1934 results about "Community setting" patented technology

The methods and systems described herein relate to online methods of collaboration in community environments. The methods and systems are related to an online apparel modeling system that allows users to have three-dimensional models of their physical profile created. Users may purchase various goods and/or services and collaborate with other users in the online environment.

A method for conducting a community wagering game on one or more gaming devices comprises receiving a first wager from a first player and determining a first modifier associated with the first player based upon play of a first base game. The method further comprises triggering and displaying a community gaming event comprising a competition and determining a finishing order of a plurality of participants in the competition, the plurality of participants including at least first and second participants. The method further comprises associating the first player with the first participant, determining a first prize value for the first participant, the first prize value based upon the finishing order, and awarding the first player a first award comprising the first prize value as modified by the first modifier.

Content maintained in an online social network or other online communities is tracked for changes and updates. The content may include user profiles, digital photos, digital audio and video files, testimonials, and identification of users who are friends. When such change or update occurs, users of the online social network or online community are notified according to various criteria that they have set. The notification may be provided by e-mail, an RSS feed, or a web page when accessed. With this feature, users can browse through content of other users with efficiency.

A tabulating system and method analyzes content posted and/or queried by an online community. The content can be searched based on a search filter executed at defined intervals, and the system can also reach through to locate and extract content from other remote systems. Community postings and queries can be tabulated to determine “hot topics” of interest to the community, to enhance the appeal and stickiness of a website. Furthermore, subscribers can also formulate and define their own custom searches to be run on their behalf to identify the existence of particular content on the website.

Systems and methods according to the invention provide a surveillance, monitoring and real-time events platform to (i) enable the integration and communication of information between government agencies and organizations specifically tasked with ensuring the security and safety of our nation and its communities, (ii) to integrate information systems from federal, state and/or local agencies (from disparate data sources if necessary) in order to obtain a single, real-time view of the entire organization, and (iii) to extract more complete, actionable information from their existing systems, thereby dramatically improving decision making speed and accuracy.

A consumer-centric service for matching local consumers with local service providers. A matching is performed between consumer needs and local vendor capabilities and the results are presented back to the consumer so that the choice of which vendors to be contacted is left to the consumer. Mechanisms are provided for immediately and automatically contacting the chosen vendor in one or more of a plurality of communication media and offering the chosen vendor the details of the consumer's request, including the preferred method of contact information, for a fee. Also, the system immediately informs the consumer about the status of the vendor contacts, including whether or not the vendor has accepted the lead. Once a chosen vendor accepts the lead, the consumer is contacted by the vendor, in the manner requested by the consumer. Thus, the invention enables consumers to maintain control over the selection and contact process with matched vendors. The system of the invention is particularly advantageous for providing community based services such as babysitting, cleaning, painting, software support, typing, and in obtaining professional services from professionals such as electricians, carpenters, gardeners, accountants, lawyers, and the like.

Disclosed are apparatus and methods for facilitating annotation of media objects by a user. Mechanisms present a user with an easily usable set of annotation suggestions that are most likely to be relevant to the particular user and/or media context. In general, existing annotations are analyzed to determine a set of suggested annotations. Annotation suggestions for a particular user are based on an analysis of the relevance, to the particular user, of existing annotations of one or more media objects so that the most likely relevant annotations are presented as suggested annotations. In particular embodiments, this analysis depends on whether the existing annotations were created and/or selected by the particular user, a member of the particular user's social network, or members of the general public.

In accordance with the present invention, a method for creating a system of self-organizing colonies of players engaged in turn based games and other social activities performed within a web browser is provided. The approach described here partitions the game site population into distinct colonies with the appropriate activities and design such that the players create a community environment. Playing online games and chatting are examples of social networking activities; therefore, an invention that combines self-organizing capabilities to these activities will enhance the social experience. Essentially, the notion becomes a game within a game where the players change aspects of the rules governing the site and the games themselves. In particular, tests have demonstrated that game players create their own distinct communities just as thermodynamic theory predicts.

A networked system of addressable alarms notifies citizens of conditions within a community, A control center is communicably linked via the network to alarm devices such as smoke detectors in controlled environments such as buildings in order to alert citizens of conditions outside of the controlled environment, which may be situations requiring an emergency response. The alarm devices may also be capable of sending local status information (e.g., fire alarms, security alarms, etc.) to the control center so that the control center can respond as necessary to any local emergencies.

A Web based system provides informational services for assisting customers in selecting products or other types of items from an electronic catalog of a merchant. Users of the system can create and join user communities, such as communities based on user hobbies, localities, professions, and organizations. The system also supports implicit membership communities that are based on email addresses (e.g., all users having a “nasa.com” email address), shipping/billing addresses, and other known user information. Using purchase history data collected for online users, the system automatically identifies and generates lists of the most popular items (and/or items that are becoming popular) within particular communities, and makes such information available to users for viewing. For example, in the context of an online book store users of the nasa.com community may automatically be presented a Web page which lists the bestselling book titles among nasa.com users, or may be sent email notifications of purchase events or hotselling books within the community. Another feature involves automatically notifying users interested in particular products of other users (preferably other members of the same community) that have purchased the same or similar products. For example, in one embodiment, when a user accesses a book detail page, the detail page is customized to include the names and email addresses of other members of the user's community that recently purchased the same book.

A method for managing objects for users including providing a set of attributes and a set of containers each having attributes from the set. The method further provides a user interface for dynamically assigning attributes to the objects. The method further provides for selectively displaying, through a user interface, containers and objects in the containers. An object is displayed in a container if a condition is met. The condition is applied to the attributes of the container and the attributes of the object.

A system, method and computer program product for an online web-based law community for information sharing, collaboration and vending of services between attorneys and clients. Applications servers (ASs) and database servers (DSs) are provided for the features and functions of permitting clients to investigate attorneys by set factors (including region, jurisdiction, legal practice area, community and external reputation) and permitting attorneys to investigate clients by set factors (including region, industry, payment practices, community and external reputation). The AS/DSs also facilitate client provisioning of legal tasks, engagement of attorneys by clients, online communications between parties (through real-time chats, video, message threads), providing of standard or alternative billing, banking of payments between parties, and management of the progression of work performance and deliverables.

A digital picture frame including a camera integrated with the frame, and a network connection module allowing the frame for direct contact and upload of photos from electronic devices or from a user's social media account or her or his community members' social media accounts. The integrated camera is used to automatically determine an identity of a frame viewer, and a viewer profile automatically determined from the identity of the viewer. The displayed photos are automatically shown and/or changed according to the detected viewers.

A system and method for mining social media signals and cues i) created by a user (for example, a customer) and/or ii) to which the user is exposed (the “data”), and for processing that data as it relates to a service (including a fee or subscription-based service), in order to predict the user's predisposition or likelihood to either leave the subscription or the service or reduce his/her engagement with the subscription or the service.