Abstract: A downhole tool for installing a gas lift valve in a well. The downhole tool may include a housing, a mandrel movably disposed with respect to the housing, a holder configured to hold the gas lift valve, and an arm supporting the holder. The arm may pivot between a retracted position in which the holder is adjacent the housing and an extended position in which the holder is disposed away from the housing. The mandrel and the arm may be operatively connected via a pin-slot joint having a pin disposed within a slot. The slot may have a first slot portion and a second slot portion. The pin-slot joint may prevent the arm from pivoting when the pin is within the first slot portion and permit the arm to pivot when the pin is within the second slot portion.

Abstract: A downhole tool for installing a gas lift valve in a well. The downhole tool may include a housing, a mandrel movably disposed with respect to the housing, a holder configured to hold the gas lift valve, and an arm supporting the holder. The arm may pivot between a retracted position in which the holder is adjacent the housing and an extended position in which the holder is disposed away from the housing. The mandrel and the arm may be operatively connected via a pin-slot joint having a pin disposed within a slot. The slot may have a first slot portion and a second slot portion. The pin-slot joint may prevent the arm from pivoting when the pin is within the first slot portion and permit the arm to pivot when the pin is within the second slot portion.

Abstract: A vending machine is described that uses digital currency transactions to enable a user to purchase items from their portable computing device. Using a control system in communication with various components of the vending machine and an internet connection for communicating with a remote digital currency system, such as a bitcoin network, a digital currency processing system executes digital currency transactions and stores the resulting digital currency in a transaction storage repository. The control system initiates dispensing of purchased items based on communication from the digital currency processing system.

Abstract: A vending machine is described that uses digital currency transactions to enable a user to purchase items from their portable computing device. Using a control system in communication with various components of the vending machine and an internet connection for communicating with a remote digital currency system, such as a bitcoin network, a digital currency processing system executes digital currency transactions and stores the resulting digital currency in a transaction storage repository. The control system initiates dispensing of purchased items based on communication from the digital currency processing system.

Abstract: A hydraulic connector to provide a fluidic connection between a fluid supply and a downhole tubular, the connector comprising: a body; an engagement assembly comprising an extendable portion selectively extendable from the body, the engagement assembly being configured to extend and retract a seal assembly disposed at a distal end of the extendable portion into and from a proximal end of the downhole tubular; and a valve assembly operable between an open position and a closed position, the valve assembly being configured to: allow a fluid to communicate between the fluid supply and the downhole tubular through the seal assembly when in the open position; and prevent fluid communication between the fluid supply and the downhole tubular when in the closed position.

Abstract: A hydraulic connector to provide a fluidic connection between a fluid supply and a downhole tubular, the connector comprising: a body; an engagement assembly comprising an extendable portion selectively extendable from the body, the engagement assembly being configured to extend and retract a seal assembly disposed at a distal end of the extendable portion into and from a proximal end of the downhole tubular; and a valve assembly operable between an open position and a closed position, the valve assembly being configured to: allow a fluid to communicate between the fluid supply and the downhole tubular through the seal assembly when in the open position; and prevent fluid communication between the fluid supply and the downhole tubular when in the closed position.

Abstract: Apparatus, methods, and computer program products are disclosed that perform computationally efficient layout of hierarchical data structures.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for automatically performing conceptual highlighting of electronic text. User's interests can be explicitly determined via keywords that the user specifies, and/or are implicitly constructed from user browsing and reading activity. User interests may be expressed as an interest profile. Conceptual keywords related to user interests are selected by combining spreading activation and word co-occurrence, by latent semantic analysis, or other methods. The invention automatically highlights sentences and other information that contain conceptual keywords related to user interests. Highlights can be activated when the user directly performs a keyword search or index search, or the invention can generate information reflecting user interests, apply it to the text, and generate and display highlights. An algorithm is disclosed for computing a conceptual keyword vector through an iterative spreading activation process also employing word co-occurrence.

Abstract: To annotate a three-dimensional electronic object, e.g., document, a user specifies, on a two-dimensional screen, a portion of a page of a three-dimensional document as a specified page area to be annotated by making a stroke. The annotation may be displayed to the user by a hybrid technique where the annotation is displayed by a 3D polyline segment placed behind the near clipping plane of a virtual camera frustrum. At the same time, previous annotations are displayed by another technique, such as, for example, the texture coloring technique. During the intermittent time between the stroke and another stroke the 3D polyline segment is removed from behind the near clipping plane and the page texture is updated with the annotation data. The display techniques support highlighting annotations, free-form annotations, and text annotations.

Abstract: Page turning of a three-dimensional electronic book is modeled as a dynamic animation. The page to be turned may be rotated by rotating it about a base line, and deformed by curling points of the front face of the turning page around the outer side of an imaginary geometric shape.

