Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8117550 | Real to virtual telecommunications Computer implemented methods and systems are provided for real to virtual communications. A request from a mobile device associated with a first participant of a virtual environment is received to communicate with an avatar associated with the virtual environment. A... | 02/14/2012 |
| 8103959 | Gesture exchange via communications in virtual world applications A method, system and computer-readable medium are disclosed for exchanging gestures in a virtual world application. In one embodiment, the virtual world application determines whether a first avatar has a gesture exchange function enabled. If so, the virtual world a... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8103958 | User-configured management of IM availability status Communicating an Instant Messaging (IM) user's availability status message is managed by a user-defined shortcut command, which is used to generate a user-drafted status response. When the user receives an instant message at an inopportune time, the user inputs the ... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8091035 | System and method for sharing data A method and computer program product for establishing a trust relationship between a first user of a collaboration platform and at least a second user of the collaboration platform. Information concerning calendar-related events for the at least a second user is au... | 01/03/2012 |
| 8006190 | Social namespace addressing for non-unique identifiers A device, system, and method are directed towards enabling a user to disambiguate an identity of a member included in a user's social network (USN), and towards enabling an operation to be performed based on information about the member. The USN is determined. The n... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7996776 | Shared telepointer A facility is described for providing shared telepointers and for enabling hosts and participants to highlight portions of documents or applications using the shared telepointers. In various embodiments, the facility establishes a sharing session wherein an applicat... | 08/09/2011 |
| 7992089 | Visualization of meeting invitee status as a method of collaboration A system, method, and computer program product provide visualization of anonymous information about overall meeting invitation status. An attribute is generated for display at an invitee device and the attribute in a displayed image represents a person's decision: a... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7975230 | Information-processing apparatus, information-processing methods, recording mediums, and programs The present invention provides an information-processing apparatus including reproduction means for synchronously reproducing content data common to an other information-processing apparatus, user information input means for inputting first user condition informatio... | 07/05/2011 |
| 7966566 | Systems and methods to create follow-up meetings A system may include reception of an instruction to create a next meeting based on a source meeting, the source meeting associated with a first plurality of meeting particulars, and automatically creation, in response to the instruction, of the next meeting in assoc... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7962854 | Systems, methods and computer program products for displaying content on multiple display screens using handheld wireless communicators Content displaying methods, systems and computer program products display first display content on a first display screen of a handheld wireless communicator, while simultaneously sending second display content that is different from the first display content, from ... | 06/14/2011 |
| 7954058 | Sharing of content and hop distance over a social network A method, system, and apparatus are directed to sharing information over a network. A drag-and-drop of a selection of a portion of content may be received at a sharing area. A sharing message may be generated based on a type of the portion. If the type of the portio... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7921369 | Mood-based organization and display of instant messenger buddy lists A mood state may be modeled using mood information for a content selection (e.g., a digitally-encoded song) and/or by using mood information determined by how a user is interacting with a media player. For example, a playlist engine on a host may determine that a pa... | 04/05/2011 |
| 7877697 | IM conversation counter and indicator A user interface that enables user perception of status regarding communications that leverage an instant messaging platform may be rendered on a display. The user interface includes an instant messaging application user interface that enables perception and selecti... | 01/25/2011 |
| 7870494 | Providing feedback to an e-meeting presenter An apparatus, system and method of providing feedback to a presenter in an e-meeting in which visual information is being presented are provided. During presentation, the computer system of each participant is monitored to ensure that the window in which the visual ... | 01/11/2011 |
| 7865816 | System for displaying additional information added to an electronic document An information processing apparatus has an additional information adding unit, a display, an acquisition unit, a status determination unit, and a display control unit. The additional information adding unit adds additional information to an electronic document. The ... | 01/04/2011 |
| 7831917 | Method, system, and graphical user interface for identifying and communicating with meeting spots One aspect of the invention involves a computer-implemented method in which a server computer sends to a plurality of client devices associated with computer users in an online discussion information corresponding to: a map, an icon for a meeting spot to be overlaid... | 11/09/2010 |
| 7823073 | Presence-based location and/or proximity awareness Various embodiments utilize a presence-based network to provide a suite of services that build upon the presence-based or instant messaging foundation. In at least some embodiments, the presence-based network is utilized to implement a number of location-aware appli... | 10/26/2010 |
| 7757176 | Method and system for collective calendaring A confluence calendar system and method is provided having a user platform with a user calendar having a number of events of importance to the user. Each of the user events can include date information, location information, and other event detail information. In ad... | 07/13/2010 |
| 7747957 | Work space control apparatus When an activity event conducted by user object in the work space is detected by the detection server according to the detection of the activity event ID tag, the activity event is saved for each object by the work space server and the individual activity history se... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7739610 | Information processing apparatus, information processing method, recording medium, and program In a service providing system, a live-distribution service for live-distributing contents supplied according to a reservation, and a chat service for providing the use of a chat space corresponding to the reservation for the live distribution are provided. When a pe... | 06/15/2010 |
