Author: claimsbot

1. A system, comprising:
(a) a dithering pattern generator generating a dithering pattern in a spatial domain by applying a spatial operation to a two-dimensional starting image array of pixels so as to modify the luminance of at least one pixel within said starting array;
(b) a combiner combining the dithering pattern with a contone image, without conversion to a spatial frequency domain, so as to prevent contouring artifacts in the contone image having a first bit depth per pixel when the contone image is displayed by a display having a second bit-depth per pixel, the first bit depth being greater than the second bit-depth; and
(c) an illuminated display displaying the combined said dithering pattern and said contone image.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said starting image array of pixels is an array of white noise.
3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said starting image array of pixels is based on an image.
4. The system according to claim 1, wherein said spatial operation convolves said starting image array of pixels with the impulse response of the human visual system.
5. The system according to claim 2, wherein said spatial operation convolves said starting image array of pixels with the impulse response of the human visual system.
6. The system according to claim 3, wherein said spatial operation convolves said starting image array of pixels with the impulse response of the Human Visual System.
7. The system according to claim 4, wherein said impulse response is approximately Gaussian.
8. The system according to claim 4, wherein said impulse response is based on a point spread function for the optics of an eye.
9. The system according to claim 4, wherein said impulse response is based on a convolution of the point spread function for the optics of an eye with a cone sampling aperture.
10. The system according to claim 4, wherein said impulse response is based on a neural point spread function of an eye.
11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the dithering pattern generator generates the dithering pattern based on a spatio-chromatic visual model.
12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the dithering pattern is for a color display,
wherein the system further comprises a calibrator calibrating the dithering pattern to primaries of the color display based on an XYZ-to-RGB matrix conversion, and
wherein X, Y and Z values of RGB primaries are used in the matrix.
13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the dithering pattern generator generates a dithering pattern for each image plane of the contone image.
14. The system according to claim 11, wherein the dithering pattern generator generates a dithering pattern for one image plane of a contone image by setting an amplitude of substantially all pixels in said starting image array to zero.
15. The system according to claim 11, wherein the dithering pattern generator generates an isoluminant dithering pattern.
16. The system according to claim 1, wherein the contone image is displayed on a Liquid Crystal Display.
17. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is part of a Liquid Crystal Display.
18. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first bit depth per pixel is eight bits and the second bit depth per pixel is between four and six bits, inclusive.
19. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first bit depth per pixel is at least ten bits and the second bit depth per pixel is eight bits.
20. A method for microdithering a contone image, the method comprising:
(a) generating a dithering pattern by applying a spatial operation in a spatial domain to a two-dimensional starting image array of pixels so as to modify the luminance of at least one pixel within said starting image array;
(b) combining the dithering pattern with a contone image, without conversion to a spatial frequency domain, so as to prevent contouring artifacts in the contone image having a first bit depth per pixel when the contone image is displayed by a display having a second bit-depth per pixel, the first bit depth being greater than the second bit-depth; and
(c) displaying the combined said dithering pattern and said contone image on an illuminated display.
21. The method according to claim 20, wherein said starting image array of pixels is an array of white noise.
22. The method according to claim 20, wherein said starting image array of pixels is based on an image.
23. The method according to claim 20, wherein the predetermined array of pixels is a determinate array of pixels.
24. The method according to claim 20, wherein said spatial operation convolves said starting image array of pixels with the impulse response of the human visual system.
25. The method according to claim 21, wherein said spatial operation convolves said starting image array of pixels with the impulse response of the human visual system.
26. The method according to claim 22, wherein said spatial operation convolves said starting image array of pixels with the impulse response of the Human Visual System.
27. The method according to claim 24, wherein said impulse response is approximately Gaussian.
28. The method according to claim 24, wherein said impulse response is based on a point spread function for the optics of an eye.
29. The method according to claim 24, wherein said impulse response is based on a convolution of the point spread function for the optics of an eye with a cone sampling aperture.
30. The method according to claim 24, wherein said impulse response is based on a neural point spread function of an eye.
31. The method according to claim 20, wherein generating the dithering pattern generates the dithering pattern based on a spatio-chromatic visual model.
32. The method according to claim 31, wherein the dithering pattern is for a color display,
the method further comprising calibrating the dithering pattern to primaries of the color display based on an XYZ-to-RGB matrix conversion,
wherein X, Y and Z values of RGB primaries are used in the matrix.
33. The method according to claim 31, wherein generating the dithering pattern generates a dithering pattern for each image plane of the contone image.
34. The method according to claim 31, wherein the dithering pattern is generated for one image plane of a contone image by setting an amplitude of substantially all pixels in said two-dimensional starting image array to zero.
35. The method according to claim 31, wherein generating the dithering pattern generates an isoluminant dithering pattern.
36. The method according to claim 20, further comprising displaying the contone image on a Liquid Crystal Display.
37. The method according to claim 20, wherein the first bit depth per pixel is eight bits and the second bit depth per pixel is between four and six bits, inclusive.
