29th week of 2013 patent applcation highlights part 52 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20130185127 | Systems and Methods for Advertising - A method for rendering content can comprise rendering a challenge, wherein the challenge is contextually related to the content, receiving a response to the challenge, comparing the received response to a comparator element, and providing a reward based upon the comparison of the received response and the comparator element. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185128 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR DISCOUNT RETAILING - A system and methods to mutually satisfy a consumer with a discount and a vendor with a minimum number of sales by establishing a tipping point associated with an offer for a good or service. If the tipping point is met, the sale of the good or service is executed and the consumer is charged and receives an indication of the discounted sale, such as a certificate. If the tipping point is not met, the discount offer is abandoned and the consumer is not charged. Once the tipping point is established, the vendor receives a payment, even before the consumer uses the certificate. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185129 | Methods and Systems of Payment for Automatic Generation of Discount Transactions - Due to increased competition in the financial services market for merchants, merchant acquiring banks, payment processors, and card-issuing banks, a method and system of payment for automatic generation of discount transactions is offered. Any actor in the purchasing process generates discounts automatically by receiving a purchase transaction dataset, comparing available discount datasets, and asynchronously generating a discount in a manner more accessible than coupons or reward cards. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185130 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF A REBATE REQUEST WITH VALIDATION INFORMATION - The present disclosure relates to a method for receiving a rebate claim including providing an interface module for display on a display screen, receiving, via the interface module, consumer identifying information, and receiving, via the interface module, an uploaded digital copy of physical proof of purchase data, the purchase data indicating purchase of one or more rebate qualifying products or services. The present disclosure also relates to a system for rebate claim submission including an interface module for display on a display screen. The interface module may be configured for receiving consumer identifying information based on a consumer's electronic input and receiving an uploaded digital copy of physical proof of purchase data, the purchase data indicating purchase of one or more rebate qualifying products or services. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185131 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTEGRATING SOCIAL AND LOYALTY PLATFORMS - A method may to authorize a loyalty integration service with a social platform may include transmitting an authorization screen to a user terminal. The authorization screen may include a request to grant a loyalty integration service (LIS) user application access to an identifier of a user on a social platform. The method may further comprise receiving authorization from the user indicating the LIS user application can access the identifier of the user. Then, based on receiving the authorization, the identification of the user on the social platform may be linked with a member identifier associated with the user on a loyalty program. Further, on the user terminal, a dashboard to the user may be presented within the LIS user application. The dashboard may include offers customized for the user based on the user's social data in the social network and loyalty data in the loyalty program. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185132 | ANONYMOUS TRANSACTION CARD - A system and method for substantially immediate issuance of transaction cards includes at least one unassigned transaction card including a storage medium having a card number encoded thereupon. The system also includes a computing system configured to receive application information from an applicant that has been provided said unassigned transaction card, and to activate the unassigned transaction card so that access to monetary funds is extended to the applicant through said unassigned transaction card, upon an evaluation of said application information indicating that the applicant has been approved for access to the monetary funds. The unassigned transaction card bears no visible marking presenting information concerning the applicant and encodes no information concerning said applicant upon the storage medium of said unassigned transaction card. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185133 | RECOMMENDING VIRTUAL REWARD OFFERS AND AWARDING VIRTUAL REWARDS - In an embodiment, a method performed by one or more computing devices comprises storing, for one or more marketplace associated applications, interaction information that identifies, for each particular application of said one or more marketplace associated applications, a list of devices that interacted with an instance of the particular application; receiving, from a requesting device, a request for a list of offer eligible applications; determining, based on said interaction information, a set of applications associated with the requesting device; based on said determination of the set of applications associated with the requesting device, sending a list of one or more selected eligible applications to the requesting device. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185134 | Service Systems and Methods - Service systems and methods to be used in an application (App) download use environment are provided. After at least one user selects an icon related to an application in a browser picture, an advertisement link related to the application is presented on a wall of a personal webpage on a social website corresponding to the at least one user. After the advertisement link is selected, the browser picture having the application is returned, and/or, a number of selection times of the icon in the browser picture for each user is recorded, and the number of selection times of the icon for each user is transformed into reward points. The user can exchange the accumulated reward points for redeem applications provided by an application developer. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185135 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR DISCOUNT RETAILING - A system and methods to mutually satisfy a consumer with a discount and a vendor with a minimum number of sales by establishing a tipping point associated with an offer for a good or service. If the tipping point is met, the sale of the good or service is executed and the consumer is charged and receives an indication of the discounted sale, such as a certificate. If the tipping point is not met, the discount offer is abandoned and the consumer is not charged. Once the tipping point is established, the vendor receives a payment, even before the consumer uses the certificate. The system and methods also include a reward or loyalty program, an exchange or secondary market for the purchased deals, and a matching algorithm that matches customers to relevant goods or services. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185136 | PRICE GUARANTEE METHODS AND SYSTEMS - A method is provided. The method includes recording transaction information for a consummated transaction related to a purchase of an item or service at a computer, the transaction information including information identifying a consumer; monitoring, by the computer, an incentive to purchase the item or service for a predetermined time period after purchase of the item or service by the consumer; comparing, by the computer, the incentive to the transaction information during the predetermined time period to determine if the incentive was offered as part of the consummated transaction; and if the incentive was not offered as part of the consummated transaction, duplicating, by the computer, the incentive for the consumer after the consummated transaction. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185137 | WIRELESS COMMUNICATION-ENABLED PROMOTIONS AND COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS - Coupons and other promotions can be enabled using mobile computing devices with Near Field Communication (NFC) or other wireless communication capabilities. For example, a mobile device user can collect a coupon displayed during a cable TV show by tapping his NFC mobile device to a peripheral device in wireless communication with a cable TV receiver. Collected coupons can be stored in a coupon database at the mobile device. Coupons can be redeemed by tapping an NFC mobile device to an NFC point of sale terminal. Coupons can also be collected from advertisements in audio media and web pages, and can be collected at a mobile device from media displayed at the mobile device. Coupons can have time-based, location-based or other usage restrictions. Collecting information stored in NFC tags affixed to items in a scavenger hunt list can unlock downloadable content. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185138 | FEEDBACK BASED TECHNIQUE TOWARDS TOTAL COMPLETION OF TASKS IN CROWDSOURCING - The present disclosure provides a method for incenting potential contributors for creating content in response to a posting. The method comprises: posting a task to a first crowdsource with the task having a first expiry period of δ | 2013-07-18 |
