94results about How to "Enhancing its appeal" patented technology

A surgical template system for use in working on a bone comprises: a tool guide block comprising at least one guide aperture for receiving and guiding a tool to work on a bone; locating means comprising a plurality of locating members, each member having a respective end surface for positioning against a surface of the bone; and attachment means for non-adjustably attaching the tool guide block to the locating means such that, when attached, the member end surfaces are secured in fixed position with, respect to each other, for engaging different respective portions of the surface of the bone, and the at least one guide aperture is secured in a fixed position with respect to the end surfaces. Corresponding methods of manufacturing a surgical template system, methods of manufacturing locating means for a surgical template system, methods of fitting a prosthesis to a bone, surgical methods, and surgical apparatus are described.

A system and method is provided for use in connection with delivering content that is targeted to users of a broadcast network. In order to select content that is targeted to users of the broadcast network, signals are received from a plurality of customer premise equipment devices (CPEs) of the network users via a broadcast network interface. Based on the received signals, broadcast assets (e.g., programming, advertisements etc.) are selected from a collection of available asset options. Accordingly, at least a portion of the selected assets are inserted into a content stream of the broadcast network. Once the content stream is broadcast over a broadcast network interface, at least a portion of the selected assets area available for receipt by at least a portion of the CPEs. The CPEs generate reports regarding assets delivered such that asset providers can be billed based on guaranteed targeted impressions.

A system and method is provided for use in connection with delivering content that is targeted to users of a broadcast network. In order to select content that is targeted to users of the broadcast network, signals are received from a plurality of customer premise equipment devices (CPEs) of the network users via a broadcast network interface. Based on the received signals, broadcast assets (e.g., programming, advertisements etc.) are selected from a collection of available asset options. Accordingly, at least a portion of the selected assets are inserted into a content stream of the broadcast network. Once the content stream is broadcast over a broadcast network interface, at least a portion of the selected assets area available for receipt by at least a portion of the CPEs. The CPEs generate reports regarding assets delivered such that asset providers can be billed based on guaranteed targeted impressions.

Methods, systems, and apparatuses for generating and providing review information for products are described. Product reviews for a product are collected from multiple websites over the Internet. The product reviews may be collected in any manner, such as by crawling the Internet to collect product review information for the product. Review information may be collected for multiple versions / releases of the product. Websites, RSS feeds, consumer reports, and other Internet sources may be parsed for product reviews for the product. Product reviews and product review ratings received from multiple websites may be weighted and normalized into common form. Product reviews may be weighted based on a reputation of the reviewers who submitted them. Product reviews may also be filtered based on time of submission. One or more summary ratings for the product are generated based on the collected product reviews. The summary ratings are displayed.

Liquid activated infusion packet(s) / system, promoting hydration, containing active and / or inactive ingredients and / or a support member(s). Infusion Packet(s) / System is one or more individual compartments, and / or group(s), whereby the enveloping material(s) may be totally or partially dissolvable, edible, transparent, opaque, decorated, etc. Further, including of one or more: color(s), flavor(s), aroma(s), pharmaceutical(s), nutraceutical(s), dietary supplement(s), enzyme(s), pre / pro-biotic(s), amino-acid(s), soluble-fiber(s), diagnostic agent(s) etc. regardless of form, + / - effervescence, + / - uniform / controlled-release encapsulations into liquid for humans and / or animals. Enveloping material may be in whole and / or in combination; non-synthetic / porous, and / or synthetic porous / non-porous with deliberate perforations. Infusion Packet(s) / System + / - tag, support member for assistance, consumer compliance: promotion, advertising, education, entertainment, (toy / game), etc. Manual and / or power operated parts, lights, noise, etc. Additionally incorporated; unique business modalities with test market opportunities and / or the ability to provide income and / or esteem for the health challenged.

A system and method is provided for use in connection with delivering content that is targeted to users of a broadcast network. In order to select content that is targeted to users of the broadcast network, signals are received from a plurality of customer premise equipment devices (CPEs) of the network users via a broadcast network interface. Based on the received signals, broadcast assets (e.g., programming, advertisements etc.) are selected from a collection of available asset options. Accordingly, at least a portion of the selected assets are inserted into a content stream of the broadcast network. Once the content stream is broadcast over a broadcast network interface, at least a portion of the selected assets area available for receipt by at least a portion of the CPEs. The CPEs generate reports regarding assets delivered such that asset providers can be billed based on guaranteed targeted impressions.

A device is disclosed which comprises a drinking fountain for animals in the configuration of a free falling stream of water, or continuous waterfall. A pump moves water from a reservoir upward to a discharge ramp, or ramps, where water spills over into a receptacle. The reservoir and receptacle may consist of the same part. The cascade of water takes advantage of a preference demonstrated by animals for moving drinking water. The waterfall action also aerates the water and increases freshness, by breaking the surface tension of the standing water and drawing in oxygen from the atmosphere. Filtration of the circulating water in this self-contained system is easily accomplished.