| 7730411 | Re-creating meeting context In one embodiment, a method can include: (i) connecting to a conference server via a network; (ii) viewing a list of available past meetings and associated forms of access; (iii) selecting a meeting and form of access from the list; and (iv) re-creating the meeting ... | 06/01/2010 |
| 7721215 | Information processing apparatus, information processing method, recording medium, and program In a service providing system, a live-distribution service for live-distributing contents supplied according to a reservation, and a chat service for providing the use of a chat space corresponding to the reservation for live distribution are provided. After the liv... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7716594 | Information processing apparatus, information processing method, recording medium, and program In a service providing system, a live-distribution service for live-distributing contents supplied according to a reservation, and a chat service for providing the use of a chat space corresponding to the reservation for the live distribution are provided. ... | 05/11/2010 |
| 7716595 | Call center support and documentation system A call center support and documentation system is provided. The call center support and documentation system assists an agent of a call center in processing calls. Specifically, the system assists the agent in processing calls more quickly by providing, on a single ... | 05/11/2010 |
| 7617457 | System and method for collaborative call management A system and method for collaborative call management are disclosed. In one embodiment of a method incorporating teachings of the present disclosure, a graphical user interface (GUI) element may be presented in connection with a collaborative call. The GUI element m... | 11/10/2009 |
| 7607097 | Translating emotion to braille, emoticons and other special symbols A method for incorporating emotional information in a communication stream by receiving an emotional state indicator indicating an emotional state of a presenter in a communication session, retrieving a cultural profile for the presenter, retrieving a plurality of c... | 10/20/2009 |
| 7590941 | Communication and collaboration system using rich media environments A system that enables communication and collaboration among individuals using rich media environments. A system according to the present techniques includes a set of rich media environments each having a corresponding arrangement of sensing and rendering components ... | 09/15/2009 |
| 7574662 | Remote document sharing An apparatus, method, and computer program product for instant remote document serving. In one implementation, referred to as “remote document serving,” a remote file is converted to a “served document” which is distributed to a member of a data conference f... | 08/11/2009 |
| 7565614 | Image data processing apparatus and image data processing method for a video conference system This invention provides a data processing apparatus and a data processing method for reducing the amount of image data denoting a pattern drawn on a whiteboard by a pen or the like being moved so as to designate locations in a designated sequence. Specifically, a co... | 07/21/2009 |
| 7559031 | Video display apparatus, video composition delivery apparatus, and system There is provided with a video display apparatus comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive a composite video image generated from a plurality of video sources; a display unit configured to display the received composite video image; an area manager configur... | 07/07/2009 |
| 7552393 | Hook-up assistant A hook-up assistant (HUA) capable of assisting people in hooking up with other people, in various business and social settings, and of achieving decision-making, planning, and commitment activities asynchronously, thereby advantageously off-loading an event requeste... | 06/23/2009 |
| 7546536 | Communication device, communication method, and computer usable medium A letter string editing unit of a communication device receives an edit instruction for a letter string, and edits a letter string in accordance with the instruction. A decide input reception unit receives a decide instruction for the letter string together with ope... | 06/09/2009 |
| 7546537 | Gradual image display Systems and techniques for displaying an image sent between subscribers of a communications system by receiving electronic data corresponding to the image; displaying a blurred view of the image; and gradually displaying a sharper version of the image in response to... | 06/09/2009 |
| 7530022 | Application sharing single document sharing An improved application sharing system and method allow sharing of documents on a per document basis rather than on a per application basis, in order to simplify the user experience and to provide a more secure sharing environment. A window marking method is used to... | 05/05/2009 |
| 7530021 | Instant meeting preparation architecture Architecture that facilitates generation of an event report that is an aggregation of public and private data related to a specific task. Information about the event is automatically compiled, including the recipients, URLs, shares, attachments, and documents, as we... | 05/05/2009 |
| 7519912 | Method and system for sensing and communicating the use of communication modes by remote users A system to monitor and report the use of communication software applications in a computing environment including an instant messaging system, that provides local users with information describing detected uses of communication software applications by remote users... | 04/14/2009 |
| 7516411 | Graphical user interface for a virtual team environment A collaboration services suite is adapted to support a plurality of integrated telecommunications services accessed by geographically dispersed team members using a virtual team environment (VTE) client that generates a graphical user interface (GUI) for each of the... | 04/07/2009 |
| 7516410 | Method and system for supporting communications within a virtual team environment A collaboration services suite is adapted to support a plurality of integrated telecommunications services accessed by geographically dispersed team members using a virtual team environment (VTE) client that generates a graphical user interface (GUI) for each of the... | 04/07/2009 |
| 7506249 | Apparatus, method and program for converting structured document Acquisition portion acquires distribution rule information, user situation information, and a distribution information structured document output from contents distribution server, and evaluation object extraction portion extracts evaluation objects related with the... | 03/17/2009 |
| 7487457 | Application sharing single document sharing An improved application sharing system and method allow sharing of documents on a per document basis rather than on a per application basis, in order to simplify the user experience and to provide a more secure sharing environment. A window marking method is used to... | 02/03/2009 |
