Siemens Information & Communication Networks, Inc.

Siemens Communications, Inc.

Phillip C Meredith

Christoph A Aktas

John W Yates

Shmuel Shaffer

William Joseph Beyda

Selena Dilley

Rudolph Bitzinger

Henry W Lambert

The invention provides users of either a unified messaging mailbox or simple plain text storage mailbox, with media and device sensitive methods and apparatus to convert messages from one medium to another (when necessary) taking into account the type of target device (for example, cell phone, PDA, pager, etc.), being used to access a stored message Additionally, the invention provides methods and apparatus for determining target device type and for summarizing message content based on target device type.

Methods and apparatus for performing media/device sensitive processing of messages stored in unified multimedia and plain text mailboxes

The invention provides the user of a unified messaging mailbox with efficient, intelligent, media and device sensitive methods and apparatus to access and process (e.g., read, listen, forward, and search) messages. The invention introduces media conversion capabilities to selectively treat multimedia messages and message attachments so that they can be efficiently handled by mobile devices like PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), pagers, or phone devices (with or without a text display feature). Furthermore, the invention introduces message content analysis capabilities that will recognize linguistic relationships between messages regardless of the media type. The invention also describes the ability to present these linguistic relationships along with the standard messaging relationships (Message arrival time, subject, sender, etc.). Still further, the invention introduces a message referencing option that allows simpler message selection from certain devices.

Methods and apparatus for accessing and processing multimedia messages stored in a unified multimedia mailbox

A method and an apparatus for providing visual aid to a presenter involve converting the spoken words of a presenter into an electronic text format, electronically comparing the converted spoken words to electronically stored reference text to find text string matches, utilizing the text string matches between the converted spoken words and the reference text to determine a current location of the presentation with respect to the reference text, and delivering upcoming portions of the reference text to the presenter as needed to enable a continuous presentation by the presenter. A preferred presentation support system is incorporated into a portable personal computer that includes a speech recognition subsystem. The speech recognition subsystems allows a presentation to be tracked in real-time so that presentation support material can be automatically displayed to the presenter in synchronization with the in-progress presentation.

Method and apparatus for an enhanced presentation aid

A method is provided for monitoring channels and controlling calls. Multiple channels provided by at least one digital line are monitored. Based on this monitoring, the present invention determines when all of the multiple channels are occupied. At least one of an incoming call and an established call is given priority when all of the multiple channels are busy. The priority is based on predetermined inputs from a user. The call with priority is provided on one of the multiple channels. The present invention then determines when one or more of the multiple channels are available. When one of the multiple channels becomes available, the action based on the call priority is automatically disabled.

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Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Phillip C Meredith