16th week of 2014 patent applcation highlights part 64 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20140108123 | USER DEFINED POINT-OF-SALE COUPONS AND PAYMENTS - A system and method for defining a User Defined Coupon (UDC) is provided. In one implementation, a method for defining a UDC includes: identifying a source of funds for the UDC; receiving a user selection of a coupon to apply the funds; and generating the UDC for use at a Point of Sale (POS) terminal for application to a cost of a purchase at the POS terminal. In another implementation, a system for defining a UDC includes: a UDC clearinghouse computer adapted to receive user selection information comprising a source of funds for the UDC and a user selection of a coupon to apply the funds; and generate the UDC for use at a Point of Sale (POS) terminal for application to a cost of a purchase at the POS terminal. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108124 | System and method for offering and fulfilling situation-based, location specific rewards and offers to mobile-oriented consumers - A system, method and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium are disclosed for advertising. A system configured to practice the method receives user situation information. Based on the situation information, the system transmits an advertisement to the user's mobile device, wherein the advertisement is associated with an identification card and a coupon and transmitted independent of any user solicitation for a communication and independent of a request for a product or a service. The system receives input from the user via the advertisement for purposes other than redeeming the coupon; and, and receives an indication of a purchase associated with the advertisement and completed at a point of sale device using the identification card, wherein the mobile device differs from the point of sale device and wherein the purchase is at full price and a rebate associated with the coupon and the identification card is provided to the user. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108125 | SYSTEMS AND/OR METHODS FOR DEFLECTING PRODUCT RETURNS - Certain example embodiments relate to techniques that seek to reduce the likelihood of a customer actually returning a product. Information about a product presented in connection a return transaction (and optionally the reason why the product is being presented) is received. A determination whether an award should be generated for the customer in exchange for the customer not returning the product under an applicable return policy is made. The award, with a calculated award amount, is presented for the customer, in exchange for the customer giving up the right to actually return the product under the applicable return policy. The determination that the award should be generated for the customer and the calculation of the award amount each are based on a set of one or more rules that are electronically applicable to at least some of the received information. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108126 | DIGITAL MEDIA INDEX - A method of quantifying the effectiveness of delivery of digital media content comprises identifying a group of instances of delivery of digital media content, calculating a plurality of metrics for the group, each metric indicative of a different aspect of effective delivery of the digital media content, and combining the calculated metrics into a single indicator of the effectiveness of the delivery of digital media content for the group. The group of instances can represent the delivery of digital media content by a particular supplier or a particular service of a particular supplier of digital media distribution services over a period of time. The metrics can be indicative of the proportion of the instances that were visible or audible to a viewer of the digital media content. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108127 | Method and System for Processing Published Content on the Internet - The Disclosed is a method for processing content published on-line so as to identify each item in a unique manner. In some implementations, an RSS feed is received from a publisher and a unique identifier is identified for each item in the feed. Each item then has third party content or advertisements associated with the item based on the unique identifier. The feed is then stored and, when appropriate, updated. The augmented feed, which contains the third party content and the items in the feed, is provided to user devices. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108128 | DYNAMIC CONTENT ITEM CREATION - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for creating advertisements are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes receiving an advertisement request that includes user context data. An advertisement having distribution parameters matching the user context data is identified. The identified advertisement can include one or more variables that are resolved based on the user context data. A proper subset of feed data to which the one or more variables for the advertisement will be resolved can be selected based on the user context data and performance measures for portions of the feed data that have been previously used to resolve the one or more variables. The advertisement is modified, at least in part, by including, in place of the one or more variables, the selected modifying data. The modified advertisement is provided in response to the advertisement request. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108129 | DETERMINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN ADVERTISEMENT ON A WEBSITE OR MOBILE DEVICE - A system and method for determining the effectiveness of an advertisement on a website or a mobile device is provided. The advertisement is provided for presentation on the website or the mobile device, and a presentation time is identified at which the advertisement was presented. The presentation of the advertisement is associated with a user profile. At least one of a location associated with the advertisement or a product associated with the advertisement is identified, and an acknowledgment of the advertisement associated with the user profile is identified based on the identified presentation time and the identified at least one of the location or the product, after the advertisement is first presented. An effectiveness of the advertisement based on the identified acknowledgment of the advertisement is determined. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108130 | CALCULATING AUDIENCE METRICS FOR ONLINE CAMPAIGNS - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, for determining performance for a campaign. A method includes: identifying a campaign associated with the delivery of an electronic media item; identifying identifiers of devices that were served impressions of the electronic media item; determining a number of unique identifiers that received impressions and a number of views of the electronic media item per identifier; identifying a plurality of demographic categories; identifying labeled identifiers; determining a number of identifiers and views per demographic category for the campaign; accumulating un-labeled identifiers to produce a count of un-labeled identifiers and views; determining, for the labeled identifiers, a distribution across the plurality of demographic categories; adjusting for errors in the determined distribution; determining an overall distribution among the demographic categories for impressions; and applying the overall distribution to a total number of unique identifiers and views for the campaign. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108131 | ENHANCED ADSERVING METRIC DETERMINATION - A user can view creative from multiple locations (same laptop) and multiple devices (work computer, home computer, tablet, smartphone). The user can also adjust their privacy settings on their browser to accept or reject cookies and/or have anti-spam/spyware software that regularly deletes cookies. An enhanced counting method uses first-party cookie technology to track users across access channels and across privacy settings on their browser. The non-acceptance and deletion of cookies causes the accuracy of the traditional third-party cookie calculated reach and frequency calculations to vary widely. First-party cookies reduce this variability but are still subject to non-acceptance or deletion so additional actions need to be taken to provide the opportunity for accurate reports. Additional steps to increase the accuracy of reach and frequency reporting are provided. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108132 | PRESERVING ELECTRONIC ADVERTISEMENTS IDENTIFIED DURING A COMPUTING SESSION - Disclosed are implementations of systems, apparatus, methods and computer-readable storage media for preserving electronic advertisements identified during a computing session. In some implementations, user input data indicating a selection of an electronic advertisement is received. Ad impression data is stored that identifies: the selected electronic advertisement as a candidate for later access, and one or more context attributes providing contextual information identifying a user interface environment in which the electronic advertisement was selected. The ad impression data including the one or more context attributes can be provided to a display device. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108133 | SWAPPING MAGAZINE SELF MAILER ARRANGED BY THIRD PARTY IRS COMPLIANT - A system and method for swapping self-mailer inserts and reporting an income with respect to the self-mailer inserts to an IRS (internal revenue service). A self-mailer insert having a return address addressed to a third party can be attached with a magazine. A swapping insert placement order for swapping the self-mailer insert between two or more magazines can be processed by the third party and recorded to a database. A returned insert along with a cash payment from a new subscriber for a new magazine can be received by the third party for processing and data collection and recorded to a database. A report statement including the cash payment enclosed with the returned insert can be reported back to the magazine company by querying the database. The cash payment received from the returned insert for each magazine can also be reported as a reportable income to the IRS. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108134 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR NEGOTIATING GROUP OFFERS WHILE MAINTAINING PRIVACY OF CONSUMERS - A method and system for maintaining the privacy of consumers wishing to make a purchase while enabling them to benefit from a group discount is provided. Consumers register with a service provider that maintains their personal information in private. When a consumer is interested in purchasing a product or patronizing a traditional “brick and mortar” establishment, the consumer provides information to the service provider regarding such interest. The service provider can query other registered consumers to determine if there are others that have a similar interest. Using the leverage of all the consumers that respond to the query, the service provider can negotiate with one or more merchants to provide some type of group offer, without having to disclose the consumers' personal information. Upon successful negotiation of a group offer, the consumers will be provided with the offer. