35th week of 2011 patent applcation highlights part 45 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20110213670 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CREATING AND INSERTING APPLICATION MEDIA CONTENT INTO SOCIAL MEDIA SYSTEM DISPLAYS - Systems and methods for delivering application media content to multiple social media systems (SMSs) for display to SMS members. The method includes the steps of providing initial application media content to respective SMSs. Once a respective SMS member interacts with the initial content, a social relationship management system (SRMS) receives indication from an SMS of such interaction, and retrieves a unique application media file relating to application media content. The unique application media file is then applied to an application media container file that overcomes certain formatting protocols and requirements of the SMS and enables transmission and delivery of the application media content to the SMS. The application media content is then delivered to the SMS member on the SMS through the application media container file. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213671 | Systems and Methods to Process Payments - Systems and methods are provided to facilitate online transactions via mobile communications. In one aspect, a system includes a data storage facility and an interchange coupled with the data storage facility that stores data associating a phone number with an account, such as a balance of the account, identification information of a plurality of funding sources, and security data for authentication. The interchange includes a common format processor and a plurality of converters to interface with a plurality of different controllers of mobile communications. The converters are configured to communicate with the controllers in different formats and with the common format processor in a common format, to facilitate authentication of the payment requests received from various payment terminals. The requests are authenticated via both the security data and communications with a mobile phone having the phone number. After the authentication, the payments are effected using the account. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213672 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING A PARKING LOT - A system and method for managing a parking lot where different parking spaces have associated logical attributes that determine pricing for using that space. Typical attributes are “Last Space”, “One of Last Spaces” or “Safe Space”. Other non-premium spaces can simply have an attribute of “Ordinary” or the like. As ordinary spaces are used up, motorists may become motivated to pay higher fees to park in the last remaining spaces or premium spaces. Also, safe spaces that provide additional protection for a vehicle may go at a premium price. The present invention works at both gated and ungated lots. With an ungated lot, a ticket can be printed displaying the fact that the vehicle has paid a premium (or ordinary) rate. With a gated lot, some of the spaces can be further gated as premium or discount spaces that go at a corresponding higher or lower price. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213673 | ON-LINE SYSTEM FOR BUYER SELLER MATCHING AND NEGOTIATION - An on-line system for creating an open market for matching buyers and sellers of commodity and/or brand name products. The system enables buyers to achieve the maximum value in the purchased product by engaging in open ended on-line reverse auction and negotiation process with multiple sellers of the specified product. The system enables sellers to generate sales leads and engage in open ended on-line reverse auction bidding and negotiation process with buyers. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213674 | Online Marketplace for Sale of Discounted Stated Value Vouchers Redeemable by Vendors - A marketplace server computer for sale of stated value vouchers via an online marketplace. The vouchers are presented in a particular manner allowing for effective inventory management using rule-based approval of sales. The method involves receiving a vendor's commitment to sell vouchers, and maintaining a website for displaying a for-sale listing identifying the vouchers. Sales of vouchers are approved in accordance with predetermined rules, which rules may be changed by the vendor over time, and during a single for-sale listing of a single lot of vouchers. The for-sale listing may identify a maximum number of vouchers for sale, although more than the maximum number may be sold. Each buyer is thus encouraged to provide a buyer-specific highest acceptable bid for a voucher, and the vendor thus provides a buyer-specific discount that is the minimum acceptable discount for each particular buyer, provide that such bid is acceptable to the vendor. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213675 | SYSTEM FOR MAKING FINANCIAL GIFTS - A computer-implemented method for electronic gift giving. The method includes providing an internet site for access by a giver, prompting the giver to enter giver identification information, prompting the giver to enter recipient information, prompting the giver to enter a value of a monetary gift, optionally providing a plurality of possible recommended gifts or transfers of funds, prompting the giver to recommend at least one gift or transfer of funds to be effectuated using the monetary gift, prompting the giver to select a presentation template from a plurality of recommended presentation templates, prompting the giver to transfer the value of the monetary gift to a gift account, and storing the value of the monetary gift and the at least one recommended gift or transfer in association with the presentation template for delivery to a recipient. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213676 | System and Method for Integrated Recommendations - A recommendation appliance, system and method are provided for generating and deploying additional web page content or functionality (e.g., retail recommendations) to an existing web page server system. For example, the present invention may be embodied as a reverse proxy server that is inserted as an intermediate network node between a web server and the end users accessing the web server. In this position, the recommendation appliance can introduce recommendation messages to web pages generated by the web server without requiring any modification to the code or architecture of the web server. In addition, the appliance may separately track the transaction activities of end users who receive recommendation messages and the transaction activities of end users who do not receive recommendation messages, so that a comparison of the effectiveness of the recommendations may efficiently be demonstrated without requiring any modification to the code or architecture of the web server. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213677 | Systems and Methods for the Selection and Purchase of Digital Assets - The present invention provides systems and methods for enabling a customer to sample content and select content for purchasing while the customer is in a retail store. Advantageously, the customer may be given one or more options for the delivery of the content. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213678 | COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM FOR E-COMMERCE SHOPPING IN A SHOPPING MALL - The present invention is a computerized e-commerce shopping system utilized in a shopping mall that includes a server system having access to a communications network, a memory system with an operating system that obtains, processes and stores e-commerce shopping information, a client system to receive e-commerce shopping information from the server system, a shopping mall website and a plurality of password protected micro shopping sites with a combined product database distributed to every retailer in the shopping mall to integrate seamlessly into the shopping mall websites. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213679 | MULTI-QUANTITY FIXED PRICE REFERRAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Multi-quantity fixed price referral systems and methods are described. A “multi-quantity fixed price” listing is a listing published by an online publication system where a seller is selling a number of identical items for a fixed price for each of the items. The methods may include selecting a category from a catalogue hierarchy used by an online publication system. The selected category may be one of a plurality of categories assigned to listings each describing an item for sale. The listings within the selected category are filtered to select a set of filtered listings. A decay formula may be applied to each filtered listing of the set of filtered listings. One or more of the filtered listings are selected based on a ranking of the filtered listings. A graphical user interface to display the selected filtered listings to the user is provided. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213680 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONSTRUCTING AND DISPLAYING ACTIVE VIRTUAL REALITY CYBER MALLS, SHOW ROOMS, GALLERIES, STORES, MUSEUMS, AND OBJECTS WITHIN - A system and method for virtually displaying on-line a gallery, a showroom, a store, a mall or any other room or space and the objects contained in said room or space, wherein the data displayed is comprised of a virtual reality data packet. The system displays still photographs of virtual reality shots and textual materials, and plays virtual reality video clips and audio stories about the room and/or the objects contained therein. Links are associated with each object so that detailed information in graphical, video, audio and/or textual forms that are related to the object and are stored external to the virtual reality data packet can be retrieved on demand from an external database for presentation to the viewer. The system also provides on-line controls that enable the viewer to move around the space, and a feature that enables a viewer to view an object from 360° around the object. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213681 | Delivering enhanced content to broadcast media receivers with internet connection and enhancing user experience - Adding relevant metadata to downstream media broadcasts to devices such as smart phones, MP3 music players, tablet computers, etc. equipped with media broadcast receivers such as IBOC, DAB etc will enable enhanced user-experience such as easy and faster content access, content format customization, content storage, integration with social networking sites etc. The host devices having the broadcast receivers on board have a full time or part time internet connection to provide an independent upstream and downstream digital data communication path for the functionality of the broadcast receiver. This will enable new possibilities in media-broadcast-receivers, which are normally limited with only downstream data channel. The possibilities include enhanced content access browsing, podcast access, exploring more information about the program content, easy integration with social networking sites etc. The devices are controlled to display or playback advertisements, images etc. in the metadata, detect click events indicating interest by a user in something and communicate that click event upstream over a full time or part time internet or an SMS data path connection. The transmitters have structure to insert metadata in band or out of band with the media broadcast program content. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213682 | CHARACTER TRADING METHOD - There is provided a character training and development system for a virtual environment and related method. A character can be purchased by a user and then registered on a communication network via a unique code. Once registered, a set of attributes can be assigned to the character based on the type and class of the character. Attribute values can be assigned to the attributes by default or by user preferences. The characters can be manipulated within the virtual environment. In particular, the characters can be trained in order to improve their skills, to add new skills, and to increase their overall value and worth in the virtual environment. In addition, the characters can be traded among users for a price based on their skills. Fees can be charged for each trade. Traded characters are given a new code to transfer all control of the character to the new owner. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213683 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING AND MONITORING FUEL TRANSACTIONS - Fueling transactions (and other types of transactions) may be verified for legitimacy and validity by recording audio, video and/or images of the transaction as it occurs. The recordings may then be indexed according to one or more transaction parameters such as a driver identifier, a vehicle or transportation unit identifier, an invoice number, a fueling station and the like. A carrier associated with a driver and/or vehicle or other transportation unit may specify which transactions are to be recorded. Accordingly, the fueling station may automatically determine whether to record a transaction upon receiving a transaction initiation request. Transaction recordings may be made based on transaction recordation parameters defined by a carrier and stored and indexed based on transaction storing parameters. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213684 | FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - The invention provides a financial management system for use in managing a bank account, wherein the bank account is sub-divided into at least two credit containers, each credit container corresponding to a category associated with an activity relating to funds available in said account, wherein each said category is predetermined such that a uniform set of credit containers apply to all customers having a said bank account. According to the invention, a plurality of credit containers, or pots, is associated with a given account; since these pots are predetermined and specified by, e.g. the provider of the bank account, the functionality and services associated with a given account, in terms of transferring funds between credit containers, can be standardised for a given customer base and require less user intervention than do known financial management systems. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213685 | OCR Enabled Management of Accounts Payable and/or Accounts Receivable Auditing Data - A number of different tags are input in a fax cover sheet that tell an OCR system not only the identity of the supplier, but also to which client the document should be routed. The OCR system identifies a number of these tags and compares them to stored supplier data to validate to which supplier the document belongs. If the system cannot validate the document, it is routed to a GUI for manual sorting. If there is no coversheet, the system relies upon the OCR system to locate keywords on the document and caller ID information to suggest a correct supplier. The OCR system also clips a separate, horizontal slice of the document ('snippet) that corresponds to the display of any line item and places it in a data base for future reference and reporting. The application collects and associates all corresponding snippets to their originating line items. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213686 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING A SOFTWARE SUBSCRIPTION IN A CLOUD NETWORK - Embodiments relate to systems and methods for managing a software subscription between an independent software vendor (ISV) and a cloud network provider. In embodiments, the software subscription can be a Software as a Service (SaaS) agreement whereby an amount of resources of the cloud network to be operated by end users can be specified. In embodiments, a resource tracking module associated with the cloud network can track the actual amount of resources operated by the end users in executing applications associated with the ISV. The resource tracking module can compare the actual amount to the amount specified in the SaaS, and adjust the resources of the cloud network accordingly. In embodiments, the SaaS can be updated based on the adjustment. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213687 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OR A USAGE MANAGER FOR CROSS-CLOUD APPLIANCES - Embodiments relate to systems and methods for a usage manager for cross-cloud appliances. A vendor, developer, or other user can generate one or more sets of computing appliances, comprising special-purpose pre-configured physical or virtual machines. The vendor can register an image of the one or more appliances to an image generation service, which can store that image along with the subscription model desired for that set of appliances. The image generation service can generate, test, and install a set of cloud-based images of the underlying appliances to a cloud environment including multiple, diverse clouds. The image generation service can adjust the cloud-based images as well as the subscription model to match the services and other resources of individual clouds, and ensure compatibility across multiple clouds. The image generation service can track usage data for billing or other management purposes. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213688 | PROCESS FOR PROVIDING NETWORK ACCESS FOR A USER VIA A NETWORK PROVIDER TO A SERVICE PROVIDER - For providing a simple network access process which can be used for accessing network with focus on a single service a process for providing network access for a user via a Network Provider (NP) to a Service Provider (SP) is claimed, the process including: establishing a connection between the user and the Network Provider (NP) by user's request to access the Service Provider (SP); authenticating of the user by a user's Identity Provider (IdP) on request of the Network Provider (NP); transmitting data from the Identity Provider (IdP) to the Network Provider (NP), so that the Network Provider (NP) has the information that the Service Provider (SP) or a third party is payee of the access fees; and providing the access for the user via the Network Provider (NP) to the Service Provider (SP) by the Network Provider (NP). | 2011-09-01 |
20110213689 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING OPTIMAL BILL/PAYMENT SCHEDULE - A method and system for generating bill payment schedule utilizes a composite pricing module to generate payment schedule over a predetermined period of time. In one aspect, a fraction of each pricing model attributing to the composite pricing model is determined. A charge fee associated with said each pricing model based on said fraction and said total price to charge is determined. Price to charge during each time unit of the time period is allocated, based on budget over the time period, discount rate, target profit margin and risk affordance. Bill schedule is generated using the allocated price. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213690 | CARBON FOOTPRINT DETERMINATIONS - Described herein are various apparatuses, methods, and computer program products for providing a carbon-footprint modeling environment that determines a consumer's carbon footprint based on the consumer's acquisition of goods and/or services, as indicated by the consumer's transaction data. For example, the carbon-footprint modeling environment collects the consumer's transaction data for a predefined period of time and identifies transaction data that indicates the consumer's acquisition of goods and/or services that, when produced and/or consumed, result in greenhouse gas emissions. According to some embodiments, the carbon-footprint modeling environment categorizes goods and/or services into, for example, the following categories: transportation, housing, food, waste, and miscellaneous. Based on information gleaned from the consumer's transaction data, the modeling environment may determine the quantities of goods and services the consumer consumed in each of the categories and then apply conversion ratios to convert the respective quantities of goods and/or services consumed into units of greenhouse gas emissions. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213691 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CLOUD-BASED BROKERAGE EXCHANGE OF SOFTWARE ENTITLEMENTS - Embodiments relate to systems and methods for cloud-based brokerage exchange of software entitlements. A user can host on-premise software applications on physical hardware, and extend those applications to the cloud based on a set of entitlements developed in conjunction with the vendor(s) of the software. The set of entitlements enjoyed by the user and/or offered by the vendor(s) can be exposed to a bidding marketplace via a brokerage engine and associated bidding service, which can be hosted on a Web site. Other users, and/or other vendors interesting in consuming or supplying premise or loud-based images of the software, or related services, can be to obtain or supply those resources through the brokerage service. The license terms including usage rates, number of users or images, security constraints, and/or other terms of software delivery and usage can be recorded in a dynamically updated entitlement database. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213692 | Computer-Implemented Systems And Methods For Automatic Triangulation Of Forward Conversion Curves - Systems and methods for determining a future conversion curve between a first metric and a second metric are provided. A system and method can include receiving a first metric and a second metric. A plurality of conversion curves are retrieved, where each conversion curve has a corresponding weight. One or more paths between the first metric and the second metric are calculated using two or more conversion curves, where each path begins with the first metric and ends with the second metric, and where each path is associated with a path weight based upon the sum of the weights used to calculate the path. A shortest path between the first metric and the second metric is determined, where the shortest path is the path having the least weight, and a future conversion curve is generated by collapsing the two or more conversion curves of the shortest path. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213693 | SYSTEM FOR APPRAISING A FINANCIAL PRODUCT - A method and system of appraising a financial product includes receiving a request for a financial product and information about a party requesting the financial product; preparing a bid solicitation for the financial product based on the request and information and transmitting the bid solicitation to a plurality of product carriers; a plurality of product carriers submitting initial proposals for providing the financial product; generating ratings for the initial proposals, respectively; and generating appraisals for the initial proposals; and informing the product carriers of the decision. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213694 | METHOD, APPARATUS AND INTERFACE FOR TRANSACTION TOGGLING - A method for submitting transactions from an automated trading tool to an electronic exchange. The method includes defining a proximity limit and automatically generating a transaction for a tradeable object. The method further includes applying the proximity limit to the transaction. When the transaction falls within the defined proximity limit, the transaction is submitted to the exchange. An apparatus and interface for transaction toggling based on proximity limits are also provided. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213695 | System and Method for Computing and Displaying Effective Bid and Ask Information - A data feed from an electronic exchange carries certain pieces of market information. Software at the trading station receives the data feed and computes an effective bid price and/or an effective ask price based on a particular quantity to trade. Then, the effective bid price and/or effective ask price are indicated to the user. An effective bid price is an average price at which a certain quantity could be sold based on current market conditions. An effective ask price is an average price at which a certain quantity could be bought based on current market conditions. Depending on the available quantities in the market, the effective prices may represent spreads different from the actual spread of the inside market. This information may be used to, among other things, make more accurate trades at prices. Additionally, a derivative of price, such as yield, may be used to compute other types of effective bid and/or ask information. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213696 | Financial Analysis Mechanisms - Aspects of the present disclosure provide a system for providing employees of a loan offering entity a tool that is more efficient and accurate than completing required multiple calculations manually by the employee. Still other aspects deliver a summary of the noted information that must be analyzed by the employee when determining qualifying income with accountability in place to ensure such noted information was analyzed, including checklists, confirmation notations, and/or other methods. Integrating a standard tool for tax analysis of evidentiary records of an individual drives a consistent approach to tax analysis to support salability requirements and fair lending. Guidance and support to accurately complete the tax analysis may be provided, and efficiency of the tax analysis process may be improved. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213697 | Financial Analysis Mechanisms - Aspects of the present disclosure provide a system for providing employees of a loan offering entity a tool that is more efficient and accurate than completing required multiple calculations manually by the employee. Still other aspects deliver a summary of the noted information that must be analyzed by the employee when determining qualifying income with accountability in place to ensure such noted information was analyzed, including checklists, confirmation notations, and/or other methods. Integrating a standard tool for tax analysis of evidentiary records of an individual drives a consistent approach to tax analysis to support salability requirements and fair lending. Guidance and support to accurately complete the tax analysis may be provided, and efficiency of the tax analysis process may be improved. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213698 | FINANCIAL SYSTEM HAVING INCREMENTAL DOLLAR RISK - A method of comparing at least two purchase scenarios, the method comprising the steps of: determining a first cash flow analysis for a first mortgage scenario including a takeup of a first percentage of ownership of a mortgaged property; determining a potential first capital gain attributable to the first percentage of ownership; determining a second cash flow analysis for a second mortgage scenario for the same property with the second scenario having a takeup of a second percentage of ownership of the mortgage property; determining a potential second capital gain attributable to the second percentage of ownership; determining a first difference between the first and second cash flows; determining a second difference between the first and second capital gains determining the ratio of the second difference to the first difference. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213699 | Consumer-Managed Escrow Accounts - Disclosed is a method and system for a Consumer-Managed Escrow Account which provides for an account capable of serving as a repository of funds, held in trust, to be used on behalf of the consumer, which shall be disbursed at the consumer's discretion to a plurality of recipients based on the fulfillment of a condition, but from which the consumer has no direct means to access the funds for personal use. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213700 | ELECTRONIC NOTARY SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM - A system includes a computer having a time retrieval unit to connect to an official time provider via a network and to retrieve an official current time, a data acceptance unit to receive information regarding a target object entered via a data input interface, an encoding unit to create and encode a machine readable identifier representing the official current time and the information regarding the target object, a marking unit to mark the target object by marking the machine readable identifier to the target object and a storage unit to store data associated with the machine readable identifier in a storage in a server. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213701 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INSURING AGAINST INVESTMENT LOSS - Participants purchase into a given system for a given period of time. Those with investment gains, by definition, are without loss and need no compensation from the system. Those with investment losses are reimbursed by the system according to previously agreed upon terms. Total loss of a given system's participants is calculated, with that figure compared to the previously agreed upon amount of funds available for loss compensation (total revenue generated by participant premiums minus previously agreed upon detracted percentage for firm or a sum set forward by the company that is independent of a given system's generated revenue). | 2011-09-01 |
20110213702 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING DISPUTE RESOLUTION FOR ELECTRONIC PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS - A computer-based system and method for resolving disputes between a customer and an electronic payment provider concerning an electronic transaction between the customer and a merchant, including receiving data related to the transaction in a computer; transmitting the data from the computer to a dispute resolution server; comparing the transaction data to predetermined eligibility criteria for dispute resolution in the dispute resolution server, and if the dispute resolution criteria is met, declining future transactions from the merchant for the disputing consumer; and, comparing the transaction data to predetermined eligibility criteria for transaction credit, and if the credit criteria is met, and transmitting a credit instruction for the transaction. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213703 | INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMER COMMUNITY HUB - The individual community hub provides individual customers the ability to access information related to events, businesses, offers, and activities that are a part of the individual customer's local community through the individual customer's online banking account. The individual customer can search, identify, receive offers or discounts from, review, etc. the events, businesses, and activities in which the individual customer might be interested. The information provided to the individual customer may be based on the customer's local community (e.g. geographic location), as well as the individual customer's transaction information captured by the bank each time the individual customer makes a purchase or completes a transaction through the bank. The information may also be based on information obtained from the bank's relationship with local businesses and/or other individual customers. In this way an individual customer's online banking account becomes the individual customer's source of local personalized community information. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213704 | BUSINESS CUSTOMER COMMUNITY HUB - The business community hub application provides a business customer the ability to add an event or offer to the community hub that can be accessed by individual customers or business customers. The business community hub application also notifies business customers of offers provided by other businesses or about local community events in which the business customer may be interested. The business customers have the ability to find contacts and network with other local businesses. The business community hub application also uses transaction information available to the bank to display market data and trends that may be of interest to the business customer. In this way, the business community hub works with the online banking application as a tool for local businesses, it allows business customers to interact with individual customers, the community in general, as well as other businesses, in a forum for exchanging products, services, and information. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213705 | Automated banking machine that operates responsive to data bearing records - A banking system controlled responsive to data bearing records includes a card reader that can read identifying data from user cards. The system can authorize operation of an automated banking machine responsive to the read data. The machine can provide an electronic transaction receipt to the machine user. A bank host computer is operable to submit the receipt to a system address of record with the bank. The address can correspond to an e-mail address, phone number, or other address associated with an account involved in the transaction. The receipt can also include an image associated with the transaction. The system can also operate to image a check deposited at the machine, and then electronically send the image to the check maker, the payee, and/or a clearinghouse. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213706 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRANSACTIONS ON THE TELECOM WEB - Embodiments of the invention broadly contemplate systems, methods, apparatuses and program products that leverage the mobile web, especially the spoken (telecom) web, to handle transactions. According to embodiments of the invention, in essence, a mobile device such as a phone is used as a terminal, remote authentication is employed, and a challenge response using a per transaction audio based code is used as a confirmation. Embodiments of the invention also provide further protection against repudiation, and greater trust in the transaction, by employing witnesses. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213707 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING PERSON-TO-PERSON PAYMENTS - Embodiments of the invention may provide systems and methods for facilitating person-to-person payments. A payer request to pay a payee identified by a first contact identifier is received. Upon failing to locate the payee in a data repository of registered payees via the first contact identifier, the first contact identifier is utilized to transmit a registration invitation to the payee. Information associated with the request may be stored pending registration by the payee, and the invitation may include a link to a payment service provider site and an indicator of the stored information. Based upon a payee selection of the link, the indicator and identifying information for the payee other than the first contact identifier is received. The received identifying information is utilized to determine a pre-existing registration of the payee with the payment service provider, and the stored information is utilized to direct a payment to the payee. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213708 | GLOBAL METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING ENHANCED TRANSACTIONAL FUNCTIONALITY THROUGH A CUSTOMER TERMINAL - A global customer activated terminal (CAT) primarily serves traveling customers who require access to their accounts when they are away from their home financial institution and beyond their local regional financial area. The system provides applications that permit users to access their accounts and utilize account profiles and transaction journals within a generic global system approach, and each transaction set provides access to the user's full account profile. The traveling customer is also provided with access to all their accounts linked (as they would locally) to a specific card. The hardware employed in the system supports encryption key downloading, unscrambling and PIN encryption, so that security is instituted at the hardware level. To provide the maximum flexibility at each regional level for product and services offered, regional front end processors and Hosts are the arbitrators of each transaction acceptance and fulfillment, rather than the CAT. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213709 | CUSTOMER AND PURCHASE IDENTIFICATION BASED UPON A SCANNED BIOMETRIC OF A CUSTOMER - Systems and methods for biometrically identifying an individual for purchasing a product and/or service without a need for the individual to input authentication data into a system/device are described. Data representative of a scanned iris of a customer desiring to make a purchase may be made. The customer may be identified based upon the scanned iris. A determination may be made as to whether the identified customer desires to make a purchase with an associated payment amount from an entity. A determination may be made as to whether the identified customer has a default purchase at the entity. Information of an account of the customer to make a purchase may be received and funds in the account may be debited by the associated payment amount. An item corresponding with the purchase based upon the scanned iris may be determined. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213710 | IDENTIFICATION OF CUSTOMERS AND USE OF VIRTUAL ACCOUNTS - Systems and methods for authorizing an individual for purchasing a product and/or service are described. Monetary funds of a customer of a company may be received into a monetary account of the company at the financial entity. The received monetary funds of the customer may be maintained virtually in a non-monetary account with the non-monetary account value being proportional to the received monetary funds. A determination may be made as to whether an identified customer is authorized to make a purchase with an associated payment amount. The customer may be identified by a scanned iris. Upon determining the identified customer is authorized, the non-monetary account value may be decreased proportional to the associated payment amount. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213711 | METHOD, SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING TRANSACTION VERIFICATION - A system and method provides electronic transaction verification using multiple different units. A first unit initiates an electronic transaction in response to user authentication affirmation by, for example, a server (such as a web server). After the user has been authenticated, another unit, such as a mobile device, receives a transaction confirmation request for the electronic transaction that is ongoing via the first unit. In addition, the second unit also receives from, for example, the server, transaction information based on the electronic transaction. The second device through a user interface and without requiring a user to enter transaction information, provides the received transaction information from the server for evaluation by a user of the second unit. The second unit requests from the user, in response to the transaction confirmation request, confirmation of the transaction. The second unit generates a transaction confirmation code based on the received transaction information if the transaction is confirmed by the user of the second unit and sends it to the server for verification by the server. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213712 | Cloud Broker and Procurement System and Method - A cloud broker and procurement system and method is closed. In particular embodiments, the method includes receiving an offer of a computing resource from each of a plurality of providers. The method further includes receiving, from each of the plurality of providers, a service level agreement associated with each respective offered computing resource. Additionally, the method includes normalizing each of the service level agreements associated with the offered computing resources. The method further includes receiving a request from a requesting computer for a computing resource and selecting, based at least in part on the normalized service level agreements, one of the providers to provide the requested computing resource. The method also includes transmitting a service match indicator to the client, wherein the service match indicator indicates a time at which the offered computing resource will be utilized, and utilizing the computing resource on the selected provider. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213713 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR OFFERING ADDITIONAL LICENSE TERMS DURING CONVERSION OF STANDARD SOFTWARE LICENSES FOR USE IN CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS - A “Bring Your Own License” (BYOL) service can convert users' “off-the-shelf” (OTS) software licenses for use in public clouds according to rules provided by independent software vendors (ISVs). The BYOL service can offer additional license terms to the users during conversion of the OTS software license on behalf of the ISVs. The additional license terms can be an expansion of the use of the software, an expansion of the technical support offer by the new cloud license, and expansion of the duration of use. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213714 | SERVICE PROVIDER IDENTIFIERS - Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for determining whether a service provider submitted for a new assignment has been previously identified as eligible or ineligible for new assignments. According to one embodiment, a method of determining eligibility of a candidate service provider for a new assignment can comprise defining a set of identifiers for information related to a plurality of service providers. A set of records of service provider information can be maintained where each record of the set of records includes information corresponding to the set of identifiers. Information for the candidate service provider can be received and validated based on the set of identifiers and the set of records of service provider information to determine whether the candidate service provider is eligible for the new assignment. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213715 | Lean Analytics - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for improving business processes. In one aspect, a method includes defining, for a workstation, a metric that is a function of multiple process variables, providing, to a Lean practitioner candidate, information that suffices to allow the Lean practitioner candidate to determine outcomes of independently applying a same, pre-defined amount of Lean Six Sigma-related change to each of two or more of the process variables, and obtaining information that specifies the outcomes from the Lean practitioner candidate. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213716 | Apparatuses, Methods and Systems for a Customer Service Request Evaluator - The APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR AN ONLINE BEHAVIOR MONITOR (“OBM”) transform user social-gaming behavioral pattern data via various OBM components into online social-gaming experience customizations. In one embodiment, upon receiving a customer service request from a user, the OBM may obtain, for processing the customer service request, user social graph data identifying co-users, social networking action identifiers and associated social networking action timestamps; user online gaming action identifiers and associated gaming action timestamps; and customer service request evaluation rules and associated request evaluation score thresholds. The OBM may generate social-gaming activity timelines for the user and the co-users using the gaming action identifiers, social networking action identifiers and timestamps. The OBM may generate a social-gaming activity thread for the user using the social-gaming activity timelines. The OBM may calculate customer service request evaluation rule scores by applying the customer service request evaluation rules to the social-gaming activity thread, and compare each customer service request evaluation rule score to its associated request evaluation score threshold to generate request evaluation flags. The OBM may determine whether to process the customer service request based on whether any request evaluation flags were generated. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213717 | ENHANCED CUSTOMER SERVICE - A user such as a customer or store employee uses a service finding node to generate a request for information related to a desired service. The request is made on an input device such as a touch sensitive panel. The service finding node sends the request to an information source such as a monitor program executing on a store controller. In response, the requested information is transmitted to the service finding node and is presented to the user via an output device such as a display. In one embodiment the presented information is displayed on a map and includes location, distance, and status information as well as directions to one or more customer service nodes providing the desired service. In a second embodiment, the presented information includes directions to an active, operational, and staffed checkout station. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213718 | FLOOR COVERING ESTIMATOR AND ASSOCIATED METHOD - Various embodiments of the present invention provide tools for assessing damaged floor coverings to determine LKQ replacement values and face weights for carpet. In one embodiment, a method is provided that includes the steps of determining a yarn price constant for a plurality of carpet types, where the yarn price constant represents the price of a single tuft of yarn for a respective carpet type measured at a predetermined pile height and receiving, from a user, data relating to the damaged carpet's construction. The data may further include the damaged carpet's pile height and stitch density. Using a computing device, the yarn type of the damaged carpet is estimated based at least in part on the received data relating to the damaged carpet's construction. A database may then be queried with at least a portion of the data received to retrieve an associated yarn price constant and an LKQ replacement value calculated by multiplying the received damaged carpet's pile height and stitch density with the associated yarn price constant. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213719 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR CONVERTING STANDARD SOFTWARE LICENSES FOR USE IN CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS - A “Bring Your Own License” (BYOL) service can convert users' “off-the-shelf” (OTS) software licenses for use in public clouds according to rules provided by independent software vendors (ISVs). The rules provided by an ISV can convert the terms associated with the ISV's OTS software licenses (e.g. number of instances, number of users, duration, technical support provided) to terms associated with public clouds (e.g. number of concurrent users, number of virtual machines, number of different clouds, technical support). The BYOL license service can convert the OTS software licenses according to the rules provided by the ISVs. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213720 | Content Rights Management - Rights are managed for content at a content server. The content server receives an asset representing intellectual property (IP) and a rights designation for the asset. The rights designation defines rules for usage of the IP represented by the asset. The asset and rights designation are received from an administrator of the asset. The content server receives content from content providers. The content includes one or more pieces of IP. The content server uses the asset to determine whether the received content is claimed by the administrator. If the content is claimed, rules in the rights designation for the asset are applied to the content. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213721 | METHOD, SYSTEM, AND DEVICE FOR LICENSE-CENTRIC CONTENT CONSUMPTION - A method, system, and device for license-centric content use or distribution, including a pre-existing digital rights management (DRM) system having a unique interface to a repository of data thereof to govern use of content; a shared license repository configured to access the data to govern the use of the content and to communicate with the unique interface of the pre-existing DRM system; and a user interface configured to interact with the pre-existing DRM system, and configured to allow the user to send a license associated with the content from the shared license repository to the pre-existing DRM system or to another shared license repository. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213722 | AUTOMATED ACCREDITATION SYSTEM - The present invention provides a sophisticated automated accreditation and certification platform that substantially streamlines the oversight process, reducing the duration of the on-site survey, eliminating paper and allowing for the efficient, electronic transfer of documents. In addition, the online process is interactive, allowing users to get up-front feedback on standards compliance and perform a self-assessment prior to their actual survey. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213723 | AUDIO AGREEMENT - A method for providing a product use agreement. The method includes sending, to a user in response to a request for a product, a message that includes an address for accessing the product use agreement. The method further includes receiving, from the user, a call at the address and audibly playing, to the user, a pre-recorded product use agreement recording. The pre-recorded product use agreement recording includes a legal agreement for using the product between the user and a business entity providing the product. The method further includes receiving, from the user, acceptance of the product use agreement based on the pre-recorded product use agreement recording, and providing access to the product based on acceptance of the product use agreement. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213724 | COMMUNITY HUB REVIEW - The business review application provides a customer with a bank-hosted business review platform that provides an advertising and feedback service for the bank's business customers and provides a rating, review, feedback, and recommendation service for the bank's individual and business customers. Thus, the bank's customers can rate and review the bank's business customers. The bank uses its authentication systems used by its customers to access online banking services to authenticate the identity of the customer creating a business review in the business review platform. In some embodiments, the business review application only permits its customers to make one review of a business within a certain period of time or one review after a transaction with that business shows up in the customer's transaction information maintained by the bank. In this way, the bank can host a review platform that is much more accurate and trust-worthy than traditional business review platforms. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213725 | SECURE ONLINE DATING SUPPORT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A secure online dating support system and method requires potential members to submit personal information regarding themselves as a predicate to becoming a member of the dating system. This personal information is provided in a manner, either in-person at an information receiving center, or submitted to an information collector, or submitted directly to an online dating service, that permits its verification. Preferably, authorization is also provided by the potential member for further investigation, resulting in an investigator conducting an investigation, and communicating the results to the online dating service, so that the information revealed by the investigation can be displayed to members of the online dating service and/or to individuals outside of the dating service who have been given access by the participating member. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213726 | Multi-Modal Automation for Human Interactive Skill Assessment - A method for screening applicants by a screening entity includes the steps of remotely accessing a screening entity's multi-modal pre-screening tool by a candidate using an Internet-accessible device, the pre-screening tool comprising audio and visual elements operable to communicatively interact with the candidate, and carrying out an interactive skills assessment of the candidate by communicating at least one cue to the candidate from the screening entity, requiring the candidate, upon receiving the at least one cue, to simultaneously interact with the pre-screening tool and, based upon this interaction, communicate a verbal response to the cue, recording the candidate's verbal response with the pre-screening tool and storing the verbal response in a database profile associated with the candidate and accessible by the screening entity, and analyzing the candidate's recorded response by the screening entity and carrying out a quality and criteria judgment to determine the hiring potential of the candidate. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213727 | Residential Delivery Indicator - This invention provides methods, apparatus, and systems for classifying addresses. An address is evaluated based upon a postal code or standardized postal code, such as a U.S. Postal Service ZIP+4 code, serving the address. If the address cannot be classified based on the standardized postal code, the address is classified based on additional information, such as a U.S. Postal Service delivery point code. A mailer may then determine whether the address is a business or residential (or non-business) address. Furthermore, a mailer may predict when surcharges may apply and compare the rates of various carriers. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213728 | REQUIREMENTS CHECK-IN/OUT TOOL, CALLED R2DB - A method for managing design requirements for a vehicle development program. A requirements management process and software tool are described which ensure that only properly-defined requirements are stored in a repository. Requirements are validated against a structured set of rules before they are allowed to be checked into the repository, and only validated requirements may be checked out and used for vehicle development activities. The process and tool also check the consistency of technical terms and data items as they are encountered, which prevents the improper use of the terms and data items. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213729 | AUTOMATIC SELECTION OF CHEAPEST SUPPLIERS FOR PRODUCT ASSEMBLY - An apparatus and a method for accepting automatically selecting a combination of suppliers yielding a lowest cost of a product of the suppliers is described. A product analyzer receives from a client a set of parameters of a product. The parameters include a quantity of the product and an identification of the product. The product analyzer gathers cost data of the product from different suppliers of the product based on the set of parameters. An optimal supplier engine of the product analyzer computes a total cost of the product for each combination of the cost data and the set of parameters to determine the combination yielding the lowest total cost. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213730 | GOAL PROGRAMMING APPROACH FOR OPTIMAL BUDGET ALLOCATION FOR NATIONAL ANALYSIS OF WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT - A method for allocating resources in a business model includes determining a plurality of goals for a specified business problem. A plurality of data parameters are extracted from the goals into a computer program and read by a computer. The data parameters represent each of the goals. The data parameters are analyzed to develop a problem set representing the data parameters. Target criteria are input into the computer program, and the target criteria relates to each of the goals and may include prioritizing and/or attributing a weight to each goal. A solution instruction set is developed using the target criteria and the problem set. A solution model is developed from the solution instruction set. The steps of inputting target criteria, developing the solution instruction set, and developing the solution model are repeated to develop additional solution models and an optimal solution model can ultimately be selected. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213731 | TECHNIQUES FOR IDENTIFYING HIGH-RISK PORTFOLIO WITH AUTOMATED COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE STRESS TESTING - Techniques for providing automated commercial real estate stress testing are provided. The automated stress testing techniques use loan information and publicly available commercial real estate data to model the performance of commercial real estate loans. Banks can use the automated techniques to more efficiently and accurately predict the performance of the commercial real estate portfolios. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213732 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING RISK TRANCHES IN AN INVESTMENT PRODUCT - A method and system for investing in an investment fund by at least one investor are provided. The method includes defining at least two tranches of the investment fund, each tranche associated with a tranche risk profile. The method includes, for each investor, receiving an investment amount in each tranche. The method includes calculating a profit/loss for each investor based on the investment amounts, the tranche risk profiles and a performance of the investment fund. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213733 | System and method for grading and rating green and sustainable jobs - A system and method for lowering carbon emissions in the workplace by assigning green job scores for job seekers and entities based on job classifications, job requirements, job responsibilities, job time evaluation, efficiency units, renewable units etc., in the performance of their tasks to sustain and renew energy in the work place. Employers seeking to fill job vacancies are assigned a green job score by the system for each job based on job category and seek and hire applicants with resume attributes that match the green score requirements. The system and method uses renewable units, keyword method, and a green job grading module, to scan, search, and evaluate a job applicant's resume to generate a green job score based on the applicants job history. In this embodiment, the job seeker can use the job seeker's dashboard to view green ratings for jobs listed by employers and aggregated percentages by job classification, companies, departments, city, state, country, and zip code. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213734 | World retaliation protection project or service or system (WRPP or RWPP or RPS or retaliation protection) - A process or method for providing complete and/or lifetime economic, emotional, and physical protection or support to people who suffer or become victims of retaliation (persecution) because they have reported corruption, abuse, incompetence, fraud, mismanagement or any other unlawful or pervasive activities in governments and businesses across the globe (world). This process or method will use all aspects of laws & regulations, telecommunications & technologies, the internet & computer programs, finance & accounting, satellites & databases, and human assets & social engineering. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213735 | Selecting An Installation Rack For A Device In A Data Center - Selecting an installation rack for a device in a data center including obtaining physical size and power of the device; judging, according to the physical size and power of the device, whether rack space, rack total power, and rack unit power density of a rack in the data center satisfy predetermined requirement after the device is added into the rack; and selecting a rack that satisfies the predetermined requirement as an installation rack. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213736 | METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR AUTOMATIC CHARSET DETECTION - The invention relates, in an embodiment, to a method for handling a received document. The method includes receiving a plurality of text document samples. The method includes training, using a plurality of text document samples, to obtain a set of machine learning models. Training includes generating fundamental units from the plurality of text document samples for charsets of the plurality of text document samples. Training includes extracting a subset of said fundamental units as feature lists and converting the feature lists into a set of feature vectors. Training further includes generating the set of machine learning models from the set of feature vectors. The method includes applying the set of machine learning models against a set of target document feature vectors converted from the received document. The method includes decoding the received document to obtain decoded content of the received document based on at least the first encoding scheme. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213737 | TRAINING AND VERIFICATION USING A CORRELATED BOOSTED ENTITY MODEL - A system, method and program product training and verifying using an identity or entity model. A training system is disclosed that includes: a feature correlation system that groups features from an inputted feature data sample into subsets; a plurality of classifiers that determine if each feature classifies into an associated one of a plurality of feature models that make up the entity model; and a boosting system that boosts features from a subset for a next round of training if any of the features classify and at least one correlated feature from the subset does not classify. A verification system is disclosed that includes an identity model for the entity comprising a plurality of feature models, wherein each feature model is utilized to model a unique feature; a system for receiving a feature data sample and partitioning the feature data sample into a plurality of features; a system for determining if each of the plurality of features classifies into an associated feature model; and a voting system for analyzing a result of each attempted classification and determining an overall verification result. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213738 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MODEL END-TO-END CLASS OF SERVICE POLICIES IN NETWORKS - Methods and apparatus to model end-to-end class of service policies in operational networks are disclosed. An example method to generate a class of service model is described, including electronically generating a ruleset based on the class of service configuration associated with a router, electronically generating a flat representation of the ruleset, electronically generating a class of service model by composing the flat representation into a composed ruleset, and storing the class of service model in a computer-readable memory. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213739 | NON-INTRUSIVE LOAD MONITORING SYSTEM AND METHOD - In accordance with one embodiment, a system for non-intrusive load monitoring includes an output device, a data storage device including program instructions stored therein, a sensing device operably connected to a common source for a plurality of electrical devices, and an estimator operably connected to the output device, the data storage device, and the sensing device, the estimator configured to execute the program instructions to obtain data associated with a sensed state of the common source from the sensing device, obtain at least one model of each of the plurality of electrical devices, solve a Mixed Integer Programming problem for the at least one models over a fixed time horizon using the obtained data to determine a combination of operational stages of the plurality of electrical devices, and store operational data based on the solved Mixed Integer Programming problem. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213740 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RESOURCE ADAPTIVE CLASSIFICATION OF DATA STREAMS - A system and method for resource adaptive classification of data streams. Embodiments of systems and methods provide classifying data received in a computer, including discretizing the received data, constructing an intermediate data structure from said received data as training instances, performing subspace sampling on said received data as test instances and adaptively classifying said received data based on statistics of said subspace sampling. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213741 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GENERATING LEADS IN A NETWORK BY PREDICTING PROPERTIES OF EXTERNAL NODES - The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for predicting one or more desired properties of external nodes or properties of their relations with internal nodes, based on a selected group of nodes about which it is known whether the nodes have the desired properties, or it is known whether they have a desired relation property with an internal node. The method comprises storing in one or more data structures a first data set regarding external nodes and a second data set regarding nodes with known properties in a selected group, each data set having one or more data items representing one or more events relating to or attributes of each node in the data set, the second data set including one or more types of data items not included in the first data set. The method then models the second data set to identify from the second data one or more modeled events or attributes of internal nodes in the selected group that are statistically likely to identify the nodes or their relations, that have the desired properties and predicts which of the external nodes are statistically likely to have the one or more desired properties, or desired relation property with internal node, based on the identified plurality of modeled events or attributes and the events or attributes in the first data set. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213742 | INFORMATION EXTRACTION SYSTEM - An information extraction system and methods of operating the system are provided. In particular, an information extraction system for performing meta-extraction of named entities of people, organizations, and locations as well as relationships and events from text documents are described herein. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213743 | APPARATUS FOR REALIZING THREE-DIMENSIONAL NEURAL NETWORK - An apparatus for realizing a three-dimensional (3D) neural network includes a culture substrate ( | 2011-09-01 |
20110213744 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ASSET CONDITION MONITORING IN ELECTRIC POWER SUBSTATION EQUIPMENT - Certain embodiments of the invention may include systems and methods for asset condition monitoring in electrical power substation equipment. According to an example embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for detecting behavior in electrical substation equipment. The method may include receiving realtime data associated with a plurality of parameters associated with the substation equipment, storing at least a portion of the realtime data over a period of time, wherein the stored data comprises historical data, comparing the realtime and historical data, and generating a report based at least in part on a comparison of the realtime data and historical data. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213745 | Ark of Knowledge - This invention uses existing technology in a novel way to create a repository in Antartica to hold samples of life on planet Earth. The purpose of the repository, which can be known as the Ark of Knowledge, is to provide an experimental database consisting of the remains of the human species, and others as deemed appropriate, with appropriate documentation, which future generations even ten thousand years from now can use to evaluate somatic and genetic changes in our species, and others, due to environmental or other causes. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213746 | PROBABILISTIC SCORING FOR COMPONENTS OF A MIXTURE - A method for analyzing a mixture includes identifying a plurality of possible components of the mixture, calculating at least one feature for at least a portion of the plurality of possible components, and calculating a probability value for at least a portion of the plurality of possible components based on the at least one feature and at least one transfer function | 2011-09-01 |
20110213747 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AGGREGATING INFORMATION - A method for allocating resources includes receiving one or more parameters associated with an object of interest. At least one of the parameters corresponds to a probability that the object of interest is participating in a predetermined situation of interest. The method also includes calculating a plurality of values, based at least in part on the parameters, and selecting, based at least in part on the calculated values, one or more operations to be performed involving the object of interest. In addition the method includes generating an instruction based at least in part on the operation to be performed transmitting the instruction to an operational resource. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213748 | INFERENCE APPARATUS AND INFERENCE METHOD FOR THE SAME - An inference apparatus that infers a class of a case is provided. The apparatus includes an inference unit configured to infer a class of a case with use of an inference device and an evaluation unit configured to, based on a result of inference performed by the inference device with respect to a known case that is similar to an unknown case, evaluate a result of inference with respect to the unknown case. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213749 | METHOD, DEVICE AND SYSTEM FOR THE FUSION OF INFORMATION ORIGINATING FROM SEVERAL SENSORS - The invention relates to a method, device and system for fusion of information originating from several sensors. The invention includes a mechanism for fusion of belief functions. To apply this mechanism, various information, knowledge and operations are modelled within the framework of the theory of belief functions: information provided by the sensors, knowledge regarding the propensity of the sensors to be in a given operating state, and merge operators for each operating state considered. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213750 | IDEA PAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD - Idea Page systems, methods, user interfaces and related components are provided herein. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213751 | OPTIMIZING DATA CACHE WHEN APPLYING USER-BASED SECURITY - A secure caching system and caching method include receiving a user request for data, the request containing a security context, and searching a cache for the requested data based on the user request and the received security context. If the requested data is found in cache, returning the cached data in response to the user request. If the requested data is not found in cache, obtaining the requested data from a data source, storing the obtained data in the cache and associating the obtained data with the security context, and returning the requested data in response to the user request. The search for the requested data can include searching for a security list that has the security context as a key, the security list including an address in the cache of the requested data. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213752 | NON-BLOCKING INPUT OUTPUT BASED STORAGE - An apparatus and a method operating on data at a server node of a data grid system with distributed cache is described. Data is copied to a network cloud of storage services remotely coupled to a server node with an asynchronous input output interface. The asynchronous input output interface is configured to asynchronously communicate with the network cloud of storage services. Confirmation that the data has been copied on the network cloud of storage services is received at the server node. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213753 | Systems and Methods for Managing Application Availability - A computer-implemented method for managing application availability. The method may include identifying an application running on a first cluster node of a failover cluster and copying configuration data of the application to a storage location accessible by a second cluster node of the failover cluster. The method may also include detecting failure of the first cluster node, restoring the configuration data to the second cluster node, and executing the application on the second cluster node in accordance with the configuration data. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed herein. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213754 | Opportunistic Asynchronous De-Duplication in Block Level Backups - A block based backup system may store backed up data from multiple clients by maintaining backup databases for each client, where each backup database may include blocks of data. The backup system may perform a de-duplication process by examining the databases to identify common blocks and moving the common blocks to a common database. The common blocks may be removed from the client backup databases and a pointer substituted for the data, thus compacting the client backup databases. The de-duplication operation may be performed at an opportunistic time, such as after the clients have completed any data transfer to the backup system. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213755 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF HIERARCHICAL STORAGE MANAGEMENT, SUCH AS GLOBAL MANAGEMENT OF STORAGE OPERATIONS - A system and method for setting global actions in a data storage system is described. In some examples, the system determines a policy based on information from the system, and implements that policy to the system. In some examples, the system adds or modifies global filters based on information from the system. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213756 | CONCURRENCY CONTROL FOR EXTRACTION, TRANSFORM, LOAD PROCESSES - System and methods manage concurrent ETL processes accessing a database. Exemplary embodiments include a method for concurrency management for ETL processes in a database having database tables and communicatively coupled to a computer, the method including establishing a session lock for the database, determining that a current ETL process is accessing the database at a current time, associating a current expiration time with the session lock, the expiration time being stored in a lock table in the database, sending the session lock to the current ETL process and performing ETL-level locking for the current ETL process. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213757 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC STANDARDIZATION AND VERIFICATION OF SYSTEM DESIGN REQUIREMENTS - A novel automatic standardization and verification process for system design requirements in a product development project is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for automatic standardization and verification of system design requirements in a product development project using a standardization and verification tool embedded in a computer aided design (CAD) application includes obtaining a desired standardized requirement from a requirements database, retrieving compliance criteria from the standardized requirement, obtaining one or more components associated with the standardized requirement from one or more data sources, and obtaining relevant extracted and derived attributes from the one or more components, associated with the standardized requirement. The method further includes comparing the relevant extracted and derived attributes with the compliance criteria, determining whether the relevant extracted and derived attributes substantially meet the compliance criteria based on the outcome of the comparison, and generating a verification report based on the determination. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213758 | METHOD, APPARATUS, AND SYSTEM FOR SUBSCRIPTION AND NOTIFICATION - A method, an apparatus, and a system for subscription and notification are disclosed. The method includes the following steps: a Home Subscriber Server Front-End (HSS FE) receives a first subscription request which is sent by an Application Server (AS) and carries data content that the AS requests to subscribe to; the HSS FE sends a second subscription request to a convergent database, where the first subscription request and the second subscription request have a subscription relation; the HSS FE receives a notification sent by the convergent database according to the second subscription request; and the HSS FE sends data content carried in the notification to the AS according to the subscription relation. The present invention enables the AS to obtain the subscribed data from the HSS FE. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213759 | DATABASE SCHEMA UPGRADE VALIDATION USING DENORMALIZATION - Some embodiments of a system and a method to validate database schema upgrade using denormalization have been presented. For instance, a database deployment engine may upgrade a database from a first version to a second version. The database upgraded stores a set of entities. By applying denormalization to both the upgraded database and a reference database (which contains a newly installed second version of the database), a database validation engine may reduce false positives during validation of the database schema upgrade scripts usable by customers to upgrade their database schema to the latest version. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213760 | Methods, Systems, And Computer Program Products For Determining Availability Of Presentable Content Via A Subscription Service - Methods, systems, and computer program products for determining availability of presentable content via a subscription service are disclosed. According to one aspect, a method includes receiving an indication of first presentable content associated with a first subscription service. Metadata associated with the selected first presentable content is received. Based on the received metadata, it is determined whether second presentable content corresponding to the first presentable content is available from a second subscription service. Further, and indication is provided that the second presentable content is available. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213761 | SEARCHABLE WEB SITE DISCOVERY AND RECOMMENDATION - A searchable web site discovery and recommendation system and method for discovering and recommending searchable web sites to a user of a search engine. In general, given a search query by a user embodiments of the system and method discover and then recommend a list of searchable web sites. Embodiments of the system and method discover and recommend searchable web sites using client-side query behavior logs. A set of descriptive features is automatically extracted from the logs. In addition, embodiments of the system and method expand the initial search query by submitting the query to a general search engine and leveraging snippets from the search engine results. Embodiments of the system and method model a conditional probability of a searchable web site based on four components and the extracted descriptive features. A ranked list of recommended searchable web sites is obtained from the conditional probability and displayed to a user. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213762 | SYSTEM FOR TARGETING THIRD PARTY CONTENT TO USERS BASED ON SOCIAL NETWORKS - A method and system of providing Internet content to a user utilizing social networks is disclosed. The method comprises providing Internet usage data for a plurality of users, determining which users belong to the same social network, and providing at least one of the users access to Internet usage data for those other users who are in the same social network. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213763 | WEB CONTENT MINING OF PAIR-BASED DATA - Described herein is technology for, among other things, mining pair-based data on the web. The technology involves an online pair-based data mining system as well as an offline SVM training system. By subjecting a pair-based input data to the systems, one may grow a pool of pair-based data which share characteristics of the pair-based input data in more efficient manner. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213764 | Dynamic Search Health Monitoring - A method for monitoring search performance on a server computer includes determining the processing time for a plurality of operations related to a search on the server computer. The determined processing time for each of the plurality of operations is stored in a database. Aggregate processing times are determined for the plurality of operations and the aggregate processing times are stored in the database. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213765 | Comprehensive, Relevant, and Dynamic Data Searching in a Virtualization Environment - A method includes indexing data and/or metadata in online virtual machines (VMs), offline VMs, virtual applications, and/or snapshots thereof on one or more host server(s) in a virtualization environment through a search architecture in the virtualization environment. The online VMs are VMs that are powered on, and the offline VMs are VMs that are powered off. The method also includes maintaining a database of the indexed data and/or metadata in the online VMs, the offline VMs, the virtual applications, and/or the snapshots thereof to enable a comprehensive search result to a search query through the search architecture. The database is associated with the search architecture. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213766 | DATABASE DESIGNER - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for a database designer and a database storage designer. In one aspect, a method includes creating a set of candidate projections and progressively narrowing the set of candidate projections and a set of queries by eliminating candidate projections that do not satisfy a performance improvement criterion for remaining queries based on the properties associated with the candidate projections. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213767 | System and Method for Automatic Matching of Contracts Using a Fixed-Length Predicate Representation - A method for automatic matching of contracts to inventory using a fixed-length complex predicate representation. An item of inventory is described as a Boolean expression, which is converted into a multi-level, alternating AND/OR impression tree representation with leaf nodes representing conjuncts. Processing the conjuncts of the tree through a contract index results in retrieving a set of candidate contracts that match the at least some but not necessarily all impression tree leaf node predicates. Next, an AND/OR contract tree representation is constructed with each contract tree leaf node having a label representing a projection onto a discrete set of ordered symbols. Contracts with projections that cover the entire range of discrete set of ordered symbols are deemed to satisfy the item of inventory. Implementation of the contract index includes retrieval techniques to support multi-valued predicates as well as confidence threshold functions using a multi-level tree representation of multi-valued predicates. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213768 | REPORTING ON FACTS RELATIVE TO A SPECIFIED DIMENSIONAL COORDINATE CONSTRAINT - A received report query specifies a dimension coordinate constraint and an associated grain for the dimension coordinate constraint. At least one query is generated to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection. A result of providing the at least one query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection is processed. The processed result includes an indication of every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint and having a particular value at the associated grain, and the processed result further includes facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection that are specified by at least one other dimension coordinate indicated by the processed result having the particular value at the associated grain and not satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint. | 2011-09-01 |
20110213769 | Methods and Systems for Utilizing Contextual Feedback to Generate and Modify Playlists - Systems and methods of generating and modifying a playlist using contextual information are disclosed. For example, a user may provide an input seed such as a song name or artist name. The input seed is compared to database items and a playlist is generated as a result. In some examples, the contextual information is used to enhance the comparison and to select better content objects for a user's playlist. Meanwhile, in some examples the content objects in the playlist may be arranged in an enhanced order using ranking and/or contextual information. | 2011-09-01 |