Abstract: A system is described for displaying images of a virtual three-dimensional book having one or more virtual pages. The system comprises a display system capable of executing a display program wherein images of the virtual three-dimensional book are produced on the display system. The display system may include a magnification function producing a virtual magnifier moveable over the virtual pages. The display system may also include a the “stretchy page” display method wherein one section of the page is directly magnified, while other adjacent sections may be directly magnified in a horizontal or vertical direction, but not both directions. Moreover, a virtual page may also be tilted about a central axis of the virtual page to accommodate viewing of a desired section on the display system. Finally, a computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for producing images of a virtual three-dimensional book is also disclosed.

Abstract: Method and system to enable a user to view large collections of hierarchically linked information on a computer based display. A tree structure visualization is created which presents a representation of the complete collection of information on the display. The visualization fits completely within a fixed area of the computer based display, negating the need to scroll information into the display area. The visualization is based on identified focus nodes and through calculation of a Degree of Interest (DOI) for each of the nodes based in the structure. Layout and presentation of the visualization structure is based on the DOI values in combination with considerations of available display space. A user may dynamically manipulate views of the structure by selecting one or more focus nodes, thus causing a recalculation of the degree of interest.

Abstract: A system and method for turning pages of a three-dimensional electronic book. A closed three-dimensional electronic book is modeled as at least one three-dimensional object having length, width and thickness dimensions. An opened three-dimensional book electronic is modeled as at least two three-dimensional objects having length, width and thickness dimensions, representing the left side of the opened book and the right side of the opened book. The page(s) to be turned is modeled as at least a three-dimensional object having length, width and thickness dimensions. The cross-section parallelogram having a width dimension and a thickness dimension based on the width and thickness dimensions of the closed three-dimensional electronic book, and a user-selected number of page(s) to be turned.

Abstract: Techniques for estimating user interest in graph structures are provided. A graph structure containing at least two nodes, a threshold disinterest value and at least one interesting node within the graph structure are determined. Each determined interesting node is added to a set of active nodes. Adjacent nodes connected to the set of active nodes and associated with Degree-Of-Interest values more interesting than the threshold disinterest value are in turn added to the set of active nodes until no additional adjacent connected nodes have a Degree-Of-Interest value more interesting than the threshold value. A new visualization of the graph structure is determined based on the nodes in the set of active nodes. The interesting nodes may be determined based on specific indications of interest in a node, such as a mouse selections, or may be based on the user's focus of attention within the graph based information structure.

Abstract: A system and method for annotating three-dimensional electronic documents. A user specifies, on a two-dimensional screen, a portion of a page of a three-dimensional document as a specific page area to be annotated. The annotation is displayed to the user with the transparent polygon technique, the vertex coloring technique and/or the texture coloring technique. These display techniques support highlighting annotations, free-form annotations, and text annotations.

Abstract: Techniques are provided to improve communication through selective display of attention shifting display elements. A focus of attention is determined, display events located and attention shifting display elements displayed. The attention shifting display elements suggest display events as candidate foci of attention based on the display event, the display event location and the distance from the focus of attention. Attention shifting display elements are composed of attention directing portions, and optional attention attracting and informing portions. The attention directing portions help direct attention across distances. The attention attracting portions help attract attention to a point in the display space. The informing portions indicate availability of information associated with the display event occurring outside the focus of attention.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and configured storage media are provided for flexible data mirroring. In particular, the invention provides many-to-one data mirroring, including mirroring from local servers running the same or different operating systems and/or file systems at two or more geographically dispersed locations. The invention also provides one-to-many data mirroring, mirroring with or without a dedicated private telecommunications link, and mirroring with or without a dedicated server or another server at the destination(s) to assist the remote mirroring unit(s). In addition, the invention provides flexibility by permitting the use of various combinations of one or more external storage units and/or RAID units to hold mirrored data. Spoofing, SCSI and other bus emulations, and further tools and techniques are used in various embodiments of the invention.

Abstract: A system is described for displaying images of a virtual three-dimensional book having one or more virtual pages. The system comprises a display system capable of executing a display program wherein images of the virtual three-dimensional book are produced on the display system. A degree of interest (DOI) function is provided for allocating available space on the display system. A page selection function may provide a user-selectable scale along a long axis of the virtual book for selecting virtual pages. Virtual chapter tabs may also be provided for navigating within the virtual book. The display system may also include a page flipping function with several different page flipping speeds and several different page flipping animations for moving between virtual pages in the virtual book. Moreover, a scroll bar function provided to facilitate page navigation wherein space on the scroll bar is allocated using a DOI function.

Abstract: A system is described for displaying images of a virtual three-dimensional book having one or more virtual pages. The system comprises a display system capable of executing a display program wherein images of the virtual three-dimensional book are produced on the display system. A degree of interest (DOI) function is provided for allocating available space on the display system. A page selection function may provide a user-selectable scale along a long axis of the virtual book for selecting virtual pages. Virtual chapter tabs may also be provided for navigating within the virtual book. The display system may also include a page flipping function with several different page flipping speeds and several different page flipping animations for moving between virtual pages in the virtual book. Moreover, a scroll bar function provided to facilitate page navigation wherein space on the scroll bar is allocated using a DOI function.