An electronic meeting tool and method for communicating arbitrary media content from users at a meeting includes a node configuration adapted to operate a display node of a communications network, the display node being coupled to a first display. The node configuration is adapted to receive user selected arbitrary media content and to control display of the user selected arbitrary media content on the first display. A peripheral device adapted to communicate the user selected arbitrary media content via the communications network is a connection unit including a connector adapted to couple to a port of a processing device having a second display, a memory and an operating system, and a transmitter. A program is adapted to obtain user selected arbitrary media content, the program leaving a zero footprint on termination. The user may trigger a transfer of the user selected arbitrary media content to the transmitter.

Disclosed is a switching network synchronization method, which is applied to a first switching device. The method comprises: receiving a first suspected target ID; the first suspected target ID being an ID corresponding to a suspected target switching device determined by an access device connected to the first switching device according to a first identity number ID; receiving via the access device a second suspected target ID sent by a second switching device; the second suspected target ID being an ID corresponding to a suspected target switching device determined by the second switching device; determining a first target ID according to the first suspected target ID and the second suspected target ID; and the first target ID being an ID corresponding to a target switching device. Also disclosed is a first switching device, an access device and a storage medium.

Interactive virtual conversation interfaces are provided herein. An example method includes receiving a digital document that has textual information, utilizing one or more forms natural language processing of the digital document, based on the nature of the digital document, to ascertain a hierarchical structure of the plain textual information, and determine topics within the plain textual information, generating a tree structure based on relationships between topics of the plain textual information, wherein the topics are arranged into the tree structure, and generating a virtual conversation interface that receives queries and presents responses to the queries using the tree structure.

An apparatus and method for a power-efficient framework to maintain data synchronization of a mobile personal computer (MPC) are described. In one embodiment, the method includes the detection of a data synchronization wakeup event while the MPC is operating according to a sleep state. Subsequent to wakeup event, at least one system resource is disabled to provide a minimum number of system resources required to re-establish a network connection. In one embodiment, user data from a network server is synchronized on the MPC without user intervention; the mobile platform system resumes operation according to the sleep state. In one embodiment, a wakeup alarm is programmed according to a user history profile regarding received e-mails. In a further embodiment, data synchronizing involves disabling a display, and throttling the system processor to operate at a reduced frequency. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

A device, server, method, and computer program product for reading an e-book are provided. The e-book may include at least a content identifier corresponding to a content in the e-book. The device may include a content navigator configured to present the content according to a command from a user and a processing unit configured to acquire the content identifier corresponding to the content presented by the content navigator, send the content identifier to a server, and receive from the server a message associated with the content. An output unit configured to output the message to the user may be provided.

A virtual assistant system to control external services via messaging includes a mobile device configured to participate in a messaging session between a plurality of other participants, to receive an input command from a user, to translate the received input command into a semantic atom, and to transmit the semantic atom via a message to the messaging session, and an assistant server configured to receive the semantic atom via the message, the assistant server including at least one plugin, the plugin corresponding to a respective external service and configured to generate a proprietary language command corresponding to the received semantic atom, the proprietary language command controlling the corresponding external service to perform a function corresponding to the input command.

Described are various embodiments of a user content sharing system and method with automated external content integration. In one embodiment, a system and method are provided in which a graphical user interface (GUI) is rendered on each system users' personal communication device. The GUI produces a content selection function selecting, under user operation, user content for sharing, and a sharing platform selection function selecting, under user operation, one or more sharing platforms. The system further comprise a digital content integrator communicatively linked to the user interface to gain access to the selected user content in response to the content selection function, the integrator having access to stored external content distinct from user content. The integrator integrates the external content with the selected user content to output integrated content. The system further comprises a communication interface communicatively linked to the integrator and selectively operable to interface with each of the distinct content sharing platforms, wherein the integrated content is concurrently relayed to the selected sharing platforms via the communication interface on behalf of system users as originating therefrom.

A system for optimizing response time to events or representations thereof waiting in a queue has a first server having access to the queue; a software application running on the first server; and a second server accessible from the first server, the second server containing rules governing the optimization. In a preferred embodiment, the software application at least periodically accesses the queue and parses certain ones of events or tokens in the queue and compares the parsed results against rules accessed from the second server in order to determine a measure of disposal time for each parsed event wherein if the determined measure is sufficiently low for one or more of the parsed events, those one or more events are modified to a reflect a higher priority state than originally assigned enabling faster treatment of those events resulting in relief from those events to the queue system load.

A network element includes multiple interfaces and circuitry. The interfaces are configured to connect to a communication system. The circuitry is configured to monitor a respective buffering parameter of data flows received via an ingress interface and queued while awaiting transmission via respective egress interfaces, to identify, based on the respective buffering parameter, at least one data flow for mirroring, to select one or more packets of the identified data flow for analysis by a network manager, and to send the selected packets to the network manager over the communication system via an egress interface.

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to meta-data management for an activity thread in an activity-centric collaborative environment, and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for private metadata integration. In one embodiment of the invention, a private meta-data integration method can be provided for an activity-centric collaborative environment. The method can include selecting an activity thread for display to a collaborator in an activity map of the activity-centric collaborative environment, and identifying the collaborator. For meta-data instances associated with corresponding activity objects in the activity thread, the meta-data instances can be excluded that have been marked private by a creator other than the identified collaborator.