media server, an office portal, a service provider server, an electronic display that is electrically connected to a set-top box, a document scanner, a network, a capture device, a cellular infrastructure, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology, Bluetooth® technology, infrared (IR) technology, wired technology, and a geo location mechanism. The MMR system provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types, such as printed paper as a first medium and a digital photograph, digital movie, digital audio file, or web link as a second medium. Furthermore, the MMR system facilitates business methods that take advantage of the combination of a portable electronic device, voice mail or email, and a paper document.

Abstract: Techniques for generating fingerprints for articles and using the fingerprints for various applications. Scan-related parameter values, including the area of an article scanned, may be specified and varied from one scan to another for collecting data points used for generating fingerprints for articles. A paper shredder is provided that is configured to, prior to shredding a paper sheet, scan the paper sheet and generate a fingerprint for the paper sheet. Fingerprints may also be generated for media keys that are used to access media data. The fingerprint generated for a media key may be used to authenticate the media key. Access to media data corresponding to the media key may be made contingent on successful authentication of the media key.

Abstract: Techniques for an iterative design process of determining a visual representation for an input media object are provided. One or more visual representations are determined from the input media object based on a set of encoding parameters. An output media object is created from the visual representation(s) based on a set of decoding parameters. The visual representation(s) and/or the second media object may be displayed to a user. An indication indicating whether the visual representation(s) and/or the second media object are acceptable or unacceptable is received. If the visual representation(s) and/or the second media object are not acceptable, then at least one parameter in at least one of the set of encoding parameters and the set of decoding parameters may be changed. The process described above is repeated until the visual representation(s) and the second media object are determined to be acceptable.

Abstract: A Mixed Media Reality (MMR) system associated techniques are disclosed. The MMR system provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types (e.g., printed paper as a first medium and digital content as a second medium. The MMR system of the present invention provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types, such as printed paper as a first medium and a digital photograph, digital movie, digital audio file, or web link as a second medium. The present invention also includes a number of novel methods including: a method for layout independent MMR recognition, a strip fragment candidate generation process, and a page candidate accumulation process.

Abstract: A Mixed Media Reality (MMR) system and associated techniques are disclosed. The MMR system provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types (e.g., printed paper as a first medium and digital content and/or web link as a second medium). In one particular embodiment, the MMR system includes an MMR user, a MMR computer, a user printer that produces a printed document, a networked media server, an office portal, a service provider server, an electronic display that is electrically connected to a set-top box, a document scanner, a network, a capture device, a cellular infrastructure, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology, Bluetooth® technology, infrared (IR) technology, wired technology, and a geo location mechanism.

Abstract: The system of the present invention allows a user to generate a representation of time-based media. The system of the present invention includes a feature extraction module for extracting features from media content. For example, the feature extraction module can detect solos in a musical performance, or can detect music, applause, speech, and the like. A formatting module formats a media representation generated by the system. The formatting module also applies feature extraction information to the representation, and formats the representation according to a representation specification. In addition, the system can include an augmented output device that generates a media representation based on the feature extraction information and the representation specification.

Abstract: A tilt-sensitive viewfinder indicates the area of an object plane within view of the camera using a visible signal projected from the camera. A direction sensor determines the camera orientation and modifies the visible signal as the camera orientation changes. Changes in appearance of the visible signal reflect changes in the camera field of view. Data from the direction sensor describing camera orientation may be stored in a data storage device and may be associated with data describing the captured image. The stored camera orientation data improves processing of captured images by providing information about angular components of the captured images.

Abstract: Techniques for creating an output media object based on a first visual representation and a second visual representation are provided. A first visual representation is received. The first visual representation is generated based on first information determined from an input media object. A second visual representation is also received. The second visual representation is generated based on second information determined from the input media object. An output media object is then created based on the first visual representation and a second visual representation. The output media object may then be outputted or played on a device.

Abstract: A Mixed Media Reality (MMR) system and associated techniques are disclosed. The MMR system provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types (e.g., printed paper as a first medium and digital content and/or web link as a second medium). In one particular embodiment, the MMR system includes an MMR user, a MMR computer, a user printer that produces a printed document, a networked media server, an office portal, a service provider server, an electronic display that is electrically connected to a set-top box, a document scanner, a network, a capture device, a cellular infrastructure, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology, Bluetooth® technology, infrared (IR) technology, wired technology, and a geo location mechanism.

Abstract: Techniques to improve a user's note-taking experience. While taking notes for a presentation, a user can request one or more portions of information recorded during the presentation to be inserted into the user's notes document. User interfaces are provided that enable a user to specify which portions of the recorded information are to be inserted into the user's notes document. User information requests that cannot be immediately processed are stored or cached in the notes document for later processing. These cached requests are processed and the requested information inserted into the user's notes document at a later time.