| 07th week of 2013 patent applcation highlights part 53 |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20130041723 | Change Management - Generating an analytical tool for use in assessing a state of an entity. Source data relating to a state of a community of which the entity forms a part is retrieved. The source data relates to at least one variable and variable comprises drivers. Cluster analysis is performed on the source data to produce an array of reference data. The array of reference data is organized into a form to be used in analysing data collected from the community. An analytical tool is useful in assessing the state of an entity. The analytical tool comprises an array of cells, each cell containing a subset of reference data which provides a measure of each driver related to the state of a community. The positioning of the cells relative to one another is governed by the inter-relationship of the reference data in the cells. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041724 | CO2 ESTIMATOR MODULE - Estimations of carbon dioxide (“CO2”) emission of an entity upon the condition of incomplete or missing data uses one or more algorithms implemented in a machine having a processor and a memory and data concerning the entity. The data is applied to an algorithm implemented as code executable in the processor. The algorithm produces a result that comprises an estimate of the CO2 emission of the entity. The CO2 emission estimate can be output to a user, and the underlying formula and data can inspected and optionally modified by users with suitable permissions. The CO2 emission estimate can be applied as a factor in a formula to compute a rating for the entity which can be output from the machine. Error estimates associated with the data used by the algorithm can be generated to provide improved estimates. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041725 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMIC VENDOR REWARDS PROGRAMS - An approach is provided for providing dynamic vendor rewards programs. Information corresponding to rewards programs of a plurality of vendors and information corresponding to a user are stored in a database, wherein the database is maintained by a service provider. A rewards offer is retrieved from the database based on a transaction between one of the plurality of vendors and the user. Presentation of the rewards offer to the user via a user device. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041726 | Methods and Systems for Identifying Demand for, and Negotiating Discounted Prices of, Goods and Services - A method includes receiving, by a first computing device, from a second computing device, funding for use in purchasing a type of good or service. The method includes determining, by the first computing device, a level of interest in the type of good or service by a user of the second computing device, based on an amount of the funding. The method includes determining, by the first computing device, that a plurality of users has provided funding for use in purchasing items having the type of good or service. The method includes negotiating, by the first computing device, with a retail computing device for a discounted price for items having the type of good or service. The method includes making, by the first computing device, an item having the type of good or service available for purchase by each of the plurality of users at the negotiated, discounted price. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041727 | Method and system for aggregating merchant rewards - A loyalty rewards provider hosts a website providing registered users access to a loyalty rewards account for use at multiple merchants and retailers. This loyalty rewards provider has an established network of participating merchants allowing a user to accumulate and redeem loyalty rewards at multiple merchants. According to this system, a user is only required to have one loyalty rewards account that is used to accumulate all of their customer loyalty rewards which may be redeemed for cash and rewards at participating merchants free of charge. These rewards can be accessed online through a website or through a rewards card carried by the user. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041728 | REAL TIME SERVICE ADVERTISEMENT FOR BILLING AND REVENUE SETTLEMENT IN A FEDERATED MODEL - Techniques are described for fulfilling a request for services in a federated peering environment. Embodiments receive an advertisement of offered services from each of a plurality of service providers. Such an advertisement may specify a list of offered services and pricing information for the services. A request for one or more services is received from a client at a first service provider. Embodiments determine a second service provider from the plurality of service providers to peer with to dynamically create a federation of peers for fulfilling the service request, based on the received advertisements of offered services and the requested services. Embodiments then peer with at least the determined second service provider to dynamically create a peered federation and fulfill the service request through the created federation of peers. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041729 | SYSTEM AND METHOD TO FACILITATE RETAIL PROMOTIONS - Disclosed herein are systems and methods for facilitating retail promotions. The systems and methods disclosed generally include: (a) defining terms of a retail promotion; (b) identifying whether a consumer has acted in accordance with the terms of the retail promotion; and (c) authorizing a tender presented by the consumer, based on whether the consumer has acted in accordance with the terms of the retail promotion. The disclosed systems and methods have wide ranging applicability, including (non-exclusively): (1) allowing a brand company to initiate localized promotions at a point-of-sale retailer; (2) allowing a point-of-sale retailer to initiate localized promotions; and/or (3) allowing a point-of-sale retailer to build a customer database and build customer loyalty, without having to make significant changes to their point-of-sale terminal infrastructure. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041730 | ADVERTISING DEVICE WITH CHARGING BASE - An advertising device, having a charging base for charging multiple various electronic devices is provided. The advertising device includes a three dimensional advertising member; a base member configured for supporting the advertising member; a plurality of charging interfaces disposed along the periphery of the base member; an illumination source disposed at an internal position of the base member; and a power distribution assembly for providing power to the illumination source and the plurality of charging connectors. In addition, the advertising device includes a notifying unit and a receiver fob associated with each charging connector. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041731 | BUILDING CUSTOMER LOYALTY IN A MOBILE ENVIRONMENT - A customer loyalty and gifting service may reward customers who show or are expected to show frequent patronage to a provider of a good or service. A vendor of a good or service may create and provide an offer to one or more existing customers who may choose to purchase, redeem, and/or recommend the offer to other users in the network. The customer may also gift the purchased offer. A reward, such as loyalty points or stars, may then be awarded to the customer to encourage the customer for continued support and patronage. A reward may be redeemed for one or more prizes including gift cards, discounts, or other promotions and deals. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041732 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING A CUSTOMER LOYALTY AWARD PROGRAM - This invention discloses a novel system and method for implementing an electronic customer loyalty rewarding service that awards credits for continued patronage of a vendor, where the credits can be spent at the vendor or with other vendors that participate in the service. The disclosure further includes an embodiment where the system automatically calculates a discount voucher deal for a vendor with a guarantee spend amount per customer that uses the voucher. The system automatically trades these transactions in order to either electronically pay the guarantee or collect a commission on the overspend above the guarantee. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041733 | SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR TIP SHARING USING SOCIAL NETWORKING - A system, method, and computer program product for making a product recommendation that pays cash or non-cash awards to a network of tip sharers/providers. The system may be used to increase traffic to a business by sharing recommendations, which may include discounts or other exclusive offerings, to network connections that may be interested in buying a product or service, or engaging in any activity, of the business. A user of the system shares a tip or recommendation with their friend, this friend becomes a customer after making use of the tip, and a fee paid by the business is used to pay cash incentives to the individual who provided the tip and/or the customer who purchased the product based upon the tip. Additional embodiments are also described for sharing cash incentives with a greater network of individuals including those that invite others to join the tip sharing system. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041734 | Method of Passing and Redeeming Coupons Via Webpage Accessed from Mobile Phone - A method of passing and redeeming coupons via webpage accessed from mobile phone for facilitating the process of passing and redeeming coupons via a web page accessed from a mobile device. The method of passing and redeeming coupons via webpage acessed from mobile phone generally includes a method by which a Uniform Recourse Locator (URL) is electronically transferred to a mobile phone device for the purpose of allowing conditional access to coupons, premiums or discount offers. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041735 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF ONLINE MARKETING TO FACILITATE LIVE SOCIAL NETWORKING - Systems and methods for online marketing are disclosed that facilitate live social networking. Event hosts create offers to purchase participation in an event occurring on a predetermined date, at a predetermined time, in a predetermined location. The offers may be conditional upon a minimum number of purchases being made. Event offers are presented to a user based on user profile matching event target information, such as a demographic criteria. A user indicates a commitment to purchase, if the terms of the event are met The user's social network may be notified of the user's intent to participate in the event and offers extended for the individuals in the social network matching the event target information A breakdown of buyers may be provided to potential buyers. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041736 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ADDING A MERCHANT TO A LOYALTY CAMPAIGN - A loyalty gateway ( | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041737 | ELECTRONIC COUPON SYSTEM AND METHOD - A coupon creation, publication, and redemption system and method includes a business account module at a server configured to assign a deal creation power to a product or service provider accessing a website with a client, and a coupon generation module configured to generate a listing of a deal and a predetermined number of coupons associated with a deal. The coupon is published via the website. The provider's history of coupon generation is tracked. Coupon grabbing and redemption powers are assigned to a consumer. The consumer grabs the coupons via the website, and its history of coupon grabbing is tracked. When a sale consummated, the grabbed coupon is marked as redeemed, while both the consumer's and the provider's history of coupon redemption is updated. The consumer's grabbing power is transformed in accordance with at least one of the consumer's coupon grabbing and coupon redemption history. The deal provider's deal creation power is transformed in accordance with at least one of the provider's coupon generation and coupon redemption history. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041738 | SYSTEMS AND/OR METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING A CUSTOMER SAVINGS MERIT PROGRAM - Certain exemplary embodiments relate to techniques for facilitating a joint supplier/retailer driven customer loyalty program that specifically advocates customer loyalty by reaching out to consumers with offers that are relevant to the individual shopper and a particular experience they have had. A link between a product and/or service, and a specific customer is provided, e.g., to help facilitate the offering of an incentive (e.g., in the form of a voucher) to a customer who has had a less than satisfactory experience with a particular brand, product, service, sales experience, etc. An opportunity to repair the relationship with a customer who might otherwise be dissatisfied with a product or experience is provided through the provision of customizable customer savings merit programs. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041739 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ADDING A TRANSACTION INSTRUMENT TO A LOYALTY CAMPAIGN - A loyalty gateway ( | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041740 | COUPONING SYSTEMS AND METHODS - The invention contemplates a website where various merchants may have their own sub-page(s) where they offer discounts and promotional materials on goods or services offered in their stores, which are typically brick and mortar retail locations. With the sub-pages, the merchants can design their own coupons or promotions and provide coupons or other documents that may be printed by the consumer. These coupons or other discounts will have traceable indicia, such as barcodes, so that when they are redeemed at the merchant location, the merchant can track information on their redemption. To be able to offer such coupons and discounts, the merchant simply needs to be a member of the site. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041741 | System and Method to Facilitate Retail Promotions - Disclosed herein are systems and methods for facilitating retail promotions. The systems and methods disclosed generally include: (a) defining terms of a retail promotion; (b) identifying whether a consumer has acted in accordance with the terms of the retail promotion; and (c) authorizing a tender presented by the consumer, based on whether the consumer has acted in accordance with the terms of the retail promotion. The disclosed systems and methods have wide ranging applicability, including (non-exclusively): (1) allowing a brand company to initiate localized promotions at a point-of-sale retailer; (2) allowing a point-of-sale retailer to initiate localized promotions; and/or (3) allowing a point-of-sale retailer to build a customer database and build customer loyalty, without having to make significant changes to their point-of-sale terminal infrastructure. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041742 | CONTROL METHOD AND CORRESPONDING SYSTEM FOR OBTAINING COUPONS THROUGH COUPON TERMINAL - A control method for obtaining a coupon by a coupon terminal is disclosed. The method includes: step a. receiving request information for obtaining a coupon; step b. providing a coupon according to the request information; step c. deducting points corresponding to provided coupon from an account corresponding to the request information; step d. adaptively recording the provided coupon in a database; and step e. performing a statistics analysis on the provided coupon stored in the database. A control apparatus for obtaining a coupon by a coupon terminal is also disclosed. According to the present technical solution, by using the existing internet technology and RFID technology, a user may conveniently obtain required coupons by the coupon terminal, and download and print the coupons. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041743 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ENROLLING A CUSTOMER IN A LOYALTY CAMPAIGN BASED ON A TRANSACTION INSTRUMENT - A loyalty gateway ( | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041744 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ANONYMOUSLY ENROLLING A CUSTOMER IN A LOYALTY CAMPAIGN - A loyalty gateway ( | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041745 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ENROLLING A CUSTOMER IN A LOYALTY CAMPAIGN WITH A SHAREABLE BENEFIT - A loyalty gateway ( | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041746 | Methods and Systems of Electronic Messaging - Methods and systems of electronic messaging for verification and/or authentication purposes using a point of sale terminal and a card transaction processing network involve, for example, receiving data consisting at least in part of a consumer's identifier that is processable through a transaction card processing network and a nominal monetary amount which is an indicator that the data relates at least in part to a coupon redemption for a consumer. Other aspects include, for example, using different nominal amounts to distinguish between multiple promotions and processing overcharges. Additional aspects involve, for example, receiving data consisting at least in part of an identifier for a registrant that is processable through a transaction card processing network and a nominal monetary amount which serves at least in part to identify a command message on behalf of the registrant. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041747 | SYNCHRONIZED DIGITAL CONTENT SAMPLES - Aspects of the present disclosure relate to one or more configured computing systems identifying when decoupled content includes a companion content pair (e.g., a first content and a second content) that can be synchronously or interchangeably presented. Further, aspects of the present disclosure relate to providing a limited portion of at least one content item of a companion content pair, such as sample portions or trial use portions, and enabling playback of the limited portion synchronized with or as an alterative to the corresponding item of companion content. In some embodiments, a user may be enabled to acquire the complete content item either during or after consumption of the limited portion. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041748 | CONVERSION TYPE TO CONVERSION TYPE FUNNELING - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium including receiving first information as to completion of at least a first conversion and a second conversion by a user, grouping the received first information into at least one sequence of events, receiving second information as to which conversions are to be included in a report, and a time frame with respect to completion of the conversions, extracting information from the at least one sequence of events that is pertinent to the received second information, and providing the extracted information in the form of a report. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041749 | System and Method for Developing Sales Content - A system and method of developing sales information for use in a buyer-seller environment is directed to providing one or more qualifiers which relate to a sales offering; determining value criteria, for each qualifier, to identify potential value of the sales offering; determining ideal buying criteria based on a competitive analysis; and developing the sales information from the value and buying criteria. The sales information, which can be a letter of understanding (LOU) or a buyer needs assessment, can be stored on a server and updated and accessed by one or more sellers. The updating can be an iterative process that is responsive to feedback about the sales information. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041750 | METHOD OF ATTENTION-TARGETING FOR ONLINE ADVERTISEMENT - The various embodiments described in the present disclosure, in at least one aspect, relate to computer-implemented methods of online advertisement. In one embodiment, a method includes determining an attention score for each of a plurality of ad creatives corresponding to a common ad content based on at least a correlation between each ad creative and a user's subconscious interest. The method further includes selecting an ad creative among the plurality of ad creatives based at least in part on the attention scores, and presenting the ad content with the selected ad creative as an ad impression to the user. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041751 | ONLINE ADVERTISEMENT RELAYING SYSTEM AND ONLINE ADVERTISEMENT RELAYING METHOD USING SAME - There are provided a system and a method for intermediating an on-line advertisement. The system for intermediating an on-line advertisement, which provides an on-line advertisement intermediation site to a plurality of terminals connected through a communication network, includes: a database where a plurality of on-line advertisements is stored; and an advertisement server that provides an advertisement list of the on-line advertisements stored in the database to the terminals, that when receiving a request for seeing some of the advertisements included in the advertisement list from users, displays the contents of the advertisements on the terminals, ascertains whether the users have seen the advertisements, and stores lists of the advertisements that the users have seen, to user accounts, respectively, creates an advertising message including at least one of the advertisements included in the lists of the advertisements stored in the user accounts and transmits the advertising message to the terminals of another user, in accordance with an instruction from the user. It is possible to achieve a high effect of transmitting an advertisement, because consumers can distribute advertisements by themselves. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041752 | Shopping Apparatus and Methods - Methods and apparatus related to enabling a shopper to utilize a mobile electronic device to enhance the shopping experience. A shopper may utilize the mobile electronic device to check-in at a retail location. A pecuniary reward or offer may be provided to the shopper and the shopper may be notified of such reward or offer via the mobile electronic device. A mobile electronic device may be utilized to compile an electronic shopping list and/or send an electronic shopping list. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041753 | System and Method for Identifying a Path of a Billboard Audience Group and Providing Advertising Content Based on the Path - A plurality of mappings corresponding to respective points of interest is generated. Each mapping indicates at least one group detected at the corresponding point of interest and respective times when each respective group among the at least one group was detected at the corresponding point of interest. A standard representation corresponding to a set of one or more groups appearing in a selected one of the plurality of mappings is defined. A path associated with the standard representation is determined, based on the plurality of mappings, the path defining a second plurality of points of interest at which the standard representation was detected and time information indicating when the standard representation was detected at each respective point of interest within the second plurality of points of interest. A point of interest may comprise a location associated with a billboard. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041754 | Integrated Gourmet Item Data Collection, Recommender and Vending System and Method - Items—including gourmet products—are evaluated and rated by participants in a controlled event, which can be coordinated by software locally or at a dedicated website. Event data, including item scores and participant scores can be shared with vendors, merchants and other commercial entities associated with the products. Promotional incentives from such entities for the products (and related products) can then be directly targeted and provided to participants and other members of the public. The participant's activities can also be collected and disseminated to affiliates/friends of the participants through social networking sites, personalized web pages, etc. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041755 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING ADVERTISEMENT CONTENT AND PERSONAL CONTENT - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, monitoring access by communication devices of second users to personal content associated with a first user, selecting advertisement content based on the monitoring of the access, and providing the advertisement content for presentation with the personal content when the personal content is accessed by a communication device of a third user. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041756 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR COLLECTION AND USE OF WIRELESS APPLICATION ACTIVITY INFORMATION - A method for targeting one or more users. User interaction with a wireless application is monitored. Information based on the user interaction is analyzed. Based on the analysis, one or more customizations of the application are determined in order to target users. The customizations are dynamically applied to the application. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041757 | DISAGGREGATION TO ISOLATE USERS FOR AD TARGETING - Targeting advertisements to a specific user includes steps or acts of: identifying an area of interest that includes a plurality of users using the Internet; logging each Internet request from the plurality of users; aggregating data regarding each Internet request to reveal use patterns; and disaggregating the data according to the use patterns to match the Internet use pattern with the specific user, thus identifying the specific user with each Internet request. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041758 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTING AN ADVERTISER - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a method for receiving a first radio frequency signal from a radio frequency identifier tag carried by a first item, retrieving from the first radio frequency signal information about the first item, and identifying at least one replacement item according to the retrieved information. The method can further include selecting at least one advertiser that promotes at least one product that is at least similar to the at least one replacement item, and selecting a presentation arrangement for the identified at least one advertiser to present the at least one product at a device of a user of the first item. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041759 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROMOTING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES - A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a method for receiving a first radio frequency signal from a radio frequency identifier tag carried by a first item, retrieving from the first radio frequency signal information about the first item, identifying a need to replace the first item from the retrieved information, selecting according to a selection strategy at least one advertiser that promotes products, and selecting at least one product of the at least one advertiser that is at least similar to the first item. Other embodiments are disclosed. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041760 | Methods and Systems for Facilitating Added-Revenue OffSite Internet Advertising - A super-saturation method for information-media substantially relates to a three-body cooperation to direct information to an electronic media consumer (reader, surfer, viewer, listener, etc.). Embodiments of the present invention facilitate a first media entity substantially offering out of context information placement using a second media entity. A facilitator entity guarantees that a consumer of the second media is a known consumer of the first media. Accordingly, the second media entity presents an out of context information placement. For example, an Internet site “AAA” is oversubscribed with potential paying advertising content at $100 CPM. This site offers advertisers an option to present their advertisements to certified “AAA” viewers, albeit on a non-AAA Internet site, for $50 CPM. The facilitator locates certified AAA viewers at Internet site “BBB” that normally charges $30 CPM. Contracts between AAA, BBB, and the facilitator divide a new revenue stream of $20 CPM between them. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041761 | LOCATION BASED ADVERTISING ASSET TRACKING SYSTEM AND METHOD - An apparatus for tracking an advertising object is disclosed. A mobile device is capable of receiving an identification code to identify the advertising object. An identification device associated with the advertising object is capable of transmitting the identification code to the mobile device. A location media is capable of providing location information to the mobile device. A first set of executable instructions is capable of executing on a mobile device to detect the reception of the identification code, and forwarding the identification code and the location information to a server that is capable of storing the location information and the identification code. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041762 | Systems and Method for Real-Time Media Placement - A media reservation system and method for secure, dependable, real-time reservation of media space on a plurality of media distribution channels. The system and method include transporting media to the location from which the media will enter a media distribution channel and the placement of the media in the media distribution channel. This permits media to be placed easily from any place in the world to any other place in the world. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041763 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EMBEDDING ADVERTISEMENTS IN AUDIO FILES FOR INTERNET AND NETWORK DISTRIBUTION - A method for distribution of advertising that includes combining an audio data file that produces an advertising message when processed with a data file that produces a performance of a musical composition when processed. Alternatively the invention may be viewed as a method for distribution of music which includes providing a server connected to a computer network, permitting message data files to be provided for a fee paid by the party providing the message, purchasing rights to multimedia data files from owners of such rights and making available to end users data files comprising a message and a licensed multimedia file by a connection to the network server. Preferably the method provides a multimedia file that comprises a musical composition. An especially preferred embodiment provides a multimedia data file that is an MP3 file comprising a musical composition. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041764 | Method and System for Dynamic Textual Ad Distribution Via Email - A system and method for providing dynamic pay-for-placement advertisements via graphics-enabled email that generates a display of advertisements when the email newsletter is opened so the advertisements displayed are based on rankings at the time the email is opened instead of when the email was generated and transmitted. In one embodiment, a graphical-content email having one or more embedded advertisement image references is provided to one or more email recipients. The advertisement image reference, in one embodiment, may include query string parameters indicating the context of the image reference and/or portion of the image reference (i.e., identifying the image reference as being part of a particular newsletter email), a position of the image reference in the email display, and the like. A URL reference also may be included with each advertisement image reference (.e.g., one URL for each advertisement portion of the image to be retrieved by the advertising image reference). | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041765 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OPTIMUM PLACEMENT OF ADVERTISEMENTS ON A WEBPAGE - A method and system for placement of graphical objects on a page to optimize the occurrence of an event associated with such objects. The graphical objects might include, for instance, advertisements on a webpage, and the event would include a user clicking on that ad. The page includes positions for receipt of the object material. Data regarding the past performance of the objects is stored and updated as new data is received. A user requests a page from a server associated with system. The server uses the performance data to derive a prioritized arrangement of the objects on the page. The objects are arranged according to a calculation and returned to the user on the requested page. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041766 | Method and System for Providing a Distributed Adaptive Rules Based Dynamic Pricing System - A system for providing distributed control to process transactions is disclosed, including a service provider system, a point of service device, and a portable device. The service provider system, point of service (POS) device, and portable device each have a plurality of rules and a number of meta-rules. The portable device is used with the POS device to conduct a transaction. If the portable device is unable to determine the outcome for the transaction, the portable device determines whether its rules may be altered locally to determine the outcome, or request the POS device to help determine the outcome. If the POS device is unable to determine the outcome, the POS device determines whether its rules can be altered locally in order to determine the outcome, or request the service provider system to help determine the outcome using the rules and meta-rules associated with the service provider system. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041767 | Methods and Systems for Communicating Information from a Smart Point-of-Sale Terminal - Methods and systems for communicating information from a specially programmed smart point-of-sale terminal involve receiving transaction information at the terminal, recognizing that the transaction relates to a redemption function, adjusting the transaction amount accordingly, and routing an approval request for the adjusted amount to a card issuer processor via a card association transaction processing network. In another aspect, information is received at the terminal which recognizes that the information relates to a third party function and routes a message to the third party processor via a merchant acquirer processor while bypassing the card association transaction processing network. Thereafter, the third party processor performs the third party function and returns a message related at least in part to the performance of the third party function to the smart point-of-sale terminal processor via the merchant acquirer processor. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041768 | System for Processing, Activating and Redeeming Value Added Prepaid Cards - A computer implemented method for adding value to a stored value card in excess of the purchase price for the stored value card is provided. In one embodiment a stored value card transaction processor receives an activation or redemption request for a stored value card from a point of sale terminal. The activation or redemption request comprises at least one of a card identification, a point of sale terminal identification, a merchant identification, and a time of activation which is compared to data stored in a stored value card datastore to determine if the stored value card to be activated is eligible for a value added award. The processor then determines the value added award and modifies the request to include the value added award. The processor then transmits the modified request to the card issuer authorization system and receives a response which is forwarded to the point of sale terminal. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041769 | SECURE DEVICE BASED NFC TRANSACTIONS - A method for transmitting data between a mobile communication device and a server. The method includes running a mobile application on the mobile communication device. The mobile application is hosted on the mobile communication device through the server as a Software as a Service (SaaS). The method further includes transmitting data associated with the mobile application between the mobile communication device and the server, in which transmission of the data between the mobile communication device and the server is monitored through the server. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041770 | PERSISTENT NETWORK-BASED ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION SERVICES - A system configured to receive a request to perform an electronic transaction associated with merchant equipment, where the request identifies one or more value-added services that are to be provided when the transaction is performed; retrieve workflow information, associated with a workflow that corresponds to the transaction, where the workflow information identifies how the transaction is to be performed and how the value-added services are to be provided; obtain information associated with one or more second server devices that provide the value-added services; instruct the second server devices to provide the value-added services, in a manner that conforms to the workflow information, based on the information associated with the one or more second server devices; perform the transaction in a manner that conforms to the workflow information; and transmit, to the merchant equipment, a notification that the transaction has been performed or that the value-added services have been provided. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041771 | System, Apparatus and Methods for Storing Links to Media Files in Network Storage - When a user purchases digital rights to a media file, or otherwise obtains the right to have a copy of the media file downloaded to the user's wireless device, a link to the media file that is stored in the media database is stored in a user storage database. When the user desires to have the media file downloaded to the user's wireless device, the user sends a request to the network. The network performs a check to determine whether the user is authorized to receive the requested media file, and if so, causes the requested media file to be downloaded to the user's wireless device where the media file is stored in the local memory of the wireless device for playback by the user on the wireless device. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041772 | Marketplace for Executive-Level Meeting Time - Various systems, methods, and computer program products are described for mediating sales between a buyer and a seller of meeting times. For example, a method may include receiving an indication of a meeting for sale and a sale parameter. The meeting for sale includes a meeting with a party of interest for a specified period of time and the sale parameter describes the meeting for sale. The method may include communicating the meeting for sale and the sale parameter. The method may include receiving an offer to purchase the meeting for sale. The method may include determining whether the offer satisfies the sale parameter. The method may include facilitating the meeting with the party of interest when the offer satisfies the sale parameter. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041773 | Systems and methods to process online monetary payments dependent on conditional triggers involving future events - The present invention is a system to process online monetary payments between end-users whose payments are dependent on conditional triggers involving future events, such as winning bids/offers in an auction or a trading exchange. In the system, bids and offers are backed by actual funds which are held in reserve, enabling instantaneous payments upon the close of an event. The system contains methods to be included in online auction and trading exchange software applications. These methods would allow end-users of online auctions and trading exchanges to send and receive payments directly to one another. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041774 | PRODUCT RECOMMENDATION DEVICE, PRODUCT RECOMMENDATION METHOD, PROGRAM, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - A time storage unit ( | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041775 | System and Apparatus for Enabling Access to Business Service - A near field communications enabled mobile communication with the appropriate program is used to provide or receive information related to service provided to or for a customer. Using the mobile communication device increases the customer's access to service and service personnel. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041776 | CASH PAYMENT APPARATUS, SYSTEM AND METHOD - Using communications enabled devices or computers, Cash Payment System (CPS) buyers authenticate and authorize payment to sellers. Sellers identify themselves to the buyer and the buyer controls the payment process. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041777 | Method and System for Distribution of User Generated Content - Systems and methods for distributing user-generated content are disclosed. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention may allow content to be generated by a user at a manufacturer's site with respect to a corresponding product and this content distributed to one or more retailers who sell that product such that the user-generated content may be incorporated into the retailer's site or brick and mortar location in conjunction with that product to allow consumers shopping at that retailer to access or view such user-generated content. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041778 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPROVING A PRODUCT RECOMMENDATION MADE FOR MATCHING A CONSUMER WISH LIST - A computer-implemented method and system for automatically improving the matched products recommended to a potential buyer by helping the buyer refine his answers to a product discovery questionnaire. One method comprises of processing the consumer's answers to an interactive product discovery questionnaire, identifying answer constraints, searching for reasonable alternative answers and offering them back to the consumer as a questionnaire refinement option. Another method comprises of allowing the buyer to visually navigate different tradeoff axes while viewing newly matched products in real-time during navigation. Accepting these optional refinements will yield superior, better matching products to the consumer, increasing his satisfaction with the product and service, and increasing the conversion rates and ultimately the revenues of the shopping service. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041779 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR CONDUCTING ELECTRONIC COMMERCE - Various methods and systems are provided for conducting e-commerce. In one example, a method of conducting an e-commerce transaction includes a method of operating an online retail website. The method includes providing access to a computer interface for suppliers and presenting information to the suppliers through the computer interface regarding activity of the supplier's stock keeping unit (SKU). The suppliers are then enabled to directly modify at least one parameter associated with a presentation of the supplier's SKU on the retail website by way of the interface. The modification of the parameter may include, for example, modification of the presentation of the SKU including, for example, changing the title, adding video or photograph, or adding some other information. The modification of the parameter may also include, for example, modifying the price or entering into a bilateral agreement with the operator of the retail web site. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041780 | NAIL DESIGN DISPLAY CONTROL APPARATUS AND DISPLAY CONTROL METHOD - A nail design display control apparatus including a first storage circuit which stores a plurality of nail designs, each of which being associated with evaluation values indicating matching levels of a nail design with respect a plurality of related items, an item specifying unit by which a user specifies one or more of related items among a plurality of related items; and an evaluation calculation unit which calculates a sum of the evaluation values with respect to the related items specified by the user for each of the plurality of nail designs. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041781 | DIGITAL PERSONAL MARKET AND SHOPPING NETWORK - A computer system supporting an online personal market for a user includes a user account module configured to allow the user to register and create a user account, a vendor selection module configured to allow the user to add and remove one or more vendors to the online personal market, a social module configured to allow the user to establish social interaction and networking with other users, a shopping module configured to allow the user to shop one or more products or services from the one or more vendors, an account management and utility module configured to allow the user to manage the online personal market, an analytics module configured to collect and analyze actions of the user, and a vendor module configured to allow the one or more vendors to create one or more vendor accounts and access the online personal market. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041782 | Processing Techniques for Text Capture from a Rendered Document - A facility for initiating a purchase is described. The facility receives a text sequence captured by a user from a rendered document using a handheld text capture device. The facility identifies in the received text sequence a reference to a distinguished product. In response to identifying the reference, the facility presents to the user an opportunity to place an order for the established product. If the user accepts the presented opportunity to order the distinct product, the facility orders the distinct product on behalf of the user. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041783 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMIC SPARE PART MANAGEMENT - A dynamic spare part management system includes a database stored in a memory of a computing device, the database including at least fired hours and starts for a plurality of parts in a machine and a controller coupled to the database configured to create model factors after receiving an indication of a maintenance event on the machine. The controller is also configured to create updated models from existing models and the model factors. The system further includes a part replacement engine that creates an updated part replacement model based on the updated model. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041784 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PHARMACEUTICAL MANAGEMENT AND TRACKING - A product inventory management system including a cabinet configured to contain an inventory of product units having RFID tags and further configured to monitor the inventory by wirelessly detecting the RFID tags, and a server system configured to communicate over a network with the cabinet, the server system capable of managing the inventory of the cabinet. There is also a method for product inventory management, including receiving, in a server system and via a network, inventory data from a cabinet, the inventory data corresponding to an inventory of product units stored in the cabinet, and generating an order to have additional product units added to the cabinet according to the cabinet inventory. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041785 | Methods and Systems for Collaborative Demand Planning and Replenishment - The present invention provides systems and methods for generating replenishment orders for products sold to a multi-store retailer. Store trait data is mapped with planogram information and the mapped data is used to generate a fixture level safety stock for a particular product in a particular store. The fixture level safety stock triggers fixture level replenishment orders. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041786 | Effective Indentification of a Product in a Proprietary Supplier Catalog - Devices, systems, and methods are disclosed which use known characteristics of a part to identify that part's equivalent from a supplier with a proprietary part catalog which contains characteristics defined using different structure, standards and nomenclature. The system tries to identify the correct part number or equivalent to a given part, but the supplier may have a different part numbering system than used by the individuals performing the search. The system then utilizes at least one part characteristic and/or a vehicle identifier and uses them to search the proprietary supplier catalog to retrieve a part record with substantially similar part characteristics. