Did You Know...
...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Application No. | Application Title | Issue Date |
| 20110019661 | METHOD AND APPARATUS RESOLVING ENUM DATA COLLISIONS A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a telephone Number Mapping (ENUM) system having a subsystem to monitor one or more operations of the ENUM system, determine if ENUM data packets that are received are one of provisi... | 01/27/2011 |
| 20100272101 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF COMMUNICATION IN AN IP MULTIMEDIA SUBSYSTEM NETWORK A system and method of communication in an IMS network is disclosed. An apparatus that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a call processing server having a controller element that receives from a terminal device a calling ID for e... | 10/28/2010 |
| 20090300695 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF IDENTIFYING EVENTS SCHEDULED AT A MEDIA RECORDER A system and method of identifying events scheduled at a media recorder. In a particular embodiment, a system to identify events scheduled at a media recorder is disclosed. The system includes an identification module to determine a time interval and an address and to i... | 12/03/2009 |
| 20090300671 | Controlling Access to Multimedia Content A disclosed access control application and an associated method for managing access to multimedia content include enabling an administrator, e.g., a parent, to create a user account for a user, e.g., a child, and a password and a profile for the user account. The method... | 12/03/2009 |
| 20090297131 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING VIDEO STREAMS A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an encoder having a controller adapted to receive a Digital Video (DV) stream with metadata, retrieve from at least a portion of the metadata a native video format, configure encodi... | 12/03/2009 |
| 20090292777 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING A MESSAGING SYSTEM Systems and methods of controlling a messaging system are provided. A particular method includes generating an n-times-use network address to access a control interface in response to receipt of a message addressed to a subscriber at a messaging system. The method furth... | 11/26/2009 |
| 20090290856 | SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING VIDEO CONTENT RECORDINGS A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a digital video recorder (DVR) having a controller to record video content supplied by a media communication system, establish a threshold for utilization of a memory resource of th... | 11/26/2009 |
| 20090290690 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING MESSAGES A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a Unified Messaging System (UMS) having a controller to receive one or more voicemail, video, or text messages directed to a subscriber of the UMS, present the subscriber one of a f... | 11/26/2009 |
| 20090285392 | Real-Time Help Services for Web Applications A help service includes proxying a web application page between a user web browser and a web application server. The help service includes providing the web application page to a customer service representative (CSR) web browser and opening a live communication channel ... | 11/19/2009 |
| 20090282438 | Community Content Ratings System Community content ratings are provided to users for one or more multimedia programs. The community content ratings are generated from appropriateness data collected from members of one or more community groups. The members of the community groups may be selected automat... | 11/12/2009 |
| 20090282435 | Video Program Sequenced Output A method is disclosed and includes receiving a selection of a first video program, receiving a selection of a linking command to link the first video program to a second video program, receiving a user request to output the first video program to a display device, and o... | 11/12/2009 |
| 20090282137 | DISTRIBUTING USER ENDPOINT REGISTRATIONS AMONG BORDER ELEMENTS IN A NEXT GENERATION NETWORK Disclosed methods of achieving load balancing among a plurality of border elements in a next generation networks (NGN) communication network include a method for processing and user endpoint originated messages (UEOM), such as a register or invite message, generated by ... | 11/12/2009 |
| 20090276821 | DYNAMIC SYNCHRONIZATION OF MEDIA STREAMS WITHIN A SOCIAL NETWORK A method of synchronizing first and second streams of a multimedia content program is operable for determining a temporal difference indicative of a relative timing between first and second streams of the program, the first stream being provided to a first multimedia pr... | 11/05/2009 |
| 20090276820 | DYNAMIC SYNCHRONIZATION OF MULTIPLE MEDIA STREAMS A disclosed method for synchronizing different streams of a multimedia content program includes providing the multimedia content program to a first viewer via a first multimedia stream in response to receiving a first request to view the multimedia content program from ... | 11/05/2009 |
| 20090276802 | AVATARS IN SOCIAL INTERACTIVE TELEVISION Virtual environments are presented on displays along with multimedia programs to permit viewers to participate in a social interactive television environment. The virtual environments include avatars that are created and maintained in part using continually updated anim... | 11/05/2009 |
| 20090276224 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING DELIVERY OF MEDIA CONTENT BY A MEDIA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may operate according to, for example, a method involving recording audio feedback from a plurality of subscribers commenting on media content supplied by a media communication system on at least one of a pl... | 11/05/2009 |
| 20090274285 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTING COMMUNICATION IDENTIFIERS A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a communication device having a controller to retrieve a targeted party telephone number, retrieve a telephone number assigned to the communication device, submit to a system at lea... | 11/05/2009 |
| 20090259821 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a server having a controller to receive media content from a communication device where the media content is to be accessed by one or more recipients, determine a memory capacity av... | 10/15/2009 |
| 20090252309 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATING A COMMUNICATION DEVICE A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a communication device having a controller to transmit to a communication system a PKI certificate, and engage in encrypted communications responsive to receiving a public key from ... | 10/08/2009 |
| 20090252033 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DISTRIBUTING MEDIA CONTENT Systems and methods to distribute media content are provided. A particular method includes receiving first link weighting factors and second link weighting factors at a router of a node of a multicast network and determining a primary path to a next hop node based on th... | 10/08/2009 |
