Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100216563 | SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOLF SWING - An instrumented golf club system and methods are disclosed. A variety of golf swing parameters are measured by the instrumented golf club and wirelessly transmitted to a portable computer device. The portable computer device generates a user interface that displays the golf swing parameters against preferred golf swing parameters. The instrumented golf club system allows a golfer to receive feedback in real time while playing golf. | 08-26-2010 |
20100216564 | SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOLF SWING - An instrumented golf club system and methods are disclosed. A variety of golf swing parameters are measured by the instrumented golf club and wirelessly transmitted to a portable computer device. The portable computer device generates a user interface that displays the golf swing parameters against preferred golf swing parameters. The instrumented golf club system allows a golfer to receive feedback in real time while playing golf. | 08-26-2010 |
20100216565 | SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOLF SWING - An instrumented golf club system and methods are disclosed. A variety of golf swing parameters are measured by the instrumented golf club and wirelessly transmitted to a portable computer device. The portable computer device generates a user interface that displays the golf swing parameters against preferred golf swing parameters. The instrumented golf club system allows a golfer to receive feedback in real time while playing golf | 08-26-2010 |
20120034992 | Golf Clubs And Golf Club Heads Having Interchangeable Rear Body Members - Golf club heads (e.g., drivers, fairway woods, wood-type hybrid clubs, or the like) according to at least some example aspects of this invention include: (a) a heel; (b) a toe; (c) a crown; (d) a sole; (e) a striking face; (f) a cavity, wherein the cavity is at least partially open; (g) a rear face opposite the striking face, the rear face defining an opening to the cavity; and (h) a rear body member configured to be inserted into the opening. The rear body member may be releasably engaged with the opening to the cavity, rear face, and/or other portion of the club head body. | 02-09-2012 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110210491 | Polymer spring - A polymer spring has a hollow tubular polymer body, wherein the first end portion of the body, the second end portion of the body, and the mid-portion of the body together substantially maintain an annular cylindrical column structure throughout the length of the body from the first end portion of the body to the second end portion of the body, such that the mid-portion of the body has a substantial portion that is in direct alignment with the first end portion of the body and the second end portion of the body when the spring is compressed to eliminate or reduce the chances of the spring failing caused by the spring folding or buckling and to reduce material fatigue in the polymer spring associated with folding or buckling. | 09-01-2011 |
20120186486 | Resilient pad for railroad vehicle - A resilient pad having a base with two side arms and two side lips for resiliently holding the base on a pedestal wear plate, the pad being configured with dome shaped portions disposed substantially perpendicular to the direction of the pad and being spaced apart from each other, where the pad, when installed with a pedestal wear plate serves to improve the force load handling and preferably re-distributes the load bearing surface from the edges and center of the adapter to the flat load bearing surface of the adapter, thus eliminating load on areas that have no support. Because the spring arms do not depend on bending of the base for their resiliency, the pad of the invention provides improved service stress capabilities and allows for longer life of the wear plate. | 07-26-2012 |
20120234202 | Malleable resilient pedestal wear plate - A wear plate for use with a railway truck, the wear plate being configured for installation on a downwardly facing surface of a pedestal opening of a side frame of a railway truck. The wear plate includes a base and a pair of side walls extending upwardly from opposite sides of the base with inwardly disposed locking features designed to engage the pedestal when the wear plate is installed, the locking features in a preferred embodiment being configured as resilient projections that engage, clamp or drag lock onto opposite sides of the pedestal with the base of the wear plate protecting the downwardly facing pedestal surface. The wear plate may be constructed from malleable or ductile metals or plastics. | 09-20-2012 |
20130042785 | Lightweight rerailer - A rerailer device for rerailing a railway vehicle onto a track, the device including a body with a ramp adapted to support a wheel of a railway vehicle thereon, a sloped face provided on said body and being configured with a slope that declines in a preferred direction toward the track on which the railway vehicle wheel is to be rerailed, and support means for supporting said sloped surface and railway vehicle wheels thereon, where the support configuration, material or combinations of configurations and materials facilitate lightweight construction. | 02-21-2013 |
