50th week of 2012 patent applcation highlights part 52 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20120316862 | AUGMENTING STATISTICAL MACHINE TRANSLATION WITH LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE - A computer-implemented technique can include receiving, at a computing system including one or more processors, a translation model including a plurality of aligned pairs of phrases in first and second languages. The technique can include determining, at the computing system, one or more features for each of the plurality of pairs of phrases based on linguistic differences between the first and second languages to obtain a plurality of sets of features. The technique can include associating, at the computing system, the plurality of sets of features with the plurality of pairs of phrases, respectively, to obtain a modified translation model. The technique can also include performing, at the computing system, statistical machine translation from the first language to the second language using the modified translation model. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316863 | METHOD, PROGRAM AND SYSTEM FOR FINDING CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN TERMS - A computer implemented method, system, and product for finding correspondence between terms in two different languages. The method includes the steps of: creating a technical term set and a general term set for each of i) a first language and ii) a second language, creating two bipartite graphs, where each graph corresponds to one of the two languages, and connects the technical term set and general term set of each language, respectively, with weighted links based on corpus information, creating a third bipartite graph by creating weighted links between general terms in the first language and general terms in the second language by using a translation dictionary, creating an association matrix M corresponding to the three bipartite graphs, calculating a similarity matrix Q by calculation of an inverse matrix, and outputting correspondence between the technical term sets of the first and second language on basis of the similarity matrix. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316864 | READING ORDER DETERMINATION APPARATUS, METHOD, AND PROGRAM FOR DETERMINING READING ORDER OF CHARACTERS - A method and apparatus for determining a reading order of characters The method includes preparing a list of character information, which is character information extracted from image data by character recognition processing and preparing a list of line information, which is made up of a line box surrounding a set of characters which are continuously aligned in the same direction in image data and an alignment direction of characters in the line box. In response to a request for adding character information to the list of character information, extracting a line box containing a character region of the character to be added, obtaining all character information having the character region contained in the concerned line box from the list of character information and rearranging according to the position with respect to the alignment direction of characters corresponding to the line box to determine a new reading order of characters. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316865 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND PROGRAM - An information processing apparatus performs topic analysis on one or more collected documents to calculate a probability indicating the degree of fitness of each sentence constituting the collected document for each item of a local topic, performs linguistic analysis on the collected document to detect a unique expression pattern in each item of the local topic, sets topic usefulness for each sentence constituting the collected document on the basis of evaluation of the sentence by an evaluator, sets a total evaluation value with respect to each item of the local topic on the basis of the topic analysis result and the topic usefulness, selects an item of the local topic on the basis of the total evaluation values, and extracts an appropriate sentence for a unique expression pattern in the selected item of the local topic from the collected document as a profound text candidate. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316866 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF PROVIDING A SPOKEN DIALOG INTERFACE TO A WEBSITE - Disclosed is a system and method for training a spoken dialog service component from website data. Spoken dialog service components typically include an automatic speech recognition module, a language understanding module, a dialog management module, a language generation module and a text-to-speech module. The method includes converting data from a structured database associated with a website to a structured text data set and a structured task knowledge base, extracting linguistic items from the structured database, and training a spoken dialog service component using at least one of the structured text data, the structured task knowledge base, or the linguistic items. The system includes modules configured to implement the method. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316867 | COMPUTER SYSTEM WITH SECOND TRANSLATOR FOR VEHICLE PARTS - Described are computer-based methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for automation of auditing claims. Data indicative of an insurance company name is received, the data comprising one or more words. The data is processed through one or more processing steps to generate processed data comprising one or more processed words. One or more candidate word strings are selected based on the one or more processed words. Matching information is associated with each of the one or more candidate word strings. Analysis information is generated for each of the one or more candidate word strings based on the associated matching information. An insurance company identifier is associated with received data based on the analysis information and one or more matching rules. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316868 | Methods And Systems For Changing A Communication Quality Of A Communication Session Based On A Meaning Of Speech Data - Methods and systems are described for changing a communication quality of a communication session based on a meaning of speech data. Speech data exchanged between clients participating in a communication session is parsed. A meaning of the parsed speech data is determined to determine a communication quality of the communication session. An action is performed to change the communication quality of the communication session based on the meaning of the parsed speech data. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316869 | GENERATING A MASKING SIGNAL ON AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE - An electronic device for generating a masking signal is described. The electronic device includes a plurality of microphones and a speaker. The electronic device also includes a processor and executable instructions stored in memory that is in electronic communication with the processor. The electronic device obtains a plurality of audio signals from the plurality of microphones. The electronic device also obtains an ambience signal based on the plurality of audio signals. The electronic device further determines an ambience feature based on the ambience signal. Additionally, the electronic device obtains a voice signal based on the plurality of audio signals. The electronic device also determines a voice feature based on the voice signal. The electronic device additionally generates a masking signal based on the voice feature and the ambience feature. The electronic device further outputs the masking signal using the speaker. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316870 | COMMUNICATION DEVICE WITH SPEECH RECOGNITION AND METHOD THEREOF - A communication unit, a voice input unit, a storage unit, and a processor are included in a communication device. The communication unit enables communication between the device and other communication devices. The voice input unit receives voice signals, which may correspond to one stored speech command and an related operation. The processor detects a match, and executes the desired operation. A related communication method is also provided. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316871 | Speech Recognition Using Loosely Coupled Components - An automatic speech recognition system includes an audio capture component, a speech recognition processing component, and a result processing component which are distributed among two or more logical devices and/or two or more physical devices. In particular, the audio capture component may be located on a different logical device and/or physical device from the result processing component. For example, the audio capture component may be on a computer connected to a microphone into which a user speaks, while the result processing component may be on a terminal server which receives speech recognition results from a speech recognition processing server. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316872 | ADAPTIVE ACTIVE NOISE CANCELING FOR HANDSET - Embodiments of the present invention provide an adaptive noise canceling system. The adaptive noise canceling system may be used in a handset to cancel background noise by generating an anti-noise signal. The adaptive noise canceling system may include first input to receive a first signal from a feedforward microphone; a second input to receive a second signal from an error microphone; a controller coupled to the inputs, the controller configured to adaptively generate an anti-noise signal according to the received signals, wherein the controller derives a profile of the anti-noise signal from the first signal and derives a magnitude of the anti-noise signal from both first and second signal; and an output to transmit the anti-noise signal to a speaker. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316873 | METHOD OF PROVIDING INFORMATION AND MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATION TERMINAL THEREOF - A method of providing information of a mobile communication terminal, and a mobile communication terminal for performing the method, are provided. The method includes determining whether a search command event has been generated during a call with a counterpart terminal, converting a voice signal received from a microphone into a text when the generation of search command event is determined to have been generated, identifying information matching the text in a memory, and sending the information to the counterpart terminal. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316874 | RADIOLOGY VERIFICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system and method of radiology verification is provided. The verification may be implemented as a standalone software utility, as part of a radiology imaging graphical user interface, or within a more complex computing system configured for generating radiology reports. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316875 | HOSTED SPEECH HANDLING - Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for speech signal handling. Speech handling according to one embodiment of the present invention can be performed via a hosted architecture. Electrical signal representing human speech can be analyzed with an Automatic Speech Recognizer (ASR) hosted on a different server from a media server or other server hosting a service utilizing speech input. Neither server need be located at the same location as the user. The spoken sounds can be accepted as input to and handled with a media server which identifies parts of the electrical signal that contain a representation of speech. This architecture can serve any user who has a web-browser and Internet access, either on a PC, PDA, cell phone, tablet, or any other computing device. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316876 | Display Device, Method for Thereof and Voice Recognition System - A display system, a display device, a control method for the display device, and a voice recognition system are disclosed. A display device according to one embodiment of the present invention can carry out voice recognition upon a voice received from at least one speaker through at least one voice input device; and display the voice recognition result on the display unit. Accordingly, effective voice recognition is made possible for TV environments where various constraints exist differently from mobile terminal environments. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316877 | DYNAMICALLY ADDING PERSONALIZATION FEATURES TO LANGUAGE MODELS FOR VOICE SEARCH - A dynamic exponential, feature-based, language model is continually adjusted per utterance by a user, based on the user's usage history. This adjustment of the model is done incrementally per user, over a large number of users, each with a unique history. The user history can include previously recognized utterances, text queries, and other user inputs. The history data for a user is processed to derive features. These features are then added into the language model dynamically for that user. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316878 | VOICE RECOGNITION GRAMMAR SELECTION BASED ON CONTEXT - The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes receiving geographical information derived from a non-verbal user action associated with a first computing device. The non-verbal user action implies an interest of a user in a geographic location. The method also includes identifying a grammar associated with the geographic location using the derived geographical information and outputting a grammar indicator for use in selecting the identified grammar for voice recognition processing of vocal input from the user. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316879 | SYSTEM FOR DETECTING SPEECH INTERVAL AND RECOGNIZING CONTINOUS SPEECH IN A NOISY ENVIRONMENT THROUGH REAL-TIME RECOGNITION OF CALL COMMANDS - A continuous speech recognition system to recognize continuous speech smoothly in a noisy environment. The system selects call commands, configures a minimum recognition network in token, which consists of the call commands and mute intervals including noises, recognizes the inputted speech continuously in real time, analyzes the reliability of speech recognition continuously and recognizes the continuous speech from a speaker. When a speaker delivers a call command, the system for detecting the speech interval and recognizing continuous speech in a noisy environment through the real-time recognition of call commands measures the reliability of the speech after recognizing the call command, and recognizes the speech from the speaker by transferring the speech interval following the call command to a continuous speech-recognition engine at the moment when the system recognizes the call command. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316880 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, AND PROGRAM - An information processing apparatus, information processing method, and computer readable non-transitory storage medium for analyzing words reflecting information that is not explicitly recognized verbally. An information processing method includes the steps of: extracting speech data and sound data used for recognizing phonemes included in the speech data as words; identifying a section surrounded by pauses within a speech spectrum of the speech data; performing sound analysis on the identified section to identify a word in the section; generating prosodic feature values for the words; acquiring frequencies of occurrence of the word within the speech data; calculating a degree of fluctuation within the speech data for the prosodic feature values of high frequency words where the high frequency words are any words whose frequency of occurrence meets a threshold; and determining a key phrase based on the degree of fluctuation. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316881 | SPEECH SYNTHESIZER, SPEECH SYNTHESIS METHOD, AND SPEECH SYNTHESIS PROGRAM - A normalized spectrum storage unit | 2012-12-13 |
20120316882 | SYSTEM FOR GENERATING CAPTIONS FOR LIVE VIDEO BROADCASTS - An adaptive workflow system can be used to implement captioning projects, such as projects for creating captions or subtitles for live and non-live broadcasts. Workers can repeat words spoken during a broadcast program or other program into a voice recognition system, which outputs text that may be used as captions or subtitles. The process of workers repeating these words to create such text can be referred to as respeaking. Respeaking can be used as an effective alternative to more expensive and hard-to-find stenographers for generating captions and subtitles. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316883 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING A PERSONAL SHG PROFILE BY VOICE ANALYSIS - According to one embodiment of the present invention a computerized voice-analysis device for determining an S, H, G profile is provided (as described herein, such an S, H, G profile relates to the strengths (e.g., relative strengths) of three human instinctive drives). Of note, the present invention may be used for one or more of the following: analyzing a previously recorded voice sample; real-time analysis of voice as it is being spoken; combination voice analysis—that is, a combination of: (a) previously recorded and/or real-time voice; and (b) answers to a questionnaire. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316884 | Wheelchair System Having Voice Activated Menu Navigation And Auditory Feedback - A personal mobility vehicle, such as a wheelchair system, includes an input audio transducer having an output coupled to a speech recognition system and an output audio transducer having an input coupled to a speech synthesis system. The wheelchair system further includes a control unit having a data processor and a memory. The data processor is coupled to the speech recognition system and to the speech synthesis system and is operable in response to a recognized utterance made by a user to present the user with a menu containing wheelchair system functions. The data processor is further configured in response to at least one further recognized utterance made by the user to select from the menu at least one wheelchair system function, to activate the selected function and to provide audible feedback to the user via the speech synthesis system. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316885 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING A SIGNAL - A method and apparatus for encoding a signal is provided herein. During operation a wideband signal that is to be encoded enters a filter bank. A highband signal and a lowband signal are output from the filter bank. Each signal is separately encoded. During the production of the highband signal, a downmixing operation is implemented after preprocessing, and prior to decimating. The downmixing operation greatly reduces system complexity. In fact, it will be observed that the highest sample rate in the prior-art implementation is 64 kHz whereas the sample rate in the system described above remains at 32 kHz or below. This represents a significant complexity saving, as do the reduced number of processing blocks. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316886 | SPARSE CODING USING OBJECT EXTTRACTION - The invention relates to a method and apparatus for efficient encoding of media signals including audio. A 2d sparse representation, or spikegram, of one frame of a digitized audio signal is generated using an overcomplete set of kernels. The spikegram is then mapped to a non-negative matrix, which is decomposed into a 3D component matrix containing hidden components and a 3D weight matrix using a two-dimensional non-negative matrix factorization. Elements of the 3D component and weight matrices are then adaptively quantized using integer programming to determine an optimal quantization scheme, and the quantized values are the optionally encoded using an arithmetic coder. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316887 | METHOD, APPARATUS, AND MEDIUM FOR BANDWIDTH EXTENSION ENCODING AND DECODING - Provided are a method, apparatus, and medium for encoding/decoding a high frequency band signal by using a low frequency band signal corresponding to an audio signal or a speech signal. Accordingly, since the high frequency band signal is encoded and decoded by using the low frequency band signal, encoding and decoding can be carried out with a small data size while avoiding deterioration of sound quality. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316888 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ISSUING A NEWS RELEASE WHILE FILING AN SEC FILING - An apparatus and method provide for simultaneous issuance of a news release with the submission and filing of an SEC EDGAR filing. A news release disclosing an event related to an organization and containing a material disclosure is generated. Once the news release is generated, the issuance of the news release to a news release distribution source is scheduled. A description of contents of the news release to be placed in an EDGAR filing are then generated and the EDGAR filing is filed while issuing the news release to the news release distribution source. The apparatus and method offer truly simultaneous news release distribution at the same time that an EDGAR filing is made. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316889 | SCORING OF CROWD-COMPUTING INPUTS - Method, system, and computer program product are provided for scoring of crowd-computing inputs. A group of data is provided to crowd-computing participants and the participants are requested to provide candidate members or the group of data. The computer-implemented method performed includes: receiving an input by a participant, wherein the input is a candidate member; counting multiple inputs of the same candidate member by participants; validating a candidate member; rewarding the participants inputting the candidate member, with a higher reward for participants who input the candidate member earlier than other participants; and supplying the rewards to participants once the candidate member has been validated. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316890 | AUTOMATED CONFIGURATION OF A MEDICAL PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM USING GLOBAL CONTENT - Methods and apparatus for facilitating an automated configuration of a component of a practice management system for use by a healthcare provider associated with a medical practice. An initial configuration of the component is generated based, at least in part, on global content stored by the practice management system. A self-service implementation tool provided by the practice management system enables a user at the medical practice to refine the initial configuration via a user interface that presents the user with a plurality of tasks to perform. By allowing providers to actively participate in the configuration process by completing assigned tasks via the user interface, the process of configuring a component of the practice management system is simplified compared to conventional practice management systems, which often require an administrator of the practice management system to create a customized solution for each provider or medical practice from scratch. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316891 | COHORT DRIVEN SELECTION OF A COURSE OF MEDICAL TREATMENT - A computer implemented method, system, and/or computer program product create a recommended course of medical treatment of a current patient. A current medical diagnosis of a medical condition being suffered by the current patient is used to identify a cohort of other persons who have been diagnosed with the same medical condition as that suffered by the current patient. Past medical treatment procedures used on members of the cohort are sorted according to how closely these medical treatments matched desired results of the current patient and constraints for the current patient. The sorted medical treatment sets are then presented as a recommended course of treatment to a health care provider for the current patient. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316892 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF BED DATA AGGREGATION, NORMALIZATION AND COMMUNICATION TO THIRD PARTIES - A system, machine readable medium, or method of bed data aggregation, normalization, and communication to third parties is provided. A plurality of hospital beds of different bed types communicates bed data to the system and the system normalizes the data for subsequent transmission. End users select a communication protocol from among a plurality of available communication protocols in which the normalized bed data is to be transmitted to end user computer devices. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316893 | HEALTH INSURANCE CARD VERIFICATION SYSTEM AND HEALTH INSURANCE CARD VERIFICATION METHOD - For a revisit patient, a first terminal reads a patient identification card. The first terminal reads a health insurance card if it is required, and compares health insurance card data with reference data. If there is a difference, the first terminal prompts the user to go to a window for verification of the health insurance card. A second terminal displays a different part of the health insurance card data that is different from the reference data, and receives an input of data corresponding to the different part. The data input via the second terminal is registered in health insurance card database. A third terminal obtains a patient list and displays the list so that the patient is visually different from another patient. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316894 | METHODS FOR DELIVERING A DRUG TO A PATIENT WHILE RESTRICTING ACCESS TO THE DRUG BY PATIENTS FOR WHOM THE DRUG MAY BE CONTRAINDICATED - Methods for delivering a drug to a patients in need of the drug, while restricting access to the drug by patients for whom the drug may be contraindicated are disclosed. The methods are of the type in which prescriptions for the drug are filled by a pharmacy only after a computer readable storage medium has been consulted to retrieve a prescription approval code. Embodiments are provided wherein the patients are assigned to risk groups based upon the risk that taking the drug will lead to an adverse side effect, and certain additional information, such as periodic surveys and diagnostic tests probative of the ongoing risk of the side effect developing are obtained before prescriptions for the drug are approved. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316895 | Generating Cross-Channel Medical Data - A computer-implemented includes receiving, by one or more computers through one or more contributing channels, a plurality of items of medical data; generating, for the received medical data, one or more tags comprising metadata indicative of one or more attributes of the received medical data; and generating, at least partly based on the one or more tags, a correlation between at least a first item of medical data from the plurality and a second, different item of medical data from the plurality. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316896 | PERSONAL ADVISOR SYSTEM USING DATA-CAPABLE BAND - A personal advisor system using a data-capable band including a personal advisor distributed application comprising a feedback engine configured to process user activity data from a source device, the source device comprising at least one data-capable band; a recommendation module configured to generate a wellness recommendation using the user activity data; a personal offer module configured to generate a personal wellness offer using the user activity data; and a notification module configured to generate a feedback notification comprising one or more of the wellness recommendation and the personal wellness offer. The feedback engine is operable to communicate the feedback notification to the source device, if the source device is active, or to a non-source device upon request from the non-source device. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316897 | Method and Apparatus for Monitoring Medication Adherence - A method and apparatus for monitoring medication adherence. The method includes the steps of determining a present adherence state of a patient, receiving video analysis information reporting on a medication administration session, and determining a next adherence state of a patient based upon the present adherence state of the patient and the video analysis information. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316898 | SCALABLE DETERMINATION OF PROBABLE PATIENT ELIGIBILITY FOR CLINICAL TRIALS AND ASSOCIATED PROCESS FOR ACTIVE SOLICITATION OF PATIENTS FOR CLINICAL TRIALS VIA THEIR HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS - This twenty-step business process uses a clinical trials matching system to perform scalable searches of derived patient data records for patients that may be eligible for clinical trials. The patent-bearing business contracts with healthcare providers of patients found in derived patient data records to review the likely matches of those patients to clinical trials. Contracted healthcare providers also provide sufficient data for the patent-bearing business to determine if their patients qualify for clinical trials. Probabilistic matching techniques are used for this determination. The healthcare provider solicits qualified patients for clinical trials and interacts to enroll patients in trials. Solicitation is active in that the patent bearing business need not wait for a patient to initiate contact in order to seek determination of a patient's potential eligibility to participate in a clinical trial. Patient privacy is protected by limiting patient contact to be only through the patient's healthcare provider. