Author: claimsbot

1. A broadcast receiver connected to a variable directional antenna qualified as an antenna capable of modifying a reception direction of a broadcast wave, said broadcast receiver comprising:
a tuner selecting a frequency of a broadcast wave received by said variable directional antenna,
a control unit controlling the frequency to be selected with respect to said tuner,
a determination unit determining whether a broadcast wave at the frequency selected by said tuner is valid for reception, and
a storage unit storing information as to whether each of frequencies of broadcast waves corresponding to a plurality of channels is valid for reception by said variable directional antenna, wherein
said control unit causes said determination unit to execute channel search utilizing said variable directional antenna when a predetermined condition is established, and
said channel search including a process of determining whether a broadcast wave is valid for reception for all reception directions by said variable directional antenna for only a frequency having information as invalid for reception stored in said storage unit.
2. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein
said storage unit further stores information as to which direction said variable directional antenna is capable of reception with respect to the frequencies of broadcast waves corresponding to said plurality of channels, and
said control unit causes said determination unit to determine, when a specific condition is established, whether a broadcast wave is valid for reception for a frequency having information stored as valid for reception in said storage unit, starting from a reception direction stored as valid for reception by said variable directional antenna, as said channel search utilizing said variable directional antenna.
3. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein
said storage unit further stores information as to which direction said variable directional antenna is capable of reception with respect to the frequencies of broadcast waves corresponding to said plurality of channels, and
said control unit causes said determination unit to determine, when a specific condition is established, whether a broadcast wave is valid for reception for a frequency having information stored as valid for reception in said storage unit, starting from a reception direction excluding the reception direction stored as valid for reception by said variable directional antenna, as said channel search utilizing said variable directional antenna.

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 server arrangement (112, 234) for managing observation data of wireless devices, such as smartphones, comprising
a data input logic (300) for obtaining observation data from a number of wireless devices and optionally supplementary data from a number of other external data sources, the obtained data including behavioural, contextual, and optionally technical raw data relative to the wireless devices,
a data mining logic (500) for establishing a number of derived data elements (116), such as data tables or databases, on the basis of processing and analysing the obtained observation and optional supplementary data, said processing and analysing incorporating data aggregation, wherein at least one derived data element includes usage metrics with contextual and optionally technical dimension relative to one or more applications or other features of one or more wireless devices and users thereof,
a data storage (400) for storing the obtained data (402) and the number of derived data elements (403), and
a data distribution logic (600) for providing derived data to one or more other entities.
2. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein said data distribution logic is configured to perform at least one action selected from the group consisting of: to serve a data query constructed by an external entity through provision of derived information from one or more derived data elements according to the query parameters, and to push derived information from one or more derived data elements to an external entity according to a predetermined push logic.
3. The arrangement of claim 1, configured to generate derived data for adapting a network service or an application of a wireless device according to the behavioural andor contextual characteristics of the user of the wireless device determined on the basis of derived data elements.
4. The arrangement of claim 1, configured to generate derived data for personalized advertising from the standpoint of a user of a wireless device according to the behavioural andor contextual characteristics of the user determined on the basis of derived data elements.
5. The arrangement of claim 1, configured to map an indication of wireless device platform andor used application, said indication being received in said obtained data, to other, more generic indication of the platform andor application so as to enable logical grouping of data associated similar platforms andor applications together.
6. The arrangement of claim 1, configured to determine an intensity variable, being an activity indicator in time domain relative to a selected time unit for a wireless device user or a plurality of users in view of an application or an application category including a plurality of applications.
7. The arrangement of claim 1, configured to determine a usage frequency for an application.
8. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein said processing and analysing includes at least one procedure selected from the group consisting of: correlation, clustering, and factoring.
9. The arrangement of claim 8, configured to apply a clustering algorithm on the obtained data for behavioural segmentation of wireless device users to form behaviourally coherent user groups, factor analysis to categorize applications andor content, or pattern recognition to draw relationships between entities such as actions, users andor applications.
10. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the observation data includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of: data relating to a communication action such as initiating a call, answering a call, writing, sending, receiving, or reading a message, sensor data, application usage data, microphone usage data, loudspeakeraudio output data such as music reproduction data, camera usage data, user input data, user interface usage data, calendar entry -related data, audio andor video recording, location data, time data, identification data of a close device, device status data, cellular tower signal strength data, throughput rate data, signal-to-noise data, data on Internet usage, and data on data usage.
11. The arrangement of claim 1, configured to determine descriptive behavioural statistics for a wireless device user or a group of users including location spread of communications actions, such as calls, relative to a communication action initiator, respondent, near-end andor remote location.
12. The arrangement of claim 1, configured to determine usage intensity or frequency variables of an application or an application category and to build a derived factor on top thereof, such as one or more generic multimedia usage indices out of music, imaging andor video application usage variables.
13. The arrangement of claim 1, configured to utilize, on the basis of available application usage information, application andor other activity execution start and stop times for the calculation of usage session durations in view of a number of first type of applications or activities, such as music players, which are often used such that application runs on the background and the overall activity on a user interface level is lower, and to determine usage session durations for a second type of applications or activities, such as a document viewing application, from the user interface level information.
14. The arrangement of claim 1, configured to determine a statistical model of usage behavior to provide an estimate for a user’s or a user group’s status at a particular instant in view of location andor usage of an application or other wireless device feature.
15. The arrangement of claim 1, configured to enrich the observation data with said supplementary data.
16. A method for cultivating observation data provided by a number of wireless devices, comprising
obtaining and storing (816) observation data from a number of wireless devices and optionally supplementary data from a number of other external data sources, the obtained data including behavioural, contextual, and optionally technical raw data relative to the wireless devices,
establishing and storing (818) a number of derived data elements on the basis of processing and analysing the obtained observation and optional supplementary data, said processing and analysing incorporating data aggregation, wherein at least one derived data element includes usage metrics with contextual and optionally technical dimension relative to one or more applications or other features of one or more wireless devices and users thereof, and
providing derived data (820) from one or more derived data elements to one or more other entities.
17. Computer software comprising code means adapted, when run on a computer, to execute the method steps of claim 16.
18. A carrier medium comprising the computer software of claim 17.
19. The arrangement of claim 2, configured to generate derived data for adapting a network service or an application of a wireless device according to the behavioural andor contextual characteristics of the user of the wireless device determined on the basis of derived data elements.
20. The arrangement of claim 3, configured to generate derived data for adapting a network service or an application of a wireless device according to the behavioural andor contextual characteristics of the user of the wireless device determined on the basis of derived data elements.

1. A method for obtaining a segmented region corresponding to an anatomical organ in a volume image, comprising:
generating a smoothed image from the volume image;
forming a core segmentation of the volume image according to the smoothed image;
increasing the size of the core segmentation of the volume image to form the segmented region for the anatomical organ according to data obtained from the core segmentation, wherein increasing the size of the core segmentation comprises obtaining a low characteristic value and a high characteristic value from the core segmentation; and
storing data corresponding to the segmented region in a memory.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a starting point within the volume image wherein the starting point corresponds to a location within the anatomical organ.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the smoothed image comprises spatially filtering the volume image.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein increasing the size of the core segmentation further comprises constraining the increase to within a predetermined propagation distance from the boundary of the core region.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising estimating noise magnitude in the volume image data and using the estimate of noise magnitude to generate the smoothed image.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the memory is a display buffer.
7. A method of segmenting a region corresponding to an anatomical organ of interest in a volume image, the method comprising:
receiving a starting point within the volume image and corresponding to a location within the anatomical organ;
generating a smoothed image by spatially filtering the volume image;
segmenting a core region within the smoothed image based on a predetermined smoothness threshold criterion, wherein the core region includes the starting point;
obtaining a low characteristic value and a high characteristic value according to the range of values within the core region;
generating an expanded segmented region corresponding to the anatomical organ of interest by expanding the core region according to voxel values within the range defined by the obtained low and high characteristic values; and
presenting the expanded segmented region of the anatomical organ of interest on a display.
