Abstract: Advertisements are generated and selected for display to users, wherein the advertisements include representations of subject individuals. These subject individuals can be friends with whom the user interacts on the Internet and/or any other contributors who may or may not have expertise with regard to the subject matter of the advertisement. A subject individual can be portrayed in an advertisement by including any type of representation of the individual. Ranks for the subject individuals are determined based on the subject individuals' interactions with advertisements and/or on other factors. An advertisement is selected and presented to a user based on a score derived from friends' and/or contributors' interactions with the advertisement. According to various embodiments of the invention, a method is provided for choosing which advertisement(s) to show to a user and which subject individuals to portray in the advertisements.

Abstract: Advertisements are generated and selected for display to users, wherein the advertisements include representations of subject individuals. These subject individuals can be friends with whom the user interacts on the Internet and/or any other contributors who may or may not have expertise with regard to the subject matter of the advertisement. A subject individual can be portrayed in an advertisement by including any type of representation of the individual. Ranks for the subject individuals are determined based on the subject individuals' interactions with advertisements and/or on other factors. An advertisement is selected and presented to a user based on a score derived from friends' and/or contributors' interactions with the advertisement. According to various embodiments of the invention, a method is provided for choosing which advertisement(s) to show to a user and which subject individuals to portray in the advertisements.

Abstract: A server receives an interaction history comprising a set of one-to-one interactions between a first user and other users. The server determines an interaction score for each of the interactions. Each interaction score is based on a type of the respective one-to-one interaction and an age of the respective one-to-one interaction. The server then determines a friend rank for each of the other users based on the interaction history. The friend rank indicates a measure of a degree of influence the other users have over the first user and stores the friend rank for each of the other users. The server then receives, from a client, a request for an advertisement to display to the first user, selects one of the other users having a friend rank satisfying a predetermined threshold, and transmits, to the client, an advertisement portraying the selected additional user.

Abstract: A system and method for determining the amount of influence users of the internet have on other users of the internet based on data from interactions between users on the internet.

Abstract: A server receives an interaction history comprising a set of one-to-one interactions between a first user and other users. The server determines an interaction score for each of the interactions, wherein each interaction score is based on a type of the respective one-to-one interaction and an age of the respective one-to-one interaction. The server then determines a friend rank for each of the other users based on the interaction history, wherein the friend rank indicates a measure of a degree of influence the other users have over the first user and stores the friend rank for each of the other users. The server then receives, from a client, a request for an advertisement to display to the first user, selects one of the other users having a friend rank satisfying a predetermined threshold, and transmits, to the client, an advertisement portraying the selected additional user.

Abstract: A system and method for determining the amount of influence users of the internet have on other users of the internet based on data from interactions between users on the internet.

Abstract: A server receives an interaction history comprising a set of one-to-one interactions between a first user and other users. The server determines an interaction score for each of the interactions, wherein each interaction score is based on a type of the respective one-to-one interaction and an age of the respective one-to-one interaction. The server then determines a friend rank for each of the other users based on the interaction history, wherein the friend rank indicates a measure of a degree of influence the other users have over the first user and stores the friend rank for each of the other users. The server then receives, from a client, a request for an advertisement to display to the first user, selects one of the other users having a friend rank satisfying a predetermined threshold, and transmits, to the client, an advertisement portraying the selected additional user.

Abstract: Advertisements are generated and selected for display to users, wherein the advertisements include representations of subject individuals. These subject individuals can be friends with whom the user interacts on the Internet and/or any other contributors who may or may not have expertise with regard to the subject matter of the advertisement. A subject individual can be portrayed in an advertisement by including any type of representation of the individual. Ranks for the subject individuals are determined based on the subject individuals' interactions with advertisements and/or on other factors. An advertisement is selected and presented to a user based on a score derived from friends' and/or contributors' interactions with the advertisement. According to various embodiments of the invention, a method is provided for choosing which advertisement(s) to show to a user and which subject individuals to portray in the advertisements.

Abstract: A system and method for determining the amount of influence users of the internet have on other users of the internet based on data from interactions between users on the internet.

Abstract: To identify an image characteristic, a tree structured code having coding representing each of a plurality of training images is stored in a memory. Coding representing a sample image, not included in the plurality of training images, is compared to the tree structured code to identify the training image coding in the structured tree code closest to the sample image coding. A characteristic of the sample image is identified based upon the training image represented by the closest training image coding.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for determining a direction in which a subject's head is facing. The present invention has particular relevance to monitoring driver conditions in automobiles. By monitoring head positions and motions, the system can estimate driver awareness. Signals or alarms can be activated if the driver does not appear to be aware of driving conditions. The present invention provides a rapid, low cost device for determining pose position, which would be useful in automobiles. A large number of images of various subjects in different poses are stored a memory. The poses are then organized according to tree-structured vector quantization to allow comparison with a sample image of an actual driver. The tree structure is traversed to find a leaf node constituting one of the stored images which is closest to the sample image. The pose of the closest image is outputted as the pose of the sample image.

Abstract: A method of decoding (311 and 417) by Viterbi algorithm is applied with a metric that limits effects on the metric's value. A received signal (109) comprised of symbols is filtered, thereby providing (303 and 403) a phase angle of the received signal (109) and providing (305 and 409) a magnitude of the received signal (109). The phase angle of the received signal (109) and the magnitude of the received signal (109) are sampled (309 and 413) once per symbol and then decoded according to the Viterbi algorithm with a metric that limits effects on the metric's value as the difference between the sampled phase angle and the decoded symbol increases.