Pedestrian Route Production, Parental Controls For Entertainment Content And Other Patent Applications From Microsoft

Parental controls for entertainment content

Parental controls for entertainment digital media are provided that allow a parent to restrict multiple user’s access to entertainment content. One or more updatable rating definition files with dynamic data are used to define rating levels and content descriptors for a regional rating system. Entertainment content definition files define the rating level and content descriptors for entertainment content. User permission settings define a particular user’s access rating level and content descriptors. The rating definition file can be used to compare the entertainment content definition file and user permission settings in determining if a user is allowed access to particular entertainment content.

Computation of travel routes, durations, and plans over multiple contexts

A route planning system comprises a receiver component that receives a request for directions between a beginning point and a destination point. An analysis component analyzes a traffic system representation that varies as context varies and outputs expected amounts of travel time between the beginning point and the destination point for multiple contexts based at least in part upon the analysis. A method is described herein that includes techniques for searching over routes and trip start times simultaneously so as to identity start times and routes associated with maximal expected value, or equivalently minimum expected cost, given preferences encoded about one or more of the leaving time, the travel time, and the arrival time.

Testing acoustic echo cancellation and interference in VoIP telephones

Described is automatically testing the quality of an audio coupling between juxtaposed first and second digital telephones, e.g., VoIP telephones, such as to quantitatively determine the quality of audio echo cancellers in those digital telephones. An analyzer receives timestamps from a first telephone and second telephone during a calling session, including timestamps for when the second telephone initially provides audio (e.g., speech) to the first telephone, when the first telephone initially detects sound, when the first telephone initially provides audio to the second telephone, and when the second telephone initially detects sound. The analyzer uses the relative timing of the timestamps and the speech recognizer’s outcome to determine whether the audio coupling is experiencing interference or echo. When the audio includes speech, a confidence level corresponding to accuracy of speech recognition also may establish the audio coupling’s quality.

Pedestrian route production

As a pedestrian travels, various difficulties can be encountered, such as traveling through an unsafe neighborhood or being in an open area that is subject to harsh temperatures. A route can be developed for a person taking into account factors that specifically affect a pedestrian. Moreover, the route can alter as a situation of a user changes; for instance, if a user wants to add a stop along a route.

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