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041787 | Method and System for Providing Financial Functions - A method is disclosed for providing financial functions by an agent for each of a plurality of clients. One embodiment includes, relating to a financial function of each client, demonstrating that more than one activity of the agent can be transparent to the client, receiving financial information at the agent, creating risk management information relating to the financial information, analyzing the risk management information in the context of the financial information, determining an action based on the analysis, facilitating implementation of an action on behalf of the client, and communicating with the client one or more activities of the agent. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041788 | Method and System for Calculating and Reporting Fund Values for Omnibus Investment Accounts - An omnibus fund accounting system is described that comprises a system of servers and databases connected to a network that can host a set of application instructions and a fund investment database to manage multiple fund investments. An institutional investor places an investment with an investment fund. The institutional investment comprises a plurality of individual investors who may invest at varied times and in varied amounts. The discrepancies in investment initiation dates by individual investors causes expenses such as performance based management fees to be assessed differently against each individual investor. The omnibus fund accounting system tracks the increases or decreases in overall fund performance with respect to the institutional investment or, alternatively, with respect to the fund as a whole. This may be reflected by the overall net asset value of the institutional investment or the fund as a whole as determined by the omnibus fund accounting system. The omnibus fund accounting system also accommodates the deviations in costs attributable to each individual investor while tracking the overall institutional investment performance. The omnibus fund accounting system may accommodate deviations in costs for each individual investor with the addition of positive unit adjustments or subtraction of negative unit adjustments to or from individual accounts. The omnibus fund accounting system reports the performance of the individual investments and the overall institutional investment to the institutional investor. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041789 | PRODUCTION COST ANALYSIS SYSTEM - A production cost analysis system may include data about goods and services stored in an in-memory database. The data may include information about routing, operation, work center, cost center, component, and activity. Production cost analysis may be performed on the data by aggregating the data in real-time, and may include calculating variances pertaining to target costs and actual costs associated with the stored data. The stored data may be viewed, edited, input, or analyzed through a user interface. Methods and devices are provided. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041790 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSFERRING AN APPLICATION STATE - Systems and methods are for using a computer-based application session on one device and continuing the same session on one or more other devices without interruption of the session, according to certain embodiments of the invention. This occurs by a transferring or cloning of the application along with its state from one device to one or more others using a wired or wireless communication link or network. Embodiments further include the transfer of an application state to one or more other users by a transfer to their devices while continuing with the first user's session on his/her device. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041791 | PRIVATE EQUITY ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING SYSTEM AND METHOD - A private equity accounting and reporting system and method are provided herein. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041792 | CALCULATION APPLICATION AND METHOD - Embodiments of the present invention provide a solution for generating interactive cost saving reports on card programs offered to customers. In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving, at a computing device (e.g., a mobile device), characterization data associated with an entity, determining a benchmark data source corresponding to the characterization data, and receiving benchmark data from the determined benchmark data source. The method continues by calculating financial benefit values from the benchmark data and characterization data, generating an interactive savings report, wherein the interactive savings report includes summarized data of the calculated financial benefit values, and displaying the interactive savings report including a plurality of visual metrics corresponding to the summarized data of the calculated financial benefit values, wherein the plurality of visual metrics are interactive. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041793 | FINANCIAL DATA PROCESSING DEVICE, FINANCIAL DATA PROCESSING METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM - A financial data processing device generates common data, and thereafter, converts the common data into XBRL-FR format financial statements, and an XBRL-GL format trial balance and an XBRL-GL format itemized statement, which are related to the financial statements, on the basis of a mapping table which indicates a relationship among a template of XBRL-FR format financial statements, a template of an XBRL-GL format trial balance and an XBRL-GL format itemized statement, and areas in which the common items are located on the templates, and stores the XBRL-FR format financial statements, the XBRL-GL format trial balance, and the XBRL-GL format itemized statement in a storage unit. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041794 | FINANCIAL DATA PROCESSING DEVICE, FINANCIAL DATA PROCESSING METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM - A first linkage processing unit refers to a correspondence information storage unit and stores a first financial data for the inside of one company which is related to financial data for the outside of the one company in a first storage device in a standard data format. A second linkage processing unit refers to the correspondence information storage unit and generates a second financial data of a data format of a second application used by the one company. A third linkage processing unit refers to the correspondence information storage unit and stores a third financial data outputted from the second application used by the one company in a second storage device in the standard data format as financial data for the outside of the one company. The notification unit notifies an external device of the third financial data stored in the second storage device. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041795 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PAYMENT STRUCTURES IN THE PURCHASE AND DISTRIBUTION OF CONSUMABLES, INCLUDING HEATING OIL OR PROPANE - A new ecosystem may comprise a central system operable to monitor the consumption of a commodity at the premises of a consumer, interface with suppliers and retailers of the commodity and perhaps tank monitors, process data collected therefrom, and implement a payment structure that can alleviate the burden of consumers having to pay for an entire delivery of the commodity—the consumer is only responsible for paying for the amount actually consumed during a time period at a prevailing price during that time. The payment structure can also significantly reduce a retailer's working capital required to float the purchase of the commodity before it is paid by its consumers. The central system may provide a web based user interface through which a consumer can lock in a price to pay for the commodity. Alternatively, the price may be fixed when the commodity was delivered to the consumer's tank. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041796 | APPLICATION GOVERNANCE PROCESS AND TOOL - Managing application governance data may include receiving application governance data from multiple data servers, storing the received application governance data, and consolidating the received application governance data into a common format by executing a predefined rule set. Governance data may include one or more risk assessments for various applications within an enterprise and each of the risk assessments may be organized in one or more native formats. Managing application governance data may also include receiving a request for the consolidated application governance data from a user, filtering the consolidated application governance data according to the user's role, comparing the filtered application governance data against a configurable metric, and transmitting the filtered application governance data and the comparison to the user. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041797 | BANKING LOCATION UTILIZING SECURE TRANSACTION STATION AND METHOD OF PROCESSING CONSUMER BANKING TRANSACTIONS - A banking location having one or more transaction stations each with a secure automated cash recycler for receiving and dispensing money for customer deposits and withdrawals. The banking location may further include a remote assistance station for connecting a customer with a complicated transaction with a banking associate from a remote location who may complete the customer transaction without disrupting the customer transaction flow of the banking branch. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041798 | Debt Collection Database - A secured server computer hosting a conventional website, displaying a relational database to participating members that contains identification information pertaining to individuals maintaining an outstanding balance of preferably $150.00, or having a history of delinquent payments with one or more member businesses. The present invention functions to alert small businesses to delinquent customers, as well as to facilitate the resolution of debts between crediting businesses and individual debtors. Automated alerts are enacted through direct mediums such as email, telephone, and conventional postal mail, providing the debtor a chance to dispute accusations, or resolve listed debts prior to being marked as delinquent by the present invention. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041799 | Pricing a Forward Rate Agreement Financial Product Using a Non-Par Value - Computer readable media, methods, and apparatuses may be configured for processing a yield of a first financial instrument, determining a single floating rate payment based on the yield, determining a single fixed rate payment based on a fixed interest rate, determining a present value of the single floating rate payment, determining a present value of the single fixed rate payment, and generating a quote for a forward rate agreement index financial product as a function of the present value of the single floating rate payment and the present value of the single fixed rate payment. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041800 | DYNAMIC PRICE IMPROVEMENT - A system and method is provided to enable traders to price improve on an item at an amount less than a predetermined pricing increment. Traders can improve on the price of the item using different price improvement levels (e.g., four different levels). Dynamic price improvement enables a dynamic order to maintain a predetermined position in a trading stack relative to other orders in the stack. The dynamic order may maintain its position in the trading stack by adjusting (e.g., increasing or decreasing) its price improvement level depending on market conditions. For example, a dynamic order may increases its price improvement level such that it stays at least one level ahead of the next best order in the trading stack. If the level cannot be further increased, the dynamic order may use its timestamp to maintain its position in the stack. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041801 | Selective Suppression of Implied Contract Generation - An electronic trading system utilizes a Match Engine that receives orders, stores them internally, calculates tradable combinations and advertises the availability of real and implied orders in the form of market data. New tradable items defined as combinations of other tradable items may be included in the calculation of tradable combinations. A technique is disclosed for suppression of the calculation and/or subsequent listing of an implied order when the order is either undesired or unnecessary in the market therefore. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041802 | Derivative Products - Systems and methods are described for processing and clearing derivatives products with a binary outcome and having a final settlement based on a triggering event. A computer system configured to process and clear derivative products can accept initial and adjusted performance bonds from buyers and sellers, and adjust the market price of the derivative product at intervals. The market price may be adjusted on a mark-to-market basis and through analysis of other information, e.g., the credit rating of a reference entity. As a result of price adjustments, cash flow may be generated between buyers and sellers. The derivative product may pay a predetermined final settlement amount or percentage upon the triggering of a predetermined event. However, upon expiration of the derivative product, the derivative's market price is settled to zero and the agreement is terminated. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041803 | METHOD FOR AGGREGATING AND VALUING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN AN EXCHANGE - The present invention relates to methods of aggregating and valuing intellectual property in a financial exchange. The present invention provides means whereby holders of intellectual property rights may sell, or license intellectual property to an aggregator and receive shares of stock or cash for the contribution based on the aggregated value of the intellectual property held by the aggregator. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041804 | System and Method for Activity Based Margining - A system and method for factoring in a trader's trading activity into the margin requirements is disclosed. In the securities arena, day traders are assessed different margins than non-day-traders, however, the specific profile of the trader is analyzed (that is, the same rule applies to all day traders). | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041805 | FINANCIAL PRODUCTS BASED ON A SERIALIZED INDEX - A method for trading financial instruments includes listing, by an electronic financial exchange, financial instruments that specify which version of a serialized index the financial instrument tracks; receiving, by the electronic financial exchange, an electronic, indication to buy or sell the financial instrument; executing, by the electronic financial exchange, a trade involving the financial instrument; and settling the financial instrument according to the version of the serialized index specified by the financial instrument | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041806 | System and Method for Identifying Banking Errors - A computer-implemented method for customer relationship management is provided. The method may include receiving bank data including bank lending credit risk management data. The method may further include receiving one or more business rules configured to perform computations upon the bank data. The method may also include identifying one or more anomalies associated with at least one of a credit risk modeling calculation and a capital adequacy calculation based upon, at least in part, the bank data. The method may additionally include generating at least one report identifying at least one loan data record for investigation. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041807 | INTELLIGENT COLLECTIONS MODELS - Apparatuses, computer media, and methods for analyzing credit and tax form data and determining a collection treatment type to collect revenue. A collections model is constructed to determine a collections score that is based on raw credit data and tax form data and is indicative of a debtor's propensity to pay an owed amount. The collections model includes score bands, each score band being associated with a range of credit scores. A collections score is determined from a scoring expression that is associated with a score band and that typically includes a subset of available raw credit data and tax form data. A collections treatment type is determined from a collections score. Each treatment type corresponds to a treatment action that is directed to the debtor. A collections model is constructed from historical tax data, in which score bands and scoring expressions are constructed for the collections model. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041808 | DISTRIBUTED MEDIA ACCESS - Delivering dynamic media content to a client on a client device. The method includes storing segments at a series of data server units; delivering to a client a playlist indicating the playback order, wherein the playlist is configured to be natively processed by the client, whereby the native processing directs the client to: initiate requests for the individual segments to corresponding data server units according to the playback order; download the respective individual segments from the corresponding data server units according to the playback order; and render the respective individual segments according to the playback order so as to render a reconstitution of the dynamic media content; sending each respective individual segment from its respective data server unit to the client device according to a playback order of the playlist. The system includes dynamically scalable architecture for delivery of real-time video packet data sent over a communication network. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041809 | MONEY HANDLING APPARATUS, MONEY MANAGING SYSTEM, AND MONEY MANAGING METHOD - The present disclosure relates to a money handling apparatus including: a money storage unit configured to store money; a locking unit configured to limit access to the money storage unit; and a control unit configured to give unlock permission to unlock the locking unit to at least one of a plurality of qualified persons who are qualified to unlock the locking unit, and to perform a process involving change of the qualified person. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041810 | PAYROLL SYSTEM TO FACILITATE EMPLOYEE BUDGET CONTROL AND METHODS THEREOF - Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a system for administering and managing an employee's compensation by virtue of enabling the employee to implement measures to create a budget and implement such budget through controlled distribution of the employee's compensation. In one embodiment, the method comprises: receiving employee data regarding the employee's compensation from an employer, the employee data comprising an employer pay schedule and an ordinary pay amount each pay period of the pay schedule; enabling the employee to create a customized periodic payment plan; and managing implementation of the customized periodic payment plan, whereby the employee is compensated based on the customized pay schedule at a modified pay amount for each pay period of the customized pay schedule. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041811 | UNIFIED PAYMENT SERVICE - A method for unified payment includes identifying a unified account, determining a cash value source of the unified account, determining a non-cash value source of the unified account, and presenting a combined value of the cash value source and the non-cash value source. The combined value is expressed in terms of cash. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041812 | METHOD AND SECURE DEVICE FOR PERFORMING A SECURE TRANSACTION WITH A TERMINAL - A method for performing a secure transaction between a secure device ( | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041813 | METHOD FOR PERFORMING MULTI-PAYMENT USING MULTIPLE PAYMENT MEANS, DEVICE FOR PERFORMING MULTI-PAYMENT, AND PROGRAM FOR PERFORMING MULTI-PAYMENT - One settlement is made with multiple settlement units. A user-selected settlement unit, at least one settlement price allocated to each settlement unit and a usage ratio allocated to each settlement unit, and a total price to be settled are received from a site. Credit processing is performed for each price obtained by allocating the total price to the settlement unit using the usage ratio or for each settlement price allocated to each settlement unit. Sales determination processing is performed for each price obtained by allocating the total price to the settlement unit using the usage ratio or for each settlement price allocated to each settlement unit. A message indicating settlement completion is transmitted to the site. In the first and second settlements, when all credit processing and sales determination processing can be performed within the multi-settlement apparatus, the processing is so performed, otherwise, an external unit is requested. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041814 | Method for Issuing and Managing Debit Gift Card Accounts - A method for generating and managing debit gift card accounts and facilitating the processing of gift card payments through a debit process. The method involves associating a gift card with a purchaser and transferring any unused residual balance to the purchaser following card expiration or other triggering event. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041815 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FINANCING PURCHASES OF CONSUMABLES, INCLUDING HEATING OIL OR PROPANE - A system operable to monitor the consumption of a commodity at the premises of a consumer may comprise a billing system interfacing with suppliers and retailers of the commodity to facilitate the purchase and distribution of the commodity. The billing system may include a payment structure that can alleviate the burden of consumers having to pay for an entire delivery of the commodity—the consumer is only responsible for paying for the amount actually consumed during a time period at a prevailing price during that time—as well as significantly reduce a retailer's working capital required to float the purchase of the commodity before it is paid by its consumers. Such a billing system and payment structure may eliminate or reduce the need for a retailer to borrow against receivables to pay for such purchases. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041816 | PAYMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ACCELERATING DEBT PAYOFF AND REDUCING INTEREST EXPENSE - The electronic payment systems and methods of the present disclosure accelerate debt payoff and reduce interest expense. A method of operating an electronic payment system includes storing funding source information in a database, storing funding schedule information, which includes funding schedule type, corresponding to the funding source information in the database, and allocating an available funding amount from at least one funding source to a plurality of recurring payment accounts based upon the funding source information, the funding schedule information, and recurring payment account information. A method of enrolling at least one client in an electronic payment system includes receiving client information, which includes funding source information and payment account information, selecting a regular funding cycle, determining a regular funding amount, determining a plurality of potential funding profiles based upon the client information, and selecting at least one funding profile from the plurality of potential funding profiles. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041817 | Methods and Systems for Activating an Electronic Payments Infrastructure - Methods and systems for activating an electronic payments infrastructure employ, for example, a token consisting at least in part of a unique identifier assigned to an inactive header account which is provided on a customer's electronic device. The unique identifier is processable via a transaction processing network. A request, which includes customer information, is received to verify that activation of the header account for the customer is compliant with predefined customer identification rules. A determination is made that activation of the header account for the customer is compliant with the predefined customer identification rules. An activation message is sent to the customer's device using the interface processor, the header account is linked to a digital wallet on a database, and the customer's designation of a source account for the digital wallet is received on the database. The header account can be used in transactions with either on-us or off-us source accounts. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041818 | PROCESSING ON-LINE ACCOUNT REQUESTS - A request to perform an action is processed using an on-line account management system. A request is received from a first user to perform a first action associated with an account using an on-line account management system. A user database is accessed to determine a tier associated with the first user, wherein a first tier is associated with a low risk and a second tier is associated with a high risk. A processor determines whether to apply a rule in a rules database based on the first action and the tier. If the rule is applied, the processor determines whether to permit the first action according to the rule. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041819 | SYSTEMS, DEVICES AND METHODS FOR MANAGING CASH FLOW - Systems, methods, and devices for managing cash flow and spending are disclosed. Such systems, methods, and devices may include generating a preliminary budget based on user input of planned or historical spending of the user. These user inputs are interfaced into a computer server, the budget having one or more budget items. Further, individual preliminary budget items are aggregated and consolidated into a small number of allocation allotments based on inherent timing and mode of payment for each of the expenses. Further such systems, methods and devices may cause to generate one or more financial accounts and a cash flow mechanism to facilitate the flow of funds coupling available funds with the planned allocation allotments. Feedback from user and/or financial institutions provide critical information to track the balance of allocation allotments in real time to chronological targets helping users better and more consistently manage spending behaviors over the budget cycle. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041820 | MULTI-DEPOSITORY FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS - A system facilitates processing of funds between a transferor and a transferee, where at least the transferor has a transferor deposit sub-account administered via a depository administrator. The transferor can request a transfer or hold of funds in the transferor account to or for the benefit of the transferee. If the transferee does not have an account, the transferee is provided an opportunity to establish one. Subsequently, the depository administrator processes the funds between the transferor and transferee accounts. With the addition of automated teller machine access to respective customer deposit sub-accounts, users can more easily deposit or withdraw funds from their own account or effect a transfer of funds to another account via Internet access. The transfer of funds can also be linked to the occurrence of a particular event or the like. Transferees may be notified of the transfer or hold of funds for their benefit. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041821 | FRAUD MESSAGING SERVICE - In general terms, embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and apparatuses for providing a fraud messaging service. For example, in some embodiments, a method is provided that includes: (a) receiving transaction information associated with a transaction, where the transaction involves an account, and where the account is held by an account holder; (b) determining, based at least partially on the transaction information, that the transaction has triggered a fraud rule; (c) prompting, via a mobile device, the holder to consent to the transaction, where the mobile device is associated with the holder, and where the prompting the holder is based at least partially on the determining that the transaction has triggered the fraud rule; (d) receiving the holder's consent to the transaction; and (e) authorizing the transaction based at least partially on the receiving the holder's consent. | 2013-02-14 |
| 20130041822 | Payment Device with Integrated Chip - A method is disclosed. It includes presenting a portable consumer device to an access device, obtaining additional data, encrypting the additional data, and passing the encrypted additional data to the access device. | 2013-02-14 |