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108135 | SYSTEM AND METHOD TO EVALUATE, PRESENT, AND FACILITATE THE ADVERTISEMENT AND PURCHASING OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES BASED ON THE EMOTION EVOKED IN A RECIPIENT UPON RECEIPT OF THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE - A method of quantifying and attaching the emotional state of receiving a product or service purchased online so that a buyer who lacks history with a particular product or service can be assured of satisfaction with by that product or service because of emotional satisfaction ratings from all purchasers of the same demographic, which also provides advertisers great feedback on the likelihood of advertising of that product to that demographic leading to a product purchase so therefore generating an advertising fee based on the ranking of emotional state change each product/service provides the end user. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108136 | AUGMENTED REALITY FOR SHIPPING - A system, computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program, and computer-implemented method for providing augmented reality shipping features is provided. A parcel is identified based on input received from a user. Presentation data including content having interactive elements specific to the parcel is generated. The presentation data is transmitted to a client device. The client device is instructed to overlay the presentation data on an image of the parcel. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108137 | METHOD OF PROVIDING URBAN HIKING TRAILS - Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products are described herein that are configured to enable a user the ability to create, log, experience and share experiences, sites, editorial commentary, photographs, and videos along either newly created or already defines tours, routes, or hikes, which may be called “urban hiking trails” (i.e. walking tours within cities). Users can choose among different hikes with established sites to see, stops to make, and merchants to visit, along with historical or editorial content to provide information to the user along the route. Merchant partners are given the ability to provide focused targeted advertising to the users that have begun or are about to physically experience such walking tours. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108138 | Method and system for dynamic ad placement - A system and method for placing ads on a client-side video replay system. The described embodiments of the present invention allow a client to make a determination of ad placement priority separately from the function of serving ads to a requesting application. A described dynamic ad placement engine reorders ads when the context of the system is changed to yield a next ad to be placed. Thus, at a later time, when an application sends an ad request, the dynamic ad placement engine can quickly respond with the ad to be placed. The ads also are preferably reordered after an ad is placed. Placement of ads is controlled in the described embodiment by interpreted rules for each ad. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108139 | Marketing Segment Rule Definition for Real-time and Back-end Processing - A marketing segment rule for access by both a real-time component and a back end component may be stored. The real-time component may be configured to qualify a visitor to network content in a marketing segment during the visitor's visit to the network content. The back end component may be configured to qualify the visitor in the marketing segment after the visitor's visit to the network content. Qualification of a first visitor in a marketing segment may be determined. Such a determination may include evaluating network content data for the first visitor according to the marketing segment rule. An indication of the first visitor's segment qualification may be stored. An online advertisement may be presented to the first visitor based on the first visitor's segment qualification. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108140 | METHOD OF CONDUCTING SOCIAL NETWORK APPLICATION OPERATIONS - In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises: receiving, by a social networking system, location information for a device associated with a first user of the social networking system; associating the location information with the first user in a user profile associated with the first user of the social networking system; sending, from the social networking system, to a second user a communication generated based at least in part on the location information. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108141 | Dynamic Audio File Generation - A method of creating a dynamic audio file may comprise associating a tag with an audio file having audio content and the tag may comprise a location file path of a source of the audio content. A method of updating a dynamic audio file may comprise sending a dynamic audio file, receiving a request for updated audio content, and sending the updated audio content in response to the request. In various embodiments, the dynamic audio file may comprise a tag and initial audio content and the tag may comprise a location file path of the audio content. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108142 | ADVERTISEMENT CAMPAIGN SYSTEM USING SOCIALLY COLLABORATIVE FILTERING - In one embodiment, a method comprises identifying, in a network, user selection preferences of an identified user having accessed the network, the identifying based on an accumulation of user selection inputs executed by the identified user, the user selection inputs accumulated relative to input options presented to the user and identifying respective available network items; classifying, by an apparatus in the network, the identified user into one of multiple user affinity categories relative to an advertisement campaign for a targeted product, the classifying based on determining whether one of the user selection inputs represents a view gesture of the user having viewed the targeted product; and selecting an advertisement asset for delivery to the identified user based on the classifying of the identified user into the one user affinity category. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108143 | SOCIAL CONTENT DISTRIBUTION NETWORK - A social content distribution network (SCDN) allows content producers to search over content sponsors to learn about demand in content sponsor sub-networks. Audience tracking tools are provided for the content sponsor to learn about demand for content within different audiences (content consumers) in any of the content destinations and within different audiences in any of the content destinations. Content sponsors are also provided facilities to search over an index of content producers to find relevant content to push. Having discovered content the sponsor wishes to push into a particular audience, the sponsor may use the SCDN platform to create a payload that includes a link to the selected content and a creative that annotates the link, deliver this payload, and track its performance in the content destination. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108144 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR USING VOICE INPUT IN DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENTS - Methods and systems for using voice input in display advertisements are disclosed. A default display advertisement is selected based at least in part on targeting criteria. The default advertisement is transmitted to a user device and displayed in a browser application on the user device. A command based on voice input provided by a user for interacting with the default display advertisement is received from the browser application. One or more keywords are extracted from the command, and at least one advertisement for a product is selected based at least in part on the extracted keyword(s). The advertisement is transmitted to the user device, and the default advertisement is modified to display the advertisement. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108145 | DYNAMIC CONTENT ITEM CREATION - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for creating advertisements are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes receiving an advertisement request that includes user context data. An advertisement having distribution parameters matching the user context data is identified. The identified advertisement can include one or more variables that are resolved based on the user context data. A proper subset of feed data to which the one or more variables for the advertisement will be resolved can be selected based on the user context data and performance measures for portions of the feed data that have been previously used to resolve the one or more variables. The advertisement is modified, at least in part, by including, in place of the one or more variables, the selected modifying data. The modified advertisement is provided in response to the advertisement request. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108146 | System And Method For Accessing Electronic Data Via An Image Search Engine - The present invention provides a system and method for accessing electronic data through entry of images as queries in search engine. The system uses various image capturing devices and communication devices to capture images and enter them into image database. Image recognition techniques encode images in a computer readable format. The processed image is then entered for comparison into at least one database populated with images and associated information. Once the newly captured image is matched with an image in the database, the information linked with that image is returned to the user. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108147 | SYSTEM FOR CREATING SEPARATE DATA SERVING SPACES FOR EACH MOBILE CARRIER IN A PLURALITY OF MOBILE CARRIERS - A system is described for creating a separate data serving space for each mobile carrier in a plurality of mobile carriers. The system may include a processor, a memory and an interface. The memory may store a keyword, a plurality of mobile data items corresponding to the keyword and a plurality of mobile carriers, and a search request. The interface may communicate with a user through a mobile device. The processor may be operatively connected to the interface and the memory and may store the plurality of mobile data items in the memory. The processor may receive a mobile search request from a user via the interface, and may determine the mobile carrier in communication with the interface. The processor may then retrieve the mobile data item corresponding to the keyword and the determined mobile carrier and may serve the retrieved mobile data item to the user. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108148 | CONSUMER PRODUCTS - Computer based systems and methods allow designing (e.g., customization) of consumer products, such as articles of footwear, apparel, athletic equipment, etc., by users. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108149 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RETAIL SALES USING WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICES IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORK - A wireless network is established by direct communication between a user equipment (UE) and wireless access points within a shopping venue. After initial registration, the UE may be automatically authenticated upon entry into the shopping venue. In the venue, the UE sends a periodic signal that includes information from which the UE location within the venue may be determined. The system can develop a shopper profile based on the amount of time spent within the shopping venue, user purchases, and user-provided profile data even under circumstances where the specific identity of the user is not known. The customer analysis and profile generation can be used to produce individualized ads and offers for the UE. In addition, the analysis can develop a retail DNA rating for the user based on various factors, including responsiveness to advertising. A high retail DNA rating may result in even better advertising offers to the user. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108150 | METHOD OF COMPENSATING A PROVIDER FOR ADVERTISEMENTS DISPLAYED ON A MOBILE PHONE - A method and apparatus for advertising on a mobile phone. In one embodiment the method includes the steps of downloading an advertisement to the mobile phone using an advertisement server; selecting the downloaded advertisement on the mobile phone by a user of the mobile phone; providing by a server additional information in response to the user selection; and tracking the selection and additional information by the server. In another embodiment the compensation provided is in response to the display screen of said advertisement. In another embodiment the step of providing additional information includes the step of using space reserved, in the user interface of the mobile phone, for advertisements. Another aspect the invention relates to a system for displaying advertisements on a mobile phone. In one embodiment the system includes a server; and a mobile phone in communication with said server. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108151 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED INTELLEGENT ADVERTISING ON WEARABLE DEVICES - A method and system for automated intelligent advertising on wearable devices. The wearable devices includes digital eyewear, clothing, jewelry, watches, etc. Messages sent to an invalid alphanumeric identifier (e.g., WiFi addresses, e-mail address, text message address, social networking identifier, etc.) for a desired network service are returned including a notification that an attempt to connect to the desired network service has failed and also includes electronic advertising information that allows a network device to view and display a retrieved pre-determined advertisement or the dynamically generated advertisement and make a selection input to automatically connect to another network device associated with the retrieved pre-determined or dynamically advertisement to obtain additional electronic advertising information. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108152 | Managing Social Network Relationships Between A Commercial Entity and One or More Users - Systems and methods for managing relationships between a commercial entity and one or more of a plurality of users is described. One of the methods includes receiving data regarding a first opinion of one of the users. The first opinion is concerned with a first product/service. The user has a user identity (ID), the commercial entity has a commercial entity ID, the first product has a first product ID, and the first service has a first service ID. The method further includes mapping the first opinion data with the user ID and the commercial entity ID and the first product ID or the first service ID. The method includes creating data regarding a first sentiment group within a social network account of the commercial entity based on the mapped first opinion data. The method includes assigning the user ID to the first sentiment group data. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108153 | Sponsored Stories in Notifications - Particular embodiments receive a request from a user of the social networking system to view notifications. One or more notifications for the user may be assessed based on advertisement criteria for target social actions. Advertisements and corresponding criteria may be provided by a third party. Relevance scores may be determined for at least one of the one or more advertisements with respect to the user. At least one advertisement may be selected for delivery to the user in a notification interface. Advertisement(s) may be selected when corresponding relevance score(s) exceed a pre-determined threshold score. Finally, the selected at least one advertisement may be provided to a notification controller for delivery to the user. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108154 | DISPLAY OF CROSS-SELL ADVERTISEMENTS TO A USER BASED ON GENETICS - Display of cross-sell advertisements to a user, including, but not limited to, in a social genetics network includes: associating genetic data with product and service categories; accessing specific genetic data of a user to obtain a set of product and service categories associated with the genetic data of the user; analyzing non-genetic data of the user, including past purchase history, and analyzing the genetic data of the user to discover correlations in preferences of the user; selecting one or more desired product and service categories from the set of the product and service categories that match the correlations in the preferences of the user; sending a product or service request to at least one advertiser for a cross-sell advertisement relating to the desired product and service categories; and responsive to receiving the cross-sell advertisement from the advertiser, displaying the cross-sell advertisement on an electronic device of the user. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108155 | COMMUNICATION OF PROMOTIONS BASED ON DATA ASSOCIATED WITH A VEHICLE - A computer can receive diagnostics data and location data associated with a vehicle. The diagnostics data identifies a condition of the vehicle and the location data identifies a location of the vehicle. Further, the computer can receive promotional data that includes a plurality of promotions. Each promotion promotes a purchase transaction or offers products and/or services. Upon receiving the diagnostics data and the location data, the computer can determine if the condition of the vehicle satisfies a threshold condition. If the threshold condition is satisfied, the computer can select one or more promotions from the plurality of promotions based on the location of the vehicle and the condition of the vehicle. In addition, the computer can select the one or more promotions based on situational data. Further, the computer can transmit the selected one or more promotions for presentation to a driver or a user associated with the vehicle. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108156 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR EXTRACTING AND MANAGING LATENT SOCIAL NETWORKS FOR USE IN COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES - A system and method for extracting and managing latent social networks is described. The system generally comprises a network modeling component, a digital information component coupled to the network modeling component, and at least one third party computer system coupled to the network modeling component over a first network. The method operates to process user data to identify and extract at least one latent social network, and identify user needs within the network. The method also allows communications between a first entity (such as a brand or advertiser) and the user, such that information relating to the identified user needs may be delivered directly to the user. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108157 | System, method, and computer program product for selecting and presenting financial products and services - An apparatus and method use client information to automatically select products appropriate for the client. According to one aspect of the invention, client information, information about the products, ancillary data, and decision criteria pertaining to selection from among the products are stored in a storage device Decision-making logic circuitry use the stored data to select the products. An output device prepares a client communication identifying the selected products and incorporates a portion of the client information and a portion of the product information into the client communication. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108158 | METHODS FOR AUGMENTING USER-GENERATED CONTENT USING A MONETIZABLE FEATURE - A system for monetization of content includes a storage device for storage and retrieval of data, and a library of content and advertisements stored within the storage device. The library comprises an organizational structure for facilitating the storage and retrieval. The system also includes a monetization engine for identifying within the library a first content item having a first monetizable feature. The system is configured for selecting a second content item from several content items within the library, and associating the second content item to the first content item by using the first monetizable feature for presentation of the second content item in conjunction with the first content item. Further embodiments include various additional systems, methods, and computer readable media for implementation of the foregoing. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108159 | SIMULATOR FOR A REAL-TIME BIDDING SYSTEM - A multistage online auction for electronic advertising is described including simulation. A first stage auction occurs internally within a demand-side platform where multiple advertiser clients compete to determine whose advertisement is submitted to at least one external auction site. Within the internal auction, an advertiser client optionally simulates their participation. All bidders enter a bid and campaign targeting parameters. A simulating bidder's campaign is processed in real time just as those of real bidders. Ad placement opportunities received from an external auction site are filtered for each campaign producing a list of targetable impressions. For each targetable impression, the client placing the highest real bid has their ad and bid submitted to the second stage external auction. A simulating bidder receives a report on targetable impressions for their campaign. A targetable impression for a simulated bid that is higher than any real bid is reported as a winnable impression. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108160 | PRESENTING SPONSORED AND UNSPONSORED CONTENT IN SEARCHES OF TRAVEL PRODUCTS - The disclosed embodiments provide a system that processes a query from a user. During operation, the system obtains a set of travel products matching the query. Next, the system provides a minimum bid for each of the travel products and enables additional bidding on the travel products by a set of suppliers associated with the travel products. The system then generates a ranking of the travel products based on the minimum bid, the additional bidding, and a set of quality scores associated with the travel products. Finally, the system provides the travel products to the user based on the ranking. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108161 | DRIVING DIRECTIONS WITH LANDMARK DATA - In one of many possible embodiments, an exemplary system includes a landmark data subsystem providing landmark data and a driving directions subsystem communicatively coupled to the landmark data subsystem. The driving directions subsystem is configured to generate driving directions in response to a request received from an access device. The driving directions include a least a subset of the landmark data, which is representative of one or more landmarks located along a route defined by the driving directions. The driving directions subsystem is further configured to provide data representative of the driving directions to the access device. In certain embodiments, the driving directions subsystem is configured to provide to the access device a selection tool enabling a user of the access device to select between displaying and hiding the landmark data. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108162 | PREDICTING PERFORMANCE OF AN ONLINE ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN - Predicting a performance level of an online advertisement campaign, which is based on an advertising keyword, includes various method, systems, and other components. For example, the advertising keyword may be selected during a process in which the advertising campaign is being created. In response, predicted performance levels are provided that quantify how well the advertisement campaign may perform if certain advertisement audiences are targeted. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108163 | System and Method for Print-on-Demand Communications Campaigns for Motivation Programs - An on-line motivation website implements a motivation program to motivate a participant by selecting and providing an award and a communications campaign element. A fulfillment program provides the selected award. A program creates a printed version of the selected communications campaign element for off-line presentation. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108164 | DIALOG BOX MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, USER TERMINAL, DIALOG BOX EXPOSURE METHOD AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING DIALOG BOX EXPOSURE USING THE SAME - A dialog box management system, a user system, a dialog box exposure method and a method for configuring dialog box exposure using the same are provided. The dialog box management system includes a communication unit which receives one or more information among application information, mobile web information, and dialog box management information from a registrant terminal registering applications or mobile webs, transmits a dialog box control program to the registrant terminal, and transmits dialog box management information for each application or dialog box management information for each mobile web to a user terminal executing applications or accessing mobile webs; an information management unit which registers and manages the dialog box management information for application or the dialog box management information for each mobile web; and a unit for managing a dialog box control program which manages the dialog box control program. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108165 | FIRST PARTY ADVERTISEMENT SERVING - Adservers with the ability to access advertiser cookies and vice versa when both are serving from the advertiser's domain are provided, thereby avoiding the overhead and delay in backend cookie synchronization efforts. Further, advertising cookie data can be gathered regardless of whether a user is browsing a publisher's web site with an advertisement served by an adserver, or browsing the advertiser's web site, because the cookies were previously set when the user visited the advertiser's web site in the context of a first-party cookie. Even if the user has configured his or her browser to limit the setting of third-party cookies, the cookies can still be read by the adserver. By making cookie and advertising data immediately available in real time to both the advertiser and the adserver, the solution also provides for instantaneous and accurate targeting of web advertising to allow an educated ad selection process by either party. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108166 | MERCHANT CATEGORY CODE ("MCC") BASED ACCEPTANCE COST RECOVERY - Methods and apparatus for recovering a transaction cost in connection with a transaction between a customer and a merchant are provided. The transaction cost may be recovered from a transaction that originates at a merchant location associated with a merchant category code. The transaction cost may be recovered from a low-value purchase. A recovery amount associated with the low-value purchase may include a fixed amount. The recovery amount associated with the low-value purchase may include a percentage of the acceptance cost. The recovery amount may be shared among two or more transaction participant. The recovery amount may be dynamically adjusted. Methods and apparatus may include providing adequate notice of changes in the recovery amount. The transaction cost may be recovered utilizing central control over network of merchant locations. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108167 | DYNAMIC NOTIFICATION OF TRANSACTION COST RECOVERY - Methods and apparatus for recovering a transaction cost in connection with a transaction between a customer and a merchant are provided. The transaction cost may be recovered from a transaction that originates at a merchant location associated with a merchant category code. The transaction cost may be recovered from a low-value purchase. A recovery amount associated with the low-value purchase may include a fixed amount. The recovery amount associated with the low-value purchase may include a percentage of the acceptance cost. The recovery amount may be shared among two or more transaction participant. The recovery amount may be dynamically adjusted. Methods and apparatus may include providing adequate notice of changes in the recovery amount. The transaction cost may be recovered utilizing central control over network of merchant locations. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108168 | LOW VALUE BASED ACCEPTANCE COST RECOVERY - Methods and apparatus for recovering a transaction cost in connection with a transaction between a customer and a merchant are provided. The transaction cost may be recovered from a transaction that originates at a merchant location associated with a merchant category code. The transaction cost may be recovered from a low-value purchase. A recovery amount associated with the low-value purchase may include a fixed amount. The recovery amount associated with the low-value purchase may include a percentage of the acceptance cost. The recovery amount may be shared among two or more transaction participant. The recovery amount may be dynamically adjusted. Methods and apparatus may include providing adequate notice of changes in the recovery amount. The transaction cost may be recovered utilizing central control over network of merchant locations. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108169 | ACTIVATING LICENSABLE COMPONENT OF CONSUMER ELECTRONIC DEVICE AT POINT OF SALE - A purchaser of a CE device informs a retail clerk at the point of sale (POS) of features of the CE device the purchaser wishes to employ, some of which require a license. The CE device is vended without the licenses but the clerk can upload the desired features to a server, which correlates the features to licensable components and which returns to the POS the license codes needed to enable the components. The codes can be provided to the CE device using RFID at the POS, or storing the codes on a removable storage at the POS and giving the storage to the purchaser, or by printing the codes as bar codes in the sales receipt at the POS and giving the receipt to the purchaser, who later scans the codes past a camera of the CE device to enable the associated licensable components. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108170 | Transaction Processing Platform for Facilitating Electronic Distribution of Plural Prepaid Services - A transaction processing platform capable of facilitating the distribution to consumers of various types of prepaid products is disclosed. The transaction processing platform is configured to interface with one or more providers of such prepaid products in order to facilitate the procurement or activation of the products. The platform includes a conduit interface through which service request messages are received and respectively utilized to generate transaction requests for corresponding types of prepaid services. A supply interface arrangement, operatively coupled to the conduit interface, is configured to route a first of the transaction requests through a first supply interface associated with a first type of prepaid service. The supply interface arrangement also routes a second transaction request through a second supply interface associated with a second type of prepaid service. The platform is also configured to provide supplier response information received through the supply interfaces to the conduit interface. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108171 | CERTIFICATION OF ORIGIN - This invention relates to a system of certification of origin of a consumer good, the system comprising a bank payment network ( | 2014-04-17 |