20130185139 | System, Method and Computer Program Product for Compensating Web Users for Viewing Targeted Ads - A method for matching consumers and advertisements over a network includes matching demographic traits provided by the consumers with demographic targets provided by advertisers. Upon receiving a request for a consumer through a website of a web content provider, the central server provides the requesting consumer with a user interface that includes a slide-bar icon with which the requesting consumer can share a portion of the compensation it will receive for viewing that advertisement with the content provider. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185140 | ANALYSIS OF MARKETING AND ENTERTAINMENT EFFECTIVENESS USING CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM, AND EFFECTOR DATA - Example methods, apparatus, systems and machine readable media are disclosed herein for analyzing response data from subjects exposed to media. An example method includes obtaining first response data from a first data collection modality and second response data from a second data collection modality from a subject exposed to an advertisement or entertainment. The example method also includes generating a coupling index based on first data from a first frequency band of the first response data and second data from a second frequency band of the first response data, the first frequency band and the second frequency band being different. In addition, the example methods includes generating validation data based on the second response data and one or more of the first response data or the coupling index and determining an effectiveness of the advertisement or entertainment based on one or more of the coupling index or the validation data. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185141 | STIMULUS PLACEMENT SYSTEM USING SUBJECT NEURO-RESPONSE MEASUREMENTS - Example methods, apparatus, systems and machine readable media are disclosed herein for selecting advertisement or entertainment location based on neuro-response data. An example method includes analyzing first neuro-response data from a first subject exposed to source material. The example method also includes identifying a candidate location in the source material for introduction of an advertisement or entertainment based on the first neuro-response data. In addition, the example method includes analyzing second neuro-response data from at least one of the first subject and a second subject exposed to a combination of the source material and the advertisement or entertainment inserted in the candidate location. The example also includes determining an effectiveness of the advertisement or entertainment based on the second neuro-response data. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185142 | CONTENT BASED SELECTION AND META TAGGING OF ADVERTISEMENT BREAKS - Example methods, apparatus, systems and machine readable media are disclosed herein for analyzing response data from subjects exposed to media. An example method includes collecting electroencephalography data from a brain of a subject exposed to an advertisement. The example method also includes determining neuro-response data from the electroencephalography data, the neuro-response data representative of interaction between a first frequency band and a second frequency band of the electroencephalography data, the second frequency band being different than the first frequency band. In addition, the example method includes determining resonance to the advertisement based on the neuro-response data and identifying one or more priming levels for one or more locations in a source material based on an attribute of the source material. The example method also includes selecting a first one of the one or more locations for inclusion of the advertisement based on the resonance and the priming levels. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185143 | AMPLIFICATION OF A SOCIAL OBJECT THROUGH AUTOMATIC REPUBLISHING OF THE SOCIAL OBJECT ON CURATED CONTENT PAGES BASED ON RELEVANCY - A method, an apparatus and/or a system of amplification of a social object through automatic republishing of the social object on curated content pages based on relevancy is disclosed. A curated content system involves associating a social media account of a user of a third-party service to the curated content system based on an authentication of the social media account through the curated content system. The curated content system may also involve determining that a social object placed in the third-party service is associated with a page in the curated content system based on a relevancy match between an identification data associated with the social object with at least a portion of a content of the page. Further, the curated content system involves automatically republishing the social object adjacent to at least the portion of the content of the page using a processor to amplify an influence of the social object. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185144 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ANALYZING NEURO-REPONSE DATA AND VIRTUAL REALITY ENVIRONMENTS - Example methods, systems and machine readable instructions are disclosed for analyzing neuro-response data and virtual reality environments. An example method includes analyzing neuro-response data gathered from an individual exposed to a virtual reality comprising a virtual reality setting and a marketing material. The example method also includes determining an effectiveness of one or more of the virtual reality setting or the marketing material based on the neuro-response data. In addition, the example method includes modifying one or more of the virtual reality setting or the marketing material based on the effectiveness. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185145 | NEURO-PHYSIOLOGY AND NEURO-BEHAVIORAL BASED STIMULUS TARGETING SYSTEM - Example methods, apparatus, systems and machine readable media are disclosed herein for analyzing response data from subjects exposed to media. An example method includes obtaining first neuro-response data from a first frequency band and second neuro-response data from a second frequency band of brain activity of a subject exposed to one or more of an advertisement or entertainment, the first frequency band and the second frequency band being different. The example method also includes combining the first and second neuro-response data and data representative of a first attribute of the first advertisement or entertainment to generate selection information. In addition, the example method includes selecting a second advertisement or entertainment for presentation to the subject based on the selection information and data representative of a second attribute of the second advertisement or entertainment. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185146 | METHOD AND SERVER OF PROVIDING ADVERTISEMENT - The present invention relates to a method and server for providing advertisements that employ a contest arrangement between a multiple number of advertising items extracted in association with a particular text or image, to draw the interest of the advertisement users and maximize the advertising effect by supplying certain benefits according to the contest rankings. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185147 | Inferred Dynamic Offers Subject To Mobile Device Holder Location - Systems, apparatus and methods that give selling actors the abilities and means to sell products and services by providing inferred dynamic offers to buying actors subject to buying actors locations. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185148 | SYSTEMS, METHODS, APPARATUSES, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR PROVIDING SERVICES ON AN AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINE - A method for providing surcharge-free ATM transactions is provided. The method may include providing ATM transaction services to an ATM user. The method may further include causing third-party advertising to be presented to the user during the ATM transaction in lieu of charging a surcharge fee for the ATM transaction. A corresponding system, apparatus, and computer program product are also provided. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185149 | SUGGESTING AND/OR PROVIDING TARGETING CRITERIA FOR ADVERTISEMENTS - Keyword suggestions that are category-aware (and field-proven) may be used to help advertisers better target the serving of their ads, and may reduce unused ad spot inventory. The advertiser can enter ad information, such as a creative, a landing Webpage, other keywords, etc. for example. A keyword facility may use this entered ad information as seed information to infer one or more categories. It may then request that the advertiser confirm or deny some basic feedback information (e.g., categories, Webpage information, etc.). For example, an advertiser may be provided with candidate categories and may be asked to confirm (e.g., using checkboxes) which of the categories are relevant to their ad. Keywords may be determined using at least the categories. The determined keywords may be provided to the advertiser as suggested keywords, or may automatically populate ad serving constraint information as targeting keywords. The ad server system can run a trial on the determined keywords to qualify or disqualify them as targeting keyword. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185150 | 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 access retail store-specific information regarding the location of items in a retail store. A mobile electronic device may be utilized to compile an electronic shopping list and/or transmit an electronic shopping list. Locations of one or more items in the retail store may be associated with items on the electronic shopping list. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185151 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMPENSATING TELECOMMUNICATION SUBSCRIBERS FOR PERMITTING PLAYING OF ADVERTISEMENTS AS RING BACK TONES AND DIRECT ACTIVATION OF ADVERTISED SERVICES - A system and method for compensating subscribers for permitting playing of advertisements as ring back tones and direct activation of advertised services is provided. The method includes receiving by a telecommunication service provider a call initiated by a caller. The method further includes establishing status of at least one of caller and callee by checking home location register of the telecommunication service provider. Establishing status includes determining RBT subscription status of caller and callee. Depending on the RBT subscription status of caller and callee, the call is transferred to a tone player within RBT system of at least one of caller and callee. A compensation system then selects a media file to be played to caller based on RBT to Advertisement ratios of subscribers. The selected media file may be an RBT file or an advertisement message, which is then played to the caller. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185152 | Acquisition of Card Information to Enhance User Experience - A method for a transaction with a taxi includes establishing secure communication between a first computing device in a driver section of a vehicle and a second computing device in a passenger section of a vehicle, receiving in the second computing device a card number from a card reader coupled to the second computing device before receiving a signal from a meter indicating an end of a trip for the passenger, after receiving the card number submitting the transaction for authorization from at least one of the first device or the second device, after receiving a signal from the meter indicating the end of the trip for the passenger, displaying an amount of a fare for the trip on a display, and receiving an indication that the transaction is authorized. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185153 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SINGLE SIGN ON TARGETED ADVERTISING - A method is disclosed for selecting targeted advertising data, the method including but not limited to determining an advertising data type for a single sign on subscriber; sending an image advertisement when the advertising data type is image; sending an audio advertisement when the advertising data type is audio; and sending a video advertisement when the advertising data type is video. A system and computer readable medium for performing the method are also disclosed. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185154 | TARGETING OF CONSUMER LISTS UNDER CONSENT BY EXTERNAL PARTIES FOR PROMOTIONS AND DISCOUNTS - A consumer owns a list of items, whether goods or services, including one or more entries, with each entry indicating an item, such as a good or service. This list of items has one or more entries with associated authorizations. The authorizations indicate which entities can access information from the entry in the list, and which actions the entities can perform using the information on the list. In particular, such authorizations include one or forms of targeting of the owner of the list, typically a consumer of goods and services, with promotions, advertisements, discounts, coupons and similar information relating to the goods and services on the list. The consumer controls the content and authorizations in the list. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185155 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THIRD PARTIES TO LOWER A COST OF A TRANSACTION FOR A PURCHASER - Systems and methods of enabling cross-promotion of products and services during a purchase transaction are provided. An offer management system provides contribution offers to a purchaser in response to a request for discounts for a product. Upon acceptance of the offers by the purchaser, the offer management system causes funds to be transferred from one or more contributor payment accounts to a retail point-of-sale system. These funds are combined with funds from the purchaser to provide the full price to the retailer for the product. The offer management system monitors purchaser activity to determine if the purchaser later complies with conditions of the offers. In some embodiments, the offer management system may be used by traditional point-of-sale systems without requiring special configuration to work with the offer management system. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185156 | COMMUNICATION DEVICE AND MESSAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD - In a message management method of a communication device, a plurality of keywords relating to different commercial activities are preset and stored into a keyword database. Whether a received message of the communication device is an advertisement of a commercial activity is determined by comparing content of the message with each keyword of the keyword database. A starting time of the commercial activity is extracted from the message if the message is an advertisement. An pre-activity alarm time is determined according to the extracted starting time, and an alarm is given to a user when the alarm time is reached. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185157 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF MEDIA CONTENT - Information is provided a user of a mobile device. Media content is sensed by the mobile device and sent to an information processing server. The information processing server also obtains media content from another source and associates at least a portion of the obtained media content with a product or service offer. The sensed media content is correlated to the obtained media content such that an associated buy or service offer is selected. The buy or service offer is sent to the mobile device for display to the user. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185158 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BROWSER BASED ADVERTISEMENT INSERTION - Content is downloaded to a mobile handheld device (MHD) and buffered on the MHD prior to, and during, viewing. Normal wireless bandwidth varies with atmospheric conditions, distance, obstructions in the path, etc. and hence the speed at which a content-buffer (CB) on the MHD is replenished changes. Because this can result in very low quality viewing experience for the user, the capability for alternate content scheduling provided a micro-splicer is used to enable stored alternate content or advertisement insertion during periods of low viewing quality, when the CB does not hold sufficient content during the viewing period. This alternate content insertion allows the CB to be refilled before the user resumes content viewing. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185159 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS AND PROMOTION AUTOMATION - A system for integrating customer databases, the system including a merchant database received from a first merchant, the merchant database including a plurality of individual customer entries, a database provided by a promoter, an integration engine for integrating the merchant database with the promoter database, a promotion engine configured to obtain additional information relating to each of the plurality of individual customer entries and an extraction engine configured to extract an extraction database from the promoter database. The integration engine is configured to maintain a differentiation between the merchant database and the promoter database. The extraction database includes the merchant database and the additional information related to each of the plurality of individual customer entries obtained by the promotion engine. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185160 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR ADVERTISING - A system, method and computer program product to provide content and information and track levels of interaction with provided content and information. Exemplary embodiments may include a server that provides variable content to one or more people in the form of a website. The website may be dynamic to allow for the targeting of people with certain interests or targeted towards individuals. The server may provide content to attract viewers to the website, retain viewers on the website and direct viewers to any other website, product offering or service offering through any of a variety of manners. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185161 | Conditional Dynamic Offers Subject To Mobile Device Holder Location - Systems, apparatus and methods that give selling actors the abilities and means to sell products and services by providing conditional dynamic offers to buying actors subject to buying actors locations. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185162 | ADVERTISEMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system and method is provided for deploying an advertisement campaign to one or more media systems in a network. A user interacts with a data entry form provided by server to enter advertisement content, advertising details, such as the type of advertisement and start and end dates for a desired advertisement campaign. The user also selects the location of one or more media systems to deploy the advertisement campaign. The user submits payment for the advertisement campaign to the server electronically. The advertising content is reviewed and if approved the advertising content is deployed to the selected media system locations. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185163 | MANAGEMENT OF SHARED MEDIA CONTENT - A media device allows users to watch and capture portions from a media broadcast. Users may then share the captured media content items with other users, for example, by uploading the items to a community website. Before providing requested media content items to other users, the website may combine advertisements with the media content items. The website may receive advertising revenue from advertisers and may share the advertising revenue with owners of the media content items in exchange for their permission to provide the media content items. The advertisers may provide restrictions on how the advertisements are combined with the media content items, and the content owners may provide restrictions on how the media content items are provided to the users. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185164 | UNIFIED CONTENT VISIBILITY - Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for determining the visibility of downloaded objects, such as electronic advertisements, on a client device screen comprise consulting one or more draw-count properties associated with the advertisement, such as screen-draw-count, window-draw-count, or document-draw-count properties; and determining whether the advertisement was likely visible based on the one or more draw-count properties. A plurality of objects, such as transparent pixel images may also be placed on or around the advertisement and their draw-counts compared. If only some of the transparent pixel images have non-zero draw-counts, then it may be inferred that only a portion of the advertisement was visible on the client device screen. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185165 | MEDIA EXCHANGE PLATFORM - A method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium provide the ability to exchange media content. A media content request is received at a website from a user. In response to the media content request, the website requests the media content in the media content request from a decisioning engine. In reply, the website receives a media asset or an identifier for the media asset. The media asset or the media asset identifier is then delivered to the user for consumption. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185166 | CARDHOLDER MOBILE DEVICE POSITIONING SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method and system processes location data associated with a transaction in an electronic transaction processing system. The system comprises at least one point of sale terminal, such as a merchant terminal or ATM terminal, and at least one cardholder mobile terminal, each terminal being connected to a network and associated with a same electronic transaction. Data representative of the geographical location of the at least one point of sale terminal and data representative of the geographical location of the at least one cardholder mobile terminal is also obtained. The respective positional data of the terminals is compared, and an alert message is communicated over the network if the comparison indicates that the terminals are not located within a predetermined proximity to one another. The transaction can be authorised or rejected based on the position of the cardholder at the time to the transaction. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185167 | FINANCIAL TRANSACTION METHOD AND SYSTEM HAVING AN UPDATE MECHANISM - A payment device and method and system for using the payment device is described capable of utilizing a pre-authorized amount on existing infrastructure, including POS terminals or for using offline pre-paid products on this infrastructure. The updates for the pre-authorized or offline prepaid products can be sent by the issuer and applied by the card contemporaneously with the card's processing of the issuer authentication data but without requiring any additional bytes in the issuer authentication data. The updates performed by the issuer can be larger and more extensive than could be achieved by using any available space in the issuer authentication data. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185168 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR AUTOMATED POST-AUCTION CHANGE ORDER OPTIMIZATION IN AUCTIONS - Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for providing an optimized change order during the post-auction period of a completed auction. After the completion of an initial auction, one or more parties to the initial auction may request a change to the terms of the initial auction agreement in the form of a change order comprising a change price and a change quantity. Prior to committing to the change order the parties may subject the terms of the change order to a change auction having a reserve price equal to the change price. If the change auction concludes with a bid that is better than the reserve price, the change order may be canceled and the original winning bidder may receive a portion of the winning bid associated with the change auction. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185169 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ALLOCATING UNITS TO USERS IN AN ONLINE ENVIRONMENT - Described herein are systems and methods for allocating units to users, for example in the context of an online auction environment. In overview, the technology described herein provides for an auction process whereby a decrementing price is combined with a competitive hidden-bid process. Users participate in the auction for the purpose of obtaining a desired number of units from a stockpile of like units, such as bottles of a particular batch of wine. The users effectively have two modes of participation. The first is to purchase units at a system-defined price, which decrements at predetermined intervals. The second is to place a bid at a user-defined price, this bid being deemed as successful when the system-defined price decrements to a value of equal to or less than the user-defined price. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185170 | GIFT RECOMMENDATION METHOD AND SYSTEM - Embodiments for recommending gifts to users for their gift recipients over a network are described. The gift recommendation system may retrieve gender and age information of a gift recipient, for example, via a graphical user interface, and then may automatically present to the user a list of predetermined number of gift categories selected based on the gender and age information of the gift recipient. Once a gift category is selected from the presented list of predetermined amount of gift categories, the gift recommendation system may automatically present to the user a list of gift items belonging to the respective selected gift categories. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185171 | ELECTRONIC COMMERCE RULE-BASED MULTI-SELECTION GIFTING - A computer processing-based method for multi-selection gifting, including identifying a multi-selection gift, by a client computer, the multi-selection gift including a plurality of items of merchandise, and a selection rule allowing a gift recipient to select up to a specified total number of items of merchandise in the multi-selection gift, the specified total number being greater than one, and interactively guiding the gift recipient in selecting items of merchandise of the multi-selection gift in accordance with the selection rule, by the client computer. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185172 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING INTER-JURISDICTIONAL PERMITS - Permit applications for construction or property improvement projects can be processed for multiple jurisdictions at the same time through a networked system. A kiosk can be provided as a central point of interaction for the user. A property address is received from the user and compared with multiple jurisdictions to determine one or more jurisdictions in which the property address is located. Permit requirement information for each of the jurisdictions is output for the user. Permit application information is then received from the user. The permit application information includes electronic fee payment information. A permit application can then be transmitted to at least one of the jurisdictions. If the permit is approved, one or more permits are received from the jurisdictions. The kiosk or other device can print paper copies of the permits for the user or provide them in electronic format. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185173 | FEATURE LICENSING FRAMEWORK FOR THIRD PARTY FEATURE CREDIT MANAGEMENT - A method and apparatus for provisioning devices. One method includes authenticating a first customer as an authenticated user and receiving from a first customer a first request to establish a credit record for a specified number of upgraded feature licenses. The upgraded feature licenses are obtainable from a third party supplier and are associated with components available from the third party supplier. The credit record includes feature credits to be made available to the first customer to obtain the upgraded feature licenses from the third party supplier. A second request is received from the first customer to release the feature credits to a credit pool associated with the first customer so that the feature credits are available to the first customer. The upgraded feature licenses are generated and the credit pool associated with the first customer is debited for the number of credits needed to obtain the upgraded feature licenses. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185174 | INTERNET STRAWMAN AND USER INTERFACE THEREFOR - Information for performing a transaction with a vendor is received at an intermediary. The transaction is to be performed on behalf of a consumer-subscriber. The intermediary presents the information to a vendor. Confirmation from the vendor of the transaction is received at the intermediary. The intermediary provides notification of the confirmation, and the notification is accessible by the consumer-subscriber. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185175 | USE OF USER-GENERATED CONTENT TO RANK PRODUCTS - Product scores are generated for products. The product scores for the products are based on amounts of user-generated content (UGC) mentioning the products and based on how favorable the UGC is toward the products. A product comparison interface is provided to a consumer. The product comparison interface comprises product elements associated with at least some of the products. Each of the product elements comprises information about a different one of the products. The product comparison interface provides information about the product scores for the products associated with the product elements. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185176 | CROSS CHANNEL REAL TIME AWARENESS FRAMEWORK - Techniques and equipment for enabling a cross-channel real time awareness framework for capturing and storing transaction data in real time for a user via an interface in a first channel of an enterprise are disclosed. The stored transaction data are made accessible to a second channel of the enterprise for processing transaction requests received from the user via an interface in the second channel, and, if desired, modify an interactive process flow associated with the interface in the second channel. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185177 | Method for Calculation of Construction Notice, Lien, and Bond Claim Deadlines Through Widget, Mobile Application and Web Application with Minimal Project Information - This invention calculates construction notice, lien and bond claim deadlines specific to the user's project from inputting just 5 pieces of data: (1) the project's state; (2) the project's type; (3) the user's role in the project; (4) the role in the project of the party who hired the user; and (5) applicable “trigger dates” as follows: The State, User Role, Hired-by Role and Project type is selected by the user; the invention displays potentially applicable dates as pulled from database; the user inputs known dates; the invention retrieves deadline calculation/date counting logic and applies to information submitted; the deadline is displayed. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185178 | SOURCE DOCUMENT FRAMEWORK FOR ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS - A source document framework for accounting systems is described. An apparatus may comprise an accounting application arranged for execution by the processor circuit, the ERP application comprising a source document framework component arranged to create a new source document type to add to heterogeneous source document types, and a source document process component arranged to process source documents of the heterogeneous source document types, with at least one of the heterogeneous source document types including a previous source document type arranged for use with process logic specific to the previous source document type, and process one or more source documents of the new source document type with the process logic specific to the previous source document type. Other embodiments are described and claimed. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185179 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DEPOSIT PREDICTIONS BASED UPON TEMPLATE MATCHING - Systems and methods may be provided for deposit prediction based upon template matching. The system and methods may include receiving deposit information associated with a plurality of deposits for a deposit account of a financial institution customer, where the deposit information includes a plurality of deposit amounts, and a respective date associated with each of the plurality deposit amounts; identifying, based upon the received deposit information, one or more deposit patterns by applying one or more template patterns to the deposit information and determining that one or more of the applied template patterns match at least a portion of the deposit information; and generating an indication of the identified one or more deposit patterns. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185180 | DETERMINING THE INVESTIGATION PRIORITY OF POTENTIAL SUSPICIOUS EVENTS WITHIN A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION - Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, apparatus, methods and computer program products for determining investigation prioritization for suspicious events within a financial institution. The present invention provides for continuous tuning of the risk score associated with a suspicious event or event group to insure accurate investigation prioritization based on the risk score. In addition, the present invention continuously tunes the risk score based on the sample size of cases (i.e., the confidence) used to determine the risk assessment (i.e., the effective Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) yield attributed to the event or event combination). | 2013-07-18 |
20130185181 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ATM MULTI-APPLICATION - “DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ATM MULTI-APPLICATION”, wherein the present patent application has as object to provide a companionship solution of “Property application” with “Client applications” from other Financial Institutions and provides a simplified model, wherein monitoring and operation are still under responsibility of a same owner, having multiplicity only of “Client Modules”, i.e., “Property+Other Institutions”. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185182 | Opinion Based Currency For Economic Optimizations Using Publicly Available Data - A system and method for transparently valuing a market of fungible opinions, as a basis for more efficiently motivating individuals in society to make actionable resource allocation decisions, including buying and selling and contracting thereof, by valuing individual published opinions and compensating holders of opinions for making valuable contributions to society, as well as compensating providers of physical property and labor resources for providing those resources to society, on the evidence of favorable opinions about specific contributions to society. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185183 | Order Risk Management for Derivative Products - Systems and methods are provided for processing derivative product orders at an exchange. Traders provide derivative product order risk data to the exchange. The order risk data may include maximum delta, gamma and/or vega utilization values for derivative product contracts based on the same underlying product. Before executing a trade, a match system analyzes the trader's current utilization state and the utilization that would result after the trade. The match system may then execute all or a portion of the trade. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185184 | System and Method for Group Purchasing - A method for conducting an online group auction of homogeneous shares in an undivided lot uses a server computer accessible via a data network. An associated database contains details of an undivided lot, such as a real estate property, available for auction, and information representing a share offering. The offering comprises a number of homogeneous shares in the undivided lot, each share having an associate individual share price. Participating bidders submit bids via the data network, each bid including information identifying a maximum number of shares, and a maximum price per share. The server determines a degree of success of the bid based on an extent to which the maximum price per share exceeds a current individual share price of one or more of the homogeneous shares. The server then updates the information representing the share offering in accordance with the determined degree of success of the bid. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185185 | AUTOMATED TRADING SYSTEM FOR ROUTING AND MATCHING ORDERS - An automated system for matching orders from a virtual trading crowd in an exchange configured for trading securities or derivatives is disclosed including an electronic trade engine operative to receive an order or a quote for a security or derivative at the exchange, the trade engine further operative to disseminate a request for a price message to a plurality of market makers quoting a class in response to receiving the order or the quote, an electronic book in communication with the electronic trade engine, the electronic book operative to store at least one order or quote received by the electronic trade engine, a database including an allocation algorithm, the database in communication with the electronic trade engine, and a trade processor in communication with the database, the trade processor operative to analyze and execute orders or quotes according to the allocation algorithm selected from the database. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185186 | System and Method for Transferring Funds from a Sender Associated with a First Country Having a First Currency to a Recipient Associated with a Second Country Having a Second Currency - A system and method for transferring funds from a sender in a starting currency to a desired recipient in a final, different currency. The system and method allows a sender to select a conversion rate from a plurality of conversion rates and the associated currency converter financial institution to conduct the transfer from the sender to the recipient. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185187 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AGGREGATING ORDERS FOR PRIMARY SECURITIES - A method may include receiving an order for primary securities in the form of a query. The query may include at least one variable associated with a plurality of primary issuers. The method may include identifying, by a computing device, at least one primary issuer that satisfies the query from a database of primary issuers. The at least one primary issuer may be identified based on the at least one variable associated with a plurality of primary issuers. The method may include communicating the order for primary securities to the at least one primary issuer. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185188 | EXCHANGE-TRADED WIN, LOSE OR DRAW DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS - Methods and systems for trading fixed-payoff derivative contracts between two or more parties based on the movement of one or more underlying financial instruments. Specifically, win, lose or draw positions for or against the occurrence of a designated price event above an underlying financial instrument's spot price before the occurrence of a designated price event below an underlying financial instrument's spot price, or vice versa, with respect to a designated time period. If neither designated price event occurs with respect to the designated time period, no loss of position is incurred by either party. Methods and systems include American-style and European-style contracts, transferable positions, multiple underlying financial instruments within the same contract, asymmetric time periods within the same contract and expirationless time periods. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185189 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USING ONLINE SOCIAL FOOTPRINT FOR AFFECTING LENDING PERFORMANCE AND CREDIT SCORING - Provided are apparatuses, computer media, and methods for analyzing data gathered from the online social footprint and determining a credit score to facilitate access to financial services. A credit score is determined based on available personal data and data gathered from the online social footprint and is indicative of a borrower's propensity to pay an owed amount. A credit score is determined from a scoring expression that is associated with a score cluster, typically including a subset of available data gathered from the online social footprint. The credit score can also be affected by means such as endorsements or negative behavior of individuals in a borrower's social network. Corresponding apparatus, systems, programs for computers, and communications mechanisms are also provided to gain access to financial services based upon at least one borrower's request criterion, optimization of reputation in the borrower's online social footprint and performing a lending transaction. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185190 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASSESSING AND MANAGING FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS - A financial terms alert generation system comprises an information retrieval module, a financial terms comparison module, and an alert transmission module. The information retrieval module is configured to retrieve financing information, customer information, and product information from one or more sources accessible on a network. The financial terms comparison module is configured to compare a customer's current financial arrangement to a potential new financial arrangement to determine whether the customer is able to enter into a new financial arrangement on terms favorable to the customer. The alert transmission module is configured to transmit an alert to a dealer in cases in which the financial terms comparison module determines that a customer is able to enter into a new financial arrangement on terms favorable to the customer. Such alerts identify the customer and the favorable financial terms. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185191 | SYSTEMS AND METHOD FOR CORRELATING TRANSACTION EVENTS - A method and system for correlating transaction events. Transaction events may be received that identify actions executed at a plurality of different types of source systems. For each transaction event, it may be determined whether or not the transaction event is equivalent to a previous transaction event using an equivalence relationship. The equivalence relationship may define events as being equivalent when each of the events has a subset of parameters that match exactly and a different subset of parameters that match approximately and not exactly. Equivalent transaction events may be correlated. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185192 | TRANSACTION INITIATED AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT FOR MERCHANT OFFERS - A computer-based method of managing electronic transactions is described. A plurality of consumer accounts are stored in a data store, each consumer account having a first MSISDN as a consumer account identifier. A plurality of merchant accounts are stored in the data store, each having a respective first merchant account identifier. Merchant offers are received and stored within the data store in association with the merchant accounts. A second MSISDN is identified from a charge request and is matched to the first MSISDN to identify respective consumer account. A second merchant account ID is received in the charge request and is matched to one of the first merchant account ID's to identify one of the merchant accounts. A merchant offer of the merchant account is then associated with the consumer account. The charge request also includes an amount that is processed against the selected consumer account. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185193 | FRAUD MINIMIZATION AND ANALYTICS THROUGH GEOSPATIAL COMPARISON OF VEHICLE LOCATION AND TRANSACTION SITUS - A method comprising determining that a transaction associated with a purchase of a fuel of a vehicle equipped with a geospatial positioning device is associated with a unique identifier of a fuel card is disclosed. The method may comprise comparing a present geospatial location of the vehicle with a situs where the transaction associated with the purchase of the fuel of the vehicle is determined when a distance between the vehicle and the situs where the transaction associated with the purchase of the fuel of the vehicle occurs is within a threshold limit. The method may also comprise generating an alert communication to a party based on a transgression of the vehicle from the threshold limit. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185194 | Transaction Processing and Remote Activation - Embodiment of the invention extend to a device (which may be considered an asset which is purchased or which provides a service which may be purchased) which can be controlled through the use of a mobile communications device such as a cellular phone. The cellular phone is connected to a transaction processing system which allows the user to pay for the use of the device. The transaction processing system communicates with the device to allow usage of the device only if the user has successfully paid for such use. A further embodiment of the invention relates to collecting usage information of the device and collating this information at a location remote from the device. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185195 | Online Group Purchasing System and Method - An online platform provides group purchase of advocacy or other services. In some embodiments, the platform further provides one or more of a social networking address book, a crowd-sourced vote-counting mechanism for legislative issues, and support on target selection, tactic prioritization, fundraising, supporter recruitment, campaign marketing, and content creation and aggregation. According to some embodiments, an online purchasing platform may be realized as a computer-implemented method for funding group purchasing using social media. The method may comprise identifying, using a selection module, a first target item for purchase, soliciting funds online, using a solicitation module, for the purchase of the first target item, accepting, using a collection module, funds online from a plurality of sources, and determining, using the collection module, whether funds accepted online are sufficient to purchase the first target item. In the event sufficient funds have been accepted to purchase the first target item, a purchasing fulfillment module may be utilized to purchase the first target item. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185196 | CUSTOMER TOUCH POINT FOR REAL TIME SHARING OF TRANSACTION DATA BETWEEN DIFFERENT CUSTOMER INTERACTION CHANNELS - Techniques and equipment for enabling a cross-channel real time awareness framework for capturing and sharing transaction data in real time for a user via an interface of a channel of an enterprise are disclosed. The captured transaction data are made accessible to other channels of the enterprise for processing transactions initiated by the user via an interface of the one of the other channels. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185197 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURER REVENUE SHARING WITH SUPPLIERS BY LICENSING FEATURES TO CUSTOMERS - A method and apparatus for sharing revenue derived from feature licenses and feature license upgrades between suppliers of components and manufacturers of devices using those components is provided. The method and apparatus simplifies the sale of feature licenses permitting expanded capability in the devices. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185198 | Incremental Content Purchase And Management Systems And Methods - Systems and methods for incremental and conditional purchase and management of electronic books. In one embodiment, the incremental content purchase and management system allows downloading of electronic books to client devices with no upfront cost. Electronic books downloaded on a client device are divided into a plurality of segments based on the mode of consumption. User interaction with an electronic book is monitored to detect consumption, and to identify the segment being consumed. When a sufficient amount of electronic book segments is consumed, a charge corresponding the consumed electronic book segments is calculated using a charge model. The ownership of the consumed electronic book segments is then transferred to the user following the payment of the calculated charge. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185199 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR FUNDING TRANSACTIONS USING DEBIT CARDS ISSUED BY ONE INSTITUTION AND FUNDS FROM ACCOUNTS AT OTHER INSTITUTIONS - Methods, apparatus, and systems for funding transactions disclosed herein may operate to configure a plurality of backup funding sources for a primary funding source, and enable a consumer associated with the primary funding source to select at least one backup funding source among the plurality of backup funding sources. A request to fund a transaction associated with the primary funding source may be received, and the transaction may be funded using funds from at least one of the primary funding source and the at least one selected backup funding source. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185200 | ELECTRONIC LOCKBOX IMPLEMENTATION AND MANAGEMENT - Methods, computer readable media, and apparatuses for electronically sorting and managing mail within an electronic lockbox are described. Mail may be routed from a mail delivery service to a first location. The mail may be scanned at the first location and information may be extracted from the envelopes and items within the envelopes. The information may be verified and grouped into electronic transactions. The electronic transactions may be classified and sorted into batches based on identifiers contained within the information extracted from the mail. The batches of electronic transactions may be processed and information relating to the transactions may be stored. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185201 | Financial Services Card That Provides Visual Indicator According to Available Balance and Defined Policies - An approach is provided that displays visual indicators on a financial services card, such as a credit or debit card, that indicates the user's balance at a financial services provider. Available funds data is received at a financial services card that includes visual indicators (e.g., LEDs, etc.), a memory, a processor, a power source, and a wireless transmitter. The available funds data is received via the wireless transmitter. Visual indicators are selected based on the available funds data received from the financial services provider. The selected visual indicators are activated by providing power to the indicators from the power source. In one embodiment, the power source is a piezoelectric material, such as a piezoelectric crystal, that generates power to activate the visual indicators and run the processors and wireless transmitter based on manipulation of the card (e.g., applying pressure, etc. to the card) by the user. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185202 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MOBILE PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS - A system processes a request by a customer to pay a transaction amount, using the customer's account, for a transaction between the customer and a merchant, to provide a payment to an account of the merchant. The transaction incorporates use of a mobile wireless device operated by the customer to provide identification information of the customer's account to an authentication server. A payment server coupled to the authentication server and the merchant passes merchant communications to the authentication server. The authentication server receives the transaction amount from the merchant and receives customer account information from the customer's wireless mobile device, and processes the transaction and account information and, if authenticated, routes the payment transaction to the payment server for payment to the merchant's account. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185203 | BUSINESS AND SOCIAL MEDIA SYSTEM - A business and social media system is provided for establishing communication services between people in different countries. The system includes a core system module, the core system module including a server for maintaining information regarding a client and a means for establishing communications services between a client and another person. The system further includes external modules in communication with the core system module, the modules including a telephony termination module, a telephone module service module, an SMS module, a contact center module, a mobile application module, a web application module, a retail module, a bank module, and the like. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185204 | CONSOLIDATED CHECKING ACCOUNT AND CREDIT LINE - A consolidated account may be created from several financial accounts such as checking accounts and bank loans. Deposits to one of the checking accounts may be applied to one of the bank loans which may minimize interest charges. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185205 | SECURE TRANSACTION AUTHORIZATION - Provided is an approach for credit transaction authorization/approval. Specifically, a particular transaction payment device/mechanism (e.g., credit card, etc.) may be associated with a set of purchase authorization criteria/rules that sets forth specific conditions (e.g., an authorization protocol) under which the transaction payment device may be utilized. When a user later attempts to conduct a proposed credit transaction using the transaction payment device, it will be determined whether the proposed credit transaction complies with this set of purchase authorization criteria (e.g., the authorization protocol). Based on this determination, the proposed credit transaction can be approved or declined. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185206 | Real-Time System for Approving Purchases Made with a Mobile Phone - An approach is provided to approving purchases made with a mobile device. In this approach, a purchase request relating to an item is received at the mobile device, with the purchase request including item data associated with the item. The item data is compared to a set of predetermined authorized criteria. If the item data falls within (meets) the predetermined authorized criteria, then a payment authorization is generated. On the other hand, if the item data not meet the predetermined authorized criteria, then a real-time interactive purchase request is sent from the device over a network to an authorizing agent with the purchase request including the item data. A response is received from the authorizing agent. If the response is a purchase approval, then the payment authorization is generated. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185207 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ONLINE AUTHENTICATION USING A CREDIT/DEBIT CARD PROCESSING SYSTEM - A system for online authentication using a payment card processing system, the system comprises: a managing computer system of a payment card service provider, the managing computer system having a memory device capable of storing data associating identifying information of individual customers with payment card accounts, and a computer processor configured to: receive a request for personal information of a customer on a relying party website, and wherein the relying party website is a member of the payment card processing system; request and receive identifying information of the customer for at least one payment card of the customer; present at least one authentication question to the customer to validate the customer; and validate the customer upon receipt of at least one correct answer to the at least one authentication question. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185208 | HANDLING TRANSACTION AND TRIP DATA - A method for a transaction with a taxi includes receiving from a mobile device in a vehicle an amount of a fare for a passenger trip, receiving trip information from the mobile device, the trip information including a start time, an end time and a distance traveled for the passenger trip, receiving a card number from the mobile device, submitting the transaction for authorization of payment, receiving an indication that the transaction is authorized, accessing financial payment information associated with an account of a driver of the vehicle, the financial payment information sufficient to make a deposit to a financial account of the driver, submitting the transaction for processing to make the deposit in the amount of the fare to the financial account of the driver, and sending the trip information to a computer system of the dispatch service. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185209 | TRANSACTION-BASED ONE TIME PASSWORD (OTP) PAYMENT SYSTEM - Embodiments of the present invention provide a payment processing system. Specifically, a mobile client generates a request for payment of a payment transaction. The mobile client generates a one-time value associated with the payment transaction. The one-time value is a first hash value. The transaction information is received at an authorizing device. The authorizing device generates confirmation information and transmits the confirmation information to the mobile client. The authorizing device generates a second hash value based on the confirmation information. The request for payment is approved when the first hash value matches the second hash value. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185210 | Method and System for Making Digital Payments - Among other things, the present disclosure describes an authentication system that leverage a mobile phone to improve the security of web logins and web payments on a personal computer. The described embodiments do not require special hardware beyond a cell phone with a camera. Using embodiments of the present invention, memorization of passwords is avoided and the login process is faster and less error-prone than with existing systems. In a payment system according to an embodiment, users do not need to let retailers keep their passwords because credit card information need to be manually input. In addition, the present invention allows users to conveniently take advantage of one-time use credit cards for additional security. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185211 | METHOD, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR TOPPING UP PREPAID PAYMENT CARDS FOR OFFLINE USE - A card holder carries out an initial top-up of a balance of a pre-paid payment card. The prepaid payment card is configured for use in an infrastructure in accordance with a payment specification requiring different behavior for normal transactions in the infrastructure versus that required for topping-up of the balance. Contemporaneously with the initial top-up, the card holder registers risk mitigation information in association with the pre-paid payment card. Subsequent to the initial top-up, an indicator is written to the pre-paid payment card during a transaction with the pre-paid payment card outside the infrastructure. The indicator identifies the pre-paid payment card as having the risk mitigation information associated therewith. During subsequent presentation of the pre-paid payment card to the infrastructure, the pre-paid payment card is treated as a token backed up by the risk mitigation information, based on presence of the indicator on the pre-paid payment card. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185212 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING A PAYMENT SYSTEM OVER A NETWORK - Apparatus and methods provide an accumulator that processes electronic payments from an employer to a recipient via a network. The payments processed may be, for example, child support payments collected from an employee by the employer. The employer may submit one transaction made up of payments collected from multiple employees bound for multiple recipients and the accumulator may receive, translate, batch, and deliver the payments to the multiple recipients. The accumulator, employers, and recipients may communicate via a network such as the Internet. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185213 | NEAR-FIELD COMMUNICATION (NFC) SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRIVATE NEAR-FIELD COMMUNICATION - Embodiments of a near-field communication (NFC) system and method for private near-field communication are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a resonance-coupled channel is masked with a random channel-masking signal. The channel-masking signal may be scaled based on near-field channel conditions. Signals received through the channel may be unmasked with the scaled channel-masking signal to determine data that may have been conveyed by an NFC transmitting device by affecting the impedance of the resonance-coupled channel. In some embodiments, a reference signal may be scrambled with a mask to generate the channel-masking signal. The mask may include at least one of a random symbol mask, an amplitude mask and a phase mask. For additional privacy, the mask may include a random symbol mask and at least one of an amplitude mask and a phase mask. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185214 | System and Method For Secure Offline Payment Transactions Using A Portable Computing Device - Disclosed is a system and method that provides a merchant associated with a point of sale (“POS”) system and a consumer associated with a portable computing device (“PCD”) to complete a purchase transaction without transmitting or presenting confidential payment credentials. In an exemplary embodiment, sound is used to transmit data between the POS and the PCD. A payment request is rendered on the PCD. The consumer reviews and authorizes via a unique cryptographic signature. The merchant approves via addition of its unique cryptographic signature. A remote service in communication with the POS verifies the signatures via previously registered public keys. The transaction is then settled to a consumer account. Confirmation is returned to the POS and PCD. Advantageously, the transaction is commenced and completed without the PCD being online. Further, the consumer payment credentials are not stored on the PCD or transmitted from the PCD to the merchant POS system. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185215 | REAL-TIME CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSISTANCE USING COLLECTED CUSTOMER LIFE CYCLE DATA - A computer-implemented method is performed during a single communication session between a customer service representative (CSR) of a merchant, and the merchant's customer. The conversation between the CSR and the customer is analyzed to determine an issue. Previously collected information about the customer is accessed, from a database that stores information about customers of the merchant. A tip is determined and sent to be displayed to the CSR. The tip is determined based on the mood and the accessed previously collected information. Other embodiments are also described and claimed. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185216 | COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR CALCULATING COUNTRY-SPECIFIC FEES - The present invention relates to computer systems for estimating foreign filing costs, in particular, to a computer-implemented system for generating country-specific fees. The computer system is designed to receive an industrial property (IP) identifier, such as a patent number, generate IP statistics corresponding to the IP identifier, such as the number of words and pages in a patent specification, generate a set of selected countries and, for every selected country; identify a selected fee rule corresponding to that country and apply the selected fee rule to the IP statistics to calculate a country-specific fee. The computer system preferably performs these steps in response to a single user action. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185217 | FEATURE SPECIFICATION FOR AUTHENTICATION FEATURE - A method for supplying a feature specification of at least one authentication feature connected with a product, wherein a central device deposits in a database of the central device the feature specification and a reference code linked with the feature specification and uniquely marks the product. Within the framework of a request of a checking device, the central device receives a comparison code of the product from the checking device and ascertains the requested feature specification in the database by identifying the reference code corresponding with the comparison code. The ascertained feature specification is transferred at least partly to the checking device. In a subsequent method for checking the authenticity of the product, the checking device verifies one or several of the authentication features of the product on the basis of the received feature specification. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185218 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR A SOCIAL RECRUITING NETWORK - A system for generating and maintaining a private talent network (PTN) is described. The system allows a company to create and maintain a branded private talent network including a live talent pool of active job seekers and potential job applicants for company positions. The system includes tools for establishing, managing and developing relations with the talent pool within a private talent network as a whole or within sub-networks (circles), such as a capability to schedule and host events of interest to candidates and a capability to communicate with candidates via such methods as video, text messaging, announcements, discussions and email. In addition, the system provides tools for segmenting the recruiting process into multiple phases where each of the interactions with each candidate during each phase is tracked and information associated with the interactions is stored. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185219 | SYSTEM TO ADMINISTER AN OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION - The present invention relates to a system to administer an outcome based education for higher learning academic programs, the system includes: (a) at least one design process ( | 2013-07-18 |
20130185220 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING SOFTWARE TOOLS WITHIN AN ONLINE PLATFORM FOR ORGANIZING GROUPS AND COMMUNICATING WITH GROUP MEMBERS - A system and method for providing software tools within an online platform for organizing groups and facilitating communications among group members are disclosed. Sub-groups can be created hierarchically below an umbrella group, where information associated with a sub-group is automatically shared with the umbrella group. A standardized set of tools is provided to facilitate philanthropic efforts by charities, companies, schools, and individuals. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185221 | Compliance System for Reducing Fraud in the Provision of Non-emergency Medical Transportation Services - A system for rendering delivery services is provided which includes a portable data collection device. The portable data collection device includes an integrated location determination system. A trip schedule for an individual or item including a pickup location and a drop off location is provided to the portable data collection device. A respective location identifier is associated with the pickup and drop off locations. The location determination system of the portable data collection device provides a location of the portable data collection device at the occurrence of a pickup or dropoff. The location identifiers associated with the pickup and drop off locations are compared with the location of the portable data collection device at the pickup and drop off locations. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185222 | ADAPTIVE RATING SYSTEM AND METHOD - The present invention is embodied in adaptive rating methods and systems. The adaptive rating method includes receiving a first rating for a first product from a user, receiving a second rating for a second product from the user, identifying a conflict with a processor by comparing the first rating and the second rating, soliciting feedback from the user to remedy the conflict, and adjusting at least one of the first or second ratings with the processor responsive to feedback from the user. The steps of the method may be embodied in computer executable instructions stored on a non-transient machine readable medium that cause a processor to perform the method when executed by the processor. The system includes a processor configured to perform the steps of the method. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185223 | MULTI-LEVEL AUTOMATED HEDGING PROCESS WITH NEWS EVALUATION TOOL - An automated method, computer system and computer program product for performing automated trading activities is disclosed. The method includes generating, based on historical market data, at least one definition that defines at least one scenario associated with an initial position that must be executed. The method further includes receiving market data and searching the market data for the at least one scenario of the definition. The method further includes matching market data with the at least one scenario of the definition and, responsive to matching the market data, executing the initial position associated with the at least one scenario. The method further includes matching market data with the at least one scenario of a first level hedging action and, responsive to matching the market data with the at least one scenario, executing the first level hedging action, thereby initiating a first level hedging position that hedges the initial position. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185224 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CONSOLIDATION OF INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS - A computer implemented system/method carried out over one or more networks for consolidating retirement accounts owned by an owner, comprising: receiving an electronic data record from a first record keeper for a first retirement account owned by the owner; searching databases and/or sending search requests to one or more account record keepers including said first record keeper for one or more other retirement accounts owned by the owner; and consolidating the first retirement account into the one or more other retirement accounts upon finding the one or more other retirement accounts account. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185225 | INVESTMENT METHOD OF AUTOMATIC COST ADJUSTMENT - An investment method of automatic cost adjustment includes an X ratio defined as a total net value of the target fund which the investor paid divided by a total cost of the target fund which the investor paid, a first ratio and a second ratio respectively defined as the standards for the investor to compare with the X ratio and further adjust his or her budget into the investment. Under this arrangement, the investment method keeps monitoring the situation of the X ratio and further requests the investor to buy more amounts of the target fund for investment or to sell out the whole target fund for earning money. | 2013-07-18 |
20130185226 | METHOD OF, AND SYSTEM FOR, ASSET INDEX GENERATION WITH SELF FINANCING PORTFOLIO ADJUSTMENT - Asset indexes are intended to track changes in the market value of assets. However, some assets such as real estate can change in value for reasons other than that a general change in the market has occurred. For example, a house can have an addition which adds another bedroom or a portion of land can be sub-divided, in which case an increase or decrease respectively in the asset value can occur which is independent of movements in the overall market. A method of generating an asset index under these circumstances is disclosed by effectively removing from the asset portfolio those assets which have had a change in attribute come to notice on the day the asset index is calculated. Such an asset is restored to the portfolio on subsequent days. | 2013-07-18 |