A system and method is provided for use in connection with delivering content that is targeted to users of a broadcast network. In order to select content that is targeted to users of the broadcast network, signals are received from a plurality of customer premise equipment devices (CPEs) of the network users via a broadcast network interface. Based on the received signals, broadcast assets (e.g., programming, advertisements etc.) are selected from a collection of available asset options. Accordingly, at least a portion of the selected assets are inserted into a content stream of the broadcast network. Once the content stream is broadcast over a broadcast network interface, at least a portion of the selected assets area available for receipt by at least a portion of the CPEs. The CPEs generate reports regarding assets delivered such that asset providers can be billed based on guaranteed targeted impressions.

A souvenir toothbrush includes a head part of the toothbrush with bristles, a handle part made with clear or opaque thermoplastic material, a molded recess inside the handle for placement of an insert having text or an image on one or both sides, a clear or opaque window insert placed inside the recess on top of the insert and a soft spongy part of the toothbrush molded to the handle of the toothbrush for convenient gripping of the handle by a user. The insert has ribs around the perimeter to allow it to be centered within the pocket of the handle and leave a gap between the insert and the pocket to be filled with soft thermoplastic elastomer. The insert is also designed with a step on either side to allow more efficient manipulation of the insert during manufacturing. A toothbrush holder, soap dish and other toiletry articles can also have a similar insert design. The toothbrush holder is designed to keep the toothbrushes, or other implements stored in the holder, from touching the bristles of other toothbrushes in the holder and is constructed for easy cleaning to avoid the accumulation of germs.

The invention features a method for providing an EAP (employee assistance program) to multiple members of a first organization having at least fifty members. The method includes having a second organization provide to the first organization multiple EAP coaches who assist the multiple members of the first organization in achieving behavior change to address health, wellness, mental health, and productivity issues, wherein the coaches have undertaken coach training and use substantially the same coaching skills and methodology. Generally, the coaches of the second organization are as a group heterogeneous in that some of the coaches, for example, possess credentials in nutrition and weight management, and some of the coaches possess credentials in mental health.

A souvenir toothbrush includes a head part of the toothbrush with bristles, a handle part made with clear or opaque thermoplastic material, a molded recess inside the handle for placement of an insert having text or an image on one or both sides, a clear or opaque window insert placed inside the recess on top of the insert and a soft spongy part of the toothbrush molded to the handle of the toothbrush for convenient gripping of the handle by a user. The insert has ribs around the perimeter to allow it to be centered within the pocket of the handle and leave a gap between the insert and the pocket to be filled with soft thermoplastic elastomer. The insert is also designed with a step on either side to allow more efficient manipulation of the insert during manufacturing. A toothbrush holder, soap dish and other toiletry articles can also have a similar insert design. The toothbrush holder is designed to keep the toothbrushes, or other implements stored in the holder, from touching the bristles of other toothbrushes in the holder and is constructed for easy cleaning to avoid the accumulation of germs.

This is directed to dynamic tags or screen savers for display on an electronic device. The tags can include several dynamic elements that move across the display. The particular characteristics of the elements can be controlled in part by the output of one or more sensors detecting the environment of the device. For example, the color scheme used for a tag can be selected based on the colors of an image captured by a camera, and the orientation of the movement can be selected from the output of a motion sensing component. The tag can adjust automatically based on the sensor outputs to provide an aesthetically pleasing display that a user can use as an fashion accessory.

This invention relates to a hand-held vacuum cleaner (10). The vacuum cleaner is expected to have particular utility for cleaning locations which are difficult to reach with a conventional vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner (10) has a body (12) with a substantially planar base (22) upon which the vacuum cleaner can rest when not in use, the body having a carrying handle (20), a motor (14) and an impeller (16) located within the body, the vacuum cleaner also having a collector (26, 126) and a battery pack (18), the battery pack providing at least a part of the base (22). The motor and the battery pack are located between the base and the collector so as to lower the centre of gravity and make the vacuum cleaner more comfortable for use, especially over long periods. Ideally, the centre of gravity is close to the carrying handle, and between the carrying handle and the nozzle so that the vacuum cleaner is slightly “nose heavy”.

The appeal of a game can be increased by notifying actions performed in the game by other players. In a game system 10 for providing a virtual stock trade game to a plurality of players, the player-owned brand data is stored which represents the stock brands virtually owned by each player in a game space. At least one of the plurality of players is selected based on, for example, his / her performance in the game, and the portfolio of the selected player is publicized to the other players based on the player-owned brand data.

A holder for a beverage container has a storage compartment, a divider which is movably guided on the storage compartment with a substantially vertically arranged rotary bearing as a guide, from the non-use position in which the divider does not divide the storage compartment, in the position of use in which the divider divides off an insertion region for the beverage container from a remainder of the storage compartment, and back again, a diameter-compensating flap which is moved out of the storage compartment as the divider moves into the non-use position, the divider having a torsion spring system and being lockable by a locking device.

A digital signature is applied to digital documents / information. In certain instances, juridically strong digital signatures are achieved. Cloud computing technologies may be used to aid in the production of the cryptographically secure, authenticated digital signatures. Digital signatures may be produced with a digital notarization. The techniques of generating a digital signature may not require the use of traditional public key infrastructure (PKI).

