Associative Computing, Inc.

Mindmaker, Inc.

Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Peter M Ridge

Jozsef Kiraly

Zoltan Holvath

Timothy A Musgrove

Frances James

John W Suh

A neighborhood guide system, related method and associated database for providing information about businesses and other locations to a vehicle driver, or other user, in a more natural and informative manner than traditional IVR systems. When interacting with the user, the neighborhood guide system typically will only provide choices for the user to select from based on a user request that are in the particular vicinity of the user. Further, the neighborhood guide system provides usable information about the selected business by the user, such as hours of operation, cost, ratings, parking, etc.

Neighborhood guide for semantic search system and method to support local POI discovery

The present invention is an intelligent assistant for use with a local computer and with the Internet. The invention's intelligent assistant process includes various menus and training options for training the intelligent assistant to respond to various text, voice, and mouse gesture commands. In its preferred embodiment, the invention's intelligent assistant is represented by an animated character. The character can communicate back to the user through text, voice, and its own animated gestures. The invention's intelligent assistant automatically and constantly communicates with Internet sites of interest to a user and collects information of interest from those Internet sites. The collected information and updates to the collected information, including information that may not be displayed by a browser, are then communicated to the user in a variety of ways, including changing the behavior and the knowledge base of the intelligent assistant. For example, the invention may communicate the collected information of interest or updates to such information by text, voice, or by simply changing the shape of the animated character. The variety of different ways of communicating the information and updates to the information of interest keeps the user alert and interested in the information. In one embodiment of the invention, only those Internet sites that are authorized can be accessed by the intelligent assistant to gather information or updated information of interest to the user.

Intelligent assistant for use with a local computer and with the internet

A method of providing language assistance to a computer user with dyslexia, reading disabilities or visual impairment by presenting text-based information via multiple channels is provided. This technique effectively provides multiple channels of information to a user. Moreover, this method is useful for displaying text-based information to users having disabilities such as dyslexia, or for increasing the entertainment value of viewing a text document. This technique may be used for assisting users in editing documents and in retrieving information from the World Wide Web.

Method of displaying information to a user in multiple windows

A method of providing language assistance to a computer user with dyslexia, reading disabilities or visual impairment by presenting text-based information via multiple media channels. The method of the present invention includes the steps of: accessing a source of text-based data that can originate from a computer text document, displaying text-based data in a text window with a standard font size, displaying the text-based data in another text window with a magnified font size, sequentially highlighting the text-based data in the magnified text window one word at a time; generating synthesized speech signals representative of the highlighted text; rendering the synthesized speech signals audible synchronously with the displaying of the highlighted text; displaying images that correspond to the context of the highlighted text; and generating sound effects that are pertinent to the context of the highlighted text such that text-based information and corresponding graphical and audible information can be perceived simultaneously by the user. This technique effectively provides multiple channels of information to a user. The present invention is particularly useful for displaying text-based information to users having reading disabilities such as dyslexia, or for increasing the entertainment value of viewing a text document. The present invention may be used for assisting users in editing documents and in retrieving information from the World Wide Web.

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Milpitas, CA, United States of America

Peter M Ridge