| 44th week of 2009 patent applcation highlights (10-29-09/10-29-09_55) part 55 |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
|---|
| 20090271226 | CACHE POLLER FOR PROVIDING TRAVEL PLANNING INFORMATION - Systems and techniques for travel planning are described. A travel planning system is queried with travel queries specifying parameters of trips. Answers to the queries are received from the travel planning system, and seat availability of flights in the itinerary information in the answers is predicted. Only those answers for which seats are predicted to be available are stored in a cached database for later use in answering user-specified queries. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271227 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MONETIZING EMPTY SPACE INVENTORY AS EMPTY ADJACENT SPACE - Methods and systems for facilitating the sale, lease, rental, or other monetization of unsold space inventory (e.g., seats, berths, cabins, rooms, etc.) to customers or passengers as guaranteed, empty adjacent space, after the passenger has already purchased a reservation and check-in has commenced. The empty adjacent space (EAS) may be sold as an upgrade when a guest checks-in at an event (e.g., an airline flight, theater performance, train trip, bus trip, hotel stay, day at the beach, parking space lease, etc.) or some time thereafter. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271228 | CONSTRUCTION OF PREDICTIVE USER PROFILES FOR ADVERTISING - A system that facilitates targeted advertising is described in detail herein. The system includes a receiver component that receives user data that includes historical searching and browsing activity of a user. A profile generator component generates a user profile based at least in part upon a subset of the user data, wherein the user profile includes a plurality of keywords, wherein at least one keyword in the plurality of keywords is assigned a score that is indicative of a probability that an advertisement corresponding to the keyword will be monetized. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271229 | METHOD FOR GENERATING A FLEXIBLE MODEL FOR JOINT PROFIT AND ENVIRONMENTAL OPTIMIZATION - A method for generating a flexible model for joint profit and environmental optimization. The flexible model comprises an input-to-output activity conversion table being applied on projects, processes, markets, and products of the organization. The conversion table includes a five-step pattern that captures a wide range of conversion behaviors. The flexible model can be effectively utilized to model and optimize environmental initiatives determined by the organization in the context of the organization's profits. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271230 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SOLVING STOCHASTIC LINEAR PROGRAMS WITH CONDITIONAL VALUE AT RISK CONSTRAINTS - An apparatus including a calculator to determine an optimal solution to a stochastic linear programming problem or a stochastic mixed-ineteger linear programming problem with conditional value at risk constraints (CVaRs). The optimal solution is determined by generating a sequence of solutions that converge to the optimal solution. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271231 | SOLUTION UTILIZING COMMODITY-ORIENTED CORRECTION GUIDELINES TO CORRECT DEFECTIVE ELECTRONIC BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS - The present invention can include a solution for correcting defective electronic business transactions using a commodity-oriented approach. In this method, a defective electronic business transaction can be received from an automated processing system. A correction value can be calculated for the defective transaction. The calculated correction value can be compared against a preset threshold value. When indicated by the result of the comparing step, the defective electronic business transaction can be corrected. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271232 | EVENT RESOLUTION - Apparatus, systems, and methods that operate to assist in resolving both expected and unexpected events that occur in the course of business operations are disclosed. Activities may include detecting the occurrence of an alert event, determining whether the alert event is an expected event or an unexpected event, presenting a resolution sequence for the expected event, and soliciting a new event resolution path for the unexpected event. Further activities may include determining an alert event is an unexpected event, displaying an alert message associated with the unexpected event, and soliciting recommendations to form a new event resolution path to be presented upon determining a new event has occurred that is similar to the alert event. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271233 | VALUING FUTURE INFORMATION UNDER UNCERTAINTY - The invention relates to a method of performing an oilfield operation of an oilfield having at least one well having a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation for extracting fluid from an underground reservoir therein. The method steps include analyzing the oilfield operation to generate a decision tree comprising a first decision and a second decision, wherein a first outcome of the first decision dictates acquiring information relevant to the second decision, formulating a figure of merit of the oilfield operation according to the decision tree based on the information and uncertainties associated with the oilfield, determining a value of the figure of merit by modeling the oilfield operation using statistical sampling, and performing the oilfield operation upon making the first decision based on the value of the figure of merit. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271234 | EXTRACTION AND MODELING OF IMPLEMENTED BUSINESS PROCESSES - A system and method in which an implemented business process to model is identified, and one or more markup language files are automatically generated specifying metadata and a structure of the business process. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271235 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR GENERATING SURVIVAL CURVE USED TO CALCULATE FAILURE PROBABILITY - A part fault table indicating the number of days used, a fault flag and a first weight is generated for each of plural parts. A survival curve and a hazard function for each of the plural parts are also generated. Then, convergence is determined by calculating a hazard value using the hazard function for each part in the same group, calculating a second weight by normalization using the hazard value of each part and comparing the first and second weight with each other. Finally, a control operation is performed in such a manner that the convergence determination is terminated by outputting the survival curve or updates the first weight with the second weight, while a new survival curve and a new hazard function are generated from the part fault table using the updated first weight, after which the convergence determination is determined again. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271236 | Dynamically Routing Salvage Shipments and Associated Method - A system and method is disclosed for managing salvage shipments in a transportation network. The system includes a transportation planner coupled with one or more entities in the transportation network. The transportation planner determines an optimized transportation plan for delivery and pick-up of shipments throughout the transportation network. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271237 | Optimizing Rail Shipments for Commodity Transactions - Embodiments for optimization of at least one previously established rail shipment of a commodity are described herein. More specifically, one embodiment of a method includes receiving data related to a first previously established rail shipment the first previously established rail shipment established via a first supplier and exchanging at least a portion of the first previously established rail shipment with a second previously established rail shipment. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271238 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MANAGING A WORKFLOW WITHIN AND BETWEEN A CRIMINAL CASE MANAGEMENT SIDE AND A CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE MANAGEMENT SIDE IN THE JUSTICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY DOMAIN - A method for managing a workflow within and between a criminal case management side and a criminal intelligence management side in a justice and public safety domain that includes tracking workbook sharing across organizations. Each workbook contains a unique reference number. The history files in each workbook displays where it was disseminated from, and when; or who it was imported from, and when. The legal and security level remains attached to the electronic workbook. Its history follows it through its life span. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271239 | TEST REQUIREMENT LIST FOR DIAGNOSTIC TESTS - A diagnostic system for a vehicle, including a memory receiving and storing vehicle specific information, and storing diagnostic test requirements of a plurality of diagnostic sequences, and a processor identifying the test requirements for a selected diagnostic sequence according to the vehicle specific information in advance of executing the diagnostic sequence. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271240 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR STRATEGIC HEADCOUNT PLANNING WITH OPERATIONAL TRANSITION MANAGEMENT OF WORKFORCE - A method and system are disclosed for planning a workforce headcount for a given business process. The method comprises the steps of providing as inputs, i) productivity ramp-ups to model the level of experience and to measure the performance of both new hires and current employees, and ii) industry/market attrition rates for employees; and performing an evaluation, using said inputs, of at least one given management objective. On the basis of this evaluation, a future hiring and transition plan is provided for the given business process for a defined period of time. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, uncertainty is associated with one or more of the inputs, and the future hiring and transition plan is provided by using stochastic programming to model the uncertainty associated with at least one of said one or more of the inputs. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271241 | Computer-Implemented Systems And Methods For Pack Optimization - Computer-implemented systems and methods are provided for optimizing the distribution of packs of an item across an entity's distribution network. Constraint values may be specified to limit the values that may be included in a planned distribution of packs. Also, heuristics may be used to reduce the computation time required to determine optimal values for a planned distribution of packs. Modeling of the planned distribution of packs and optimization of the number of packs to be distributed can be accomplished using a mixed-integer linear programming solver. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271242 | Calendar-driven Business Intelligence - Techniques for aiding individuals in managing work activities. In one set of embodiments, information about work activities for an individual is received from a plurality of different business applications. The work activities relate to business transactions facilitated by the plurality of different business applications. Calendar entries are then generated for each work activity based on the received information, and presented in a calendar of the individual. In various embodiments, the calendar entries are generated automatically (i.e., without human intervention). By focusing on the time sequence in which work activities should be addressed, embodiments of the present invention enable individuals to quickly and efficiently prioritize and carry out their pending work activities, thereby improving the operational efficiency of an enterprise. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271243 | System and method of providing product quality and safety - In a particular embodiment, a portable, hand-held device to manage product quality and safety includes a processor and a memory accessible to the processor. The memory includes instructions executable by the processor to collect data related to a particular location and to generate a graphical user interface (GUI) including a plurality of user-selectable elements accessible by a user. The plurality of user-selectable elements includes a first user-selectable element to initiate playback of a training video, a second user-selectable element to receive user input associated with the particular location, and a third user-selectable element to display data indicating actions to be taken by the user in response to the collected data. The device further includes a display interface responsive to the processor and adapted to display the GUI. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271244 | SITUATION-AWARE AD-HOC SOCIAL INTERACTION - In one embodiment, a method for social networking is provided. A social profile is automatically built for a first user by monitoring the usage of an electronic device operated by the first user. A social network appropriate for the first user is determined by examining the first user's social profile. The appropriate social network is provided to the first user to join if the appropriate social network is available for the first user to join. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271245 | ASSORTMENT PLANNING BASED ON DEMAND TRANSFER BETWEEN PRODUCTS - A computer-implemented method described for facilitating selection of an assortment of products to offer for sale. The method includes receiving transaction data representing characteristics of a plurality of commercial transactions including a first product and a second product. Product attribute data representing attributes for at least the two products are also received. Substitution demand data for the second product is estimated which represents demand for the second product given the first product is not available, the estimation being based on the transaction data and product attribute data. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271246 | MERCHANT RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM AND METHOD - Automated generation of a merchant recommendation list is disclosed. When a financial processor obtains rich and relevant information related to consumers and merchants, collaborative filtering, profiling, clustering and predictive modeling techniques are combined to provide merchant recommendations to a consumer. The system analyzes consumer attributes which relate to target consumer attributes to create a target consumer cluster, creates associations based upon merchant attributes and the target consumer attributes and provides the feedback based on the associations. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271247 | SYSTEM FOR CREATING A SOCIAL-NETWORKING ONLINE COMMUNITY - A system and method are provided for creating a social-networking community and enabling the social-networking community to interoperate with other social-networking communities within a network of social-networking communities. The method includes creating a core profile that links a user member's identify to plurality of social-networking communities of the network. The system enables user identity information, content, and friend information to be shared across social-networking communities of the network. The system also enables community content to be shared and tracked across social-networking communities of the network. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271248 | PRECALCULATION OF TRENDING ATTRIBUTES - A credit attribute delivery system receives consumer financial data and generates trending attributes. The trending attributes are stored in a precalculated trending attribute database. The credit attribute delivery system may respond to a request for consumer trending attributes in a real time manner by accessing and providing the trending attributes stored in the precalculated trending attribute database. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271249 | Computer-Based Rating System and Method Having Mid-Quartile Filter - A method for a rating system identifies user-selected performance indicators associated with one or more properties. A rating is computed for each of the user-selected performance indicators and for each entity in an entity class by applying at least the user-selected performance indicators to a rating algorithm. The entity class is divided into at least three approximately equal numbers of entity. For each of the performance indicator rating, the method sorts the performance indicator relative to a respective performance indicator of the other entity in the entity class, maps the sorted results to one of the at least three divisions of the entity class, and identifies and presents a portion of the user-selected performance indicators that represent indicators that outperform or underperform the entity class. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271250 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING AN IN-SITE SALES WIDGET - Commerce widgets placed on webpages allow a full purchase transaction (browsing, selecting, and buying the product) to take place on the content owner's site (the host site). Webmasters may set the sale price and collect statistics on buyer behavior and habits. By keeping the entire transaction on the webpage, a visitor/customer is not redirected to another website. In addition, purchases may be made from within a displayed video stream. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271251 | POINT OF VIEW SHOPPER CAMERA SYSTEM WITH ORIENTATION SENSOR - A point of view shopper camera system is provided to generate and analyze shoppers' view data. The point of view shopper camera system may comprise a head device including an eye camera and a head orientation sensor, a position tracking sensor to identify a shopper's position, and an analysis computing device. The eye camera may be configured to be mounted to the head of the shopper, and to capture a still or moving image of the field of view of the shopper. The analysis computing device may be configured to receive the captured image data from the eye camera, head orientation data from the head orientation sensor, and the shopper's position data from the position tracking sensor, and determine an estimated field of view of the shopper during a trip in a shopping environment. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271252 | Method for developing and implementing an employee incentive plan - The employee incentive plan provides a method and system for tracking, calculating and implementing a self-adjusting employee incentive plan. The present invention provides a method and system for establishing an incentive plan, aligning the incentive plan to the employer's management and human resources goals, determining key attributes and related ranges, defining success factors, assessing incentive program reward constraints, and recommending a suitable employee incentive plan based upon all of the generated factors and inputs. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271253 | Electronic issuing of gift cards - A method of issuing and managing an electronic gift card is presented. A gift card purchase order for a primary electronic gift card is received by a gift card issuing server. The gift card issuing server transmits a unique gift card identifier to the purchaser of the primary electronic gift card. The purchaser then has the option of partitioning the gift card into multiple split gift cards, which are sent, via e-mail or text messages, to split gift card assignees. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271254 | ADVERTISEMENTS DRIVEN BY USER - Systems, methods and computer-storage media are provided for distributing advertising content with improved accessibility for users and with a reduced-cost architecture for the web site provider. An advertising service directory (ASD) intercepts advertising requests containing registered words and phrases so that their location can be determined in a data structure. Through user profile, web site preference or additional information in the reference data structure, the delivery format of the content can also be detected. The request is then forwarded to the provider, removing the need for the first web site provider to actually serve the advertising content. Users can use a phrase or format in order to “push” for advertising content. Thus, brand names and products can be accessible without the need to bid for ad placement. The effectiveness of advertising across many platforms can be increased by offering users an easier-to-remember retrieval method. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271255 | COMMERCE AND ADVERTISEMENT BASED ON EXPLICIT CONSUMER'S VALUE COST PROPOSITION - System(s) and method(s) are provided to drive commercial transactions and advertisement based on explicit consumer's value-cost propositions. Value-cost propositions express consumer's desires with respect to parameters related to a commercial transaction product price point, sensitivity to price and time, preferred shipping mechanism(s), contractor reputation, supply chain utilized by contractor, and so on. A component registers consumers to submit their value-cost propositions, and aggregates the information so conveyed to generate a market latent demand. The latter is conveyed to a set of advertisers, who respond to the latent demand by (i) adjusting their cost-profit propositions or (ii) countering the consumer's value-cost propositions. Commerce driven through explicit value-cost propositions can be effected within an intent-compensation user price incentive scheme, wherein compensation is issued through advertisement in response to consumer's conveyed intent, which includes value-cost propositions, in engaging in a commercial transaction with a service platform. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271256 | Advertisement campaign system using socially collaborative filtering - In one embodiment, a method comprises identifying, in a network, user selection preferences of an identified user having accessed the network, the identifying based on an accumulation of user selection inputs executed by the identified user, the user selection inputs accumulated relative to input options presented to the user and identifying respective available network items; classifying, by an apparatus in the network, the identified user into one of multiple user affinity categories relative to an advertisement campaign for a targeted product, the classifying based on determining whether one of the user selection inputs represents a view gesture of the user having viewed the targeted product; and selecting an advertisement asset for delivery to the identified user based on the classifying of the identified user into the one user affinity category. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271257 | MODEL FOR EARLY ADOPTION AND RETENTION OF SOURCES OF FUNDING TO FINANCE AWARD PROGRAM - System(s) and method(s) are provided to drive early adoption and retention of disparate sources of funding and financing an award program, with application to a consumer compensation scheme subsidized through advertisement revenue. A component that manages advertisement revenue, or received funds, allocates a portion of revenue to subsidize a rebate program, or award program, for enrolled advertisers, or sources of funding, from a universe of advertisers. Rebate or award funds are provided to enrolled advertisers on an exclusivity based for a specific period of time, after which funds are transferred to a commonly accessible account. The subsidized nature of the awarded compensation funds and their time sensitivity drive advertiser enrollment and retention and ensures consumers are aggressively compensated. In an aspect, the subsidized rebate program can be exploited to directly compensate a consumer online or offline in exchange for the consumer's intent in engaging with a service platform. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271258 | METHOD FOR USING CARBON CREDITS WITH MICRO REFINERIES - A carbon credit coupon system is used to provide incentives to micro refinery operators to produce ethanol and reduce the CO | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271259 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DIRECTED PERSONALIZED MARKETING - An improved method and system for conducting a directed marketing/advertising campaign is provided that combines personalized mailings and individualized URL addresses in an integrated manner in order to increase customer response rates and improve the ability of the advertiser to obtain relevant feedback and product information from the potential customer. The method and system generally includes the steps of preparing a personalized targeted mailing, establishing a personalized URL address corresponding to each of the mailers within the targeted mailing, sending the mailing to a plurality of customers wherein the mailer directs the customer to the personalized URL address in order to obtain interactive marketing information, obtaining additional information from the customer regarding their particular needs and interests, presenting the customer with an incentive related to their needs and interests and collecting the additional information related to the customer's needs and interests. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271260 | Systems, Methods and Computer Program Products for Researching, Planning, Building, Purchasing and Tracking Digital Online Media Advertising - Improved systems, methods and computer program products are provided for improving the efficiency and quality of the process of purchasing digital and online advertising. Through the use of the invention, one may more effectively use competitive research, build a media plan, generate a creative piece from scratch for an advertising campaign, purchase media across multiple publishers and track the campaign through a single web based platform. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271261 | Policy driven customer advertising - A system and methodology for providing policy driven, user requested advertising is disclosed. Networked users may be provided with selected advertisements to a targeted network access device during a specified broadcast event based on user preferences. The system includes a computing device coupled to at least one communications network and adapted for: receiving user preferences comprising desired advertising content, and specified network access device information for receiving and displaying the advertising thereon. The user preferences are stored in a database and matched to the user preferences with advertising content by at least one advertiser during the specified broadcast event. The advertisements that meet the user preferences are thereafter communicated over at least one communications network to at least one network access device specified in the user selected preferences. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271262 | AUTHORIZATION SYSTEM WITH SPLIT MESSAGING - A computer readable medium is disclosed. It includes computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method, the method including receiving a first authorization request message from a merchant and at a server computer, analyzing the first authorization request message using the server computer, sending a second authorization request message to a first service provider, sending a third authorization request message to a second service provider, receiving a first response message from the first service provider, receiving a second response message from the second service provider, and sending a third authorization response message to the merchant. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271263 | PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMS WITH ELECTRONIC RECEIPTS - Tools for improving interactions between promoters and consumers of products. These tools can enable promoters of products to employ more effective promotional programs, and consumers to receive promotional information about products of interest, while avoiding the excessive overload of information about promotions that are not of interest. Some such tools can enhance consumer satisfaction with—and, correspondingly, consumer participation in—promotional programs by allowing consumers to tailor the discount programs to their preferences, by analyzing consumer behavior and tailoring promotions accordingly, and/or by providing cross promotions of complementary products. Some of the tools can provide substantial savings, in both costs and natural resources, as well as provide a more satisfying experience for consumers, by substantially reducing, or even eliminating, excessive use of paper for promotional programs and transaction receipts. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271264 | PROMOTIONAL TECHNIQUES, SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Tools for improving interactions between promoters and consumers of products. These tools can enable promoters of products to employ more effective promotional programs, and consumers to receive promotional information about products of interest, while avoiding the excessive overload of information about promotions that are not of interest. Some such tools can enhance consumer satisfaction with—and, correspondingly, consumer participation in—promotional programs by allowing consumers to tailor the discount programs to their preferences, by analyzing consumer behavior and tailoring promotions accordingly, and/or by providing cross promotions of complementary products. Some of the tools can provide substantial savings, in both costs and natural resources, as well as provide a more satisfying experience for consumers, by substantially reducing, or even eliminating, excessive use of paper for promotional programs and transaction receipts. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271265 | ELECTRONIC RECEIPT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system and method are provided for generating and storing electronic receipts from any type of public facing business having a live point-of-purchase and utilizing electronic payment systems, namely, a point-of-sale (POS) system having a credit card terminal or electronic cash register (ECR). A user can associate with his or her account one or more identifiers such as a credit or debit card or phone number, and the system and method can be used to facilitate a product return, accept coupons online and redeem them in-store, generate and transmit a gift receipt, and participate in retailer loyalty programs. The system and method further include account interfaces for registered merchants and users to view and manage their account information. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271266 | EMPLOYING CONSUMER INTELLIGENCE IN PROMOTIONS - Tools for improving interactions between promoters and consumers of products. These tools can enable promoters of products to employ more effective promotional programs, and consumers to receive promotional information about products of interest, while avoiding the excessive overload of information about promotions that are not of interest. Some such tools can enhance consumer satisfaction with—and, correspondingly, consumer participation in—promotional programs by allowing consumers to tailor the discount programs to their preferences, by analyzing consumer behavior and tailoring promotions accordingly, and/or by providing cross promotions of complementary products. Some of the tools can provide substantial savings, in both costs and natural resources, as well as provide a more satisfying experience for consumers, by substantially reducing, or even eliminating, excessive use of paper for promotional programs and transaction receipts. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271267 | MOBILE DEVICE MARKETING AND ADVERTISING PLATFORMS, METHODS, AND SYSTEMS - A mobile marketing campaign platform and method including: a planning module including: a definition module for setting budget and objectives; and a design module for designing the campaign utilizing a plurality of templates; an execution module including: design tools for designing an executable campaign from the campaign design made from the templates; and operating tools for causing the executable campaign to execute over multiple mobile services; and a reporting module including: tracking means for tracking at least one of a campaign activity, the campaign performance objectives; and the brand performance objectives. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271268 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING ADVERTISEMENTS IN COMMUNICATION SERVICE - A method for providing advertisements in a communication service includes: obtaining the corresponding advertisement resource of the user in the current communication service according to the registration information of the subscribed advertisement in the process of using the communication service; and embedding the advertisement resource into the communication service. Through the method, platform, service server and system for providing advertisements in the communication service, the advertisement recipient and the advertisement endorser enjoy pleasant service experience. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271269 | METHOD FOR INTEGRATING INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING INTO VISUAL CONTENT - The present invention is a method and apparatus that relates to inserting contextual advertising into interactive visual content. The present invention provides a means to visually highlight elements within images, video, interactive applications and other visual content and then connect those elements to relevant content and messages from advertisers. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271270 | MANAGING LISTS OF PROMOTIONAL OFFERS - Tools for improving interactions between promoters and consumers of products. These tools can enable promoters of products to employ more effective promotional programs, and consumers to receive promotional information about products of interest, while avoiding the excessive overload of information about promotions that are not of interest. Some such tools can enhance consumer satisfaction with—and, correspondingly, consumer participation in—promotional programs by allowing consumers to tailor the discount programs to their preferences, by analyzing consumer behavior and tailoring promotions accordingly, and/or by providing cross promotions of complementary products. Some of the tools can provide substantial savings, in both costs and natural resources, as well as provide a more satisfying experience for consumers, by substantially reducing, or even eliminating, excessive use of paper for promotional programs and transaction receipts. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271271 | System and Method for Situational Location Proactive Search - Situational location dependent information is transmitted from a server data processing system to a receiving data processing system. The server data processing system communicates with the receiving data processing system in a manner by pushing content when appropriate. A candidate delivery event associated with a current positional attribute of the receiving data processing system is recognized and a situational location of the remote data processing system is determined. The candidate delivery event may be a location and/or direction change, device state change, or movement exceeding a movement tolerance. The situational location of the remote data processing system may be its location, direction, location and direction, proximity to a location, state change, or location and/or direction relative to a previous location and/or direction, or combinations thereof. A set of delivery content from a deliverable content database is transmitted from the server data processing system to the receiving data processing system according to the situational location of the receiving data processing system, and according to delivery constraints. The delivery content is configurable by authorized administrators on an instant activation basis for proactive delivery. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271272 | Electronic Marketing System - An apparatus for creating and distributing marketing materials comprises a message template and a messaging manager. The messaging template includes a suppler information field and an identity field. The supplier information field is configured to store marketing information that describes an offering of a supplier, is preapproved by the supplier, and is unalterable by an intermediary agent. The identity field is configured to store identification information associated with the intermediary agent. The messaging manager is configured to respond to a request by the intermediary agent to create a customized message for delivery to an identified recipient with which the intermediary agent has a preexisting relationship. The customized message is based at least in part upon the message template and includes both the marketing information in the supplier information field and the identification information in the identity field. The customized message indicates that the intermediary agent and supplier are affiliated. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271273 | INTERNET NEWS COMPENSATION SYSTEM - A computerized compensation system of disseminating a plurality of news and information items offered, contributed, and submitted by a plurality of independent submitters to an internet provider site. The provider site accepts, indexes, catalogs, tracks, meters, and calculates viewer exposure to each submitted news and information item chosen by a plurality of viewers. Compensation due individual submitters is transmitted in real time, as the submitter continues the submission to the provider web site. Billing of funding sources is provided. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271274 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LISTING, BUYING AND SELLING PATENTS AND PATENT APPLICATIONS ONLINE - A system for listing patent or patent application intellectual property assets for sale or license may comprise means for receiving an intellectual property asset document number through an online interface, means for automatically extracting textual data regarding an intellectual property asset using the number received as input to a remote online system that serves over a network the textual data regarding the intellectual property asset, means for automatically storing the extracted data in a listing of the intellectual property asset, means for automatically advertising the intellectual property asset for sale or license using the stored data and means for automatically providing the listing in a searchable database of listings advertising intellectual property assets for sale or license such that the textual data regarding the intellectual property asset is searchable to users of the database, wherein the intellectual property asset is a patent or patent application. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271275 | CROSS-PROMOTIONAL TECHNIQUES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS - Tools for improving interactions between promoters and consumers of products. These tools can enable promoters of products to employ more effective promotional programs, and consumers to receive promotional information about products of interest, while avoiding the excessive overload of information about promotions that are not of interest. Some such tools can enhance consumer satisfaction with—and, correspondingly, consumer participation in—promotional programs by allowing consumers to tailor the discount programs to their preferences, by analyzing consumer behavior and tailoring promotions accordingly, and/or by providing cross promotions of complementary products. Some of the tools can provide substantial savings, in both costs and natural resources, as well as provide a more satisfying experience for consumers, by substantially reducing, or even eliminating, excessive use of paper for promotional programs and transaction receipts. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271276 | ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEM - The specification and drawing figures describe and show a system for making a payment across a point-of-sale device that includes at least one a payment instrument having financial data required to conduct a financial transaction across a credit network. The system also includes a mobile wireless instrument having a data processor operatively connectable to the point-of-sale device and to the payment instrument. At least one algorithm is provided for transmitting the financial data from the payment instrument to the data processor of the mobile wireless instrument, and for decrypting an encryption key, as well as transmitting an instruction from the mobile wireless instrument to the point-of-sale device to authorize the payment. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271277 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRANSACTION PROCESSING BASED UPON AN OVERDRAFT SCENARIO - Facilitating commercial transactions using a payment system directory are disclosed. A payment directory and/or wireless point of sale (POS) device may be configured to use predetermined rules, a multitude of data items and/or conditions to locate a payment system, and transmit a payment authorization request from a remote location to at least one payment system, either directly, or via a payment system directory and/or a SSL Gateway. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271278 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ROUTING A TRANSACTION REQUEST TO A PAYMENT SYSTEM VIA A TRANSACTION DEVICE - Facilitating commercial transactions using a payment system directory are disclosed. A payment directory and/or wireless point of sale (POS) device may be configured to use predetermined rules, a multitude of data items and/or conditions to locate a payment system, and transmit a payment authorization request from a remote location to at least one payment system, either directly, or via a payment system directory and/or a SSL Gateway. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271279 | Motion star casting and auditioning system - A Motion Star Casting (MSC) and auditioning system for directly connecting the casting directors and artist is disclosed. MSC is an innovative and user-friendly website for casting directors, production companies, agents and other industry professionals to upload a document or video illustrating their casting need. The artists can read their lines or mimic a dance routine and then upload their video clips to their Video Action Portfolios (VAP). The artists can also search for opportunities, view video of the performances, and upload their own rendition for consideration to the selection committee. After uploading the VAP, the artists can send Video Action Responses (VAR) to the casting directors. The Casting directors can save VAP and VAR in their account for continued promotion of the artists. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271280 | RETAIL CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SYSTEM - A retail customer service process, method, system and apparatus that includes a bypass queue that is available to customers to enable them to place orders, pay for them, and to submit the bypassing order into a production queue as quickly as possible, preferably avoiding the first serial queue. The method includes an ordering queue including a plurality of customers coupled to a production control function, the production control function coupled to a production function for generating a production order from a particular one of the pluralities customer at a front of the ordering queue, the production order including a made-to-order product, and a production output queue in which customers wait for the made-to-order product to be produced from the production function as identified by the production order. The method provides a) coupling a bypass ordering queue to the production control function to insert a bypass production order into the production control function from a bypass customer not in the ordering queue; and b) receiving said bypass production order from said bypass customer by electronically reading a prestored bypass order from a portable indicia carried by said bypass customer. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271281 | Computer-implemented reservation system - A Web service based, real-time booking engine in which reservations Web pages include a “One Click Search” implemented using a global navigation menu located in the Web pages, facilitating easy switch to search other destinations at any time. The reservations Web pages also include a reservation search form. From any of the Web pages, the customer can enter or change the destination by clicking on a destination in the global navigation menu. A new search is then performed using whatever other information was previously entered in the reservation search form. After a search, the booking engine remembers any changed traveling details including check-in date, number of nights, room types, etc., so the customer can jump to any other destination in the global navigation menu by simply selecting the destination in the global navigation menu at any stage of a booking process. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271282 | Universal shopping center for international operation - An international transaction system for operation over the internet/intranet provides a pre-transactional calculation of all charges involved in any international transaction. Upon the option of the customer, the goods can be viewed on catalogue sheets translated to a language of the customer's choice, and the price provided in a currency selected by the customer. The customer also has the option of initiating the order with automatic credit authorization, generation of an electronic title or commercial invoice and arrangements and payment of shipping charges and any taxes and import/export duties. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271283 | Network Media Distribution - A network media distribution system includes a web server. The web server generates web data defining a plurality of web pages of a web site. Media items are stored on a media database which is accessible to the web server. The web server distributes the media items through the web site. In one example embodiment the media distribution system includes both user generated content that is distributed for free and content provided by publishers that is distributed for a fee. Methods are also disclosed. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271284 | Community based electronic bartering network - An electronic bartering system which associates each user with at least one community and enables users to create their own communities. Each user can specify at least one barterable item in a wish list and at least one barterable item in a trade list. Within a given community, the system periodically compares the wish lists and trade lists only of users within the community in order to identify a trade match. When a match is identified, an e-mail message is sent to users advising of the trade match. The system also receives confirmation from the users accepting or rejecting the trade match. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271285 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALLOCATING BUSINESS TO ONE OF A PLURALITY OF SELLERS IN A BUYER DRIVEN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SYSTEM - A system and method for allocating conditional purchase offers (CPO) among a plurality of agency-based and broadcast-based sellers in a buyer-driven commerce system. In one embodiment, the system determines which agency-based or broadcast-based sellers can fulfill or satisfy the CPO and orders those sellers in a priority order. In another embodiment, the priority is determined by relative market share and number of recent opportunities to satisfy the CPO. In another embodiment, the priority is also determined by metrics and buyer information. In another embodiment, the priority is determined randomly. The system ensures that when a buyer can satisfy the CPO at multiple prices levels, the highest price level fulfills the CPO. This ensures maximum seller revenue for each CPO. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271286 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CUSTOMIZING MARKETING SERVICES ON NETWORKS COMMUNICATING WITH HYPERTEXT TAGGING CONVENTIONS - The present server based communications system provides dynamic customization of hypertext tagged documents presented to clients accessing the system. The customization, which pertains to the content of the documents, is based on the specific requirements of a class to which the client belongs to. The class may be defined by the identity of the source which refers the client to the system. The system utilizes a database which dynamically retrieves stored data in response to a server software tool which configures the data into hypertext tagged documents. The system utilizes a dynamic token scheme to pass the identity of the referring network site from document to document to eventual purchase document accessed by the client through the hypertext tags. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271287 | FINANCIAL LIFESTYLE NAVIGATOR AND BANKING SYSTEM - Methods and systems for electronic financial management integrate many aspects of the typical banking system with exciting educational and social tools to engage users to participate in and learn about the value of fiscal management. A web application for a network site may be employed to allow users to establish accounts. Joint accounts may be established for teens or other users without the capacity or experience to independently manage money, providing custodians control over the joint account and opportunities to interactively engage the user via effective fiscal management tools. Aspects of the methods and systems for financial management may provide interactive opportunities for users to, for example, manage money, set goals, track finances, pay bills, shop savvy, solicit advice from friends and family, and obtain answers to financial questions. Web applications may provide users mobile and on line access to financial information, financial management tools, and vendor products and services. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271288 | CATEGORY EXPERT WORKBENCH - A computer system is provided that maintains information about products and provides for transactions between users buying and selling those products as well as providing a public exchange for valuing those products. The system also tracks the users who set up products in the system as well as maintain product categories. That tracking can be used for sharing revenue related to those products with the users, controlling which users become “experts” for a category of products or specific products, allowing for user-to-user interactions, etc. Users can apply to become category experts, and users who do become category experts are allowed to control the taxonomy of a product category and given other administrative controls over the product category. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271289 | System and method for propagating endorsements - An e-commerce system, comprising a clone server coupled via a data network to an endorsement network comprising at least a shopping cart adapted to manage endorsements and wherein the clone server, upon receiving a request from a user of an endorsement network to clone an endorsement, retrieves from the shopping cart a copy of the endorsement to be cloned, replaces at least information pertaining to an identity of a prior endorser in the retrieved endorsement with information pertaining to the requesting user, and sends the modified endorsement to the requesting user, is disclosed. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271290 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING A TRANSACTION BY MATCHING SELLER INFORMATION AND BUYER INFORMATION - Systems and methods are provided to facilitate a transaction between a seller and a buyer. According to one embodiment, seller offer information is received at a controller. The seller offer information is associated with an item, such as a secondary market item, being offered for sale by a seller. Buyer offer information, associated with a buyer offering to make a purchase, is also received. An evaluation rule is determined, and the seller offer information and the buyer offer information are matched based on the evaluation rule. It is then arranged for the seller to sell the item to the buyer. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271291 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONDUCTING A BLOCK AUCTION - The present invention relates to a system and method for performing a block auction. In a block auction, a block request is enabled to be executed against the plurality of quotes of different bidders, which comprise at least a part of the request volume. In accordance with the present invention, neither specification of the trade side of the request nor publication of the individual quotes submitted by bidders are required for performing the auction at an electronic trading system. Therefore, the auction can be performed anonymously and the trading of block requests comprising large volumes is enabled. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271292 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR EXCHANGING DIRECT RESPONSE MARKETING PHONE LEADS - Systems and methods for managing a phone lead transaction between a lead seller and a lead buyer as part of a first transaction between said lead seller and a consumer. The method, for example, includes enabling a plurality of lead buyers to bid for phone leads from at least, one lead seller. When the lead seller conducts a transaction with a consumer, a prequalification question is displayed to an agent associated with the lead seller to allow the agent to ascertain whether the consumer qualifies. If the consumer qualifies, the consumer is connected to the lead buyer either immediately or at a later time. Methods are disclosed for tracking the phone lead transaction and performing back-end accounting for account settlement purposes. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271293 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DYNAMICALLY GENERATING PERSONALIZED SHOPPING SUGGESTIONS - Methods and systems of establishing a shopping assistant utility are described. The method may include receiving product information for products, and based on the received product information, automatically generating a product profile for each of the products. Each product profile includes attributes assigned to the product. The method may further include receiving a search request including search criteria corresponding to at least one of the attributes, and comparing the search criteria with the attribute of the products to determine a level of correlation between each of the products and the search criteria. Further, the method may generate a score assigned to each of the products based on the determined level of correlation and present the products in an ordered list based on the generated scores assigned to each of the products. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271294 | System and method for delivering real time remote buying, selling, meeting and interacting in a virtual reality environment - A virtual reality interactional system and a method of use in which remote shoppers, remote advisors, remote sales consultants, remote product display agents, real time inventory status, live and stored audio and video content, and client server based virtual programming logic interact in real time to complete soft touch, high touch, and non-high touch products and services transactions. The virtual reality interacting system encompasses a combination of virtual reality hardware, virtual reality programming logic and communication networks. It can be used at homes, offices, virtual reality storefronts, or a combination thereof using high capacity private networks and also the Internet. Business to business, business to consumer, and consumer to consumer interactive interactions can be seamlessly performed by means of the current invention. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271295 | ONLINE ORDERING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR KEYED DEVICES - An online product ordering system first displays images of different product categories, such as different types of padlocks, and then displays all product models available in a category when the user clicks on a selected category image. The user selects a product model and then customizes various aspects of the selected model. In the case of a padlock, the user can select a shackle type and bumper type from available options, with images of each option displayed to the user for selection purposes, and may order a customized plate with user entered text or other indicia. In the case of a padlock, the user may enter their existing key number and the padlock can be customized to open with the user's existing key. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271296 | Motor vehicle remarkating service - A system and method in combination with a nationwide alliance of professional car care enterprises for remarketing privately owned motor vehicles. Consumers register with the system. Successfully registered consumers present their motor vehicles at a participating professional car care enterprise for processing into the system. The computer-implemented system employs a method based on three-dimensional facial image technology in combination with personal relational identifiers to monitor, identify, isolate, ban, and enforce the express prohibition of used car dealer, used car broker, and curbstoner participation within the system, in any fashion. The service is national in its reach while local in its execution, and provides a national platform for green-marketing the benefits of professional car care versus individual car care alternatives. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271297 | MANAGEMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS PURCHASING AND USE - A system for tracking and presenting communication services consumed by an organization from a plurality of communications service providers is provided. The system includes an invoices data store for information relating to communication services expenses of the organization from two or more separate providers, a services data store for information relating to services approved for use by the organization, and an inventory data store for information relating to communications equipment in use by the organization. The system provides an interface for tracking and presenting the consumption of both wireless and wired communications services, including invoices, services and inventory associated with the wired and wireless communications services. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271298 | Securitized Commodity Participation Certificates Securitized by Physically Settled Contracts - Techniques are described for securitizing, administering and trading various derivative shares securitized by derivative, physically-settled instruments on underlying assets that is, physical commodities. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271299 | NEGATIVE BALANCE MANAGEMENT - A system, apparatus, and method for managing account data for accounts having a negative balance. The invention embodiment includes a method, process or workflow for processing data for accounts associated with a debit, credit, pre-paid card or other form of financial instrument that have a negative balance. The data processing includes application of issuer criteria or filters to determine if certain of the accounts having a negative balance are not suitable for chargeback processing and instead may be processed in bulk, thereby reducing administrative and data processing overhead. For each account that is potentially eligible for chargeback processing, the invention embodiment accesses the account data and determines if the data supports initiation of a chargeback procedure for one or more transactions described by the account data. If the account contains one or more transactions that are eligible for chargeback processing, then a provisional credit in the amount of the one or more transactions may be applied to the account. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271300 | Ad-hoc updates to source transactions - Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with handling a change to a transaction at an application level are described. One exemplary method includes receiving, in a sub-ledger accounting (SLA) logic, from a sub-ledger logic, data that characterizes a transaction(s) receivable from a sub-ledger. The data includes a field of interest identifier and a downstream column impact identifier that identifies a column that is affected by a change to the field of interest. The method includes storing the data and processing transactions from the sub-ledger in light of the stored data. The method includes selectively storing a difference between a value associated with a previously processed version of a transaction and a value provided in a changed transaction. The value may be stored in a new transaction to reconcile the difference between the stored value and the changed transaction value. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271301 | MULTIPLE RATE CURRENCY CONSOLIDATOR - A multiple currency rate consolidator addresses the needs of multi-national companies that do business in different currencies and tax localities. A consolidated view of financial data may be provided in real time. The multiple currency rate consolidator allows each subsidiary within a subsidiary hierarchy to enter and manage transactional data as well as budget/forecast data in a corresponding localized functional currency. The multiple currency rate consolidator allows different consolidation levels to view localized, consolidated values of subsidiary transactions. The multiple currency rate consolidator also accommodates statutory, ad hoc and management reporting consolidation using different subsidiary configurations for the same time periods, as well as the versioning of the subsidiary hierarchy to accommodate structural changes across different time periods. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271302 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENSURING ACCURATE REIMBURSEMENT FOR TRAVEL EXPENSES - An Expense Verification System (EVS) checks for fraud and errors in reimbursement requests. The EVS stores requests including reference numbers, and receives travel reservation records from a payment clearinghouse system. Each record includes a reference number and associated reservation data. The EVS selectively denies stored reimbursement requests as a function of data contained in the travel reservation record. Alternatively, the EVS selectively issues an alert as a function of data contained in the travel reservation record. Further, the EVS may parse a received reimbursement request to identify a respective reference number, compare the parsed reference number to the stored reimbursement requests to determine whether the parsed reference number matches a stored reference number, and deny the received reimbursement request if the parsed reference number matches a stored reference number. The EVS may store the received reimbursement request if the parsed reference number does not match a stored reference number. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271303 | ELECTRONIC BILL PROCESS AUTOMATION - Disclosed are apparatus and methods for processing an electronic statement. In one embodiment, an electronic mail message addressed to an electronic mail address is received, the electronic mail message including bill information associated with a bill, where the bill information indicates a bill amount, a due date of the bill, a sender of the bill, and an addressee of the bill. A set of user preferences is obtained, and the bill information is processed according to the set of user preferences. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271304 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - An image processing apparatus that charges a user for executing a predetermined image process holds charging information in a storage device, charges a user for executing the predetermined image process based on charging information held in the storage device. When the charging information held in the storage device is updated, the image processing apparatus determines whether to permit the update of the charging information based on an operated state of the image processing apparatus by the user, and according to the result of determination, the image processing apparatus is controlled so that the charging information is updated if the update of the charging information is permitted, and is controlled so that the charging information is not updated if the update of the charging information is not permitted. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271305 | PAYMENT PORTFOLIO OPTIMIZATION - A method and system of payment portfolio optimization that retrieves information associated with a plurality of consumers in a consumer portfolio, separates by a diagnostics module on a computer the plurality of consumers into consumer segments based on segment definitions, analyzes by a diagnostics module on the computer the consumer segments using the retrieved information based on a plurality of performance metrics, and identifies revenue opportunities associated with the plurality of consumer segments based on the results from the analysis. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271306 | System and Method to Facilitate Secure Payment of Digital Transactions - System and method for facilitating verification that an authorized user of an account initiated use of the account in a digital transaction online are described herein. A preferred embodiment employs an application supplied by a third party to associate the account with a client device that is, in turn, associated with the authorized user. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271307 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING REAL ESTATE INFORMATION - An interactive, computer-implemented system for providing a comparison of at least two real estate properties is provided. The system includes a database that stores a plurality of data relating to real estate properties. The data includes at least one of address data, ownership data, size data, geographic location data and monetary value data. An interface system enables a system user to input a request for a comparison of at least a portion of the data for at least two of the real estate properties. The request includes information sufficient to identify the real estate properties to be compared. A processor uses the information to obtain a comparison of the data relating to the real estate properties. A delivery system provides to the system user a comparison of the data relating to the real estate properties. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271308 | COMPLEX ORDER LEG SYNCHRONIZATION - A system is provided for trading complex orders for financial instruments, including complex orders that include legs that are to be executed on different markets. The legs of the order are optionally specified to be executed in a particular ratio, at net price, and/or at a range of net prices. The system halts trading for all legs in one market, determines a quantity and price to execute a second leg of the order on the other market to achieve a specified ratio or net price and then submits the second leg for execution on the other market if the second leg remains marketable on the other market. If an execution is received from the other market, then the legs in the first market are executed and the series unfrozen. If the other market has not responded after a predetermined time, then the legs in the first market are unfrozen and trading continues. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271309 | MEDIA EXCHANGE SYSTEM AND METHOD - A media exchange. The media exchange uses an exchange database. The database supports interoperation between an exchange component, a media user component and a first media provider component. The media user component enables a media client to access a media component. The media component is supplied from a media provider client using the media provider component. The media user component enables the media client to enable the media component and accrue a first media value. The media user component enables the first media client to also access a second media component associated with a second media value. This is done by exchanging the first media value for the second media value. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271310 | System and Method for Creating and Managing Intellectual Property Investment Trusts - A system and method for creating and managing a system for extracting value from intellectual property. The method includes the steps of collecting intellectual property assets in an investment vehicle, selling shares in the investment vehicle, and licensing the collected intellectual property through the investment vehicle. Shares in the investment vehicle may be traded privately or publicly. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271311 | Equitized Currency Trust for Real-Time Currency Trading - An equitized currency trust has its underlying value based solely on currency, rather than on securities and/or commodities. Shares of the equitized currency trust are priced in a currency other than the currency that forms the underlying value. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271312 | One-Price Home Mortgage Lending Method and System - A method and system for an online one-price home mortgage lending is disclosed. House buyers use the system to obtain a mortgage with autonomous interest rates. The system provides a loan to members to allow them to get their house in advance or to pay off an existing home mortgage. After receiving the loan members participate in an auction process. The bid-winner receives the funds and repays the loan in installments. Non bid-winners are issued a transferable auction certificate and wait until the next term to bid again. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271313 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BALANCE ACCOUNT UTILIZATION - Methods and system for balance account utilization are described. In one embodiment, a balance account may be linked to a credit card account of a user. A determination of whether there is an amount due for the credit card account may be made. A determination of whether at least a minimum payment has been received for the amount due by a due date may be made. Funds from the balance account may be accessed based on the linking and a failure to receive at least the minimum payment by the due date. A balance payment may be processed on the due date for the credit card account with the funds from the balance account. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271314 | Electronic money system and electronic money terminal - An electronic money system terminates communication to a management center indistinguishably from a case in which the communication to the management center is completed within a predetermined period when it is impossible to complete the communication to the management center within the predetermined period. By switching an operation mode, a predetermined portable terminal is used instead of a communication line to upload and download data. When it is impossible to obtain data required for processing through the communication line, processing is performed based on data possessed up until that time. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271315 | PORTABLE DEVICE INCLUDING ALTERABLE INDICATOR - A consumer device is disclosed. It includes a body, and a memory element coupled to the body, the memory storing a first account identifier associated with a first account, a second account identifier associated with a second account, and an alterable flag linking the first account and the second account. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271316 | Mailing kiosk with safeguards and methods of use - A self service kiosk for mailing prohibited items from TSA checkpoints has the following features: an easy-to-touch screen, full computerization, visual and auditory prompts, clearly displayed shipping options, an automatically calculated price, an instantly-produced address/postage label and payment receipt, secure credit card processing, daily emptying by the USPS, transaction logging and cumulative accounting reports, built in communications and UPS backup, built in security features, built in slot for mail acceptance, provision of US Priority and Express Mail service, and a heavy duty plate steel vault for security. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271317 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A CRYPTOGRAPHICALLY ASSISTED COMMERCIAL NETWORK SYSTEM DESIGNED TO FACILITATE BUYER-DRIVEN CONDITIONAL PURCHASE OFFERS - The present invention is a method and apparatus for effectuating bilateral buyer-driven commerce. The present invention allows prospective buyers of goods and services to communicate a binding purchase offer globally to potential sellers, for sellers conveniently to search for relevant buyer purchase offers, and for sellers potentially to bind a buyer to a contract based on the buyer's purchase offer. In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus of the present invention includes a controller which receives binding purchase offers from prospective buyers. The controller makes purchase offers available globally to potential sellers. Potential sellers then have the option to accept a purchase offer and thus bind the corresponding buyer to a contract. The method and apparatus of the present invention have applications on the Internet as well as conventional communications systems such as voice telephony. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271318 | DIGITAL DATA LICENSING SYSTEM - The invention provides a method for securing ownership of data and/or performances which are broadcast and/or performed in public, said method including an identifier in the broadcast and/or performed data, transmitting the identifier at a frequency and/or modulation which is neutral to the primary purpose of the data, receiving the broadcast and/or performance signal on a data carrier, and filtering the signal either at the time of reception thereof or at some point in time thereof to identify the identifier. The invention extends to a data carrier, a royalty management system, and a copyright management system using the above method. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271319 | Embedded Licenses for Content - In accordance with one or more aspects, a license for content is retrieved, the license having been previously embedded in the content. A requested action is allowed to be performed with the content only if a standalone license, or both a leaf license and a root license, indicate that the action with the content is permissible. Leaf licenses and/or standalone licenses can be embedded by a source of the content and/or by a target device that receives the content. Additionally, licenses can include one or more rules indicating where a target device that receives the content is to store the licenses. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271320 | SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONIC BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS - An electronic business transaction system is provided. The electronic business transaction system requests an ordering party to select an electronic business and input order information for the electronic business through a terminal of the ordering party, receives the order information for the electronic business from the ordering party, announces a bid for the electronic business, requests bidders to select the electronic business, input bid information for the electronic business, and organize execution groups for the electronic business through a terminal of the bidders, receives the bid information and information for the execution groups from the bidders, analyzes the bid information and the information for the execution groups, selects an order-taking party from among the bidders according to the results of the analysis, concludes an electronic contract for the electronic business between the order-taking party and the ordering party, and provides an application for processing the electronic business regarding the electronic contract to terminals of execution group members belonging to an execution group of the order-taking party so that the execution group members process the electronic business through the terminals of the execution group | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271321 | Method and system for verification of personal information - In one form, there is disclosed a system ( | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271322 | Electronic receipt system and method - A system and method for auto generating an electronic receipt from virtually any type of public facing business having a live point-of-purchase and utilizing an electronic payment systems, namely, a point-of-sale (POS) system having a credit card terminal and/or an electronic cash registers (ECR). The system includes a software add-on which authenticates and identifies consumers at the POP using a pre-registered credit/debit card, deactivates normal receipt printing functionality, captures electronic receipt information and transmits this information to a membership or subscriber based Internet web-site, where consumers may then view and manage the information. The system can be used to automate a product return and/or generate and transmit a gift receipt. The system further includes a membership or provider based Internet website for merchants to view and manage information related to previous customers, from which merchants may distribute coupons and/or advertisements to these consumers. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271323 | Transactional Method for Building Three-Dimensional Objects - The present invention is a method ( | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271324 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR METERED SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE - Systems and methods are provided for facilitating software as a service (SAAS) by receiving information of SAAS offerings and metrics for tracking a users use of the SAAS offerings. The systems may be used to create SAAS orders and provide compliance and auditing of the SAAS, as well as generating invoices and receiving payment for the SAAS. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090271325 | TRADING SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system for managing risk in a trading environment, the system comprising at least one trading portfolio, wherein the trading portfolio comprises a plurality of trading elements and wherein the system further comprises: means for obtaining data relating to trading elements in the trading environment; means for calculating the value of a risk factor for the trading portfolio based on the data received for the trading elements in the trading portfolio; and means for receiving an order for the trading portfolio, wherein the order specifies a trading element; and means for calculating an expected value of the risk factor for the trading portfolio based on the data received for the trading elements in the trading portfolio and the data received for the trading element specified in the order. | 10-29-2009 |