Developable surfaces are generated by interactively evolving curves on a 2D surface embedded in 3D space using an iterative process to produce a model for the construction of a stylized three dimensional sculpture. Each iteration includes tessellating loops formed by the curves on the surface and unfolding the resulting tessellated strips onto a 2D plane. Collisions between the unfolded tessellated strips in 2D and between the loops in 3D are resolved, and the rendered evolved curve in 3D and tessellated strips in 2D are displayed simultaneously during the evolution. A graphical user interface allows the curve network, tessellated strips, and curve evolution parameters to be modified by a user. 2D textures may be mapped to the unfolded tessellated strips, and a set of tool paths may be output for cutting a 2D material.

A system and method for the optimized storage and retrieval of video data at distributed sites calls for the deployment of “Smart Mirror” sites throughout a network, each of which maintains a copy of certain data managed by the system. User addresses are assigned to specific delivery sites based on an analysis of network performance with respect to each of the available delivery sites. Generalized network performance data is collected and stored to facilitate the selection of additional delivery sites and to ensure the preservation of improved performance in comparison to traditional networks.

An encased food product and process for producing the same are disclosed. The encased food product includes a food material surrounded by an edible casing including a soy protein material. One embodiment for producing the encased food product includes coextruding a food material and a soy protein dough including a soy protein material and subsequently solidifying the soy protein coating surrounding the food material.

A method of advertising, the method including: 1) segmenting a source video into individual scenes using a clustering-based approach; 2) obtaining relevant information about objects in the video for each individual scene using region-wise convolutional characteristics based detection; 3) searching, in a database, for advertisement objects matching the objects using garment retrieval and a category-based strategy; 4) performing optimization processing of retrieved advertisement objects matching the objects to obtain a candidate advertisement; and 5) optimizing a distance between an advertisement and a target object and an area of overlapping regions between the advertisement and all objects; and 6) distributing the video that contains the candidate advertisement to a plurality of displays and displaying the video that contains the candidate advertisement on the plurality of displays.

A system and method for the optimized storage and retrieval of video data at distributed sites calls for the deployment of “Smart Mirror” sites throughout a network, each of which maintains a copy of certain data managed by the system. User addresses are assigned to specific delivery sites based on an analysis of network performance with respect to each of the available delivery sites. Generalized network performance data is collected and stored to facilitate the selection of additional delivery sites and to ensure the preservation of improved performance in comparison to traditional networks.

The present invention is a seven-card-stud poker game, played with at least one standard poker deck of 52 cards, plus at least one Joker. Two or more players may participate in the game. One of the players is the Banker whom other players play against. A Player who is not a Banker may place a Poker Bet wager and / or a Pair Of Aces Or Better Bet wager; after at least one of two said wagers is placed, the Player has the option to place a Bonus Bet wager. Subsequently each Player and the Banker are each dealt seven cards, and then the Players and the Banker each then selects and keeps his or her best 5-card poker hand and discards two other cards from his or her own seven cards. To win a Poker Bet wager, a Player's best 5-card poker hand must rank higher than the Banker's best 5-card poker hand. To win a Pair Of Aces Or Better Bet wager, a Player's best 5-card poker hand must be a pair of Aces or better. To win a Bonus Bet wager, a Player must be dealt a 7-Card Straight Flush or a Player's best 5-card poker hand must rank higher than the Banker's with Flush or better. Three said wagers are independent wagers and are settled separately.

Various corner element embodiments, 100, 700 may comprise various concentric circle attributes useful in stopping or reducing cracks in stucco and related building materials. The corner element embodiments may be secured at widow and door corner areas and then integrated with traditional stucco applications. The concentric circle attributes and other corner element attributes dissipate stucco movement to reduce stucco heave and cracks.

An oral hygiene kit comprises a paste-dispensing toothbrush assembly and a cooperatively associated floss assembly. The toothbrush assembly comprises a paste-dispensing brush, a paste pump assembly, a piston, and a paste reservoir. The pump assembly is operable to drive the piston within the paste reservoir for forcing paste from the paste reservoir. When forced from the paste reservoir, paste is conveyed via a paste conduit through the paste-dispensing brush to a brush head. The floss assembly is cooperatively associated with the toothbrush assembly and comprises a spool-supporting lid, a floss spool, and a floss cap. The spool-supporting lid covers the paste-dispensing brush and supports the floss spool. The floss cap covers the floss spool and provides the kit with a floss-cutting structure. Together the toothbrush assembly and the floss assembly may contribute to a user's oral hygiene.

The invention disclosed is a method of levitating one or both ends of an object permanently or temporarily, or altering the distance between two objects or the momentum of an object by manipulating the direction of the magnetic field of a permanent or electromagnet.

A lighting device (100) is suitable for adjusting a light colour with respect to elements contained within an output field, separately for each element. The lighting device comprises at least two light systems (1a-1d) each adapted for operating as a light detector and also as a light source, a scanning system (2) suitable for scanning the output field, and a processing unit (3). Such lighting device is especially adapted for exhibiting articles with producing enhanced appeal to an observer. To this purpose, light which is directed towards each element may be enhanced in saturation and brightness as compared to initial light reflected by the element, while hue may be substantially maintained.