20140046002 | CROSS-LINKED THERMOPLASTIC CO-POLYESTER ELASTOMER, METHOD OF MAKING SAME, AND ARTICLES COMPOSED THEREOF - A process for forming a cross-linked thermoplastic elastomer is disclosed herein. The cross-linked thermoplastic elastomer is a thermoplastic cross-linked copolyester and is preferably formed by heating a first mixture containing a thermoplastic elastomeric base material, a monomeric diisocyanate comprising between 1 to 10% of the total weight of the first mixture, and a second mixture of a first diamine and a second diamine comprising between 1 to 10% of the total weight of a total reaction product. The heated first mixture, which is flowable, is injected into at least one injection molding device, with the second mixture injected at predetermined intervals to create a homogeneous reaction product. The reaction product may be injected into a mold to produce articles. | 02-13-2014 |
20140076193 | LIGHTWEIGHT RERAILER - A rerailer device for rerailing a railway vehicle onto a track, the device including a body with a ramp adapted to support a wheel of a railway vehicle thereon, a sloped face provided on said body and being configured with a slope that declines in a preferred direction toward the track on which the railway vehicle wheel is to be rerailed, and support means for supporting said sloped surface and railway vehicle wheels thereon, where the support configuration, material or combinations of configurations and materials facilitate lightweight construction. | 03-20-2014 |
20140216298 | MALLEABLE RESILIENT PEDESTAL WEAR PLATE - A wear plate for use with a railway truck, the wear plate being configured for installation on a downwardly facing surface of a pedestal opening of a side frame of a railway truck. The wear plate includes a base and a pair of side walls extending upwardly from opposite sides of the base with inwardly disposed locking features designed to engage the pedestal when the wear plate is installed, the locking features in a preferred embodiment being configured as resilient projections that engage, clamp or drag lock onto opposite sides of the pedestal with the base of the wear plate protecting the downwardly facing pedestal surface. The wear plate may be constructed from malleable or ductile metals or plastics. | 08-07-2014 |
20140217051 | PROCESS FOR PRODUCING A COUPLER KNUCKLE AND IMPROVED COUPLER KNUCKLE - A process for producing a coupler knuckle and an improved coupler knuckle design are provided. The process produces a coupler knuckle by constructing a mold having the shape of the coupler knuckle. The mold is coated with a material that is resistant to melting at the molten melt temperatures of the molten metal used to form the knuckle. With the mold coated, the cavities in the mold interior are filled by placing an inert material therein. The molten metal used for forming the knuckle contacts the mold and consumes it, while the coating serves to provide a shape for the knuckle. | 08-07-2014 |
20140217052 | COUPLER KNUCKLE - An improved coupler knuckle with an improved interior configuration for handling forces imparted on the knuckle and transferring said imparted forces through the knuckle and improving handling of linear force loads and their transmission the interior having a force handling structure that includes spaced apart layers and cavities, with a cavity extending between the nose section and the tail section of the coupler knuckle. | 08-07-2014 |
20140217662 | POLYMER SPRING - A polymer spring has a hollow tubular polymer body, wherein the first end portion of the body, the second end portion of the body, and the mid-portion of the body together substantially maintain an annular cylindrical column structure throughout the length of the body from the first end portion of the body to the second end portion of the body, such that the mid-portion of the body has a substantial portion that is in direct alignment with the first end portion of the body and the second end portion of the body when the spring is compressed to eliminate or reduce the chances of the spring failing caused by the spring folding or buckling and to reduce material fatigue in the polymer spring associated with folding or buckling. | 08-07-2014 |
20140360963 | RAILWAY VEHICLE COUPLER - A railcar coupler having a head portion extending from a shank portion, the coupler head portion is configured to couple to a first coupler knuckle for coupling the railcar coupler to a second railcar coupler of an adjacent railcar. The coupler has weight reduction features that also are configured to provide strength to the coupler when handling forceloads. The coupler may have a head with a front face with bores provided in the front face a cavity extending through the coupler, a guard arm with cavities formed therein, and a shank having a plurality of longitudinal cavities and adjacent ribs separating the cavities. Preferred embodiments may be constructed from an austempered metal. | 12-11-2014 |
