Abstract: A method and a system for securely applying proprietary software functions of software sources to proprietary data of a population of users are disclosed. The proprietary data of a user is not exposed to software sources, and the proprietary software of a software source is not accessible to users. A collaboration software module, placed in at least one cloud, is configured to establish, and continually update, a data structure holding task permissions from grantors to grantees, a grantor being a software source or a user, and a grantee is also a software source or a user. The collaboration software module of a cloud applies software function of a software source, communicatively coupled to the cloud, to proprietary data of an originating user, communicatively coupled to the same cloud, to produce a requisite result which is only accessible to the originating user or any grantees of the originating user (the grantor).

Abstract: A method and a system for securely applying proprietary software functions of software sources to proprietary data of a population of users are disclosed. The proprietary data of a user is not exposed to software sources, and the proprietary software of a software source is not accessible to users. A collaboration software module, placed in at least one cloud, is configured to establish, and continually update, a data structure holding task permissions from grantors to grantees, a grantor being a software source or a user, and a grantee is also a software source or a user. The collaboration software module of a cloud applies software function of a software source, communicatively coupled to the cloud, to proprietary data of an originating user, communicatively coupled to the same cloud, to produce a requisite result which is only accessible to the originating user or any grantees of the originating user (the grantor).

Abstract: A method and a system for securely applying proprietary software functions of software sources to proprietary data of a population of users are disclosed. The proprietary data of a user is not exposed to software sources, and the proprietary software of a software source is not accessible to users. A collaboration software module, placed in at least one cloud, is configured to establish, and continually update, a data structure holding task permissions from grantors to grantees, a grantor being a software source or a user, and a grantee is also a software source or a user. The collaboration software module of a cloud applies software function of a software source, communicatively coupled to the cloud, to proprietary data of an originating user, communicatively coupled to the same cloud, to produce a requisite result which is only accessible to the originating user or any grantees of the originating user (the grantor).

Abstract: A method of realizing a scalable fast query engine randomly shuffles object vectors of a massive array of object vectors to produce a sorted array of object vectors, each object vector containing a respective number of keys of a massive set of predefined keys, and inverts the sorted array, with ordered mapping, onto a set of key-specific arrays of objects. Upon receiving a query, a query-specific array of objects is formed from selected key-specific arrays corresponding to specific keys stated in the query. In response to the query, a target set of objects is formed to include the query-specific set and selected objects of key-specific sets of high intersection levels with the query-specific set. The method identifies candidate key-specific arrays from the entire set of key-specific arrays then determines precise, or exact, intersection levels of the candidate key-specific arrays with the query-specific array.

Abstract: An apparatus for fast clustering of massive data is disclosed. A set of variates characterizes a population of objects with the domain of each variate segmented into a variate-specific number of population strata. The set of variates and the variate-specific population strata define boundaries of a number of cluster zones. Each object of the population of objects is allocated to a cluster corresponding to a respective cluster zone according to the boundaries of the cluster zones and object vectors individually characterizing the population of objects. Upon receiving a specific object vector of a model object, a specific cluster compatible with the model object is determined according to the specific object vector and the boundaries of the cluster zones.

Abstract: A method of complementary clustering of a vast population of objects is disclosed. The method aims at maximizing a global measure of object affinity within naturally-formed clusters. A first clustering procedure produces primary centroids of clusters of objects and a second clustering procedure produces secondary clusters of the primary centroids and corresponding secondary centroids. Refined clusters of the population of objects are formed based on object proximity to the secondary centroids. The first clustering procedure is preferably based on a variation of the K-means method, and the second clustering procedure is preferably based on the Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN). An apparatus implementing the method is devised to facilitate conflict-free parallel processing.

Abstract: A method of segmenting a large number of objects representing tracked-users of a network into a number of clusters is disclosed. Each object is represented by a multi-dimensional vector representing descriptors of the object. An object is assigned to a particular cluster according to the radial distance to, and the angular displacement from, a centroid vector of the particular cluster.

Abstract: A method of generating a centroid set of mutually repulsing centroids for segmenting a vast social graph is disclosed. Each object of a collection of tracked objects of the social graph is characterized by a respective descriptor vector of multiple descriptor types. Starting with an empty centroid set, an object joins the centroid set as a centroid upon ascertaining that an affinity measure of the object to each centroid of the centroid set is less than a specified affinity threshold. The affinity threshold may be tuned to generate a target number of centroids. The affinity measure may be a dual radial-angular affinity measure. Rather than selecting the centroids from the collection of objects, a distribution function of descriptors of each descriptor type may be determined, candidate descriptor vectors may be generated by random sampling of each distribution, and a candidate descriptor vector joins the centroid set upon satisfying affinity conditions.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for inducing expansion of audience of source contents posted in a social medium are disclosed. Upon posting the source contents, spontaneous audience are detected and content-coupled audience are determined; the content-coupled audience and the spontaneous audience are users of the social medium that accessed common contents, or contents of a common class, other than the source contents. A set of content-coupled audience is pruned to determine a set of prospective audience. Information relevant to the source contents is disseminated to the prospective audience resulting in audience gain. Processes of iterative-recursive exploration of multi-stratum content coupling are performed to further enhance the audience gain. An apparatus implementing the method may employ a single processor or multiple processors operating concurrently and exchanging intermediate results through commonly accessed buffers.

Abstract: A method of complementary clustering of a vast population of objects is disclosed. The method aims at maximizing a global measure of object affinity within naturally-formed clusters. A first clustering procedure produces primary centroids of clusters of objects and a second clustering procedure produces secondary clusters of the primary centroids and corresponding secondary centroids. Refined clusters of the population of objects are formed based on object proximity to the secondary centroids. The first clustering procedure is preferably based on a variation of the K-means method, and the second clustering procedure is preferably based on the Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN). An apparatus implementing the method is devised to facilitate conflict-free parallel processing.

Abstract: In one aspect, a mobile browser may be used to facilitate tethering of a client computing device to a mobile device. A first data connection may be opened between a client computing device seeking internet access and a browser application executing in the mobile browser. A second data connection may be opened between the browser application executing in the browser and an internet server. The browser application may automatically relay internet-destined data received from the client device to the internet server and may further automatically relay internet-originated data received from the internet server to the client device. In another aspect, a gateway identifier identifying a gateway for accessing the internet via a wireless LAN data connection may be modified or deleted to cause the mobile device to use a cellular data network data connection, rather than the wireless LAN data connection, for relaying internet-destined data from the client computing device.

Abstract: A device for use by a player to improve his handling of an object on a surface, comprising at least one camera positioned such that the field of view of the at least one camera may capture an image of the surface and the object; a processor providing an image processing algorithm adapted to receive data relating to an image of the surface and the object, and to calculate therefrom image data relating to the position of the object on the surface; at least one monitor for viewing an image positioned in front of the player and adapted to receive data relating to the position of the object on the surface; means for transmitting data relating to the image of a playing surface and the object to the processor and means for transmitting image data relating to the position of the object on the surface from the processor to the monitor.