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316899 | PASSENGER HEALTH CARE DATA MANAGEMENT - Health care data is stored in memory accessible to a server. The server allows users to access the health care data, such as across a communication network. In some embodiments a biometric identifier for a patient is stored with patient information. The biometric identifier can be used to control access to patient records and to quickly locate patient information associated with a particular patient. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316900 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CREATING A CUSTOM TRACK - A method for creating a custom track is described. A selection of at least one artist, venue, and track of a live musical performance having at least one complete song for selection by the user is provided. A selection by the first user of the at least one artist, venue, and track is received. At least one clip associated with the at least one selected artist, venue, and track is displayed. The first user is allowed to create a first custom track from the at least one clip by selecting at least a portion of the at least one clip to be included in the first custom track and a start time and an end time of the at least a portion of the at least one clip within the first custom track. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316901 | ENGINE, SYSTEM AND METHOD OF PROVIDING CLOUD-BASED BUSINESS VALUATION AND ASSOCIATED SERVICES - A computer-implemented engine, system and method for generating business valuations, scoring, and/or flagging over a network, responsively to information input by a user remote from the engine, system and method. The invention may include a graphical user interface capable of locally querying a user to input the company information, at least one network port capable of remotely receiving the company information from the graphical user interface, and at least one engine communicatively connected to the at least one network port, which engine preferably includes a plurality of rules to generate, responsively to the input company information, at least one of a business valuation, a business score, and/or one or more business flags to be used as indicators in a network marketplace, for the company associated with the inputted company information. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316902 | USER INTERFACE FOR REAL TIME VIEW OF WEB SITE ACTIVITY - A user interface (UI) adapted to allow a Web site owner/operator to view real time information concerning activities of visitors to a Web site. The UI includes a plurality of information fields that provide real time information concerning visitor browsing and purchasing activities at the subject Web site with which the analytics information is concerned. The information is organized as some or all of: visitor purchasing behavior as grouped by proximity to completing a purchase, visitor visit history, product-based visitor viewing history, visitor referral path, visitor keyword search history, visitor click path, and/or visitor location. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316903 | FORMING A BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP NETWORK - A collective knowledge set of business relationship information from a plurality of sources is generated. The collective knowledge set is mapped as a plurality of navigable paths forming a business relationship network between a source and a target. One or more of the paths are identified as candidate paths most likely to lead to a business relationship between the source and the target based on evaluation criteria. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316904 | Detailed method of and system for modeling and analyzing business improvement programs - A computer program product for using artificial intelligence based cognitive learning methods to enable the identification and optional implementation of the optimal mode for purchasing items and managing elements of value for a business enterprise. The items, elements of value and components of value of the business enterprise are analyzed and modeled using predictive models that are developed by learning from the data associated with said business enterprise. The output from these models is then used to identify and optionally implement the optimal mode for purchasing items while considering risk. The output from these models is also used to identify the optimal model for managing the elements of value for the business enterprise. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316905 | HIERARCHICAL PROJECT TECHNICAL EVALUATION SYSTEM - A system for providing a hierarchical project technical evaluation tool is provided. The system includes an application for obtaining technical assessment data for work products of a project and storing the technical assessment data to a data repository. A hierarchical project evaluation tool application generates a project technical status based on the assessment data in the data repository. The system also includes a file importation and conversion device in communication with the data repository, the file importation and conversion device converts data files to a useable format within the hierarchical project evaluation tool application. The system further includes a project integrated master schedule in communication with the file importation and conversion device, that provides data to the data repository for use with the hierarchical project evaluation tool application. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316906 | SPATIAL-TEMPORAL OPTIMIZATION OF PHYSICAL ASSET MAINTENANCE - A method for determining a maintenance schedule of geographically dispersed physical assets includes receiving asset data including infrastructure relationships between the assets, modeling failure risk of the assets based on spatial, temporal and network relationships, and producing the maintenance schedule according to a combination of the risk model, asset data, maintenance, and external operation constraints. The maintenance schedule may be corrective and/or strategic. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316907 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING AGENT CONTACT ASSIGNMENTS NEAR END OF AGENT WORK SHIFT - Provided herein is a system and method to assign new work to one of a plurality of workers, near an end of a work shift of at least one worker. The method may include: receiving, from a customer, a request for new work; determining a remaining time in a work shift for one or more of the plurality of workers; assigning a worker priority for one or more of the plurality of workers by use of a predetermined criteria; demoting the worker priority of workers near the end of a work shift; and assigning a worker to the customer by use of worker priority, in order to assign the new work. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316908 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANAGING NEW PRODUCT AND TECHNOLOGY INTRODUCTION BASED ON WORK PROCESS - An apparatus and a method for managing a new product and technology introduction based on a work process, are provided. The apparatus includes a display unit configured to display each stage of a project. The apparatus further includes an input unit configured to receive generation request information of a job item in each stage and progress result information indicating completion of the job item in each stage. The apparatus further includes a controller configured to control the display unit to display each stage of the project based on the generation request information and/or the progress result information. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316909 | Maintaining Complex Equipment - A technique for automating complex equipment maintenance decisions is disclosed. It has been determined that a core job of maintaining complex equipment entails 14 different steps with 102 outcomes, or metrics, that job executors use to judge if they can effectively maintain complex equipment. The techniques described in this paper enable a system and method to satisfy the outcomes (customer needs) for the job of maintaining complex equipment. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316910 | MIGRATION ANALYSIS - A migration system and method. The migration method comprises receiving a request to generate a migration plan for an entity and generating a strategic plan comprising procedures for transferring knowledge required for performing job functions comprised by a first set of individuals to a second set of individuals and defining a set of temporary individuals to perform a transition management process. Additionally, an allocation plan and a ramping down plan are generated. The allocation plan is for allocating the set of temporary resources to the entity for the transition management process and allocating the second set of individuals for the transferring. The ramping down plan is for ramping down to close out the set of temporary individuals based on external data. The resource migration plan is for supporting the entity. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316911 | SMART SCHEDULING SYSTEM - In embodiments of the present invention, improved capabilities are described for, gathering, storing, managing, aggregating, searching and processing scheduling data to produce prioritized event scheduling for appointments, reservations, procedures or other interactions based at least in part on the manual or algorithmic application of scheduling rules. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316912 | OPTIMIZING A SHARED SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM - A computer implemented method, system, and/or computer program product optimize a shared service delivery system. A model of an existing shared service delivery system is created. Capacity of the existing shared service delivery system is defined according to required resources for existing projects, new projects, and proposed projects. Existing cells of practitioners in the existing shared service delivery system are identified, and any gaps or gluts of capacity in the existing cells of practitioners are identified according to a general predetermined resource requirement for the shared service delivery system. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316913 | REMOTE MEASUREMENT VIA ON-SITE PORTABLE PLATFORM - A portable measurement system is described herein that provides accurate real-time data for a subject object at a job site. The acquired data may include photos, laser mapping, thermal images, sonar imaging, electronic measurements, or other types of measurement data. The system leverages commonly available remote control helicopters or other flying vehicles mounted with a camera or other equipment to acquire images or other measurement data that would be difficult to obtain without climbing onto a target structure or placing personnel in other dangerous situations. A portable platform is described herein that can include helicopters as well as other types of portable measurement devices that can fly or otherwise maneuver to capture measurement data at a job site. In many cases, these connected devices can provide near instant availability of captured data to a processing center or other remote location, reducing delays that are typical today. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316914 | SCHEDULING OF ENERGY CONSUMING ACTIVITIES FOR BUILDINGS - Scheduling of building activities may be generated based on an objective function developed to optimize energy cost associated with performing activities in a building, which activities consume energy. The objective function may be solved based on the received plurality of activities, the energy sources consumed by the activities, the prices of energy, and subject to the one or more constraints. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316915 | APPARATUS FOR MONITORING FLUID LEVELS IN A REMOTELY LOCATED STORAGE TANK - An improved system for delivering propane or other consumable liquid to remotely located storage tanks including a novel combination of remote monitoring of customer tanks and an improved method of using the remote monitoring data to optimally schedule deliveries, improve safety, and more efficiently operate a propane dealership. More accurate and timely information concerning the status of customer tanks serves to improve operational efficiencies and increase safety. Data received from remote sensors can be collected and organized so that it is easily understood and utilized through the implementation of a user interface accessible via the Internet that allows the information to be presented in an efficient graphical and contextual fashion. Operational efficiencies can also be improved by taking historical propane usage for each tank, weather conditions, and projected fuel usage into account. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316916 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR GENERATING CORPORATE GREEN SCORE USING SOCIAL MEDIA SOURCED DATA AND SENTIMENT ANALYSIS - The present invention provides a News/Media Analytics System (NMAS) adapted to automatically process and “read” news stories and content from blogs, twitter, and other social media sources, represented by news/media corpus, in as close to real-time as possible. Quantitative analysis, techniques or mathematics, such as green scoring/composite module and sentiment processing module are processed to arrive at green scores, green certification, and/or model the value of financial securities, including generating a green score, green compliance certification, and a composite environmental or green index. The NMAS automatically processes news stories, filings, new/social media and other content and applies one or more models against the content to determine green scoring and/or anticipate behavior of stock price and other investment vehicles. The NMAS leverages traditional and, especially, social media resources to provide a sentiment-based solution for scoring the “greenness” of companies. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316917 | EXTRACTING DIMENSIONS OF QUALITY FROM ONLINE USER-GENERATED CONTENT - The quality of a product may be an important driver of consumer satisfaction, competition, and long-term brand success. Identifying the right dimensions of product quality may be central to devising segmentation and positioning strategies, rankings brands, creating advertising content, improving current products, or designing new products. User-generated content, such as product reviews, may identify quality. Data in product reviews is analyzed across fifteen firms in five markets over four years to extract the dimensions of experienced quality using Latent Dirichlet Allocation. The face, external, and predictive validity of these dimensions is explored. Results suggest that a few dimensions may be enough to capture experienced quality, have good correspondence to other metrics of quality, and serve as reasonably good predictors of earnings and stock market returns. Dynamic analysis may enable tracking the importance of dimensions and of competitive brand positions on those dimensions over time. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316918 | VALUE-GENERATING ALTERNATIVES TO USING VIRTUAL CURRENCY - In various embodiments, the present disclosure provides systems, computer-readable media and methods for presenting a user with value-generating alternatives to consuming virtual currency. In some embodiments, it may be determined that a user wishes to consume a content of the service provider, using virtual currency of the user. Usage of the user's virtual currency may generate or potentially generate a first value for the service provider. A value-generating alternative may be selected from a plurality of value-generating alternatives for the user to consume the content, in lieu of using the virtual currency of the user. The selected value-generating alternative may generate or potentially generate a second value for the service provider that is greater than the first value. The selected value-generating alternative may be caused to be presented to the user for the user to consume the content, in lieu of using the virtual currency of the user. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316919 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR BUY AND HOLD PRICING - Methods and systems for calculating parameters for a transaction that includes item purchase, item storage, and item sale, by receiving input parameters related to the transaction and executing a software module that is responsive to at least some of the input parameters to concurrently calculate optimized or maximized output transaction parameters comprising purchase cost of items, selling price of items, and item inventory forecasts, while meeting tradeoffs between or among, and meeting constraints relating to, the output parameters. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316920 | AUTOMATED SPECIFICATION, ESTIMATION, DISCOVERY OF CAUSAL DRIVERS AND MARKET RESPONSE ELASTICITIES OR LIFT FACTORS - In some embodiments, a software facility performs a method of automated specification of models, estimation of elasticities, and discovery of drivers using the framework(s) discussed elsewhere herein is provided. The facility first obtains the client, business, and/or brand goals in terms of profit optimization, volume or revenue goals, acquisition of new customers, retention of customers, share of wallet and upsell. In conjunction with these goals, the facility obtains cross-section meta-data related to the planning time horizon, markets, geographies, channels of trade and customer segments. In combination, the goals and meta-data define the structure of the data stack and the number of demand generation equations that are needed. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316921 | Survey Administration System and Methods - A system for determining preference, including a client device with feedback controls, a server and addressable URIs; the device and server in communication over an electronic network and the URIs' content retrievable over the network; the server automatically receiving and storing ratings, tracking URIs, using ratings to create a preference model for URIs, and using the preference model to suggest URIs; the stored ratings include a record having a rated item URI, a rater having a unique identification, a rating value provided by the rater, and at least one metadatum for creating subsets of ratings. Also, a method for automatically creating a chimeric preference vector, the method steps including identifying a multiplicity of datasets of rated items; automatically combining the datasets to form a combined dataset; automatically identifying ratings collisions; treating ratings collisions to form a data subset; and generating a chimeric preference vector based on the data subset. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316922 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CREATING SIMILARITY-BASED OVERLAY NETWORK OF MICRO-MARKETS - A method and system for creating a similarity-based overlay network of micro-markets. One or more distributed micro-markets can be operatively connected via a self-organizing overlay network to exchange data between distributed micro-markets in the network. A market similarity function can be computed by applying a filtering function with respect to a network protocol that is defined over particular attributes in order to enable decentralized clustering of similar markets. The data can be further advertised with respect to a set of neighbor markets in order to avoid selfish and rational behaviors between the markets. Such an approach dynamically evolves a structure of the micro-markets over time in order to optimize a desired market interaction in the network. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316923 | METHOD, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM FOR THE DETERMINATION OF LEVELS OF INFLUENCE OF A GROUP - A level of influence score is determined for at least one member of a group of persons based on biographical data corresponding to the at least one member of the group of persons. The level of influence scores for the group are aggregated to determine aggregate level of influence score. The aggregate level of influence score can be used to determine a composite level of influence for the group of persons. An influenced-group parameter may be utilized in conjunction with the biographical data corresponding to the at least one member of the group of persons to determine the level of influence score. A spatial scale parameter may also be utilized in conjunction with the biographical data corresponding to the at least one member of the group of persons to determine the level of influence score. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316924 | Dynamic Ticket Pricing - A dynamic pricing system for online event management and ticket selling systems. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316925 | MARKETING ALLOCATION REQUEST SYSTEMS - A computerized method and a system for marketing program development are provided. In example embodiments, the method may include providing a user interface over a computer network such as the Internet, receiving from the user interface a marketing program proposal including program information. The method may also include facilitating a strategic review process of the marketing program proposal. The method may further include facilitating of a capacity review process of the marketing program. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316926 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS - Disclosed is a method ( | 2012-12-13 |
20120316927 | COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTEGRATING HETEROGENEOUS BUSINESS PROCESSES - A computer-implemented method and apparatus for integrating heterogeneous business processes. In one embodiment, there is provided a computer-implemented method for integrating heterogeneous business processes, the method comprising: reading first process information of a first business process; obtaining from a unified process view second process information of a second business process; and integrating at least one part of the first process information and at least one part of the second process information into a third business process; wherein the first business process and the second business process are heterogeneous business processes. In another embodiment, there is provided a computer-implemented apparatus for integrating heterogeneous business processes. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316928 | CUSTOMER INTERACTION MANAGEMENT BLUEPRINT - The various embodiments of the present invention provide a Customer Interaction Management (CIM) blueprint methodology to assess the maturity of contact management in an organization and determine a series of measures in form of business and technology design blueprints to take the contact management to a desired position as per brand and business needs. The method of providing a CIM blueprint process includes assessing the current position of the customer interaction management, analyzing the gaps between the current and ideal states of the customer interaction management, advising a suitable blueprint to cover the gaps and assisting in the implementation of the blueprint to the customer interaction management. The customer interaction management blueprint cascades customer interaction management decisions using a plurality of decision making layers comprising brand layer business layer, financial-functional layer, operational layer and technology layer. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316929 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING RENTAL VALUATION DATA - Described herein are systems and methods for providing rental valuation data (for example in terms of indicative market rental values). For example, such data may be used to define a suggested reasonable rental value, or indicate whether a proposed rental amount is higher or lower than objective factors would suggest. This is focused on a property to be rented by a business operator from a landlord, to renew a lease or to settle a rental dispute. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316930 | INTEGRATED SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR TRACKING AND REPORTING CONSTRUCTION, COMPLETION, AND INSPECTION STATUS - Methods and systems for generating and displaying alerts are provided. An indication that each of a plurality of areas in a construction project is ready for one or more inspections by an inspector is received. For each of the plurality of areas, an inspection status is received from an inspector, wherein the inspection status identifies whether there were deficiencies associated with the area. For each subcontractor, an inspection success rate is calculated. The inspection success rate of each subcontractor is compared to a predetermined benchmark. A determination is made that the inspection success rate does not meet the predetermined benchmark. An alert is provided indicating that the inspection success rate of the respective subcontractor does not meet the predetermined benchmark. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316931 | GPS TRACKING WITH CARTOGRAPHIC BOUNDARY FILES - The management of tracking units with a map representative of a geographic area is provided. A base address corresponding to a specific location on the map is received, and a plurality of boundary outlines circumscribing sub-segments of the map are generated. The boundary outlines correspond to cartographic boundaries within the geographic area, with each cartographic boundary having a predetermined number of fulfillment locations. An aggregate boundary outline based upon a selection of one or more contiguous boundary outlines is generated. Fulfillment indicators representative of a position on the map generally corresponding to the fulfillment locations is received, and overlaid on the map. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316932 | WELLNESS APPLICATION FOR DATA-CAPABLE BAND - A wellness application for a personal wearable data-capable band is described, including an aggregation engine configured to aggregate user activity data from a plurality of sources, the aggregation engine comprising one or more modules configured to process the user activity data to determine an aggregate value, and a user interface configured to display a graphical representation using the aggregate value. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316933 | METHOD FOR PROMOTING BEHAVIOR CHANGE THROUGH SOCIAL REWARD MEDIATION - Disclosed herein are methods and systems for influencing behavior in social settings. The method/system gathers information about the behavior of socially connected entities/individuals, for example, and computes monetary rewards, for example, to distribute to these individuals, thus giving them incentive to adopt a particular behavior. Examples of applications include health insurance, car insurance, power production, weight-loss programs, and public utilities. These methods and systems can be twice as efficient in terms of effect per cost as compared to previous approaches. These methods and systems can improve overall quality of service among computer networks. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316934 | ADAPTIVE PLACEMENT OF AUXILIARY MEDIA IN RECOMMENDER SYSTEMS - The present invention relates to an apparatus, method, and computer program product for controlling a recommender system, wherein placement of auxiliary media in relation to at least one content item presented to a user is controlled. A first scheduler ( | 2012-12-13 |
20120316935 | REBATE AND DISCOUNT SYSTEM FOR PROMOTION OF SERVICE VENDORS USING DENSITY OF WORK SITES - A system and method for offering promotional price discounts, rebates, and other offers to help service vendors improve the density of work sites for which they deliver services is disclosed. An electronic platform enables vendors that provide work site services to create and manage pricing schedules, rebates, and discount offers based on the geographic density of work sites. The vendor price lists can include a base price, and rebates and discounts from the base price increase based on the number of customer work sites within a given geographical area. The electronic platform enables vendors to advertise the geographically variable pricing schedules to clients, and to track customer patronage. The electronic platform allows customers to view and purchase vendor offered services from the discount pricing schedules, forward recommendations for vendor services to others, and submit requests for a discounted service to vendors. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316936 | INTEGRATED LOYALTY PROGRAM INFRASTRUCTURE - In accordance with an example embodiment, there is disclosed herein a loyalty program directed to consumers of media content such as television. A member of the loyalty program receives rewards for various pre-defined activities. The rewards can be accumulated and redeemed at a future time. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316937 | Method and Apparatus For Affiliate Marketing - The subject matter discloses a method and apparatus for affiliate marketing; the method comprising the steps of: receiving a link of a retailer site from a recommender ( | 2012-12-13 |