| 20090249429 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING MEDIA CONTENT A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media processor having a controller to present a media program with associated thematic metadata, and modify a design of one or more on-screen controls that manage a presentation ... | 10/01/2009 |
| 20090249416 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING SUPPORT SERVICES A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, system having a controller to receive from a set-top box (STB) a request for assistance, identify a subscriber account associated with the STB, identify from the subscriber account ... | 10/01/2009 |
| 20090249242 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRESENTING A GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE IN A MEDIA PROCESSOR A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media processor having a controller to present one of a plurality of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) with a keyboard for entering characters in a GUI field element presented in t... | 10/01/2009 |
| 20090245495 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRESENTING COMMUNICATION IDENTIFIERS A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a communication device having a controller to retrieve a telephone number having an area code, an exchange code, and an extension code, generate from the telephone number at least o... | 10/01/2009 |
| 20090245494 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RECORDING COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a system having a controller to monitor incoming and outgoing calls associated with one or more communication devices, identify communication identifiers initiating the incoming cal... | 10/01/2009 |
| 20090228947 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR APPRAISING PORTABLE MEDIA CONTENT A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media processor having a controller to detect a portable media storage device (PMSD), present media content supplied by the PMSD, present a survey to appraise the media content; r... | 09/10/2009 |
| 20090228938 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF SHARING MEDIA CONTENT A method of sharing media content is disclosed. A request is received at a network-connected media recorder to send a recording including media content to one or more users. At least one subscriber in the one or more users is identified, where the at least one subscribe... | 09/10/2009 |
| 20090228607 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING DELIVERY OF MEDIA CONTENT A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a set top box having a controller to select a portion of content servers among a plurality of content servers for delivery of media content to the set top box, where the selection i... | 09/10/2009 |
| 20090228582 | SYSTEM AND METHOD IN A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM WITH CONCEALED SOURCES A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a proxy system having a controller to submit to law enforcement agency an identity of a source that conceals its identity with one or more anonymous Internet Protocol addresses. Oth... | 09/10/2009 |
| 20090228326 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING OPINION DATA A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media processor having a controller to solicit an appraisal for each of a plurality of media programs presented by the media processor for composing a proposal to update one or mo... | 09/10/2009 |
| 20090222868 | SERVICE FOR PROVIDING SHARED MULTIMEDIA CONTENT A multimedia content delivery resource suitable for supporting a video on demand service to a plurality of users substantially simultaneously. The multimedia content delivery resource includes a reception interface for receiving a video content item selection signal ass... | 09/03/2009 |
| 20090222853 | Advertisement Replacement System An advertisement replacement system monitors a multimedia stream containing digital television content and advertisements for indicators of objectionable advertisement content. Replacement content is substituted for all or part of an advertisement that has at least one ... | 09/03/2009 |
| 20090217356 | Electronic permission slips for controlling access to multimedia content An administrator controls viewer access to restricted multimedia programs using electronic permission slips. In response to a viewer's request to view a restricted multimedia program, the viewer may initiate the generation of an electronic permission slip that is sent t... | 08/27/2009 |
| 20090217321 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONDUCTING CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a set top box (STB) operating in an interactive television communication system having a controller to receive metadata describing a charitable media program associated with a chari... | 08/27/2009 |
| 20090217317 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROMOTING MARKETABLE ITEMS A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media processor having a controller to receive from a media communication system metadata describing one or more marketable items depicted in a media program supplied by the media... | 08/27/2009 |
| 20090217097 | PORTAL FACILITATING TELECOMMUNICATION INSTALLATION AND REPAIR SERVICES A web server includes software to support a remotely accessible web portal for installation and repair services in conjunction with a telecommunication service provided to a customer by a provider. The software includes instructions to provide a first I&R user inter... | 08/27/2009 |
| 20090210922 | SYSTEM FOR CONFIGURING SOFT KEYS IN A MEDIA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, set top box (STB) having a controller to record one or more soft key preferences associated with a user of the STB for each of a plurality of media presentation states of a media co... | 08/20/2009 |
| 20090210907 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RECOMMENDING MULTIMEDIA CONTENT A system and method are disclosed for providing recommendations of multimedia programs broadcast over a provider network using contact lists. For IPTV broadcast programs, recommendations by users may be for pay-per-view or on-demand programs. Upon ordering a multimedia ... | 08/20/2009 |
| 20090210903 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PRESENTING ELECTRONIC PROGRAMMING GUIDES A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media processor having a controller to present a graphic user interface (GUI) for customizing an electronic programming guide (EPG), the GUI including a plurality of scrollable me... | 08/20/2009 |
| 20090210477 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING MEDIA CONTENT A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media distribution system having a controller to identify a plurality of media presentation devices of a user of the MDS, identify one or more distribution preferences supplied by... | 08/20/2009 |