20140360964 | LIGHTWEIGHT YOKE FOR RAILWAY COUPLING - E-type and F-type yokes improve the ability of the yokes to be constructed having lighter weight yet function to handle loads from car coupling assembly components, such as, for example, a coupler mounted on the yoke. The E-type and F-type yokes have straps and openings provided in the straps, and are constructed from austempered ductile iron. Embodiments may be constructed with a tail or butt portion that includes sloped walls that form cavities in the butt portion of the yoke, where a supporting structure spans between the yoke rear wall and the draft gear seat wall. | 12-11-2014 |
20140360965 | LIGHTWEIGHT YOKE FOR RAILWAY COUPLING - Lightweight yokes are provided. According to some embodiments, the basic overall appearance of the yoke may be maintained, but the actual material of which it is constructed is changed. According to other embodiments, the yoke is provided with an improved lightweight construction, and, yet other embodiments the yoke may be provided with an improved construction and formed from a preferred material. Yokes may be constructed from cast austempered ductile iron; whereas cast iron has a density, 0.26 lbs/in̂3, which is approximately 8% less than steel, 0.283 lbs/in̂3, thereby allowing for a reduction in weight over steel. A suitable austempering process is used to produce the austempered metal yoke. Yokes have improved configurations which may require less metal to produce the yoke. Both, the lightweight material and improvements in configuration of the yoke structure may combine to provide a lighter weight yoke. | 12-11-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110251870 | POINT-OF-SALE-BASED MARKET TRACKING AND REPORTING - Systems and methods are described for transforming actual aggregated data (e.g., transaction and terminal data) from a large number of POS terminals into market trend reports that include macro-level trend data and analyses. For example, POS datasets are aggregated from POS terminals distributed across many merchant outlet locations, each POS dataset including location data and transaction data for its respective POS terminal. A reporting request is received for a market trend report corresponding to a designated market over a designated timeframe. A market dataset is identified from the portion of the aggregated POS data corresponding to the designated timeframe and market. Unreliable portions of the data may be discarded. Market trend data is then calculated as a function of the reliable portion of the market dataset, and graphical report data is output as a function of the market trend data in response to the reporting request. | 10-13-2011 |
20110251907 | ELECTRONIC MARKET TRACKING AND REPORTING SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Systems and methods are described for transforming actual aggregated data (e.g., transaction and terminal data) from a large number of POS terminals into market trend reports. For example, POS datasets are aggregated from POS terminals distributed across many merchant outlet locations, each POS dataset including location data and transaction data for its respective POS terminal. A reporting request is received for a market trend report corresponding to a designated market. A market dataset is identified from the portion of the aggregated POS data. Market trend data is calculated and graphical report data is output as a function of the market trend data in response to the reporting request. | 10-13-2011 |
20120089438 | POINT-OF-SALE-BASED MARKET TRACKING AND REPORTING - Systems and methods are described for transforming actual aggregated data (e.g., transaction and terminal data) from a large number of POS terminals into market trend reports that include macro-level trend data and analyses. For example, POS datasets are aggregated from POS terminals distributed across many merchant outlet locations, each POS dataset including location data and transaction data for its respective POS terminal. A reporting request is received for a market trend report corresponding to a designated market over a designated timeframe. A market dataset is identified from the portion of the aggregated POS data corresponding to the designated timeframe and market. Unreliable portions of the data may be discarded. Market trend data is then calculated as a function of the reliable portion of the market dataset, and graphical report data is output as a function of the market trend data in response to the reporting request. | 04-12-2012 |
20120185311 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ANALYZING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PROMOTION - The invention provides systems and methods for collecting point-of-sale (POS) data, and then using this data to determine the effectiveness of a given promotion. The transaction data includes a merchant identifier for each of the merchants and a transaction amount for each transaction involving the merchants. One of the merchants is a promotion merchant that is offering a promotion involving transactions made with the merchant. A portion of the transaction data is aggregated into control merchant aggregated data involving control merchants, where the control merchant aggregated data comprises transaction data obtained other than from the promotion merchant. A characteristic of the purchases is calculated, both for transactions involving the promotion merchant and for the control merchants. | 07-19-2012 |