8. The method of claim 7 further comprising estimating noise magnitude in the volume image data and using the estimate of noise magnitude to generate the smoothed image.
9. The method of claim 7 wherein expanding the core region is constrained to within a predetermined propagation distance from the boundary of the core region.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the propagation distance is a geodesic distance.
11. The method of claim 7 wherein receiving the starting point comprises accepting an on-screen operator entry.
12. The method of claim 7 wherein receiving the starting point comprises receiving data from a computer system.
13. The method of claim 7 further comprising computing a volume of the organ of interest according to dimensions of the expanded segmented region and displaying the computed volume.
14. The method of claim 7 wherein spatially filtering the volume image is performed by filtering 2-D image slices that are used to generate the volume image.
15. The method of claim 7 wherein spatial filtering is an iterative operation, with processing steps repeated two or more times.
16. The method of claim 7 further comprising forming one or more versions of the volume image at different resolutions.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein generating an expanded segmented region comprises combining the one or more versions of the volume image at different resolutions.
18. The method of claim 7 wherein the organ of interest is taken from the group consisting of a liver, a kidney, a gall bladder, a stomach, and a heart.
19. The method of claim 7 wherein segmenting the core region further comprises relocating the starting point.

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 hook for a shoulder sling, comprising:
a generally horizontal base with a first end, middle portion, and a second end, said base having an upstanding, upwardly-projecting prong, the prong having a bottom end located on said base near the base’s second end, a lower distal section near said base, and a top end \xbd-1.5 inches above the base, said base having a generally horizontal moveable clamp of stretchable elastic material, said clamp being secured near the base’s first end;
said base further comprising a fastening strap that threads through the base and is fastenable in a loop for securing the hook to a backpack strap; and,
said moveable clamp being adapted to extend horizontally past said base’s middle portion to said upstanding, upwardly-projecting prong to detachably engage with said distal section of the prong near said base, so that the movable clamp when detachably engaged with said distal section of the prong is close to and generally parallel to the generally horizontal base, for receiving an elongated strap horizontal portion in a first position between the middle portion of said base and the moveable clamp and in a second position above the middle portion of the base and the moveable clamp.
2. A hook for holding a shoulder sling on a user’s shoulder, the hook comprising:
a generally horizontal base with a proximal end, middle portion, distal end, and a longitudinal axis and lateral sides extending between the proximal and distal ends, said base further comprising a fastening strap that threads through the base and is fastenable in a loop for securing the hook to a backpack strap;
a prong upending from the generally horizontal base near the distal end of the base, the prong having a bottom end at the base, a top end above the base, a distal side, a proximal side, a first lateral side, and a second lateral side; and
a moveable clamp of stretchable elastic material, said clamp having a proximal portion and a distal portion, the proximal portion being secured to the base at a proximal connection near the proximal end of the base, and said moveable clamp extending generally horizontally, from said proximal connection, across said middle portion of the base, and along said first lateral side of the prong near the base, to a distal connection where the clamp detachably engages the distal side of the prong near said bottom end of the prong, so that, when detachably engaging the distal side of the prong, the clamp is close to and generally parallel to the generally horizontal base for receiving an elongated strap horizontal portion in a first position between the middle portion of said base and the moveable clamp and in a second position above the middle portion of the base and the moveable clamp.
3. The hook as in claim 2, further comprising an additional prong upending from the generally horizontal base near the distal end of the base, the additional prong having a bottom end at the base, a top end above the base, a distal side, a proximal side, and first and second lateral sides;
wherein said moveable clamp further extends generally horizontally from said proximal connection, past said middle portion of the base, and along the first lateral side of the additional prong near the base, to a distal connection where the clamp detachably engages to the distal side of the additional prong near said bottom end of the additional prong.
4. The hook as in claim 3, wherein the distal side of the prong and the distal side of the additional prong each have a detent section near the base, wherein said moveable clamp distal portion comprises a transverse member extending transversely relative to the lateral sides of the base and detachably engaging said detent section of the prong and said detent section of said additional prong.