38. The method according to claim 20, wherein the first bit depth per pixel is at least ten bits and the second bit depth per pixel is eight bits.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method, comprising:
receiving or retrieving by a computing apparatus a query;
determining by the computing apparatus a first ranking of a sentence of a document indicative of the sentence’s ranking in terms of similarity with one or more other sentences of the document;
determining by the computing apparatus a query similarity measure measuring similarity of the sentence of the document to the query;
determining by the computing apparatus a second ranking value of the sentence of the document based at least in part on the query similarity measure qualified by the first ranking; and
conditionally outputting by the computing apparatus the sentence as a summary sentence based at least in part on the second ranking value of the sentence.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining of the first ranking comprises calculating a rank value based at least in part on one or more sentence similarity measures correspondingly measuring similarity of the sentence with one or more other sentences of the document.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising calculating the one or more sentence similarity measures.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein said calculating of the one or more sentence similarity measures comprises calculating one or more cosine similarity measures between the sentence and the one or more other sentences.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein said determining the second ranking comprises calculating a composite rank value based at least in part on a weighted contribution of a selected one of the sentence similarity measures and the query similarity measure qualified by the rank value calculated based at least in part on the sentence similarity measures.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising qualifying the query similarity measure by the rank value, by multiplying the query similarity measure by a normalized version of the rank value.
7. The method of claim 6, further comprising normalizing the rank value by dividing the rank value by a largest one of the rank value and one or more other rank values similarly computed for one or more other sentences of the document.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein said calculating of the query similarity measure comprises calculating a cosine similarity measure between the sentence and the query.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining by the computing apparatus a third ranking for another sentence of the document indicative of the other sentence’s ranking in terms of similarity with other sentence(s) of the document;
determining by the computing apparatus another query similarity measure measuring similarity of the other sentence of the document to the query;
determining by the computing apparatus a fourth ranking of the other sentence based at least in part on the fourth ranking qualified by the third ranking; and
conditionally outputting by the computing apparatus the other sentence as another summary sentence based at least in part on the fourth ranking.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining by the computing apparatus a similarity of another sentence of the document with the sentence, and conditionally outputting by the computing apparatus the other sentence of the document as another summary sentence based at least in part on the other sentence’s similarity with the sentence.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining by the computing apparatus a third ranking for another sentence of another document indicative of the other sentence’s similarity to other sentences of the other document;
determining by the computing apparatus another query similarity measure measuring similarity of the other sentence of the other document to the query;
determining by the computing apparatus a fourth ranking value of the other sentence of the other document based at least in part on the other query similarity measure qualified by the third ranking; and
conditionally outputting by the computing apparatus the other sentence of the other document as another summary sentence based at least in part on the fourth ranking.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining by the computing apparatus similarity of another sentence of another document to the sentence of the document, and conditionally outputting by the apparatus of the other sentence the other document as another summary sentence based at least in part on the similarity of the other sentence of the other document with the sentence.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein said conditionally outputting by the apparatus of the other sentence as another summary sentence comprises conditionally outputting the other summary sentence if the other summary sentence is maximally dissimilar to the sentence.
14. An article of manufacture, comprising:
a storage medium; and
a plurality of programming instructions stored in the storage medium adapted to program an apparatus to enable the apparatus to:
receive or retrieve a query;
determine a first ranking of a sentence of a document indicative of the sentence’s ranking in terms of similarity with one or more other sentences of the document;
determine a query similarity measure measuring similarity of the sentence of the document to the query;
determine a second ranking value of the sentence of the document based at least in part on the query similarity measure qualified by the first ranking; and
conditionally output the sentence as a summary sentence based at least in part on the second ranking value of the sentence.
15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the programming instructions are further adapted to determine one or more other rankings and one or more other query similarities of another sentence of the document.
16. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the programming instructions are further adapted to determine one or more other rankings and one or more other query similarities of another sentence of another document.
17. A system, comprising:
one or more mass storage devices;
one or more processors coupled to the mass storage devices, and having programming instructions to be executed by the processor(s) and adapted to enable the system to:
receive or retrieve a query;
determine a first ranking of a sentence of a document indicative of the sentence’s ranking in terms of similarity with one or more other sentences of the document;
determine a query similarity measure measuring similarity of the sentence of the document to the query;
determine a second ranking value of the sentence of the document based at least in part on the query similarity measure qualified by the first ranking; and
conditionally output the sentence as a summary sentence based at least in part on the second ranking value of the sentence.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein one or more of the processors are adapted to determine the first ranking and the query similarity of a sentence of a web page.
19. The system of claim 17, wherein one or more of the processors are adapted to receive or retrieve the query from a client device, and wherein said conditionally outputting comprises providing, to the client device, the sentence as the summary sentence in response to the query.