20120316938 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USER-BASED DISCOUNT DEAL FORMATION AND ADVERTISING - A system and method is described where an advertising server targets store coupon advertisements to people carrying wireless devices. In some embodiments the advertisement server tracks the position of several of its subscribed members in an area. The server then computes statistical measures, dynamically generates nearby store discount deals that match subgroups of the members or uses pre-existing deals from nearby stores, and forwards the deal advertisements to the wireless devices of the members. The advertised deals involve one or more items from the same store or multiple items from different stores. The members then use ad-hoc networking to build spontaneous social networks, advertise the deals to nearby shoppers, and get referral rewards. The advertising server also provides a portal shopping network web site where shoppers can search for deals, post their shopping/wish lists and deal referrals, and use forums to discuss products and stores. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316939 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISCOUNT DEAL REFERRAL AND REWARD SHARING - A system and method where the members of an advertising server that markets store deal coupons use conventional wired/wireless networking and ad-hoc networking to build spontaneous social networks, advertise the deals to other shoppers, and get referral rewards. Shoppers who receive the referral advertisements and are not members register and advertise the deal further to other shoppers to get rewards. Referring members specify the percentage of the referral reward they plan to share with the buyers. Referring members specify different reward sharing percentages for the same deal to different buyers. Shoppers who receive multiple referrals of the same deal from different members negotiate and buy the deal with the referral that gives them the best shared reward. Shoppers perform an indirect self-referral where they network and find another user to refer them to a deal that has a referral reward and they share the referral reward together. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316940 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PEER-TO-PEER COMMUNICATION AND DEAL ADVERTISING - A system and method is described where the members of an advertising server that markets store deal coupons use peer-to-peer wireless networking to advertise the deals to nearby shoppers and get referral rewards. The member who makes the referral and the member who purchases the deal use an ad-hoc social networking application on their mobile devices to exchange profiles. A profile matching component running on the members' mobile devices alerts the members of a match with a nearby referring or purchasing member. The system also rewards shoppers whose mobile devices are used as routers in a multi-hop ad-hoc network that connects the seller to the buyer. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316941 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INDIRECT SELF-REFERRAL AND REWARD SHARING - A system and method of indirect self-referral and reward sharing is described for deals that are offered by sellers who do not offer referral rewards to users that directly purchase a deal from them, but do offer referral rewards to users that refer the deal to others. Each deal has a referral reward for referring the deal to other users. A user who wishes to purchase an item and also get referral rewards, sets a portion of the referral reward as the portion that the user is willing to share with another user who refers the item back and broadcasts the deal to other users. When the user purchases the item that is referred back by another user, the user receives a reward equal to the difference between the referral reward and the portion of the referral reward that the user set to share with the referring user. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316942 | Method for Using Market-Based Social Networking Website to Create New Customers and Referral Fees - In one embodiment, the method uses a secure website and employs a monetary incentive to individuals or businesses to identify potential customers for entities that provide goods or services, wherein the secure website is hosted on a web server that includes an email system and a database that is internet or remotely accessible and provides search and other capabilities for users of the secure website and wherein a customer seeker and a customer finder, who agree to terms of use of the secure website, act to enter into a contract providing for a contingent referral fee for the customer finder if the terms of the offered contract are met. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316943 | Method for Using Market-Based Social Networking Website to Create New Funding and Referral Fees - In one embodiment, the method uses a secure website and employs a monetary incentive to individuals or businesses to identify potential funding sources for entities that are growing or need liquidity, wherein the secure website secure website is hosted on a web server that includes an email system and a database that is internet or remotely accessible and provides search and other capabilities for users of the secure website and wherein a funding seeker and a funding finder, who agree to terms of use of the secure website, act to enter into a contract providing for a contingent referral fee for the funding finder if the terms of the offered contract are met. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316944 | Transaction Processing Using a Global Unique Identifier - A Globally Unique IDentifier (GUID) is used to match an authorization request with an authorization response for a transaction between a merchant and a consumer upon an account within a payment processing system where the payment amount is unknown until after the merchant receives the authorization response that includes the GUID. After receiving the authorization response and when the payment amount is known, the merchant forms a transmission that has information for delivery to an issuer of the account. This information is sufficient for the issuer to forward the payment amount from the account to pay the merchant for the transaction. While including the GUID and the payment amount, the information does not include an identifier of the account. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316945 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PREPAID REWARDS - A system and method provide rewards or loyalty incentives to card member customers. The system includes an enrolled card member customer database, an enrolled merchant database, a participating merchant offer database and a registered card processor. The enrolled card member customer database includes transaction accounts of card member customers enrolled in a loyalty incentive program. If the purchase qualifies for a rebate credit, the registered card processor provides the rebate credit to an account of the enrolled card member customer. The registered card processor also provides for electronic notification of rewards offers or credit to prepaid cards, in response to purchases conforming to a specific set of merchant criteria. The system provides a coupon-less way for merchants to provide incentive discounts and/or credits to enrolled customers, along with notifying customers of other available incentive offers. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316946 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DIRECT SALES WITH ENDORSEMENT REBATE COUPONS - Methods and systems for generating coupons and rebates for end consumers and purchasers, who purchased products from a supplier in a qualifying transaction for use by their customers, are disclosed. In a typical transaction, the purchaser gives the purchased product to the end consumer. Product order/sales data corresponding to products purchased directly from the supplier by the end consumer are stored in a database and the end consumer is incentivized (e.g., with a purchase discount) to provide corresponding referral purchaser information. Subsequently, the end consumer order/sales data and corresponding referral purchaser information are retrieved and used to generate endorsement rebates for the referral purchaser. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316947 | Token Management System and Method - A method for managing tokens is provided that is useful for offering and redeeming rebates on product purchases. A purchaser receives an unactivated token having a unique token identifier. The purchaser undertakes a first purchase transaction using a transaction system. The token identifier is recorded by the transaction system along with the transaction details, including any products for which a rebate is offered. The purchaser receives a receipt for the transaction including a transaction identifier. The purchaser accesses, for example, a home computer, to provide the transaction identifier and the token identifier to a token qualifying system. The token qualifying system analyzes the purchaser information, rebate criteria and transaction information received from the transaction system to qualify a purchase for a rebate. When qualified, the token qualifying system sends an indication to a token accounting system to activate the token by funding a token account. The purchaser may then use the token for a second purchase transaction. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316948 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SHARING AND VERIFICATION OF PROMOTIONAL OFFERS - Systems and methods are provided for displaying promotions within an electronic social networking environment. Coupons or vouchers can be claimed by users of the social network. Upon redemption of the coupon or voucher, the systems and methods described herein can validate the coupon or voucher. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316949 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING ELECTRONIC COUPONS - A method and a system for managing electronic coupons utilize a merchant identifier and a consumer characteristic, and package such information into a verification request for redemption of the electronic coupon as a form of receipt or proof of redemption. The server sends an electronic coupon to the consumer's mobile electronic device upon request. During a purchase, the consumer presents the electronic coupon to the merchant, and receives a merchant identifier. The merchant identifier and a consumer characteristic are included into a verification request for redemption of the electronic coupon and sent to the server. The server verifies the verification request according to the information contained therein to allow the redemption of the coupon, and stores the verification information for future coupon processing. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316950 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUGMENTATION OF RETAIL POS DATA STREAMS WITH TRANSACTION INFORMATION - Systems and methods for the capture of retail transaction data from a print data stream after it has been processed by a POS system. The data capture may take place before the data has been transmitted to a POS printer. The captured transaction data may be analyzed and encoded in a transaction-identifying, optically scannable image such as a QR code or other barcode. One or more NFC commands may transmit the captured transaction data via a NFC-transmitting device to a mobile device such as mobile phone, smart phone, mobile computer, tablet, or other device. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316951 | SECURE ELEMENT - A method for configuring a mobile communication device to perform transactions using a second communication channel that is different from a first communication channel through which the mobile communication device sends voice data. The method includes attaching a secure element to the mobile communication device. The secure element includes a memory storing an application, a processor configured to execute the application stored in the memory; and a wireless transceiver configured to send transaction data associated with the executed application through the second communication channel to a terminal that is remote from the mobile communication device. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316952 | STORYTELLING DELIVERY BASED ON REQUEST - A request may be received for information associated with at least one of a plurality of recorded audio stories that each include an audio recording of a human naturally telling a story. Transmission of a list of story attributes associated with the recorded audio story may be initiated. An indication of a story attribute selection associated with the list of story attributes may be received. A selection of one of the recorded audio stories may be initiated based on the indication of the story attribute selection associated with the list of story attributes. A sponsored item may be determined based on at least one of the request, the selected recorded audio story, or a current event. Transmission of the selected recorded audio story to a receiving device via a streaming transmission medium may be initiated. Transmission of the sponsored item to the receiving device may be initiated. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316953 | Reader Network System for Presence Management in a Physical Retail Environment - A customer relationship management system wirelessly detects presence and identity of a customer when the customer enters a business establishment. The system captures a visit pattern of the customer based on communication from the wireless device. A relevant marketing message for the customer is determined based on the customer's presence, visit pattern, identity, and location. The marketing message is delivered directly to a wireless device carried to the customer upon a subsequent entry of the customer to the business establishment. Responses of the customer (e.g., purchasing patterns, etc.) are stored for subsequent use in presenting relevant offers. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316954 | PROMOTION SYSTEM SUPPORTING EMAILED PROMOTIONS AND AT SELLER PREMISES TRANSACTION COMPLETION - An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316955 | System and Method for Mobile Application Search - Method, system, and programs for providing adaptive application searching are disclosed. An application search request relevant to a user is received. First information associated with the user and second information associated with a plurality of applications is obtained. At least one application of the plurality of applications is identified as of interest based on the application search request, the first information, and the second information. The at least one application is provided in response to the application search request. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316956 | Client-Server Joint Personalization for Private Mobile Advertising - The subject disclosure is directed towards personalizing content (e.g., advertisement) delivery to a mobile device such as a smartphone, without violating user privacy. A user decides how much context information (from the device's sensor readings and/or other data) to share with an advertisement server. Based on this limited, partial context information, the server selects a subset of advertisements from those available and sends them to the client. The client then picks the most relevant one based on richer, more granular context data, e.g., more (or even all) of the device's sensor readings and possibly other non-revealed information such as user preference data. The optimization of selecting the most relevant advertisement to display is done jointly by the user and the server, with the server selecting a subset of advertisements based upon partial context, and the client selecting from the subset based upon full context. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316957 | SIMULATING AN ADVERTISING AUCTION - Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for simulating advertising auction results for a listing using auction data from auctions in which the listing previously participated. The simulation allows an advertiser to determine a bid price that would have resulted in a particular outcome. The simulation may be performed by rerunning auctions in which the listing participated by maintaining the characteristics of all other bids that actually participated in the auction while changing the bid price for the listing being simulated. The simulation may be repeated multiple times with different bid prices to create a distribution of auction results that correspond to various bid prices. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316958 | COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, COMMUNICATION METHOD, DISTRIBUTION APPARATUS, DISTRIBUTION METHOD AND TERMINAL APPARATUS - A communication system includes a terminal having a first storage section for storing a number of pieces of content information, a second storage section for storing a number of pieces of the content information, a storage control section for placing a content ID stored in the second storage section into purchase information for each terminal and stored in the second storage section, an access control section for controlling access to the content information corresponding to the content ID stored in the second storage section, and an accounting setting section for setting an amount of a fee to be imposed on the terminal in response to the purchase information. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316959 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTING AND PROVIDING CONTENT - There is disclosed one or more methods, systems and components therefor for selecting information to be delivered for presentation by an electronic communication device. The operations of selecting are responsive to a plurality of criteria including attributes of a prior purchase associated with the electronic communication device. The information selected may comprise content reinforcing the prior purchase. An attribute of the prior purchase may comprise a purchase price. The operations of selecting may be configured to choose an amount or a quality level of the information which varies in proportion to an attribute of the prior purchase. One such attribute may be the purchase price. One such attribute may be a relative popularity of the prior purchase among consumers, product reviewers, etc. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316960 | RECOMMENDING SUPPLEMENTAL PRODUCTS BASED ON PAY-FOR-PERFORMANCE INFORMATION - A method and system for determining products to recommend to a user is disclosed. One or more correlated products which are correlated to a product the user is currently interested in are determined. In the event that the number of one or more correlated products is less than the number of recommended products needed, one or more supplemental products are determined. The one or more supplemental products are determined based on a pay-for-performance measure based on pay-for-performance information and a non-pay-for-performance measure not based on pay-for-performance information. A set of recommended products is formed from the determined one or more correlated products and the determined one or more supplemental products and information pertaining to the set of recommended products is outputted. | 2012-12-13 |
20120316961 | Systems and Methods for Lossless Compression of Data and High Speed Manipulation Thereof - The present disclosure includes a system, method, and article of manufacture for lossless compression of data and high speed manipulation of the data. The method may comprise associating a customer with a plurality of levels, and counting, in near real time, a number of transactions at each level in the plurality of levels based on a transaction history of the customer at each of a plurality of merchants. The method may further comprise counting the number of transactions during a time period. Similarly, the method may comprise determining an opportunity comprising an offer based upon the counting, determining an opportunity based upon a count indicating a transaction by the customer with a merchant, and/or determining an opportunity with a first merchant based upon a count indicating a transaction by the customer with a second merchant. | 2012-12-13 |