5. The hook as in claim 4, wherein the transverse member has a first end engaging the distal section of the prong and an opposing end engaging the distal section of the additional prong.
6. The hook as in claim 2, wherein said moveable clamp further extends generally horizontally from said proximal connection, past said middle portion of the base, and along the second lateral side of the prong near the base, to said distal connection, so that the moveable clamp extends around said prong.
7. The hook system of claim 6, wherein the moveable clamp comprises two longitudinal legs that are connected by a transverse member that engages a detent section in said distal side of the prong near said bottom end of the prong.
8. A hook system, adapted to hold a shoulder sling of a weapon on a user’s shoulder, comprising:
a backpack for being worn on a user’s shoulders and back, the backpack comprising two backpack shoulder straps for hanging the backpack on the user’s shoulders; and
a hook that comprises:
a generally horizontal base with a proximal end, middle portion, distal end, and a longitudinal axis and lateral sides extending between the proximal and distal ends, wherein said base further comprises a fastening strap that threads through the base and fastens in a loop around either of the backpack shoulder straps to secure the hook to said either of the backpack shoulder straps to hold the base generally horizontally on the backpack shoulder strap above the user’s shoulder; and,
a prong upending from the generally horizontal base near the distal end of the base, the prong having a bottom end at the base, a top end above the base, a distal side, a proximal side, and first and second lateral sides;
a moveable clamp of stretchable elastic material having a proximal portion and a distal portion, the proximal portion being secured to the base at a proximal connection near the proximal end of the base, and said moveable clamp extending generally horizontally, from said proximal connection, across said middle portion of the base, and along the first lateral side of the prong near the base, to a distal connection where the clamp detachably engages the distal side of the prong near said prong’s bottom end; and

the hook system further comprising:
a weapon having an elongated shoulder sling, the shoulder sling extending across the hook transversely to said longitudinal axis of the base, and extending out beyond said lateral sides of the base, so that shoulder sling is restrained from sliding off the shoulder of a wearer by being held by the hook secured to said either of the backpack shoulder straps.
9. The hook system of claim 8, wherein said shoulder sling extends across the middle region of the base between the base and the moveable clamp, so that the moveable clamp holds the shoulder sling on said middle region.
10. The hook system of claim 8, wherein said shoulder sling extends transversely across the hook above the middle region of the base and above the clamp.
11. The hook system as in claim 8, further comprising an additional prong upending from the generally horizontal base near the distal end of the base, the additional prong having a bottom end at the base, a top end above the base, a distal side, a proximal side, and first and second lateral sides, and
wherein said moveable clamp further extends generally horizontally, from said proximal connection, across said middle portion of the base, and along the first lateral side of the additional prong near the base, to a distal connection where the clamp detachably engages to the distal side of the additional prong near said bottom end of the additional prong.
12. The hook system as in claim 11, wherein the distal side of the prong and the distal side of the additional prong each have a detent section near the base, wherein said moveable clamp distal portion comprises a transverse member extending transversely relative to the lateral sides of the base and detachably engaging said detent section of the prong and said detent section of said additional prong.
13. The hook system as in claim 11, wherein the transverse member has a first end engaging the distal section of the prong and an opposing end engaging the distal section of the additional prong.
14. The hook system as in claim 8, wherein said moveable clamp further extends generally horizontally from said proximal connection, past said middle portion of the base, and along the second lateral side of prong near the base, to said distal connection, so that the moveable clamp extends around said prong.
15. The hook system of claim 14, wherein the moveable clamp comprises two longitudinal legs that are connected by a transverse member that engages a detent section in said distal side of the prong near said bottom end of the prong.
16. The hook system of claim 8, wherein in a first position said shoulder sling extends transversely across the middle region of the base between the base and the moveable clamp, so that the moveable clamp holds the shoulder sling on said middle region, and wherein in a second position said shoulder sling extends transversely across the hook above the middle region of the base and above the clamp so that the shoulder sling is held on the hook by the prong but not clamped down.