20140108172 | DYNAMIC POINT OF SALE SYSTEM INTEGRATED WITH READER DEVICE - Embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods, systems, and apparatuses for enabling payment information received via a reader device coupled to a mobile point-of-sale (POS) terminal to be communicated in a secure manner to a third party service provider for payment processing of a transation between a merchant and a consumer. Some embodiments are directed to communication of the payment information received from a reader device using a payment processing mechanism (e.g., a hosted order page) of the merchant to process payment information via the third party service provider in a secure manner. The reader device can encrypt payment information using a third party encryption mechanism, such as derived unique key per transaction (DUKPT). The third party encryption mechanism can be used or accessed by the third party service provider to enable end-to-end security for payment processing. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108173 | SYSTEM AND ARCHITECTURE FOR MERCHANT INTEGRATION OF A BIOMETRIC PAYMENT SYSTEM - A system and method for performing authentication are disclosed. The system may include a shared central processing server, a plurality of software components each residing in a corresponding point-of-sale (POS) workstation and an identity provider service. The server may reside at a merchant location and communicate with multiple POS workstations at the merchant location. The server may be configured to receive biometric information from each POS workstation. Each software component may communicate with a biometric sensor in communication with the corresponding POS workstation to receive biometric information. The identity provider service may be configured to communicate with the server, store registered biometric information and compare biometric information received from the server with one or more of the stored registered biometric information. One of the biometric sensor, a POS workstation and the server may convert a biometric image into a biometric template for comparison with the stored registered biometric information. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108174 | Geographic identification of point of sale and tracking of sale - The present invention relates to a system of geographic identification of the point of sale and of tracking of the sale of a consumer good sold by a merchant. The system comprises a bank payment network ( | 2014-04-17 |
20140108175 | POINT OF SERVICE TRANSACTION MANAGEMENT FOR SERVICE FACILITIES - The present invention enables the collection by credit/debit card payment of customer co-pay and self-pay charges via an integrated point-of-service transaction management system and method. The system and method of the present invention may assist health care facilities in the collection of co-pay and self-pay charges at the time service is rendered. The present invention can be implemented anywhere cash, checks, credit cards or debit cards are accepted for payment. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108176 | Transferable File Position - A system for transferring file position between electronic media files is described. In one embodiment, for example, a consumer may download and read a sample of a complete book. Upon either full or partial completion of the sample, the consumer may wish to purchase the entire book. When the complete book is purchased, viewing of the book proceeds from the point where the sample was left off, allowing a seamless transition from sample to complete version. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108177 | SOCIAL GIFTING AND EFFICIENT GIFT REDEMPTION - A social gifting system is described herein that provides digital, personalized gifts that are both temporally and spatially relevant to a gift recipient. The giver can use a mobile application to select a friend, select a gift, and send the gift electronically to the recipient. The recipient can use a mobile computing device to receive the gift, provide a code or other redemption information to a vendor, and then receive the gift. The system provides new ways to make these types of digital gifts easier to redeem through point of sale integration with various common vendor systems. The social gifting system provides a proprietary process flow between the user and merchant staff that is set up for increased ease of use, speed, and simplicity. The social gifting system allows users to send highly personalized gifts in any form, and to bring the price point down. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108178 | INFORMATION EXCHANGE METHOD, USER END, AND SYSTEM FOR ONLINE COLLABORATIVE SHOPPING - The present invention provides an information exchange method, a user end, and a system for online collaborative shopping. The method includes: sending a collaborative shopping request message that includes one or more user identifiers to a collaborative server; receiving a collaborative shopping startup message; submitting a shopping web page of the main control user end to the collaborative server, and submitting, to the collaborative server, operation information generated when a user of the main control user end operates a shopping web page; and receiving operation information generated when a user on the collaborative user end operates a shopping web page according to a commodity feature concerned by the user on the shopping web page, and displaying, on the shopping web page, an operation result of the user on the collaborative user end for the shopping web page. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108179 | Incentivizing Purchases at Physical Retailers - Shoppers at physical retailers are incentivized to purchase products from a physical retailer. The user provides a product identifier using a user device. The product identifier is used to identify the product being viewed by the user. Online retailers are queried to obtain online bids to sell the product. An incentive is identified for the user based on the product and the physical retailer. The incentive and an online retailer bid are provided to the user for the user to determine whether to purchase the product at the online retailer bid price or using the incentive. The incentive may be based on location information indicating user device movement. The incentive may require the user to perform an action, such as posting to a social network. A different incentive may be provided to the user if the user is leaving the physical retailer to promote purchase at the physical retailer. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108180 | VIRTUAL ENTERTAINMENT AUCTION ROOM - A method and/or process and/or configuration and/or apparatus and/or system that produce a Virtual Entertainment Auction Room (VEAR) and its components. VEAR is conditional and fee based offer with a plurality of individual auctions. One aspect of VEAR is a configuration that enable communication and collaborate with third party reward programs and/or inventory management systems. VEAR is configured to launch through web enabled free standing and/or hand held and/or counter top or bar top gaming machines, computers and/or mobile devices. It could be produced as open or server based or networked system. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108181 | READ-ONLY USER ACCESS FOR WEB BASED AUCTION - A networked computer arrangement and method in which a manufacturer or service provider may communicate to a plurality of traders the items, including goods and/or services, which may be available for purchase, the quantities of those available items, and any other conditions to be met for the purchase of the available items. Traders may apply guest bidder profiles or entitlement schema to the available goods lists to produce offerings for a plurality of guest brokers. Only bid-relevant product information is presented to each guest broker as needed in order to protect the offering party's overall position on the offered good(s). Guest broker profiles or entitlement schema may be based on perspective contractual arrangements between potential brokers, traders, and a manufacturer or service provider. Offerings are presented to the guest brokers, who are restricted from participating in the bidding process. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108182 | AGGREGATE PROCESSING CONTROL SYSTEM - An aggregate processing plant for processing aggregate to a pre-determined specification within a particular gravel pit may include: a feed hopper, at least a first screen plant having a corresponding configuration and cooperating with the feed hopper, a first conveyor set cooperating with the first screen plant for conveying screened aggregate from the first screen plant, a first aggregate processing cooperating with the first conveyor set and downstream of the screen plant in a direction of flow of the screened aggregate on the first conveyor. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108183 | Task Exchange - Technology is described for task exchange. The method can include obtaining a task definition for a task having task details to be performed for a customer. A task value can be set for the task based on the task details. The task can be offered for exchange via an electronic exchange interface. A further operation can be exchanging the task between a first party and a second party based on the task value. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108184 | TRANSACTION-DRIVEN SOCIAL NETWORK - A transaction-based social network for a life science vertical industry is provided. A method for implementing the network includes creating an opportunity from input received by a user. The input specifies criteria with respect to the opportunity, a target user community, and a target subject. The method also includes identifying members of a target user community in the network based on the criteria, receiving from the user, criteria associated with an automated award feature, and posting the opportunity over the network to the members of the target user community. The method also includes receiving a response from at least one target member of the target user community, applying the criteria associated with the automated award feature to the at least one target member; automatically awarding, without input by the user, the opportunity to the target member upon determining the information satisfies the criteria associated with the automated award feature. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108185 | Methods and Apparatus for Knowledge Processing System - In exemplary implementations of this invention, a knowledge processing system performs decentralized knowledge acquisition from human experts. The system may store the acquired knowledge in a knowledge database. The system may include an AI expert system to apply computer reasoning to data stored in the knowledge database. The system may provide humanly perceptible outputs to human experts to increase the likelihood that the human experts will pay attention to requests for information or to other communications, contribute knowledge objects in response to a query, provide “high quality” information, tag knowledge objects in the database, or review knowledge objects. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108186 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS WHEREIN A BUYER PURCHASES PRODUCTS IN A PLURALITY OF PRODUCT CATEGORIES - Systems and methods are provided wherein an indication of a plurality of product categories is received, each product category being associated with a plurality of products. For example, the indication of the plurality of product categories may be received from a buyer. Buyer offer information, including an indication of an offer amount associated with the plurality of product categories, is also received. A subset of the plurality of products is selected for each of the product categories, and an indication of the selected products is provided. The buyer's offer may then be evaluated. If the buyer's offer is accepted, the selected products may be provided to the buyer in exchange for payment of the offer amount. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108187 | METHOD FOR PROVISIONING SUBSCRIBERS, PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES IN A BROADBAND NETWORK - A method for provisioning subscribers, products, and services in a broadband network includes establishing a directory system for storing information about a plurality of subscribers. The directory system includes a subscriber namespace and a device namespace. A subscriber is added by instantiating a subscriber object for the subscriber in the subscriber namespace. Each available service has its own state in the directory system to provide a multi-state provisioning system that permits granular management services. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108188 | Universal Ordering for Manufacturing Customized Print Products - A computer-implemented method for multi-vendor printing including maintaining a data store that includes information about service level agreements with partner systems, wherein a partner system enables customers to order a plurality of customized print products, and wherein a service level agreement designates maximum delays for manufacturing customer print orders, and characteristics of print vendors, receiving a customer print order from one of the partner systems, the print order specifying a customized print product, determining a latest ship date for the customized print product, selecting one of the print vendors to manufacture the customized print product, and receiving updates from the selected print vendor and relaying the received updates to the partner system that issued the customer print order. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108189 | Real-Time Cross-Selling Proposal Calculation - A method for generating cross-selling product recommendations is provided. The method includes determining one or more base products purchased by a selected customer based on billing data, finding other customers who purchased the base products, determining one or more additional products which have been purchased by the other customers, sorting the additional products, and providing predictive data including information relating to the additional products to be recommended to the selected customer. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108190 | RECOMMENDING PRODUCT INFORMATION - Recommending product information is disclosed, including: classifying a plurality of product prices associated with a category of products into a plurality of actual price intervals based at least in part on historical user actions associated with a plurality of users with respect to products associated with the category, wherein each actual price interval comprises a subset of the plurality of product prices; determining a purchasing power interval for a current user based at least in part on historical user actions associated with the current user with respect to the products associated with the category; and determining product information associated with one or more products of the products associated with the category to be recommended to the current user based at least in part on an actual price interval of the plurality of actual price intervals that corresponds to the purchasing power interval. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108191 | METHODS, SYSTEMS AND DEVICES RELATING TO MERGED IMAGES AND STORAGE THEREOF - An e-commerce method involves on-line viewing of a first article through a linking node for virtual merging on another structure. A particular application of the invention is directed to online apparel shopping involving a color matching scheme using color codes provided with images to be merged. For example, on-line viewing of one article, such as clothing, on another structure, includes creating an item from image-data corresponding to a colored article selected by an on-line viewer from an on-line viewer site with an image of a color structure selected by the on-line viewer, and indicating whether the colored article and the colored structure satisfy a color-matching criterion. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108192 | TECHNIQUES FOR OPTIMIZING A SHOPPING AGENDA - Techniques for optimizing a shopping agenda are disclosed. The techniques include receiving an electronic shopping list containing one or more items, each item indicating a product sold by a retailer. The techniques also include determining, at the processing device, a store location of the retailer, the store location indicating a store where the one or more products indicated by the one or more items are to be purchased. The techniques further include determining one or more product waypoints based on the one or more items in the electronic shopping list and the store map, each product waypoint of the one or more product waypoints respectively corresponding to one of the one or more items and being indicative of a product location of the product indicated by the item in the store. The techniques further include providing the one or more product waypoints for display. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108193 | TECHNIQUES FOR OPTIMIZING A SHOPPING AGENDA - Techniques for optimizing a shopping agenda are disclosed. The techniques include receiving an electronic shopping list containing one or more items, each item indicating a product sold by a retailer. The techniques further include obtaining a store map, the store map being indicative of a layout of a store associated with the retailer. The techniques further include determining one or more product waypoints based on the one or more items in the electronic shopping list and the store map, each product waypoint of the one or more product waypoints corresponding to one of the one or more items and being indicative of a location of the product indicated by the item in the store. The techniques also include determining a route traveling through each of the one or more product waypoints and providing the route for display. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108194 | TECHNIQUES FOR OPTIMIZING A SHOPPING AGENDA - Techniques for optimizing a shopping agenda are disclosed. The techniques include receiving an electronic shopping list containing a plurality of items, each item indicating a product sold by a retailer. Furthermore, for each item in the electronic shopping list, the techniques include determining, at the processing device, a type of the item and assigning, at the processing device, the item to one of a plurality of groupings based on the type. The techniques also include arranging, at the processing device, the items in the electronic shopping list based on the groupings to obtain an ordered electronic shopping list. The techniques further include providing, at the processing device, the ordered electronic shopping list for display. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108195 | Integration of Customer-Stored Information with Media Enabled Shopping Systems - A media enhanced shopping cart system comprises a shopping cart comprising a frame, a basket, a handle, a base tray, a plurality of wheels, a read component for performing a proximity scan of the shopping cart, a locationing component for determining a location of the shopping cart within a store based on the scan, and a display component for displaying at least one advertisement for a product based on the location of the shopping cart within the store, wherein the locationing component is further operable to determine a location of the product within the store relative to the shopping cart based on the scan, and wherein the display component is further operable to display an indication of the location of the advertised product relative to the location of the shopping cart. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108196 | PERSONALIZED ITEM TRADING CARD GENERATION AND MANAGEMENT - Methods and systems to generate and manage an item trading card are provided. A method may include providing an interface to access an item trading card associated with an item, and generating the item trading card including an item identifier associated with the item, a trading card identifier associated with the trading card, item data about the item, and market data about the item. The method further includes sharing the item trading card. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108197 | MOBILE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PAYMENTS AND NON-FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS - A method and system for mobile commerce, communication, and transaction processing to real-world point of sale (POS), web, e-commerce, virtual terminal, mobile personal digital assistant, mobile phone, mobile device, or other computer based transactions involving either one or both financial and non-financial such as loyalty based transactions as a mobile payment system is described. A consumer mobile software application (CMA) may be utilized in accordance with the method and system to provide a visual representation of merchants that abstractly represents the relevance of the merchants to a consumer. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108198 | Reputation System Based on Driving Behavior - A system has an Internet-connected server having a processor and data storage coupled to the server, and software executing on the processor from a non-transitory physical medium. The software provides functions for collecting driver behavior raw data based on actual driving performance for a plurality of drivers, calculating by pre-programmed algorithm and storing a driver performance score for individual ones of the plurality of drivers, and making performance scores for individual ones of the drivers available to one or both of drivers for whom the performance scores are prepared and to requesting enterprises. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108199 | METHOD AND USE OF POINT-OF-SALE TERMINAL, WHICH RECEIVES, TRANSMITS, STORES, AUTHORIZES, RECONCILES, AND CALCULATES TRANSACTIONS ELECTRONICALLY - A point-of-sale terminal, which receives, stores, transmits, authorizes, reconciles and calculates electronic transactions of data. It is also an on-line document delivery system which allows access, download, viewing and printing from a client's desktop, receive and send documents via facsimile to any location, and do virtually any other transaction offered by the System from home, office or from almost anywhere in the world at any time. This point-of-sale terminal is designed to provide access to documents through a graphical interface. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108200 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RECOMMENDING SEARCH PHRASES - Embodiments of the present application relate to a method for recommending search phrases, a system for recommending search phrases, and a computer program product for recommending search phrases. A method for recommending search phrases is provided. The method includes obtaining subject terms and descriptive terms relating to the subject terms from title information, combining s subject term with a descriptive term to form a set of search phrases, calculating a first appraisal value for each search phrase, the calculating of the first appraisal value comprising multiplying term frequency of the search phrase with an inverse document frequency of the search phrase, determining a second appraisal value of each search phrase, combining the first appraisal value and the second appraisal value of each search phrase to obtain a publisher recommendation appraisal value for each search phrase, and selecting a recommended phrase. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108201 | Method and System for the Location-Based Discovery and Validated Payment of a Service Provider - A method and system for consumers to find service providers is presented. The method and system minimizes the amount of the consumer's time required to find a service provider to provide a desired service. The system employs real-time geolocation information available within mobile devices to increase the efficiency of the process. Either automated or manual two-way communication between consumers and service providers for discovery and payment allows for a quick and easy user experience for all parties involved. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108202 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, INFORMATION PROCESSING PROGRAM, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - An information apparatus acquires a size of a specified item for sale specified according to a request of a request user from a purchase history storage means storing the purchase history of an item for sale to be worn. The size of the specified item for sale was purchased by other user who purchased the specified item for sale. The information apparatus acquires body size information related to a body size of the request user and body size information related to a body size of the other user. The information apparatus specifies an evaluation by the other user for the acquired size. The information apparatus estimates a size of the specified item for sale that fits the request user on the basis of a size relationship between the body size information of the request user and the body size information of the other user, the size of the specified item for sale purchased by the other user, and the evaluation for the size. The information apparatus outputs the estimated size. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108203 | METHOD OF DISPLAYING AND TRANSACTING ELECTRONIC TRADING CARDS - A method of displaying, buying, and trading electronic trading cards on a computer or handheld electronic device by running an electronic trading card application on the computer or handheld device that communicates via the internet with at least one remote server containing a registry of all electronic trading cards. The electronic trading card application running on the computer or handheld device transmits a transaction request to the at least one remote server to execute a purchase or trade between two users of one or more electronic trading cards. The electronic trading card application further displays various components of an electronic trading card based upon user inputs. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108204 | Systems and Methods of Processing Information and Transactions Involving Digital Content and/or Experiences Associated with Celebrities and Networked Users - Systems and methods are disclosed for processing transactions and associated data. In one exemplary implementation, there is provided a method for processing information associated with transactions involving a product, wherein the product may comprise an experience, a physical product, and/or a digital product. Moreover, illustrative methods may include performing processing associated with a plurality of subroutines, such as a first subroutine for handling an experience, a second subroutine for handling a physical product and/or a digital product, and/or one or more additional subroutines associated with fulfillment. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108205 | Method For A Canvassed Self Healing Bulletin Board - The present invention generally relates to a method for converting a client order into a custom canvassed bulletin board, where the client accesses a board maker's web site and uploads a digital image over the internet to a server. The client verifies the uploaded image, selects an image print size, and submits personal information to the server. The uploaded image is retrieved by the board maker and resized. The board maker prints the image onto a canvas, fixes the printed canvas onto a bulletin board, and delivers the custom board to the client. The bulletin board can be framed, hung on a surface, used with push pins to attach messages to the canvassed surface, or be used as decorative art. Cork's self-healing properties causes holes through the printed canvas and tack receptive cork layers to close up and restore the printed image to its near original quality. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108206 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING PRODUCT CATALOGS - Product listings from a product catalog are organized by implementing programmatic processes that de-duplicate, cluster and/or group product listings. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108207 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ONLINE COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF RETAIL AND SHOPPING RELATED INFORMATION - A method includes receiving and storing, at a server, retail product data related to a retail product offered for sale at a retailer, the retail product data including text data corresponding to a description of the retail product, price data corresponding to a price of the retail product, and image data corresponding to a graphical image of the retail product. The method also includes receiving, at the server, links to content generated by a content-generating user, the content being associated with retail products. The method also includes identifying, at the server, a link from the plurality of links that corresponds to content associated with the retail product offered for sale at the retailer. The method also includes generating, at the server, a web page that displays the product data, including the text data, the price data, and the image data for the retail product offered for sale at the retailer and that displays the identified link. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108208 | PERSONALIZED VIRTUAL SHOPPING ASSISTANT - A personalized virtual shopping assistant system and method includes a plurality of individualized avatars which can be used by shoppers to see how various articles of clothing or accessories would look on themselves. The individualized avatars are created from a 3D body scan of all or a portion of the shopper to create an avatar which accurately reflects the size and shape of the shopper. When performing online shopping, the shopper retrieves his or her avatar for display on a display screen of a smartphone, tablet, computer, kiosk, or other device or system, and places computer representations of articles of clothing or accessories on the avatar. The computer representations are provided by the manufacturers or retailers or other sources. In some configurations, the computer representations may be manipulated to shrink or expand to fit the avatar. The personalized virtual shopping assistant system and method permits the shopper to “see” how a particular product or group of products “looks” on their body since they will be presented with the item(s) on an avatar of themselves. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108209 | AGGREGATE MERCHANT MONITORING - A method of monitoring cashless transaction data includes extracting transaction history data for a merchant within a first predetermined time period from a transaction data storage. A plurality of forecast models that forecast transaction patterns for the merchant over the first predetermined time period are provided, each forecast model of the first plurality having a different forecast period. The forecast models may be constructed according to a Holt-Winters time-series forecast. The forecast model which most accurately forecasts periodic fluctuations in the transaction history data is selected, and a first forecast of transactions for the merchant for a first forecast period outside the first predetermined time period is provided. A score comparing the forecast with actual data for the first forecast period is further provided. An alert is generated when the score exceeds a predetermined threshold. Also disclosed are a computer and recording medium to carry out the method. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108210 | Systems and Methods for Expense Management - The present disclosure includes a system for expense management. The method may include authenticating a user to a user account, retrieving a unique id (GUID) associated with the user, receiving (from a user device associated with the user) a digital copy of a receipt, and associating the digital copy of the receipt with the GUID. The method may further comprise requesting a record of charge (ROC) associated with the GUID, receiving a record of charge (ROC) associated with a GUID, and/or matching, by the computer-based system, the image of the receipt to the ROC based upon the GUID and information acquired from the digital copy of the receipt. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108211 | DEVICE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ELECTRONIC ACCOUNTING - The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method of electronic accounting upon entries based on at least one source accounting document representing at least one business transaction and a computer-implemented system for electronic accounting. The method and the system allowing improving accounting efficiency with a computer and providing control for financial position and/or economical activity of any businesses or individuals in any accounting unit in real-time scale and allowing a user to control for financial positions and economical activities of at least two businesses or individuals in real-time scale. Additionally, the present invention relates to a computer-implemented data processing system for generating a consolidated financial and/or management statements, the data processing system comprising, in particular, at least two computer-implemented systems used for the electronic accounting. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108212 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING CHARGING OF A SERVICE - A method and apparatus for controlling charging of a service in a communication network comprising in an Online Charging System OCS receiving a request message for charging of the service from a charging client where the request message is including at least data identifying a first communication network account to charge for the service. A system utilization indicator is accessed representing a computer resource utilization value of a node involved in providing the service. Based on at least the system utilization indicator a determined service usage quota is determined, including a determined service usage quota attribute, to be reserved for from the account. The service usage quota is reserved for from the account and an answer message is transmitted to the charging client including the determined service usage quota attribute of the service usage quota reserved for from the account to be applied in controlling the service. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108213 | METHOD, SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR PREDICTING TAX LIABILITIES AND BENEFITS - A method, a system, and a computer program for predicting an impact of a tax event on a user's tax liabilities at any intermediate time during a current tax year based on a comparison of known and predicted user information related to the user and the user's taxes, tax event information, and a tax deduction database of tax deductions, credits, and eligibility rules. The computer program and method for predicting the impact of the tax event comprise acquiring information about the user from a user profile, acquiring information about the tax event, comparing the user information and the tax event information with requirements for tax deductions and credits offered by a taxing authority, and identifying deductions or credits having requirements related to the user information and the tax event information. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108214 | FINANCIAL PLANNING BASED ON CONTEXTUAL DATA - A financial planning system uses contextual data about a user to help create and modify a financial plan to achieve a financial goal. Financial goals can include money saving goals, investment goals, loan payment goals, and goals to purchase or rent goods, property and/or services. In some embodiments, the financial planning system can create a collaborative financial plan to create a financial plan for a group of people to achieve a shared financial goal. Contextual data, such as banking information, social network activity, past activity, preferences, etc., can be used to shape the financial plan to make it more effective and efficient. Banking accounts, social network accounts, loyalty program accounts, and others can be linked to the financial planning system to enable the financial planning system in gathering contextual background information. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108215 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR TRADING - A system and methods for trading configured to permit an investor to transfer a request to a trading institution, the request including instructions to send a series of orders to a forum in which each subsequent order includes a parameter that changes relative to the other orders, generally moving from a start point towards an end point. The one or more changing parameters—termed dynamic parameters—are reconfigured automatically upon the occurrence of a reconfiguration event. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108216 | SINGLE-PERIOD AUCTIONS NETWORK DECENTRALIZED TRADING SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method and system serve for network dealing for conducting single-period auctions where there is one seller and at least one buyer, but typically multiple buyers. The method and system allow for posting of at least one or multiple items offered for sale on a network by a computer at the seller interconnected to other computers on the network. Bids are submitted by buyers for the items offered for sale with the seller requiring predetermined information about the buyer submitting bids before determining a selling price. The seller applies a selected set of criteria to strike out bids the seller does not wish to consider and applies a seller determined criteria to determine the price at which the seller is willing to sell the item(s). | 2014-04-17 |
20140108217 | System and Method for Displaying Risk Data in an Electronic Trading Environment - An example graphical interface and method for displaying risk related data are described. One example graphical interface includes a data structure comprising a plurality of data nodes and at least one risk data point associated with each node, and further comprises a display grid. The display grid includes one or more cells that are used for displaying selected data nodes and risk data points. Each cell may be associated with a single data node, and may include one or more identifiers corresponding to risk data points of the data node. In one example embodiment, the identifiers are aligned along a single axis, and risk related data corresponding to each identifier is aligned with respect to each corresponding identifier. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108218 | Method of buying or selling items and a user interface to facilitate the same - A method of buying or selling items having at least one market and its associated processes are disclosed. The method includes the steps of, under control of a client system, displaying information identifying at least one item and a bid and/or ask price for the item in the market; and specifying transaction conditions based on a user directed position of a moveable icon, where the transaction conditions are related to the buying or selling of the identified item in the active market. Then, in response to an action of the user sending a user transaction request at the transaction conditions displayed at the time of said action, facilitating financial transactions for the user in accordance with the transaction conditions to complete the transaction. In this manner, the item may be bought or sold by the user at the transaction conditions specified. A user interface to facilitate this method is also disclosed. A quantity recommendation system to facilitate the quantity decision of a financial transaction is further disclosed. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108219 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR APPORTIONING TRADING ORDERS BASED ON SIZE OF DISPLAYED QUANTITIES - An apparatus for processing trading orders comprises a memory and a processor. The memory stores a first order and a second order. The first order is associated with a product and comprises a displayed quantity and a reserved quantity. The second order is associated with the product and comprises a displayed quantity and a reserved quantity. The processor is coupled to the memory and receives a counterorder associated with the product. The processor fills the displayed quantity of the first order with a corresponding portion of the counterorder, and fills the displayed quantity of the second order with a corresponding portion of the counterorder. The processor allocates a first additional portion of the counterorder to the first order. The first additional portion is based at least in part on a ratio of the displayed quantity of the first order to a sum of the displayed quantity of the first order and the displayed quantity of the second order. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108220 | Swap Index - A financial instrument is provided with one or more indices underlying the financial instrument. Each index allows accurate tracking of interest rate swap (IRS) markets. The indices are calculated using real-time market data and synthetic purchasing and selling of synthetic interest rate swaps utilizing the market data. The value of the synthetic interest rate swaps are the basis for the value of a particular index. The purchasing and selling of the synthetic interest rate swap occurs at a frequency to minimize effects of shortening terms on the index. One subset of the IRS indices reflects a plain-vanilla swap for a specific term of years. Another subset of the IRS indices reflects a spread between two specific terms of years. A third subset of the IRS indices reflect two spreads, sometimes referred to as a butterfly, between a middle term of years and a shorter term of years and the same middle term of years and a longer term of years. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108221 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING ORDER PLACEMENT IN AN ORDER QUEUE IN AN ELECTRONIC TRADING ENVIRONMENT - Systems and methods for optimizing order placement in an electronic trading environment are provided. Global queue holder orders are placed in a tradeable object to reserve quantity for traders. Traders may submit order requests for quantity at price levels at which a global queue holder order is holding quantity. When a trader submits an order for a quantity at a price level at which quantity is being held, a gateway compares the order to the global queue holder order information stored in a database. If the trader's order coincides with a price level at which quantity is held, then the gateway virtually transfers ownership of that quantity to the trader, who then assumes the advantageous queue position. When the quantity associated with the order is filled, the fill information is sent to the gateway, which to the database to determine which trader is associated with the filled order quantity. | 2014-04-17 |
20140108222 | Rules engine having user activated rules of selectable scope and selectable outcomes - Orders for execution of securities transactions and requests for asset movement are screened by a rules engine and may be automatically approved. The rules engine has rules which are user configurable. The rules may be configured to provide different outcomes, to provide a user selectable scope of application and to provide user selectable parameters. A transaction is processed against the rule set applicable thereto in order of increasing scope of the rules. That is, rules applicable to the account level are processed before rules applicable to the registered representative, office or firm. Individual broker-dealer firms may each configure rules applicable to their own firms independently of rules applicable to any other firm serviced by the rules engine. | 2014-04-17 |