| 46th week of 2012 patent applcation highlights part 55 |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
|---|
| 20120290292 | UNSTRUCTURED DATA SUPPORT WITH AUTOMATIC RULE GENERATION - A system to process unstructured data is provided. An example system to process unstructured data comprises a receiver to access a source of unstructured data, an entity type module to determine an entity type, a rules generator to automatically generate a linguistic rule based on the determined entity type, and an entity extractor to obtain an entity from the source of unstructured data, using the linguistic rule. The entity comprises an alpha-numeric string. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290293 | Exploiting Query Click Logs for Domain Detection in Spoken Language Understanding - Domain detection training in a spoken language understanding system may be provided. Log data associated with a search engine, each associated with a search query, may be received. A domain label for each search query may be identified and the domain label and link data may be provided to a training set for a spoken language understanding model. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290294 | NEURAL TRANSLATOR - A method and apparatus are provided for processing a set of communicated signals associated with a set of muscles, such as the muscles near the larynx of the person, or any other muscles the person use to achieve a desired response. The method includes the steps of attaching a single integrated sensor, for example, near the throat of the person proximate to the larynx and detecting an electrical signal through the sensor. The method further includes the steps of extracting features from the detected electrical signal and continuously transforming them into speech sounds without the need for further modulation. The method also includes comparing the extracted features to a set of prototype features and selecting a prototype feature of the set of prototype features providing a smallest relative difference. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290295 | Transform-Domain Codebook In A Celp Coder And Decoder - Codebook Arrangement for use in coding an input sound signal includes First and Second Codebook Stages. First Codebook Stage includes one of a time-domain CELP codebook and a transform-domain codebook. Second Codebook Stage follows the first codebook stage and includes the other of the time-domain CELP codebook and the transform-domain codebook. Codebook Stage includes an adaptive codebook may be provided before First Codebook Stage. A selector may be provided to select an order of the time-domain CELP codebook and the transform-domain codebook in First and Second Codebook Stages, respectively, as a function of characteristics of the input sound signal. The selector may also be responsive to both the characteristics of the input sound signal and a bit rate of the codec using Codebook Arrangement to bypass Second Codebook Stage. Codebook Arrangement can be used in a coder of an input sound signal. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290296 | Method, Apparatus, and Computer Program for Suppressing Noise - A method, an apparatus, and a computer program, which can suppress a low frequency range component with a small amount of calculation, and can achieve a noise suppression of high quality, are provided. The noise superposed in a desired signal of an input signal is suppressed by converting the input signal to a frequency domain signal; correcting an amplitude of the frequency domain signal to obtain an amplitude corrected signal; obtaining an estimated noise by using the amplitude corrected signal; determining a suppression coefficient by using the estimated noise and the amplitude corrected signal; and weighting the amplitude corrected signal with the suppression coefficient. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290297 | Speaker Liveness Detection - A signal representative of an unpredictable audio stimulus is provided to a putative live speaker within a putative live recording environment. A second signal purportedly emanating from the putative live speaker and/or the environment is received. This second signal is examined for influence of the unpredictable audio stimulus on the putative live speaker and/or the putative live recording environment. The examining includes at least one of audio feedback analysis, Lombard analysis, and evoked otoacoustic response analysis. Based on the examining, a determination is made as to whether the putative live speaker is an actual live speaker and/or whether the putative live recording environment is an actual live recording environment. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290298 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING SPEECH RECOGNITION AND NATURAL LANGUAGE PARAMETERS WITH USER FEEDBACK - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for assigning saliency weights to words of an ASR model. The saliency values assigned to words within an ASR model are based on human perception judgments of previous transcripts. These saliency values are applied as weights to modify an ASR model such that the results of the weighted ASR model in converting a spoken document to a transcript provide a more accurate and useful transcription to the user. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290299 | Translating Between Spoken and Written Language - Techniques for converting spoken speech into written speech are provided. The techniques include transcribing input speech via speech recognition, mapping each spoken utterance from input speech into a corresponding formal utterance, and mapping each formal utterance into a stylistically formatted written utterance. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290300 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY - The apparatus for foreign language study includes: a voice recognition device configured to recognize a speech entered by a user and convert the speech into a speech text; a speech intent recognition device configured to extract a user speech intent for the speech text using skill level information of the user and dialogue context information; and a feedback processing device configured to extract a different expression depending on the user speech intent and a speech situation of the user. According to the present invention, the intent of a learner's speech may be determined even though the learner's skill is low, and customized expressions for various situations may be provided to the learner. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290301 | METHOD AND SYSTEM OF ENABLING INTELLIGENT AND LIGHTWEIGHT SPEECH TO TEXT TRANSCRIPTION THROUGH DISTRIBUTED ENVIRONMENT - A system includes at least one wireless client device, a service manager, and a plurality of voice transcription servers. The service manager includes a resource management service and a profile management service. The client device communicates the presence of a voice transcription task to the resource management service. The resource management service surveys the plurality of voice transcription servers and selects one voice transcription server based on a set of predefined criteria. The resource management service then communicated an address of the selected server to the profile management service, which then transmits a trained voice profile or default profile to the selected server. The address of the selected server is then sent to the client device, which then transmits an audio stream to the server. Finally, the selected server transcribes the audio stream to a textual format. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290302 | CHINESE SPEECH RECOGNITION SYSTEM AND METHOD - A Chinese speech recognition system and method is disclosed. Firstly, a speech signal is received and recognized to output a word lattice. Next, the word lattice is received, and word arcs of the word lattice are rescored and reranked with a prosodic break model, a prosodic state model, a syllable prosodic-acoustic model, a syllable-juncture prosodic-acoustic model and a factored language model, so as to output a language tag, a prosodic tag and a phonetic segmentation tag, which correspond to the speech signal. The present invention performs rescoring in a two-stage way to promote the recognition rate of basic speech information and labels the language tag, prosodic tag and phonetic segmentation tag to provide the prosodic structure and language information for the rear-stage voice conversion and voice synthesis. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290303 | SPEECH RECOGNITION SYSTEM AND METHOD BASED ON WORD-LEVEL CANDIDATE GENERATION - A speech recognition system and method based on word-level candidate generation are provided. The speech recognition system may include a speech recognition result verifying unit to verify a word sequence and a candidate word for at least one word included in the word sequence when the word sequence and the candidate word are provided as a result of speech recognition. A word sequence displaying unit may display the word sequence in which the at least one word is visually distinguishable from other words of the word sequence. The word sequence displaying unit may display the word sequence by replacing the at least one word with the candidate word when the at least one word is selected by a user. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290304 | Electronic Holder for Reading Books - A book support and optical scanner assembly for converting printed text to an audio output includes a support for supporting an open book and a pair of optical scanners adapted to scan opposite pages. The assembly also includes means for moving the scanners from the top of the page to the bottom of a page. Further, both scanners can be rotated off of the book for turning a page. In addition, the assembly includes a text to audio converter for converting the scanned text into spoken words and in one embodiment a translator to translate the scanned text into a pre-selected language. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290305 | Scalable Audio in a Multi-Point Environment - Use of a scalable audio codec to implement distributed mixing and/or sender bit rate regulation in a multipoint conference is disclosed. The scalable audio codec allows the audio signal from each endpoint to be split into one or more frequency bands and for the transform coefficients within such bands to be prioritized such that usable audio may be decoded from a subset of the entire signal. The subset may be created by omitting certain frequency bands and/or by omitting certain coefficients within the frequency bands. By providing various rules for each endpoint in a conference, the endpoint can determine the importance of its signal to the conference and can select an appropriate bit rate, thereby conserving bandwidth and/or processing power throughout the conference. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290306 | HYBRID CODED AUDIO DATA STREAMING APPARATUS AND METHOD - An audio coding system in which a plurality of quantization methods are selectable for application to components of a streamed audio signal to achieve a target frame size that is determined by comparing an achieved bit rate against a target bit rate. Based on the target frame size, the system calculates a bit allocation for signal components and compares the bit allocation to the dynamic range of the signal components. Depending on the outcome of the comparison, the system may select to quantize or not quantize a signal component. The system employs lossless coding techniques, but is capable of introducing lossy coding by quantization in order to meet the target bit rate. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290307 | BIT ALLOCATING, AUDIO ENCODING AND DECODING - A bit allocating method is provided that includes determining the allocated number of bits in decimal point units based on each frequency band so that a Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of a spectrum existing in a predetermined frequency band is maximized within a range of the allowable number of bits for a given frame; and adjusting the allocated number of bits based on each frequency band. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290308 | Rewarding Users for Sharing Digital Content - A computer-implemented method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium of rewarding a user for sharing digital content are described. The method facilitates an effective way of sharing commercial digital content via a network, such as the Internet, while the users who share the content are provided with a real or virtual reward. The method may comprise receiving, from a user, a request to share digital content, retrieving the digital content to be shared, with the digital content being associated with a user, transmitting the digital content to one or more destinations for sharing, and providing a reward to the user. The one or more destinations may comprise a social networking website, a blog, a microblog, a website, an e-mail server, a web server, and a database. The amount of reward may be based on one or more of the following criterion: a shared content type, a number of destinations for sharing, traffic generated due to the sharing of the digital content, a number of visitors to a website associated with the shared content, and a number of sales associated with the shared content. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290309 | Military Relocation Facilitator - A facility, system and related business methods for providing efficient, simple, and effective military relocation tools both at the departing station as well as the gaining station of relocating military personnel, centered on an enabling facility based on a department store model where clients are able to access a variety of military relocation services in one location. The business method and system of the present invention alleviates the stress of going all over town, standing in long lines, and wasting time and money trying to get setup in a new home. As a result, embodiments of the present invention help transform the complex, emotional and lengthy process of relocation into a simple, comforting and, most importantly, human process for the relocating military families that are served—all at no cost to the relocating military personnel. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290310 | DYNAMIC DECISION TREE SYSTEM FOR CLINICAL INFORMATION ACQUISITION - A dynamic decision forest may be used to guide clinical or other decision queries such that multiple decision trees are followed in sequence and jumps occur between decision trees based on previously received query responses and the system's determination of what useful data has not been gathered. For example, rather than storing data concerning all possible paths between various decision trees, a system using the dynamic decision forest may determine at the time of use that a jump should occur from one decision tree to another decision tree despite the system not being pre-populated with data representative of a relationship between the source and destination of the jump. A clinical note may be created based on the path followed through the dynamic decision forest, and iterative verification may be used in order to improve the likelihood that the correct path is being followed. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290311 | Method and Apparatus for Physician Location Tracking - A medical personal location tracking system provides efficient physician location reporting based on physician client device location. The medical communication system permits physicians to define location tracking control settings to control when and where the client device sends location data to a server and database. Subject to the location tracking control settings, the location tracking system provides location updates for the physicians so that requestors that wish to contact the physicians or know the location of one or more physicians can access the server to obtain location data. To obtain medical assistance to a medical emergency, an emergency alert may be generated and sent to physicians within a defined geographic area. Upon receipt by a physician, a physician may accept the emergency alert and travel to the medical emergency and be provided updates regarding the medical emergency. The person generating the emergency alert may track the location of accepting physicians. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290312 | CHARGING MANAGEMENT APPARATUS, CHARGING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, AND CHARGING MANAGEMENT PROGRAM - A diagnosis supporting device generates execution information from an examination image by using a rented computer program. The diagnosis supporting device sends the execution information of the computer program to a charging management server. The charging management server stores the execution information as an execution history. The charging management server includes a duplication judging section, an execution number calculating section, and a usage fee calculating section. The duplication judging section judges whether or not there are plural pieces of execution information having the same examination ID. The execution number calculating section counts the pieces of execution information while eliminating the pieces of execution information judged to be duplicated to calculate the execution number of times. The usage fee calculating section multiplies the execution number of times calculated by the execution number calculating section by a unit price to calculate a usage fee for the computer program. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290313 | Systems and Methods for Distributed Health Care - Distributed health care uses personal support workers (PSW) and registered, trained medical personnel. Each PSW is equipped with a mobile computing device that is capable of communicating with a main computer. Each registered medical personnel is equipped with a computing device (a monitoring computer) that is capable of communicating with a main computer. At times during a PSW's shift at a patient location, the PSW inputs data to a number of forms on the mobile computing device, each form being related to the patient's physical appearance, medical condition, medication taken or given, and physical parameters, or other actions taken. The data inputted are then transmitted to the main computer, which processes, stores, and archives the data. After processing, the data is reviewed by the registered medical personnel. If the data indicates that actions need to be taken, the medical personnel can issue instructions to the PSW. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290314 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATIVE EVENT DOCUMENTATION AND RELATED DATA MANAGEMENT - In one embodiment, method and apparatus are disclosed which provide that a plurality of physicians each enter operative event data into an operative event database, wherein the operative event data documents planned or completed operative events and the physicians enter the operative event data use a wide area network through a user interface assisting the physicians in coding operative events in a consistent manner. The physicians access the operative event database to obtain information concerning upcoming or previously performed operative events, with a service provider maintaining an on-line system including one or more servers to support the entering of operative event data into the database through the Internet and the user interface. Further, the physicians subscribe to the on-line system wherein the physicians are allowed access and use the on-line system, and wherein the physicians retain control over the use and disposition of the operative event data entered by the physician. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290315 | Method of Collecting delinquent specialized debt - An internet-based system for organization and collection of specialized debt that is delinquent; an example of specialized debt being healthcare debt. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290316 | Method and System for Consumer Centred Care Management - The present invention relates to self care and care management. In one form, the invention provides a method for self-managed consumer centred cooperative care including the steps of: (a) the consumer registering their characteristics, (b) creating at least one cooperative care plan for addressing at least one of the needs and objectives of the consumer, (c) creating at least one action for the at last one cooperative care plan, (d) the consumer registering information for one or more other participants having roles chosen from the group including at least one of, (i) care providers, (ii) associates of the consumer, (iii) co-carer, (iv) primary care manager, (v) cooperative care plan manager, or combinations thereof, (e) the consumer, the primary care manager appointed by the consumer, or the cooperative care plan manager appointed by the consumer or the primary care manager, allocating at least one of the actions to one or more respective participants for implementation of the cooperative care plan, and (f) the consumer or the primary care manager appointed by the consumer, assigning permissions to the participants based on their role and any allocated actions, wherein steps (a) to (f) are automated. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290317 | TOOL FOR CLINICAL DATA MINING AND ANALYSIS - In one aspect, the invention provides a clinical trial information management tool. The tool comprises an interface with a multiple tagged clinical trial database; a user interface for receiving user inputs, a search engine to query the multiple tagged clinical trial database in one or more levels based on user inputs; a display platform to display results from the query in one or more views; an analytics engine to provide at least one of parameter based analysis and graphical analysis; and a personalization platform to store the query and the results. The tool provides the advantage through the rapid, facile and user-friendly manner in which clinical trial information from a wide variety of sources may be searched, analyzed and reported by a user, which allows for easy strategizing regarding clinical trial related matters, among other unique advantages. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290318 | Methods, Systems, and Computer-Readable Media for Disease Management - Methods, systems, and computer-readable media provide for disease management. According to embodiments, a method for providing social interaction between a first handheld medical testing and monitoring device and a second handheld medical testing and monitoring device is provided. According to the method, at least one of a social networking profile and a diagnostic profile is received from the first handheld medical testing and monitoring device. A second user associated with the second handheld medical testing and monitoring device is selected based on the at least one of the social networking profile and the diagnostic profile. A user list at the first handheld medical testing and monitoring device is populated with a unique identifier enabling communication between a first user associated with the first handheld medical testing and monitoring device and the second user associated with the second handheld medical testing and monitoring device. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290319 | AUTOMATIC CODING OF PATIENT OUTCOMES - Systems and methods can mine structured clinical event data in an electronic health record (EHR) system to determine patient outcomes. Mining the structured clinical event data instead of or in addition to mining discharge summaries can increase the accuracy of patient outcome identification. Sophisticated language models can be used to extract outcomes from discharge summaries while also inferring outcomes from cues or hints contained in the structured clinical event data. For example, the clinical event data can include information regarding treatments and medications prescribed by clinicians to specifically manage patient complications; thus, presence or absence of relevant treatments in the clinical event data can provide independent indicators to disambiguate cases where current language processing approaches fail. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290320 | SYSTEM FOR LEVERAGING SOCIAL AND RESTRICTED AVAILABILITY CONTENT IN CLINICAL PROCESSES, AND A METHOD THEREOF - A system for data integration and collation of medical data is described. The system includes: a plurality of data stores comprising untraditional profile data; a gateway communicating with the data stores; a database comprising a patient medical record, a prescribed protocol, and a rule set describing the prescribed protocol; and a medical rule evaluator for accessing the rule set and applying the rule set to the untraditional profile data to generate key indicators. Also described is a data collection system including a plurality of data sources and a plurality of connectors, wherein the data sources include data from a untraditional profile data source and a clinical data source, a connector and source are paired, and each paired connector converts source data between a first format and a second format different from the first format medical protocol; and a core transaction processing system. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290321 | Computer implemented compensation for medical services - A computer implemented method and system for compensating costs for medical services are provided. The system has at least three actors, a compensation unit, a referring computer and a service computer for executing the medical service ordered by the referring computer. After receiving a medical report as result of the medical services rendered, the referring computer is an evaluation unit for accessing quality of the medical service. Evaluation data are transmitted to the compensation unit for computation of compensation for the medical service taken into account the evaluation data for accessing quality of the medical service. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290322 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR COORDINATING THE DELIVERY OF HIGH-QUALITY HEALTH CARE OVER AN INFORMATION NETWORK - The field of the invention relates to systems and methods for managing healthcare information systems, and more particularly to systems and methods for coordinating the delivery of high-quality health care and medical services over an information network. In one embodiment, a processing server is configured to electronically receive a patient's health information over a data network from one or more patient systems. The processing server also includes a computer program product having a computer-usable medium including a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor, causes said processor to execute a process that coordinates the delivery of transferrable patient health information and provides preoperative testing recommendations based on a single acquisition of electronic patient health information. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290323 | INTERACTIVE VISUALIZATION FOR HEALTHCARE - This disclosure relates to a visualization tool that can be implemented to facilitate medical decision making by providing an interactive graphical map of relevant health data. The interactive map can include graphical elements representing health data that can be obtained from an EHR and associations between such data that are represented by graphical connections. The graphical elements and associations can be modified to reflect medical decision making. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290324 | DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES FOR CONTINUOUS STORAGE AND JOINT ANALYSIS OF BOTH IMAGE AND NON-IMAGE MEDICAL DATA - An apparatus comprises: a database ( | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290325 | SYSTEM FOR COMMUNICATION OF HEALTH CARE DATA - An apparatus for communicating health care data from a sender to a receiver is provided. The apparatus has a first computer system, a second computer system, and a rules engine. The first computer system has health care data stored therein. The second computer system is in operable communication with, and is configured to extract the health care data from, the first computer system. The rules engine normalizes the extracted health care data to a predefined format. The rules engine defines a plurality of health care data fields in the predefined format, as well as a plurality of relationships between fields of normalized data. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290326 | AUTHORIZATION PROCESS FOR HIGH INTENSITY MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS - A process is provided for gaining third party authorization for a medical intervention for a patient. The process includes a dialogue between a user and a computer, facilitated by an algorithm in the computer. A user enters into the computer medical information about the patient and an authorization request for a medical intervention for the patient. The algorithm generates one or more questions responsive to the information and authorization request, directed to refining an assessment of whether the medical intervention is indicated. The user enters into the computer one or more answers responsive to the one or more questions. The algorithm generates feedback responsive to the one or more answers. The feedback instructs the user as to whether or not the medical intervention is indicated. The algorithm permits the user to withdraw the request throughout the process but ultimately grants the request if the user does not withdraw the request. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290327 | MEDICAL HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR HEALTH ASSESSMENT, WEIGHT MANAGEMENT AND MEAL PLANNING - A system and method provide nutrition assessments and tools for enabling users to achieve health-related goals based on specific health needs. The tools can include a nutrition assessment tool, a weight solution tool, a meal planning tool, and a meal tracking tool. The method includes receiving patient phenotype data. The phenotype data can include, but is not limited to, biometric data specific to the patient, medical claims data specific to the patient, organizational data specific to an organization to which the patient belongs, and behavioral data including dietary habits and nutritional history. One or more algorithms are executed on at least one processor of a computing apparatus to provide analyses of patient data in order. The results are output to a user in various web pages customized to provide features to the user. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290328 | SEARCHING AN ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD - A method, system, and medium are provided for searching an electronic medical record. Search results are returned in response to a search query. The search query may be one or more designated medical concepts. The search results may be displayed according to a ranking that determines which search results are likely to be the most responsive to a query submitted by a particular clinician based on matching the most important clinical concepts in each document to the most important clinical concepts in the search query. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290329 | SOCIAL NETWORK PLATFORM FOR UNDERWRITING - A social networking platform for peer-to-peer underwriting is disclosed. A user's social network acquaintances may be contacted or otherwise polled to determine their agreeability with serving as an underwriter for the user's desired financial services in order to reduce (or eliminate) the financial risk of providing the financial services to the user by the financial services provider. With a plurality of acquaintances willing to underwrite, the financial risk may be substantially dispersed among numerous acquaintances while the user is granted their desired financial services (or a reduced rate for the financial services). | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290330 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR WEB-BASED INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION - Systems and methods are disclosed herein for determining an insurance evaluation based on an industrial classification. The system includes a content processor, a computerized predictive model, and a business logic processor. The content processor retrieves content from a website related to an entity seeking an insurance policy and extracts data from the website content. The computerized predictive model accepts the data extracted from the website content from the content processor, processes the extracted data, and outputs data indicative of at least one industrial classification associated with the entity. The business logic processor determines an insurance evaluation of the entity based on its industrial classification(s). | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290331 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING DEFERRED ANNUITIES WITH AN INCOME RESET FEATURE - Methods and corresponding systems are provided for providing and administering deferred annuities with an annuity reset feature that provide periodic income payments to an annuitant for a term beginning at a start date. The methods include the step or steps of: receiving annuity information for an annuitant; determining at a first date one of a purchase price and an amount of at least one income payment due to the annuitant at the start date. The purchase price or the amount of at least one income payment due the annuitant includes a fee for the annuity reset feature that resets at least one variable of the annuity at a reset date later than the first date if the at least one variable of the annuity at the reset date is more beneficial to the annuitant than at least the first date; and offering the annuity with the reset feature to the annuitant. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290332 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ONLINE AGENCY - The present disclosure describes novel systems and methods for a customer to receive information and/or purchase a product or service while interacting with multiple vendors through a single contact/agency. The customer is able to communicate with the agency through a variety of communication modes. The agency adapts the customer's input as necessary to meet the requirements of the vendors and the agency returns information to the customer so that the customer can conveniently interact with the multiple vendors. The systems and methods allow for the customer to stop and restart the process at various points using any of the communication modes. The agency has the ability to present the customer with prospecting, sales, service, upgrades, cross-sells, and other pre- and post-purchase services at the single point-of-contact agency. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290333 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REPAIR CALCULATION, REPLACEMENT CALCULATION, AND INSURANCE ADJUSTMENT - Disclosed is a novel system and method that provides real time information to an insurance adjuster. The system obtains information related to an insured item which has an outstanding claim. Information includes the cost to repair a specific item, the salvage value of the item, and the cost to replace the item. The system then compares the information related to the insured item from an economic perspective to determine whether it should be repaired or replaced. Since the system is objective, it reduces the reliance on subjective human factors such as collusion and lack of expertise. As a result, the system reduces the number of fraudulent and inaccurate transactions related to the specific item. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290334 | System and Method for Producing a Flexible Geographical Grid - A variable resolution grid provides a mechanism for focusing specific concentrations of risk exposure on a geographical grid to determine projected loss caused by a particular catastrophe. The geographic grid provides a stable base map by using latitudes and longitudes to define the grid points and cells. Each cell is assigned a geographic identifier or geocode that identifies the location of the cell and its associated resolution. The resolution of the grid may be varied depending in part, on the resolution of any available of hazard data. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290335 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING OF DATA RELATED TO UNDERWRITING OF INSURANCE - This invention relates generally to a computer system and method for integrating insurance policy underwriting. In one aspect it integrates the older legacy insurance policy generating systems to on line systems where users access the system through browsers. The computer system to perform the process of underwriting, rating, quoting, binding, and booking an insurance policy includes browsers, data bases, processors and a dispatcher that parses the information to select an insurance process. Suitable software programs review messages received from users to determine if certain messages are less than a prescribed limit. If a message is greater than the limit, then the message is parsed into a header information and one or more data fields whereby the header information is provided to a legacy processor and to policy generation software for further creation of policy related information and documentation. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290336 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING EVENT-RELATED INCENTIVES - Systems, methods, and devices for providing event-related incentives are provided. For example, a device for managing an electronic event ticket may include a processor configured to run an electronic ticket management application, a memory device configured to store data associated with the electronic ticket management application, an electronic display configured to display at least a portion of the data associated with the electronic ticket management application, and an input/output interface configured to receive an electronic ticket and the data associated with the electronic ticket for management by the electronic ticket management application. The electronic ticket management application may be configured to enable the electronic device to gain entry to an event and to obtain at least one other event-related benefit after the electronic ticket is received by the input/output interface. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290337 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SHARING DEMAND-RESPONSE DATA - A system and method for sharing demand-response data is provided. The system includes a communications interface and storage. The communications interface enables communication with transit operator systems of transit operators. The storage stores customer profiles from the transit operators for customers thereof, the customer profiles including customer data. Computer-executable instructions are executed by at least one processor of the computer system for synchronizing said customer profiles with said transit operator systems | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290338 | System and Method for Electronic Reservations, Booking, and Payments - The present invention is a system and method for electronic reservations providing the ability to send and confirm bookings directly into a point of sale (POS) terminal. The POS can be either or both internal or external to the system. Additionally, Affiliate programs are included in the system. The system allows both advertising and booking managers to control the advertising and booking of time specific opportunities and services and the user to pay for the services provided by the system. The system also handles the distribution of payments and benefits to the Affiliates, Service Providers and Customers. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290339 | COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR RESOURCE ALLOCATION - Systems and methods are described for processing queue data and for providing queue messaging over a network. An illustrative queuing system includes a first queue configured to hold resource requests from a plurality of users, and program code stored in computer readable memory configured to determine or estimate whether a resource requested by a first resource request submitted by a first requester will be available when the first resource request will be serviced, and to transmit a message over a network to the first requester indicating that the requested resource will not be available when the queued request is serviced if it is estimated or determined that the requested resource will not be available when the first request is serviced. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290340 | METHOD, SYSTEM, AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING CONCURRENT PURCHASE OF ANY COMBINATION OF TICKETS, CONCESSIONS AND MERCHANDIZE FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORTING EVENTS LEVERAGING WEB, MOBILE DEVICES AND SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS - The preferred embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method, system and apparatus to automate the sale and purchase of entertainment tickets along with concessions and/or merchandize, individually or as a package, in the electronic media comprising web, mobile apps and social media channels. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290341 | Method and Apparatus for Customer Direct On-Line Reservation of Rental Vehicles Including Deep-Linking - A method and apparatus are disclosed for expediting how rental vehicle reservations can be booked by employing deep-link uniform resource locators (URLs) that encode aspects of a rental vehicle reservation transaction to relieve users of a need to enter reservation data themselves when booking a rental vehicle reservation. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290342 | PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES - Product lifecycle management techniques are described. In one or more implementations, a request is received from a user for information relating to product lifecycle management of a product associated with an enterprise and a job function of the user within the enterprise is determined. Information that relates to the product is collected and displayed in a user interface using a format and terminology that corresponds to the determined job function. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290343 | Work Order Audit System - A system for auditing and analyzing work performed by other individuals is disclosed. Data is imported into the system, where the data represents one or more elements of work performed at one or more locations. This data is parsed out into individual items to be audited. These items, along with a number of questions with discrete answers are then transmitted by the system to one or more auditing technicians who audit the work performed by capturing one or more visual images. These visual images, along with answers to the questions are then transmitted back to the system. The system then saves the visual images and associated answers for archiving and generating reports. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290344 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING EMISSIONS OF GREENHOUSE GASES (GHG) IN THE PRODUCTION OF BIOPRODUCTS - A method for quickly and remotely GHG emissions without providing the sources of raw material production means to collect parameters is disclosed. The method uses a processing unit for executing instructions related to the determination of emissions, a database to store relevant parameters related to the production of raw materials, means of transmission of data to recover the parameters of the database and transmit these parameters to the processing unit, and a modeling module of GHG emissions connected to the processing unit and adapted to generate a level of GHG emissions. The method comprises considering a partial estimate for emissions in relation to any process and an add value for such global GHG emissions. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290345 | Smarter Business Intelligence Systems - An embodiment of the invention provides a method and system for analyzing a plurality of reports. More specifically, a change detection module predicts results of future reports based on past reports and identifies a first report that deviates from its predicted results. A dependency analysis module connected to the change detection module at least one report sharing a dependency with the first report by performing a dependency analysis and/or a usage analysis. The dependency analysis labels the first report and at least one second report as sharing a dependency if the second report deviates from its predicted results. The usage analysis labeling the first report and at least one report analyzed by an analyst as sharing a dependency if the report analyzed by the analyst is analyzed in response to the identification of the first report. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290346 | EXECUTING A BUSINESS PROCESS BY A STANDARD BUSINESS PROCESS ENGINE - Executing a business process can include providing a context data object including a payload data structure for storing a payload data and automatically splitting an annotated context data object into one or more utility data objects. Responsive to creating a second utility data object, a pre-processing task can be injected into the business process, the pre-processing task using a copy of a first mapping to read data from the predefined data structure instance and to store the read data as payload data in the payload data structure of the first utility data object. Responsive to creating a third utility object, a post-processing task can be injected into the business process. The post-processing task can use a copy of the second mapping to write the payload data of the first utility data object to elements of a predefined data structure instance. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290347 | PROGRESS MONITORING METHOD - The progress monitoring method is based on a critical path method (CPM) and conducts comparisons against multiple possible outcomes utilizing neural networks that classify planned progress at specified cut-off dates during a planning stage. The classifications are used to monitor and evaluate actual progress during the construction stage. The pattern recognition techniques generalize a virtual benchmark to represent planned progress based on multiple possible outcomes generated at each cut-off date. The generalization feature overcomes the problem of variation in the quality of data collected. Patterns are constructed to encode planned and actual progress at different cut-off dates. Patterns are readily manipulated within computer programs and substitute for photographs, which are not comprehensive in representing the work status of interior and hidden parts of the under-construction facilities. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290348 | ROUTING SERVICE REQUESTS BASED ON LOWEST ACTUAL COST WITHIN A FEDERATED VIRTUAL SERVICE CLOUD - A method for providing a virtual cloud service at the lowest actual cost can begin with an optimal transaction handler of a federated virtual service cloud maintaining a virtual resource pool of transactional units. Each transactional unit can represent a service application deployed to a cloud service provided by a cloud service provider having a usage-based service cost model that allows transactional units to be placed in an inactive state to suspend its operating expense. Operational metrics data for the cloud service providers can be continuously captured. In response to a service request, the transactional unit that meets fulfillment requirements of the service request and incurs a lowest actual cost can be determined based upon cost factors derived from the operational metrics data, the usage-based service cost model, and a current usage state of the virtual resource pool. The received service request can be routed to the determined transactional unit. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290349 | Real-Time Product Delivery During Customer-Driven Point Of Sale Retail Transactions - According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an approach is provided in which a product request is received that corresponds to a point-of-sale (POS) device, which is located at a merchant facility. In addition to identifying a product location corresponding to the product, an employee location of an employee in proximity to the product location is also identified. In turn, an electronic message is sent to the employee's mobile device that includes a request to transport the product from the product location to the POS device. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290350 | WORKFLOW SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSOR, AND MEHTOD AND PROGRAM FOR WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT - A workflow system is provided in which one person in charge efficiently processes each activity assigned to successive nodes. When a client request management program execution unit | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290351 | SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED SALES TEAM IDENTIFICATION AND/OR CREATION - A system identifies candidate persons of an enterprise team, such as a sales team. An example method includes providing a first user option to select one or more persons based on a first set of one or more criteria, yielding an indication of one or more candidate persons in response thereto; retrieving data for each of the one or more candidate persons, wherein the data includes information comprising a first metric and a second metric; and providing a second user option to chose one or more candidate persons for an enterprise team based on the one or more indications of one or more candidate persons and the metrics. The example method further includes graphically depicting one or more indications of one or more candidate persons based on the first metric and the second metric, which may include measurements of a person's versatility and sales performance history, respectively. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290352 | Systems and methods for efficient delivery of financial advisory services - System comprising a set of interconnected processors for managing the delivery of financial advisory services. In one embodiment, the system manages activities and workflows for a plurality of clients over a financial planning period. The financial planning period may comprise a calendar year, which may be divided into distinct seasonal portions, each with a predetermined, specific focus on a financial topic or grouping of topics. Workflow of the firm may be controlled by utilizing a plurality of processors to automate workflow handling. A first processor is used for individual client scheduling, a second processor aggregates the appointments, calculates utilization metrics based thereon, and a third processor generates reports, providing feedback to modulate input into the first processor. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290353 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC CHANNEL OPTIMIZER - Systems and methods are described for determining an allocation of resources among a plurality of channels. In one embodiment, a business objective is received as user input that corresponds to a participant in a market or business sector. A business segment corresponding to the market participant's products or interests, one or more products within the business segment, and a market channel of the plurality of channels is selected by the user, also as user input. Once these inputs have been established, an high performing allocation resources for achieving the business objective is generated for that market channel. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290354 | Pegging Resources to Shipments in a Pre-Existing Production Plan - In software systems for resource-constrained production planning (RCPP), it is often beneficial to determine a detailed association, or “pegging”, between the resources and the shipments that are enabled by those resources. The method implemented in the software systems is called “Pegging By Explosion” (PBE), for constructing a pegging of a production plan for an RCPP problem. The Pegging By Explosion technique takes a feasible production plan and reconstructs it, using its own specialized incremental allocation technique. A Pegging By Monitoring technique is applied to this reconstruction in order to produce the pegging. The reconstruction is accomplished by a specialized “explosion” technique related to the explosion technique of Material Requirements Planning (MRP). | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290355 | Identification of Customer Behavioral Characteristic Data - Systems and methods for identifying one or more customer behavioral characteristics based on data received from one or more sources is provided. The system and method include receiving customer data from a first source which may include a current access parameter and a plurality of previous access parameters. A pattern may be identified in the current access parameter and previous access parameters. The system and method may include receiving customer data from a second data source different from the first data source. A second current access parameter and second plurality of previous parameters may be received and a pattern may be identified between the second current access parameter and the second previous parameters. The identified patterns may be compiled to identify one or more customer behavioral characteristics. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290356 | METHOD FOR OPERATING AN ONLINE SERVICE FOR EVALUATING AND AWARDING WEBSITES - The present invention relates to a method for operating an online service for evaluating and awarding websites. The objective for implementing the technology is to provide a method for operating an online service for evaluating and awarding websites, which enables an evaluation service operator server to invite public participation for providing an award and to receive applications from a variety of newly constructed or renewed websites in each field, and which selects, on the basis of preset evaluation criteria, a website that provides excellent service, and awards the selected website, to thereby propose website construction technologies and technical changes and direction. Therefore, to achieve the above objective, the present invention comprises the following specific means: an evaluation service operator server including an automatic information-processing unit, a registration applying unit, an evaluation board selecting unit, a review and evaluation processing unit, an information and data searching unit and an evaluation report generating unit; a website evaluation application server which applies and registers websites to be evaluated to the evaluation service operator server; and a user server which provides review and evaluation information on the applied websites. In addition, the objective of the present invention is accomplished by using the above-described system, and performing an evaluation registration applying step, a registration-type selecting step, an evaluation board selecting step, a review and evaluation preparing step, a review and evaluating step, a ranking processing step, a winner selecting step, and an award result information processing step. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290357 | IDENTIFYING INDUSTRY SEGMENTS WITH HIGHEST POTENTIAL FOR NEW CUSTOMERS OR NEW SPENDING FOR CURRENT CUSTOMERS - A method and system are used to identify industry segments with highest potential for new customers or new spending for current customers. This includes receiving data, segregated into each of a plurality of industries, relating to a number of small businesses, cost of goods sold for each of the small businesses, and percentage of cost of goods sold that is spent on raw materials and inventory for each of the small businesses. Capturing data, segregated into each of the plurality of industries, relating to average amount charged per current card member, percentage of the current card members charging the raw materials and the inventory, percentage of card member penetration, and total estimated charging for the current card members. Determining which of the plurality of industries or segments are available for a highest potential for new card members. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290358 | Loyalty Measurement - A computer-implemented system measures loyalty of one partner to another partner in a relationship, such as the loyalty of a company's customer to the company. The first partner's loyalty is measured by obtaining information from the partner, such as through answers to survey questions, about the partner's perception of the climate of the relationship. A loyalty index function may be applied to scores associated with the answers to produce a single loyalty index representing the first partner's loyalty to the other partner. The system may recommend that the second partner change their practices to increase the first partner's loyalty index. For example, the system may recommend that the second partner improve practices related to “satisfier” dimensions of the relationship, and/or that the second partner improve practices which empirical data have demonstrated to correlate most strongly with increased loyalty. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290359 | PREDICTING SUCCESS OF A PROPOSED PROJECT - A computer implemented method, system, and/or computer program product predicts a success of a currently proposed project. Responsive answers to a survey questionnaire for a currently proposed project are received and used to create a predicted success score for the currently proposed project, based on a pattern of responsive answers to a predetermined combination of questions from the survey questionnaire. The predicted success score for the currently proposed project is compared with and matched to actual success scores from prior projects. If the percentage of prior projects that retained their success scores through completion exceeds a predetermined accuracy threshold, then the currently proposed project is approved for implementation. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290360 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MAPPING LOCATIONS OF WIRELESS TRANSMITTERS FOR USE IN GATHERING MARKET RESEARCH DATA - Methods and systems are provided for mapping locations of wireless transmitters for use in gathering market research data. A layout map includes location data representing a plurality of locations within a market research area. Transmitter data representing respective ones of the wireless transmitters is provided and the transmitter data is associated with the location data. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290361 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EFFICIENTLY ESTIMATING A RELIABLE PRICE ELASTICITY OF DEMAND USING THE JOINT DEMAND MODEL - The present invention relates to a system and method for efficiently estimating the sensitivity, or elasticity, of customer demand to changes in price in a business-to-business market environment. More particularly, this method relies on a parametric demand model, and a corresponding offer model which is referred to as the Joint Demand Model. This model is used to estimate the elasticity of market segments using win-only transactional data. In addition, this invention provides a method for efficiently calculating the estimation error of the estimated elasticity, and uses such estimation error in a weighting scheme based on a hierarchical model in order to produce a reliable estimate of elasticity. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290362 | METHOD OF MEASUREMENT OF EMISSIONS OF GREENHOUSE GAS INDUSTRY RELATED BIOPRODUCTS - The method hereby described allows the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions produced during feedstock production, processing thereof in said transport byproduct and byproduct from different sources of material, considering the transportation of said raw material taken as fountain. The method comprises capturing, processing and manipulating different parameters and data regarding GHG emissions associated with each task needed to produce and distribute the byproduct and the provision of that byproduct and/or source material that will be transformed into the bioproduct, with in order to generate an overall value of greenhouse gas emissions. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290363 | METHOD OF MONITORING SUSTAINABILITY OF BIOPRODUCTS - Described herein is a method of monitoring the origin and composition of bioproducts such as biofuels that are the result of mixing more than one type of biofuel, thereby ensuring that a particular bioproduct presents a certain amount of a particular type of each bioproduct with corresponding emissions related data and sustainability. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290364 | SCORING SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE - A method includes receiving a supplier scoring tree having a first node including a first function of supplier performance connected via a first link to a second node operative to receive a first value associated with a metric of the supplier performance, receiving the first value, performing the first function of the first node, outputting a result of the function to a display, and displaying the result value to a user for analysis of supplier performance by the user. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290365 | SYSTEM FOR SELECTING EMPLOYMENT CANDIDATES - A computer system receives data relating to a plurality of persons. The persons are employed in the same occupation. A portion of the persons is top performers in the occupation, and a portion of the persons is bottom performers in the occupation. The data relates to personal traits and performance traits. The data is input into a software-based neural network, and the neural network generates models for the personal traits as a function of the personal traits and the performance traits of the top performers. The neural network further generates a performance model, which is made up of the models. The performance model is configured to determine that a particular person will likely be a top performer in the occupation. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290366 | OPTIMIZATION OF PURCHASE BENEFITS BY USE OF MULTIPLE FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS - Systems and methods for optimization of purchase benefits by use of multiple financial accounts are disclosed. According to an aspect, a method includes determining a category among multiple categories for each purchase item of multiple purchase items. The method may include determining reward program benefits associated with financial accounts. Further, the method may include associating each purchase item with one of the financial accounts based on the category of the purchase item and the reward program benefits. A purchase item may be associated with the financial account that provides the greatest monetary benefit in exchange for purchase of the purchase item. The method may also include conducting a plurality of purchase transactions for purchasing the purchase items. Each purchase transaction may use a different one of the financial accounts to purchase the purchase item(s) associated with the financial account. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290367 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING A SAVINGS GOAL - Example embodiments describe a method and a system to control activities of a financial account. In example embodiments, a secondary account is linked to a primary account. Within the secondary account, a spending account and a savings account are established. A savings goal in the savings account of the secondary account that enables a portion of the savings account of the secondary account to be set aside is created. The savings goal includes a goal amount. An automatic purchase of a product associated with the savings goal upon the goal amount being met may be allowed. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290368 | POINT-OF-SALE SYSTEM USING PREPAID/GIFT CARD NETWORK - A method and an apparatus for operating a gift card network are disclosed. The system receives registration data from first and second merchants, each having one or more points of sale, and processes the registration data to establish membership of the merchants in a gift card network. The system then receives card issuance data from the first merchant, the card issuance data reflecting at least a unique serial number and a monetary value associated with a network gift card issued by the first merchant. The network gift card is redeemable at the first merchant or at other merchants which have established membership in the gift card network. When a transaction occurs in which the card issued by the first merchant is used at the second merchant, transaction data is received from the second merchant, the transaction data indicating that at least a portion of the monetary value of the network gift card has been redeemed at the second merchant. In response, the system applies a credit to the first merchant, the credit being equal to or derived from the value that has been redeemed at the second merchant. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290369 | REFERENDUM ENHANCED SUBSCRIPTION BASED APPLICATION SYSTEM - The present invention is directed toward a system and method for conducting a referendum. The system comprises a subscription based application having a content and a referendum having at least one attribute wherein the at least one attribute is relevant to the content and the referendum is presented in close proximity to the content within the subscription based application. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290370 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING BRAND LOYALTY - A system for tracking brand interactions is provided. The system includes a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory. The at least processor is configured to receive information defining a plurality of brand interactions, receive a first indication of a first interaction defined within the plurality of brand interactions from a first source system, receive a second indication of a second interaction defined within the plurality of brand interactions from a second source system different from the first source system, and record an association between the brand, the first interaction, the second interaction and the brand enthusiast. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290371 | RESPONSE ATTRIBUTION VALUATION - A computer-implemented method is described for determining a response attribution value that represents a credit assignment to a communication, for an associated response received from a recipient during a marketing campaign. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290372 | DIGITAL COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A system for targeting contextually relevant digital communications based on past, current, or forecasted weather conditions is disclosed. The system receives passive location information from a viewer and a real-time feed of weather information from a weather database. The disclosed system assesses the weather condition in a given location and then manages the display and rotation of advertisements with both direct and indirect weather dependencies. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290373 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MARKETING-BASED DYNAMIC ATTRIBUTION - A computer implemented method and apparatus for determining marketing-based attribution that may be used for targeted and effective acquisition of customers when multiple marketing interactions are employed to target the consumers attention. The method and apparatus provide also provides a mechanism for appropriately rewarding the marketing partners in customer acquisition. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290374 | Social Marketplace Process and Architecture - A method and system are disclosed for managing social commerce within a social media environment. A merchant implements a social commerce storefront on behalf of an affiliate, who selects a subset of available products contained in a master catalog. The selected products are then displayed as purchasable products within the affiliate's social commerce storefront. Users of various social media environments are then referred by the affiliate to the social commerce storefront, where they purchase the merchant's products. In turn, the affiliate receives a portion of each sale as compensation for referring the user. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290375 | Multi-Consumer Classification and Automated Rewards-Based System - Approaches for reward based system for multiple consumers organized as a group. Group data and incentive data are stored. Group data identifies a group of users that have entered into an agreement to negotiate, as a single entity, with a seller for terms of a loyalty rewards program. Incentive data identifies a negotiated loyalty rewards program between the group and the seller. User profile data that identifies that the payment instrument is associated with the particular user may also be stored. Upon receiving payment data from a payment processor associated with a payment instrument of a particular user of the group, whether the particular user is entitled to receive a particular reward based upon (a) a purchase of the particular user identified in the payment data and (b) the negotiated loyalty rewards program is determined. The payment instrument may be credited with a monetary sum corresponding to the particular reward. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290376 | PROCESSING ELECTRONIC PAYMENT INVOLVING MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICE - Mobile payments and processing data related to electronic transactions. A near field communication connection is established between a mobile communication device of a consumer that serves as a mobile wallet and an electronic payment device of a merchant. Authorization data is shared between the mobile communication device and the electronic payment device without providing electronic payment instrument (e.g. credit card) data to the merchant. Authorization data is transmitted from the mobile communication device to a cloud computer or resource that serves as a cloud wallet and hosts respective data of respective electronic payment instruments of respective consumers, and from the electronic payment device a payment processor computer. The payment processor computer presents the authorization data to the cloud wallet, and in response, the cloud wallet transmits the credit card data to the payment processor computer, which processes the transaction. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290377 | PROVIDING SUBSET OF PRODUCTS - A product adaptor of a server receives a request from an interface application associated with the product adaptor. The request includes a request for a subset of all available products that are offered by a communication service provider. The subset of the products includes particular products that a user is permitted to purchase. The product adaptor determining whether a cache of the product adaptor stores a response that satisfies the request based on information in the request. The response includes information about the subset of the products. The product adaptor retrieves the response from the cache of the product adaptor when the cache of the product adaptor stores the response. The product adaptor further transmits the information about the subset of the products to the interface application. The interface application utilizes the information about the subset of the products to offer one or more of the particular products to the user. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290378 | PROMOTION PROCESSOR AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A data processing system employs a unique coded promotional vehicle to attract customers into retail establishments for the purchase of discounted goods. The promotional vehicle includes coupon styled graphics integrated with a code to allow data tracking by the store pursuant to purchases by that customer. The promotional vehicle is easier and less costly to distribute compared to the prior art, avoids cutting of coupons, and post purchase redemptions. The system further allows more targeted discounting at a lower cost, and substantially reducing fraud by eliminating post purchase coupon processing and redemption. Additionally, the system provides for selective deactivation of the code for each discount used by redemption of the vehicle without deactivating the code for the discounts not used so that the code may remain selectively active for future use. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290379 | System and method for facilitating the onboarding of prospective payersto an electronic payment system. - A system for marketing, to a prospective payer, a system which automates payments to enrolled vendors. The system comprises a vendor history file received from the prospective payer which associates identifying attributes and annual spend value with each target vendor to which the payer makes payments. Marketing instructions include, for each target vendor, determining a rebate potential by: i) using the identifying attributes to determine a industry code to associate with the target vendor; ii) using the industry code to look up a sensitivity rating; iii) calculating a transaction fee rate as a function of the sensitivity rating; and iv) calculating rebate potential as the product of the spend value multiplied by the transaction fee rate. An onboard report includes identification of the prospective payer and in association with the identification of the prospective payer, the rebate potential. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290380 | REWARD TRAVEL MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE AND METHODS - There is disclosed a system, including a computer system, for managing travel points. In one embodiment, the system includes a single graphical user interface provided by a website, the single graphical user interface configured with a plurality of different rewards programs. The system includes a query tool configured to allow searching for award instance based on one of miles and points. The system includes a booking tool configured to facilitate online booking for at least one of regular fares and award redemptions. The system also includes software that determines relevant loyalty program bonus details, credit card offers, or program membership offers to feature in the search results. Other embodiments are also disclosed. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290381 | Electronic payment system with variable transaction fee and variable rebate capabilities - A system for making payments from each payer of a community of payers to each supplier of a community of suppliers assesses a variable transaction fee to each supplier. The system comprises a database which associates, for each payer, identification of a group of transaction rates to apply to payments made by the payer. Associated with each transaction rate is a subgroup of suppliers to which the transaction rate applies on payments made by the payer. In response to receiving a payment instruction, a payment application generates a credit transaction to the account of the supplier in the amount of the payment less a transaction fee. The transaction fee is the amount of the first payment multiplied by the transaction rate, of the group of transaction rates associated with the payer, that associates with the subgroup of suppliers to which the first supplier is associated. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290382 | Electronic payment system with payer controlled transaction fees and variable rebate capabilities - A system makes payments from each payer of a community of payers to each vendor of a community of vendors, assesses a variable transaction fee to each vendor, and provides a variable rebate to each payer. The transaction fee is “variable” because it may be varied: i) amongst vendors (the same payer may use different fee rates for different vendors); and ii) amongst payers (the same vendor may be subjected to different rates, based on the payer making the payment). The variable rebate is based on the total transaction fee applicable to payments made by the payer during a period of time. The rebate may be the sum of: i) the product of the total transaction fee multiplied by a base rebate percentage; and ii) the product of that portion of the total transaction fee in excess of an accelerator threshold multiplied by an accelerated rebate percentage. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290383 | Systems and Methods to Advertise a Physical Business Location with Digital Location-Based Coupons - Methods and systems that record the location of a user and transmit targeted content to a user based upon their current and past location information. A network is configured to include a server programmed with a database of targeted content, a database of location information, a database of user information, a database searching algorithm, and a wireless communication system capable of communicating with the user's mobile device. The location of the mobile device is ascertained and recorded. The location information is analyzed to determine the routes taken by the user, businesses visited by the user, and other behaviors of the user. Targeted content is sent to the mobile device of the user and whether the user visits the physical locations associated with the targeted content is monitored. Once it is verified that the user has visited the physical location, then any associated promotional offers may be authorized. Payment systems, phone exchange systems, and other features may also be integrated to provide detailed conversion tracking to producers of targeted content and business owners. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290384 | RESIDUAL FUNDRAISING AND ADVERTISING SYSTEM - A benefit card may be presented to a retailer to cause a portion of the proceeds be directed to a beneficiary selected by the cardholder. The benefit card may be used to direct advertisements or coupons to cardholders. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290385 | RESPONSE ATTRIBUTION VALUATION - A computer-implemented method is described for determining a response attribution value that represents a credit assignment to a communication, for an associated response received from a recipient during a marketing campaign. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290386 | COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING KEYWORD BIDDING PRICES - A computer-implemented method and system for managing keyword bidding prices are disclosed. An example system embodiment includes an automatic keyword bidding module, operably coupled with a processor and a memory, operable to determine a revenue per click value associated with a keyword, obtain bidding information associated with the keyword, obtain automatic bid controls associated with the keyword, and automatically generate a bid value for the keyword based on the revenue per click value, the bidding information, and the automatic bid controls. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290387 | System and Method of Advertising for Objects Displayed on a Webpage - A method of advertising for objects displayed on a webpage of a website hosted by a web server accessible over a network, the method comprising electronically associating one or more objects displayed in an element on the webpage with respective keywords identifying the one or more objects, retrieving advertising data for the one or more objects based on the respective keywords from at least one data store in data communication with the web server, and outputting the advertising data with the one or more objects for display with the element on the webpage. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290388 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMPLETING AN ONLINE TRANSACTION REQUEST ON A NETWORK DEVICE - A method for completing an online transaction request on a network device is disclosed. The method includes collecting transaction information and providing a visible transaction window interface on a network device. The method also includes providing transaction information in the visible transaction window interface. The method further includes initiating an online transaction request from the visible transaction window interface and determining whether the request was successful. The method also includes providing notice as to the results of the transaction request. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290389 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MATCHING PURCHASE TRANSACTION HISTORY TO REAL-TIME LOCATION INFORMATION - Embodiments are described for a system and method for providing a list of current offers from retailers to a user operating a mobile client device. Aspects of the method comprise analyzing a transaction history of the user to identify a vendor who has transacted with the user; determining a present geographic location of the user based on a location of the mobile client device; determining a location of the vendor proximate the user based on the transaction history and the present geographic location of the user; searching for a current promotion offered by the vendor; and facilitating the serving of the current promotion to the user through the mobile client device. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290390 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TAKE-OUT ORDER ANALYTICS - Systems and methods for take-out order management and analysis. In an embodiment, for each of a plurality of restaurants, an interactive menu associated with the restaurant is provided to a plurality of users, a plurality of orders are received from the plurality of users, and the plurality of orders are sent to the restaurant. Order information related to the plurality of orders and the plurality of users is stored in at least one database, and analyzed. | 2012-11-15 |
| 20120290391 | CLIENT AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING SELECTABLE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES LISTS TO USERS OF MOBILE DEVICES - A system for mobile devices that facilitates the creation and dissemination of interactive media to a plurality of mobile devices and PCs/laptops that comprise a client component. The interactive media may comprise of a list of products and services that are for sale and the user can select one or more for purchase. It may also comprise a list of real estate entries with associated user interest solicitation and the user can indicate his interest in one or more of the entries. The server can help the user make an appointment to view the corresponding real estate properties. | 2012-11-15 |
