Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Sarah E Zuberec

Jeffrey R Blum

Chee Heng Chew

Kathryn L Parker

Greg A Keyser

Elizabeth A Bastiaanse

Benjamin N Rabelos

Cynthia DuVal

Charlton E Lui

Timothy David Sharpe

Mark H Enomoto

William Hong Vong

Ido Miles Ben-Shachar

Jason Robert Tuck

Kevin Timothy Shields

Ankit Tandon

Andrew D Padawer

Prarthana H Panchal

Christen E Coomer

Jossef Goldberg

Michael Howard Hill

Stuart DeSpain

Steven P Masters

Timothy J Cullen

Andrew Davis

Santhosh Raman

Marcelo Ivan Garcia

Nicolae Velea

Hang Li

Craig Cyr

Lisa Matheson

The 'relevant' participants for each person in an online meeting may be automatically identified and a personalized view created to dynamically represent these relevant people as the meeting progresses. Relevancy of participants may be determined based on a number of factors and data from a variety of sources at the initialization of the meeting or when the participant for whom the personalized view is created joins the meeting. The relevancy computation may be updated and the personalized view dynamically changed during the meeting based on changes in participants, their participation modality, and comparable factors.

Automatic identification and representation of most relevant people in meetings

A user interface for a hand-held device is provided that allows users to activate the full 'card' for an entry using one gesture on a button while also giving the user the ability to reach a menu of context dependent commands using a second gesture on a button. In particular, certain button inputs are recognized as context menu gestures. When these gestures are made, a context menu appears. The user is then able to select a command in the context menu that is to be performed. A user is also allowed to open context menus while only using one hand to operate and hold the device.

Method and apparatus for providing context menus on a hand-held device

A speech recognition system having a user interface that provides both visual and auditory feedback to a user is described. In one aspect, a response time in which to receive an audible utterance is initiated. A graphic representing the response time is displayed. A first sound is played when an audible utterance is recognized. The graphic is changed to indicate passage of the response time such that the graphic diminishes in size from an original size with the passage of time. Responsive to recognizing an utterance, the graphic is presented in the original size. Responsive to expiration of the response time before the audible utterance has been recognized, a second sound is emitted to indicate that the speech recognition system has entered a dormant state.

Speech recognition user interface

Described is a system and method for passing context-sensitive information from a first application to another application on a mobile device (e.g., a cellular telephone). The method includes initiating the processing of a first application, such as receiving a cellular phone call that initiates a phone application residing on the mobile device. The first application provides a selection mechanism to allow a user to select a target application while continuing processing within the first application. The selection mechanism may include a smart link that appears as text on the display. In one embodiment, the text may have an abbreviated name for the target application. In addition, the text for the smart link may change based on the application type of the first application or based on the context of the first application. For example, if the first application is a phone application on a mobile device, the smart links may display text for a note application, a task application, a contact application, a calendar application, and a billing application.

System and method for passing context-sensitive information from a first application to a second application on a mobile device

A speech recognition system having a user interface that provides both visual and auditory feedback to a user. The user interface includes an audio sound or speech generator that produces three distinct sounds: an 'on' sound signifying that the speech recognition system is on and actively awaiting vocal input; an 'off' sound indicating that the speech recognition system is off and in a sleep mode; and a &#x201c;confirm&#x201d; sound noting that an utterance has been recognized. The &#x201c;on&#x201d; sound is triggered by a key &#x201c;wake up&#x201d; command or by depression of button. Once awake, the speech recognition engine expects to receive an utterance within a predetermined response time. The &#x201c;confirm&#x201d; sound signals the start of the response time. If the response time lapses before a recognizable utterance is entered, the &#x201c;off&#x201d; sound is played. The user interface further includes a visual component in the form of a graphic that changes with the tolling of the response period. In one implementation, the count graphic is a progress bar that counts down or shortens in proportion to the passage of the response period. When the response time runs out, the progress bar disappears entirely. On the other hand, if the speech engine recognizes an utterance within the response period, the user interface plays the &#x201c;confirm&#x201d; sound and restarts the countdown graphic. The user interface may also change the color of the graphic elements briefly to reflect a correct voice entry.