20120191534 | LOYALTY ANALYTICS SYSTEMS AND METHODS - The invention provides the ability to evaluate transaction activity of customers following the redemption of a promotion, such as the redemption of a prepaid instrument, coupon, or the like. For example, the subsequent activity could be where customers shopped after redeeming a coupon. Examples of such reports that could be generated include the percentage of redeemers who returned to the same merchant or who went elsewhere. In some cases, customers could do both, or neither and the reports could indicate such activity. Further reports could show the amount spent for each return visit (both for those who return and go elsewhere), as well as the percentage who shop only with the merchant, and nowhere else. | 07-26-2012 |
20120215589 | NETWORK ANALYTICS SYSTEMS AND METHODS - In one method, a request is received for a market trend report corresponding to a designated payment type over a designated timeframe. A payment type dataset is identified from aggregated POS data. The payment type dataset comprises POS datasets corresponding to the timeframe and to transactions categorized by payment type. Market trend data is generated as a function of the payment type dataset and is output as a report. The method may produce a variety of reports. For example, a report may display the percentage of transactions for each payment type in terms of numbers of transactions. A report may further show whether each payment type is increasing or decreasing in numbers of transactions over the timeframe. | 08-23-2012 |
20120253903 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ANALYZING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PROMOTION - The invention provides systems and methods for collecting point-of-sale (POS) data, and then using this data to determine the effectiveness of a given promotion. The transaction data includes a merchant identifier for each of the merchants and a transaction amount for each transaction involving the merchants. One of the merchants is a promotion merchant that is offering a promotion involving transactions made with the merchant. A portion of the transaction data is aggregated into control merchant aggregated data involving control merchants, where the control merchant aggregated data comprises transaction data obtained other than from the promotion merchant. A characteristic of the purchases is calculated, both for transactions involving the promotion merchant and for the control merchants. | 10-04-2012 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120078694 | ANALYTICS SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DISCOUNT INSTRUMENTS - The invention provides systems and methods for collecting point-of-sale (POS) data, and then using this data to determine the effectiveness of a given promotion. By collecting transaction data at the POS that includes a merchant identifier and a promotion identifier (among other data), a variety calculations may be performed to determine the effectiveness of the promotion. | 03-29-2012 |
20120084117 | TRANSACTION LOCATION ANALYTICS SYSTEMS AND METHODS - One embodiment provides a method for evaluating transaction data to determine point of location usage. This could be, for example, to determine where customers are mostly likely to shop before or after shopping at a given merchant. For instance, the method could show the percentage of customers that shop at certain types of stores during a time period right before or after shopping at the merchant's location. As another example, the method could be used to determine when a merchant's customer makes a purchase at the merchant's store, then makes a purchase at a competing merchant's store within a specified time. | 04-05-2012 |
20120089436 | MAPPING ANALYTICS SYSTEM FOR ACTIVITY GROWTH - Systems and methods are described for transforming actual aggregated data (e.g., transaction and terminal data) from a large number of POS terminals into market trend reports. For example, POS datasets are aggregated from POS terminals distributed across many merchant outlet locations, each POS dataset including location data and transaction data for its respective POS terminal. A reporting request is received for a market trend report corresponding to a designated market. A market dataset is identified from the portion of the aggregated POS data. Market trend data is calculated and graphical report data is output as a function of the market trend data in response to the reporting request. | 04-12-2012 |
20120191506 | FINANCIAL DATA NORMALIZATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Systems and methods are described for generating indexed sales data by aggregating point of sale (POS) datasets are aggregated from transactions at a plurality of POS terminals. The POS datasets for each transaction include a transaction amount, a merchant classifier, and a transaction time. An industry subset of the aggregated POS datasets is obtained for a given timeframe based on the merchant classifier. This industry subset comprises transactions for a given industry. A sales value is calculated for the industry subset, and a monthly fluctuation factor is applied to the sales value. Also, a normalization factor is applied to the sales value based on a percentage of the sales value relative to an overall market size to obtain the indexed sales value. | 07-26-2012 |