20. The system of claim 17, wherein the system is a database server.

1. A method of performing interaction comprising:
turning on an interactive device;
inputting a mobile phone number or email address of an intended person for interacting with;
sending an interactive notification message to a server containing the mobile phone number or email address;
the server sending an interactive request message to a client device of the intended person according to the interactive notification message;
the intended person using the client device to log in to the server and record interactive network service account information andor respond to the interactive request message according to the content of the interactive request message; and
the server sending the intended person’s recorded information andor the response message to the interactive device.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
the interactive device or the server sending an add request message to an interactive network service account of the intended person; and
the intended person utilizing the client device to connect to an interactive network service account belonging to the interactive device’s user with the intended person’s own interactive network service account of the same corresponding interactive network service according to the add request message, and to add the user’s interactive network service account to a group of connected users on the intended person’s interactive network service account.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
the server having sent the intended person’s recorded interactive network service account information to the interactive device, the user logging in to an interactive network service account corresponding to the interactive network service recorded by the intended person to begin interaction with the intended person.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
the server registering a user interactive network service account corresponding to the interactive network service on behalf of the user according to basic information of the user of the interactive device.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive request message comprises:
a web address of the server and a password used for logging into the server or response request message.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein logging into the server andor responding to the interactive request message is logging into and recording andor responding and recording an interactive network service account to the server andor a web address of the interactive network service to the server corresponding to the intended person’s interactive network service account.
7. A method of performing self-configuration intuitively, comprising:
turning on an interactive device;
inputting a mobile phone number or email address of an intended person for interacting with;
sending an interactive notification message to a client device of the intended person according to the mobile phone number or email address;
the intended person using the client device to log in to a server andor respond to the interactive notification message according to the interactive notification message; and
the server sending a login andor response complete message to the interactive device.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:
the interactive device or the server sending an add request message to an interactive network service account belonging to the intended person; and
the intended person utilizing the client device to connect to an interactive network service account belonging to the interactive device’s user with the intended person’s own interactive network service account of the same corresponding interactive network service according to the add request message, and to add the user’s interactive network service account to a group of connected users on the intended person’s interactive network service account.
9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:
The server having sent the intended person’s recorded interactive network service account information to the interactive device, the user logging in to an interactive network service account corresponding to the interactive network service recorded by the intended person to begin interaction with the intended person.
10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:
the server registering a user interactive network service account corresponding to the interactive network service on behalf of the user according to basic information of the user of the interactive device.
11. The method of claim 7, wherein the interactive notification message comprises:
a web address of the server and a password used for logging into the server or response request message; andor
identification information of the user andor the user’s interactive network service account.
12. The method of claim 7, wherein logging into the server andor responding to the interactive notification message is logging into and recording andor responding and recording an interactive network service account to the server andor a web address of the interactive network service to the server corresponding to the intended person’s interactive network service account.
13. A self-configuring, intuitive interactive system comprising:
an interactive device used for inputting a mobile phone number or email address of an intended person, and sending an interactive notification message, sending an interactive request message, sending an add request message, and adding an interactive network service account of an intended person;
a server used for receiving the interactive notification message, sending an interactive request message according to the interactive notification message on behalf of the interactive device, registering a user interactive network service account corresponding to an interactive network service, allowing an intended person to log in and record andor respond and record an interactive network service account, and sending a login andor response complete message to the interactive device; and
a client device used for receiving the interactive request message, connecting to the server, connecting to the interactive network service, and receiving the add request message.
14. The interactive system of claim 13, wherein the interactive device uses a touch panel, keyboard, andor voice input interface to input the mobile phone number andor email address andor text messages.
15. The interactive system of claim 13, wherein the interactive device is an electronic device capable of connecting to the Internet.
16. The interactive system of claim 13, wherein registering the user interactive network service account corresponding to the interactive network service is the server registering the user interactive network service account corresponding to the interactive network service according to basic information of a user of the interactive device.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method for planarizing a semiconductor device, comprising steps of:
providing a substrate with a first dielectric layer covering at least one electrode structure formed thereon;
performing a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) process on said first dielectric layer until said at least one electrode structure is exposed, wherein a plurality of voids and scratches are produced on a surface of said first dielectric layer;
depositing a second dielectric layer so as to cover said at least one electrode structure and fill-in the plurality of voids and scratches on the surface of said first dielectric layer; and
performing an etching-back process on said second dielectric layer until said at least one electrode structure is exposed, wherein the surface of said first dielectric layer with the plurality of voids and scratches thereon being filled with the second dielectric layer, is thereby a planar surface.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said first dielectric layer is an oxide layer.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein said first dielectric layer is a carbon doped oxide layer.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said first dielectric layer is a low-k dielectric layer.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said second dielectric layer is an oxide layer, an oxynitride layer or a nitride layer.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein said etching-back process is a dry etching process or a wet etching process.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said etching-back process uses an etching recipe that provides no etching selectivity between said first dielectric layer and said second dielectric layer.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein said least one electrode structure is covered with an etching stop layer.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein said etching stop layer is an oxynitride layer or a nitride layer.