The hand-held computing device user interface (UI) of the present invention displays information for an active application program in a middle portion of the screen, and displays a shell program controlled navigation bar at a top portion of the screen. The navigation bar includes a navigation icon which when tapped by the stylus aids the user in navigating to other application programs. The navigation bar also includes a title for the active application program, thus saving vertical real estate on the screen. The UI of the present invention also displays an application menu bar at a bottom portion of the screen so that the user of the hand-held device can manipulate data from the active application by tapping menu items with a stylus without blocking view of the middle portion of the display.

User interface for palm-sized computing devices and method and apparatus for displaying the same

The present invention provides a user interface for a pen-based device that allows users to activate the full &ldquo;card&rdquo; for an entry using a single tap while also giving the user the ability to reach a menu of context dependent commands using a simple gesture. In particular, the present invention recognizes certain stylus and/or button inputs as context menu gestures. When these gestures are made, a context menu appears. The user is then able to select a command in the context menu that is to be performed. The present invention also allows a user to open context menus while only using one hand to operate and hold the device.

Method and apparatus for providing context menus on a pen-based device

An electronic device has a small-area screen to display items from a navigatable set of items and an input mechanisms (e.g., keys, joystick, spin dial, etc.) that enable a user to navigate through the navigatable items. An operator interface includes a navigation glyph having multiple elements that correspond to actions of the input mechanism. Different sets of the navigation glyph elements are illuminated to indicate which user-actions on the input mechanism are presently available to navigate from a current location to another location in the navigatable set of items.

Navigation graphical interface for small screen devices

The UI of the present invention increases the number of contacts initially shown to the user of a hand-held device to aid the user in finding information in a Contacts database. While displaying a list of Contacts database entries, the UI displays a column which contains single letters indicating the type of information displayed for the names represented in the list of entries. A tap on a letter in that column causes a sub-list of other most commonly needed information to be deployed for the corresponding entry, potentially eliminating the need for the user to open the entire record for that entry.

Smart column for contact information on palm-sized computing devices and method and apparatus for displaying the same

The size of information being display by a computer is automatically adjusted in order to make the information easily readable, while at the same time leaving most (or all) of the information displayed on a single screen. Any one or more of the font point size, the font type, the number of lines used, and the caption used can be adjusted in order to determine the manner in which the information is displayed.

Displaying text on a limited-area display surface

A speech recognition system has an operator interface that helps a user navigate new or changing grammars. The speech recognition system includes an application, a vocabulary that holds a set of utterances applicable to the application, and an active grammar that holds a subset of the utterances in the vocabulary. The active grammar includes a help command as well as other options. The speech recognition system has a speech recognition engine to recognize the utterances in the active grammar, including the help command. When the help command is detected, the operator interface verbally enunciates the utterances in the grammar so that the user can hear the available options in a hands-free, eyes-off operating environment. In this way, any time the user does not know or forgets the available options, he/she simply speaks the help command, such as asking &ldquo;What can I say.&rdquo; The system responds verbally with a list of currently available words and/or phrases in the active grammar.

Speech recognition system with changing grammars and grammar help command

A user interface utilizes a variable or changeable displayed field label and an associated data entry field for displaying and entering stored database properties. A pop-up list box is associated with the displayed field label, to be selectively displayed in response to a user's selection. When displayed, the pop-up list box contains a list of available field labels that can be alternatively selected by the user as the displayed field label. Each of the field labels corresponds to a different stored property. The data entry field corresponding to the displayed field label can be selected and used to enter a value for the stored property corresponding to the displayed field label. The pop-up list box contains an indication of any existing values for the stored properties corresponding to the available field labels. This indication clarifies to the user that the available field labels correspond respectively to different stored properties, rather than being alternative labels corresponding to a single stored property.

Growing community of inventors

Seattle, WA, United States of America

Sarah E Zuberec