20120233090 | INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO ANALYTICS SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Methods and systems may be used to provide information regarding investment holdings using point-of-sale (POS) data. To do so, POS datasets are aggregated from a plurality of POS terminals. Market data sets are identified from the POS datasets corresponding to a given market. Market trend data is generated from the market dataset, and an investment holding is identified whose price is related to an aspect of the market trend data. An analysis of the market trend data is performed to determine an estimated future price of the investment holding. | 09-13-2012 |
20130151344 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR STORING AND ACCESSING ELECTRONIC RECEIPTS - Electronic receipts arising from transactions processed at a card transaction processing system are captured and stored at the processing system for subsequent access by merchants and cardholders. Advertisements and promotional offers may be placed on the electronic receipts for viewing by a cardholder when the receipts are accessed. | 06-13-2013 |
20130231976 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EVALUATING TRANSACTION PATTERNS - Transaction data is collected from POS terminals in order to generate transaction paths for account holders. The transaction paths link merchant locations where transactions are conducted. Common features of transaction paths, such as intersecting path locations, and transaction data associated with the merchant locations are used for marketing and other purposes. | 09-05-2013 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20140337089 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO CONNECT INFORMATION - A system and method to link online and offline user data via transaction data. Online and/or offline user data can be tracked via various anonymous tracking methods that do not require the users to explicitly identify themselves. Through linking online payment transactions with online user data and linking offline payment transactions with offline user data, the system and method links the online user data and the offline user data that are linked respectively to online and offline payment transactions made in the same payment account. Combining the online user data and offline user data in connection with online and offline payment transactions provides comprehensive information about the user, which can be used to provide improved services to the user. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337090 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO MEASURE INFLUCENCE POWER - A system and method to determine influence power of users based on transaction data and social networking data. An influence score represents the effectiveness of users in influencing the purchase decisions of others. For example, after comparing the transactions of a user and the transactions of the followers or friends of the users, as identified by the social networking data and/or a registration process, the transactions of the followers or friends influenced by the user can be identified and used to determine the influence score of the user. The influenced transactions may be identified based on correlating items purchased via the influenced transactions, and/or based on correlating merchants with whom the influenced transactions are performed. The influence score can be computed based on a size of the influenced transactions and be used to rank users for the targeting, customization, and/or prioritization of future offers. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337205 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO IDENTIFY MERCHANTS - A system and method including a mobile application installed on a mobile device and configured to authenticate a merchant represented by a unique identifier, determine a position of the mobile device while the mobile device is co-located with a transaction terminal of the merchant, communicate the position to a portal to associate the position with the unique identifier and to receive an account number, and provide the account number to generate an authorization request on the transaction terminal. The authorization request includes a terminal identifier of the transaction terminal. When the authorization request generated using the account number is detected, the association between the account number provided to the mobile application and the location received from the mobile application is replaced with the association between the terminal identifier extracted from the authorization request and the location. Thus, subsequent authorization requests generated by the transaction terminal can be determined to contain the terminal identifier and identified to be associated with the location and the merchant identifier. | 11-13-2014 |