14th week of 2012 patent applcation highlights part 45 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20120084047 | VEHICLE LOADING AND UNLOADING DETECTION - A system for determining vehicle loading and unloading comprises an acceleration detector provided on a vehicle, a location detector for detecting the location of the vehicle and a processor that receives information detected by the acceleration detector and location detector and determines whether the detected acceleration is due to vehicle loading, unloading or travel, based on the received information. A timer may be started, when vehicle loading or unloading is determined, such that the amount of time spent loading or unloading the vehicle may be obtained. Also, a condition of a traveled surface may be determined based on information received from the acceleration detector and location detector. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084048 | SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR DETERMINING ONE OR MORE CONTACT POINTS BETWEEN A PAIR OF OBJECTS - A system, method, and computer program product are provided for determining one or more contact points between a pair of objects. In operation, a first contact normal is identified between a pair of objects at a first position. Additionally, a relative velocity of the pair of objects is determined at the first position. Furthermore, one or more contact points between the pair of objects are determined at a second position through a translational analysis, utilizing the first contact normal and the relative velocity. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084049 | OPTICAL COMPONENT WITH A PASSIVE ALIGNMENT MEMBER - Various embodiments of machine vision systems, methods, and devices are disclosed for providing passive alignment of an optical component to an electrical device. One embodiment is a method for passively aligning an optical subassembly to an electrical subassembly. One such method comprises: a machine vision system positioning an optical subassembly relative to an electrical subassembly; the machine vision system capturing an image of the optical subassembly; the machine vision system processing the image to identify an alignment member formed on the optical subassembly; and the machine vision system determining a first position of the optical axis of the optical subassembly based on a second position of the alignment member. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084050 | Method and System for Azimuth Measurements Using a Gyroscope Unit - Methods and systems for azimuth measurements using a gyroscope unit are disclosed. The method includes acquiring a ratio value between two earth rate components orthogonal to each other by using the gyroscope unit at a measuring position; acquiring three gravity vector components orthogonal to each other at the measuring position; and determining an azimuth with respect to a reference axis predetermined in the gyroscope unit, based on the ratio value, the three gravity vector components and a geodetic latitude of the measuring position. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084051 | METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR MAGNETICALLY DETERMINING A POSITION - A method and an arrangement for magnetically determining a position using a permanent magnet is described, wherein the vector and local gradient of the magnetic flux density of the permanent magnet is measured using a position sensor, and the position and orientation of the magnetic dipole of the the permanent magnet relative to the position sensor is calculated from the measured values. A spherical permanent magnet having homogenous magnetization is used in the method and the arrangement, preventing previously present cross-sensitivity between the position and orientation determination, and allowing measurement without prior calibration. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084052 | HOIST LENGTH MEASURING METHOD FOR INPUT SHAPING - Disclosed is a hoist length measuring method comprising: a first step of setting a hoist length L to an initial length (L0+L1); a second step of determining whether a preset time period has elapsed after the operation of a hoist has started; a third step of determining whether a hook is falling or rising if it is determined that the preset time period has elapsed; and a fourth step of calculating a hoist length at the time of determination using the following respective equations for a case in which the hook is falling and for a case in which the hook is rising, wherein L0 represents the distance between the center of the hook and the center of the shaft of the motor of the hoist when the hook of the hoist is located at an upper limit, and L1 represents the distance between the center of the hook and the center of an object hanging on the hook, and the equation for the case in which the hook is rising is L=L−ΔL, and the equation for the case in which the hook is falling is L=L+ΔL, wherein AL represents the variation in the length of the hoist caused by the rising or falling of the hook, and is defined by a rising speed (or a falling speed)×a preset time period. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084053 | PORTABLE MONITORING DEVICES AND METHODS OF OPERATING SAME - The present inventions, in one aspect, are directed to a portable monitoring device comprising (i) a housing having a physical size and shape that is adapted to couple to the user, (ii) a motion sensor, disposed in the housing, to detect motion of the user and, in response thereto, to generate motion data, (iii) an altitude sensor, disposed in the housing, to sample an altitude of the user in response to a sample signal, wherein, in response to sampling the altitude of the user, the altitude sensor generates change in altitude data, and (iv) processing circuitry, disposed in the housing, to: generate the sample signal using the motion data, and calculate a number of stairs or flights of stairs traversed by the user using the motion data and the change in altitude data. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084054 | PORTABLE MONITORING DEVICES AND METHODS OF OPERATING SAME - The present inventions, in one aspect, are directed to a portable monitoring device comprises (i) a housing having a physical size and shape that is adapted to couple to the user, (ii) a motion sensor, disposed in the housing, to detect motion of a user and, in response thereto, to generate motion data, (iii) an altitude sensor, disposed in the housing, to detect a change in altitude of the user and, in response thereto, to generate change in altitude data, and (iv) processing circuitry, disposed in the housing, to: (a) calculate a change in elevation of the user using the motion data and the change in altitude data, and (b) a state of an avatar (which is a graphical representation of the user) using the motion data and/or the change in altitude data, and (vi) a display to output state of avatar data. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084055 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SENSING A LIQUID LEVEL - A system, method and device may be used to monitor fluid levels in a borehole. The system includes a pulse generator to generate a pulse of electromagnetic energy to propagate along the wellbore towards a surface of the fluid, a detector to detect a portion of the electromagnetic pulse reflected from the surface of the fluid and propagated along the wellbore towards the detector, a processor to analyze detected signals to determine a level of the surface of the fluid. In an embodiment, the system includes a pump controller to control the operation of a pump located in the wellbore based on the fluid surface level. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084056 | DRY COATING THICKNESS MEASUREMENT AND INSTRUMENT - There are provided instruments for measuring and/or controlling the thickness of a coating applied to a substrate. An instrument embodied by the invention comprises coating removal means for removing a quantity of the coating to partially expose the surface of the substrate. The instrument also includes sensor means for emitting and detecting signals reflected from the surface of the coating and the exposed surface of the substrate to generate one or more data sets consisting of data indicative of the position of the surface of the coating and the position of the surface of the substrate. The sensor means is arranged so as to be distanced from the coating and the substrate, and is adapted to detect the signals reflected from the surface of the substrate during relative movement between the substrate and the sensor means. The data sets generated by the sensor means are processed by processing means of the instrument to determine the dry thickness of the coating on the substrate. Methods for measuring the dry thickness of the coating utilising instruments of the invention are also provided. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084057 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PREDICTING AN OPTICAL FIBER PERFORMANCE PARAMETER - A method for predicting an optical fiber performance parameter includes measuring N values for the optical fiber performance parameter at N stages during manufacture or installation of a first optical fiber, where N is an integer. A first set of correlation values is generated representing shifts in the measured optical fiber performance parameter values at the N stages. An installed value of the optical fiber performance parameter is estimated for a second optical fiber based on the first set of generated correlation values and at least one measured optical fiber performance parameter value associated with the second optical fiber. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084058 | Automatic Detection of Performance Bottlenecks in a Graphics System - Analyzing an application executing on a target device. An application may be executed on a target device. Low cost measurement may be gathered regarding the application executing on the target device. In response to a trigger, high cost measurement data may be gathered regarding the application executing on the target device. The high cost measurement data may include graphics commands provided by the application. The graphics commands and related information may be stored and provided to a host. The host may modify the graphics commands to perform experiments to determine performance issues of the application executing on the target device. The host may determine whether the performance is limited by the CPU or the GPU and may determine specific operations that are causing performance issues. The host may provide suggestions for overcoming the performance issues. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084059 | DATA ACQUISITION METHOD OF SUBSTRATE TREATMENT APPARATUS AND SENSOR SUBSTRATE - The present invention holds a sensor substrate including a sensor part for collecting information about a module and a power receiving coil for supplying power to the sensor part, on a holding member; moves the holding member forward to deliver the sensor substrate to the module; supplies power to a power transmitting coil provided at a base of the holding member to form a magnetic field, and causes the power transmitting coil and the power receiving coil to resonate in the magnetic field to supply power from the power transmitting coil to the power receiving coil; and acquires data about the module by the sensor part. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084060 | MODIFYING A PARAMETRICALLY DEFINED MODEL WITH AN EXPLICIT MODELER - A method, system, apparatus, article of manufacture, and computer readable storage medium provide the ability to manage modifications to a solid model between different modeling applications. An original model created using a parametrically-based modeler is obtained. A modified version of the original model that was edited using a history-free modeler is obtained. The original model and the modified version are analyzed to determine differences between them. Based on the differences, a set of parametric-based treatments are determined that, when performed on the original model, affect changes that produce a parametrically-driven version that geometrically matches the modified version. One or more of the treatments are individually selected and applied to produce the parametrically-driven version. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084061 | THREE DIMENSIONAL SIMULATION METHOD - A three-dimensional simulation apparatus includes a memory storing shape data on a three-dimensional model of a linear flexible object, and a processor executing specifying data that forms sections of the linear flexible object from the shape data, determining reference positions on the sections, specifying data that forms a side surface that connects together the sections, extracting a curve that passes on the side surface, specifying a distance from an outer edge of the section that the extracted curve passes to the reference position, specifying a normal direction of the side surface at the position, specifying a path that connects together the reference positions by shifting the curve by the amount corresponding to the specified distance in a direction opposite to the specified normal direction of the side surface, and specifying a flexible model of the linear flexible object from the shape of each section, the reference positions and the path. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084062 | DYNAMICALLY SELECTING MASTER CLOCK TO MANAGE NON-LINEAR SIMULATION CLOCKS - Systems and methods that efficiently simulate controlled systems are presented. A simulation management component (SMC) controls simulation of a controlled system by controlling a desired number of nodes, each comprising a controller (e.g., soft controller) and a simulated component or process, which are part of the controlled system. The simulation can be performed in a step-wise manner, wherein the simulation can comprise a desired number of steps of respectively desired lengths of time. For each step, the SMC dynamically selects a desired clock (e.g., currently identified slowest clock) as a master clock for the next step. The SMC predicts a length of time of the next step to facilitate setting a desired length of time for the next step based in part on the predicted length of time. As part of each step, components can synchronously exchange data via intra-node or inter-node connections to facilitate simulation. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084063 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETECTING CHANGES IN ENERGY USAGE IN A BUILDING - A computer system for use with a building management system for a building includes a processing circuit configured to determine a building's baseline energy usage model. The processing circuit may be configured to determine one or more automatically selected variables for use in the baseline energy usage model for predicting energy use in a building. The processing circuit may be further configured to cause the display of the one or more automatically selected variables on a user interface device. The processing circuit may be configured to receive, from the user interface, a selection of one or more variables which differ from the one or more automatically selected variables. The processing circuit may be further configured to use the received selection to generate a new baseline energy usage model. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084064 | Model-based systems and methods for analyzing and predicting outcomes of vascular interventions and reconstructions - Systems and methods for analyzing and predicting treatment outcomes of medical procedures such as vascular interventions and reconstructions are disclosed. An illustrative system for analyzing and predicting therapeutic outcomes of medical procedures comprises a relational database configured for classifying and storing patient specific input data for multiple patients, a fluid-solid interaction biomechanical model configured for performing a biomechanics simulation and generating biomechanics data, and a graphical user interface. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084065 | Wear-Out Detection Methods for Printed Circuit Board Assembly Components Used in Downhole Oilfield Environments - A method, apparatus and computer-readable medium for determining a lifespan of an electronic component in a downhole environment is disclosed. A first wear-out model is created that is related to a selected electronic component. A physical condition of the selected electronic component is examined at a selected examination time. The physical condition is generally due to the downhole environment in which the electronic component is disposed. A second wear-out model for the selected electronic component is created from the first wear-out model and the examined physical condition of the selected electronic component. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084066 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EFFICIENT MODELING OF NPSKEW EFFECTS ON STATIC TIMING TESTS - A computer-implemented method that simulates NPskew effects on a combination NFET (Negative Field Effect Transistor)/PFET (Positive Field Effect Transistor) semiconductor device using slew perturbations includes performing a timing test by a computing device, by: (1) evaluating perturb slews in Strong N/Weak P directions on the combination semiconductor device for a timing test result; (2) evaluation perturb slews in Weak N/Strong P directions on the combination semiconductor device for a timing test result; and (3) evaluating unperturbed slews in a balanced condition on the combination semiconductor device for a timing test result. After each test is performed, a determination is made as to which evaluation of the perturbed and unperturbed slews produces a most conservative timing test result for the combination semiconductor device. An NPskew effect adjusted timing test result is finally output based on determining the most conservative timing test result. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084067 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SYNTHESIZING PIPELINED INPUT/OUTPUT IN A CIRCUIT DESIGN FROM HIGH LEVEL SYNTHESIS - A method and apparatus for synthesizing pipelined input/output in a circuit design from high level synthesis is described. In one example, an operation is selected to be performed by a circuit, the operation including a plurality of partial operations of different types. The partial operations are ordered based on the ordering of the variables. A plurality of hardware components for performing the operations are represented with a data flow graph having edges and nodes, the edges and nodes being connected based on the ordering of partial operations. A plurality of solutions are simulated for performing the operations as hardware component combinations represented as paths on the data flow graph. For each solution, a cost including a number of edges and nodes traversed on the data flow graph is determined, and a solution is selected with the lowest cost as a hardware component combination for a circuit. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084068 | Incorporation of Uncertainty in Simulation Analysis - A computing device simulates a test system by defining parameter values to be used to populate certain modeling formulas defining the test system. The defined parameter values correspond to one of the many points defining a domain in which the test system is to be simulated. The simulation iteratively solves the modeling formulas for each unit of the test system model space for each point in the domain in which the test system is simulated. Results for the subjects of interest are calculated at each iteration using the populated modeling formulas. A variance of the subjects of interest is also calculated at each iteration using a correlation coefficient obtained for the subjects of interest. The iterations of defining the parameter values and calculating the value and variance of the subjects of interest in the test system model space continues until all points in the domain have been simulated. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084069 | GENERATING AND DELAYING FUNCTION CALLS IN A DISCRETE EVENT MODELING ENVIRONMENT - A mechanism to dynamically vary the amount of delay for an event-generated function call is discussed. The event causing the generation of the function call may be a signal-based event, function call event or some other type of event. A function call generating delay component is inserted into a DES model and dynamically adjusts the amount of delay to apply prior to generating and transmitting the function call to an intended target component. The function call generating component reads a value from an input port in determining the amount of delay. The identified value at the input port may be a signal value or an attribute associated with an event entity received at the port. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084070 | BI-DIRECTIONAL PROJECTION - In an embodiment, one or more computer-readable media holding executable instructions is provided. The instructions may be executed on a processing device to project a specification to a platform environment that includes a system model. The media may hold one or more instructions for accessing an algorithm model, the algorithm model being associated with the specification. The media may further hold one or more instructions for projecting the specification to the system model via a forward projection. The media may hold one or more instructions for receiving a reverse projection that includes specification changes, the specification changes identifying suggested changes to the specification. The media may further hold one or more instructions for modifying the algorithm model based on the specification changes, and the media may hold one or more instructions for storing the modified algorithm model. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084071 | Mechanism for NPIV Client Recovery When NPIV Server Goes Down - With N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV), a managed system can be configured so that multiple logical partitions (LPARs) can access independent physical storage through the same physical fibre channel adapter. An NPIV client recovery component of a virtualization management component, such as a Power Hypervisor (pHYP), provides the emulation mapping between server and client virtual fibre channel adapters. The pHYP also provides a mechanism that prevents client partition crashes when the NPIV server (e.g., a VIOS logical partition) goes down. When the NPIV server is rebooted or powers down, the pHYP handles the client LPARs to avoid a crash by removing processing resources from the client logical partition. Thereby, the client logical partition is prevented from attempting to access a root volume group in physical storage via the NPIV server. The pHYP allocates processor resources to the client LPAR when the NPIV server is again available for UO processing. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084072 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR RUNNING LINUX APPLICATION IN ANDROID SYSTEM - A method and a device for running a Linux application in an Android system are described herein. An Android application proxy processing module can create a shared display area, and the display configuration can be set by a Linux application processing module (i.e., a Linux application) according to the created shared display area to share the display area. The Android application proxy processing module can transmit the received user events to the Linux application processing module for processing. The user interface information created after being processed can be sent by the Linux application processing module to a display module for display. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084073 | DISPLAYING ORIGINAL TEXT IN A USER INTERFACE WITH TRANSLATED TEXT - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for user interaction with machine translation. A user interface for receiving requests to translate text and/or documents from a first language text to a second language text. The translated text and/or document is displayed such that the first language text corresponding to a selected portion of the second language text can be accessed and displayed in the same user interface. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084074 | Association Of Semantic Meaning With Data Elements Using Data Definition Tags - Technology is described for associating semantic meaning with data elements. The system can include a messaging module configured to receive a message having data elements. A storage module can store the data elements from the message in a structured format. A message dictionary can be configured to identify a type of the message received and to lexically identify data elements of the message using the message dictionary and the type of message. In addition, a taxonomy module can be configured to provide a semantic meaning for the data elements of the lexically identified portions of the message. Further, a data definition tag repository can store data definition tags and link the message dictionary, the taxonomy, and storage location of the data elements in the storage module. The data definition tags can enable the semantic meaning of data elements to be queried. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084075 | CHARACTER INPUT APPARATUS EQUIPPED WITH AUTO-COMPLETE FUNCTION, METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE CHARACTER INPUT APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - A character input apparatus which makes it possible to suppress degradation of use-friendliness in a case where a visually disabled user inputs characters using an auto-complete function. In the character string input apparatus, a character string to be input as a portion following a character string input by a user is predicted based on the character string input by the user, and the character string input by the user is completed using the predicted character string as a portion complementary thereto. In a voice guidance mode, information associated with a key selected by the user is read aloud by voice. When the voice guidance mode is enabled, the character string input apparatus disables the auto-complete function and performs control such that a character string cannot be automatically completed. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084076 | CONTEXT-BASED DISAMBIGUATION OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS - Context-based disambiguation of acronyms and/or abbreviations may determine a target abbreviation and one or more keywords appearing in context with the target abbreviation in a received passage, the target abbreviation representing a shortened form of one or more word. A contextual search query including the target abbreviation and said one or more keywords may be generated. A pseudo document index may be searched for one or more expansions of the target abbreviation by invoking the contextual search query, the pseudo document index containing index of one or more pseudo documents, associated one or more abbreviations and associated context keywords. One or more pseudo documents associated with the target abbreviation may be returned based on the searching of the pseudo document index. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084077 | BUILDING AND CONTRACTING A LINGUISTIC DICTIONARY - A method for building and contracting a linguistic dictionary, the linguistic dictionary comprising a list of surface forms and a list of normalized forms, each normalized form being associated with a surface form, the method comprising the steps of: comparing each character of a surface form with each character of the surface form's normalized form; in response to the comparing step, determining an edit operation for each character compared; and generating a transform code from the set of the edit operations in order to transform the surface form to its normalized form. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084078 | Method And Apparatus For Voice Signature Authentication - A scalable voice signature authentication capability is provided herein. The scalable voice signature authentication capability enables authentication of varied services such as speaker identification (e.g. private banking and access to healthcare account records), voice signature as a password (e.g. secure access for remote services and document retrieval) and the Internet and its various services (e.g., online shopping), and the like | 2012-04-05 |
20120084079 | Integration of Embedded and Network Speech Recognizers - A method, computer program product, and system are provided for performing a voice command on a client device. The method can include translating, using a first speech recognizer located on the client device, an audio stream of a voice command to a first machine-readable voice command and generating a first query result using the first machine-readable voice command to query a client database. In addition, the audio stream can be transmitted to a remote server device that translates the audio stream to a second machine-readable voice command using a second speech recognizer. Further, the method can include receiving a second query result from the remote server device, where the second query result is generated by the remote server device using the second machine-readable voice command and displaying the first query result and the second query result on the client device. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084080 | Machine for Enabling and Disabling Noise Reduction (MEDNR) Based on a Threshold - The present invention provides a novel system and method for monitoring the audio signals, analyze selected audio signal components, compare the results of analysis with a threshold value, and enable or disable noise reduction capability of a communication device. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084081 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING SPEECH ANALYTICS - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for performing trend analysis of speech. A system practicing the method receives a speech trend analysis request having candidate feature constraints, an objective function with respect to a speech trend to be analyzed, and a set of speech record constraints. The system selects a subset of speech records from the group of speech records based on the set of speech record constraints to yield selected speech records, identifies features in the selected speech records based on the set of candidate feature constraints to yield identified features, and assigns a weight to each of the identified features based on the objective function. Then the system ranks the identified features by their respective weights to yield ranked identified features, and outputs at least one of the ranked identified features associated with a speech-based trend in response to the speech trend analysis request. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084082 | Adaptive Voice Activity Detection - Encoding audio signals with selecting an encoding mode for encoding the signal categorizing the signal into active segments having voice activity and non-active segments having substantially no voice activity by using categorization parameters depending on the selected encoding mode and encoding at least the active segments using the selected encoding mode. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084083 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING AUDIO SIGNAL IN A MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL - A method and an apparatus for processing an audio signal in a mobile terminal are provided, wherein an audio signal received from a counterpart mobile terminal is classified into a voice signal and a noise signal according to respective energy, and a frequency of the classified voice signal and an energy of the classified noise signal is controlled according to a predetermined criteria, then the controlled voice signal and the controlled noise signal are coupled and output to a speaker. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084084 | Noise cancellation device for communications in high noise environments - This invention presents a noise cancellation device for improved personal face-to-face and radio communications in high noise environments. The device comprises speech acquisition components, an audio signal processing module, a loudspeaker, and a radio interface. With the noise cancellation device, the signal-to-noise ratio can be improved by as much as 30 dB. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084085 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR TRACKING BACKGROUND NOISE IN COMMUNICATION SYSTEM - A method and a device for tracking background noise in a communication system are provided. The method includes: calculating a SNR of a current frame according to input audio signals; increasing a frame counter, and calculating tone features and signal steadiness features of the current frame if the SNR of the current frame is not less than a first threshold; determining the possibility of a time window including a noise interval according to the calculated tone feature values and signal steadiness feature values of each frame of the time window when the frame counter is increased to the length of the time window; and extracting noise features in the time window. Existence of background noise is analyzed continuously in a time window, so that background noise that changes frequently. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084086 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPEN SPEECH RECOGNITION - Disclosed herein are systems, methods and non-transitory computer-readable media for performing speech recognition across different applications or environments without model customization or prior knowledge of the domain of the received speech. The disclosure includes recognizing received speech with a collection of domain-specific speech recognizers, determining a speech recognition confidence for each of the speech recognition outputs, selecting speech recognition candidates based on a respective speech recognition confidence for each speech recognition output, and combining selected speech recognition candidates to generate text based on the combination. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084087 | METHOD, DEVICE, AND SYSTEM FOR SPEAKER RECOGNITION - A method, device, and system for speaker recognition are provided. The method includes: receiving a Speaker Verification instruction sent from a Media Gateway Controller (MGC) ( | 2012-04-05 |
20120084088 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMPUTERIZED PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTENT ANALYSIS OF COMPUTER AND MEDIA GENERATED COMMUNICATIONS TO PRODUCE COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT SUPPORT, INDICATIONS AND WARNINGS OF DANGEROUS BEHAVIOR, ASSESSMENT OF MEDIA IMAGES, AND PERSONNEL SELECTION SUPPORT - At least one computer-mediated communication produced by or received by an author is collected and parsed to identify categories of information within it. The categories of information are processed with at least one analysis to quantify at least one type of information in each category. A first output communication is generated regarding the at least one computer-mediated communication, describing the psychological state, attitudes or characteristics of the author of the communication. A second output communication is generated when a difference between the quantification of at least one type of information for at least one category and a reference for the at least one category is detected involving a psychological state, attitude or characteristic of the author to which a responsive action should be taken. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084089 | PROGRESSIVE ENCODING OF AUDIO - The present disclosure includes processing a signal to generate a first sub-set of data, transmitting the first sub-set of data for generation of a reconstructed audio signal, the reconstructed audio signal having a fidelity relative to the signal, processing the signal to generate a second sub-set of data and a third sub-set of data, the second sub-set of data defining a second portion of the signal and comprising data that is different than data of the first sub-set of data, and the third sub-set of data defining a third portion of the signal and comprising data that is different than data of the first and second sub-sets of data, comparing a priority of the second sub-set of data to a priority of the third sub-set of data, and transmitting one of the second sub-set of data and the third sub-set of data over the network for improving the fidelity. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084090 | EPROCUREMENT CHANGE REQUEST PROCESS - The present invention is directed to methods and systems for implementing a procurement change request process. The method includes receiving a request to edit a requisition order from a requestor. The requisition order has been previously completed and the requisition order includes a lines. The method further includes receiving updates to at least one of the lines, and based on the received updates, updating the at least one of the lines of the requisition order. Further, the method includes determining that the at least one of the lines has been sourced to a purchase order, in response to the at least one of the lines being sourced to the purchase order, creating a requisition change request for the at least one of the lines, and updating the purchase order with the updates to the at least one of the lines of the requisition order. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084091 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OBJECT CONFIRMATION AND TRACKING - A method and apparatus for tracking a medication to be administered by a user. The method includes the steps of determining the identity of a medication to be administered by a user, identifying one or more characteristics associated with the medication that are to be used to continue to track the medication, the one or more characteristics including less than a total number of characteristics associated with the medication to be administered, and tracking the medication to be administered in accordance with the identified one or more characteristics through one or more future video images. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084092 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A COMPREHENSIVE DYNAMIC PERSONAL HEALTH RECORD SYSTEM - We present a data-driven system that seamlessly integrates the compilation of a diverse set of patient electronic medical records, family history, and environmental risk factor databases, a program that determines correlations and assigns weights through a neural network between illness and the state of symptoms, a program to create disease-specific questionnaires and content, a program alert that informs users of trends and potential illness outbreaks due to anomalous changes in regional or national symptom trends, and a program that enables medical practitioners to view patient-generated records and manage an online referral system. The automated diagnoses and alerts allow users to make informed and rapid medical treatment decisions. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084093 | RATER RESOURCE ALLOCATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Methods of allocating raters to assessment visits of studies, and tangible computer readable media including software that is adapted to control a computer to implement methods of allocating raters to assessment visits of studies, are provided. Raters are allocated by retrieving blinding information that includes at least one blinding criterion for a visit of a study, retrieving rater information for at least one rater associated with the study, comparing the retrieved rater information and the retrieved blinding information to identify one or more raters meeting the at least one blinding criterion and enabling selection of the identified one or more raters for allocation to the visit of the study. A rater may then be allocated to the visit by receiving a selection for at least one of the identified raters and allocating the at least one rater to the visit responsive to the received selection. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084094 | TREATMENT REGIMEN COMPLIANCE AND EFFICACY WITH FEEDBACK - A method and system for interaction with a community of individuals, relating to compliance with and effectiveness of treatment regimens, including supply and use of pharmaceuticals, using a protocol or other intelligent message which acts in place of a service provider and which is capable of collecting or imparting information to patients in place thereof. Individuals interact with the protocol or intelligent message to provide assistance in all aspects of treatment regimen compliance, data collection, supply or delivery, review and modification. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084095 | PATIENT BURDEN EASING SUPPORT APPARATUS, PATIENT BURDEN EASING SUPPORT METHOD AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM - An endoscopic sector server as a patient burden easing support apparatus executes a step of acquiring preparation completion information indicating that preparation for an endoscopic inspection has been completed, a step of acquiring inspection start information indicating that the endoscopic inspection has been started, a determination step of determining whether predetermined conditions about a time between acquisition of the preparation completion information and acquisition of the inspection start information are satisfied or not, and a warning step of outputting warning information when determination is made that the predetermined conditions are satisfied. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084096 | METHOD, APPARATUS, AND PROGRAM FOR GENERATING DIAGNOSTIC RESULT EXPLANATION REPORTS - A diagnostic result explanation report generating apparatus is equipped with: a diagnostic information storing section, a comment information storing section, a template storing section for storing explanation templates having insertion regions, into which at least portions of the diagnostic information and the comment information are insertable, prepared for each of the various diagnostic results; an input section, for inputting patient specifying information; a diagnostic information obtaining section, for obtaining diagnostic information for a patient, based on the input patient specifying information; a template obtaining section, for obtaining an explanation template which is prepared for a diagnostic result, based on a diagnostic result included in the obtained diagnostic information; a comment information obtaining section, for obtaining comment information from the comment information storing section; and a diagnostic result explanation generating section, for inserting necessary diagnostic information and comment information into the obtained explanation template, to generate a diagnostic result explanation report. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084097 | IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIALTY DRUGS - Methods for determining whether a drug is a specialty drug, methods for creating tools to be used in making the determination, and the tools themselves are disclosed. The overall value of a drug depends on the drug's attribute values with respect to each of a set of drug attributes (concerning, e.g., the drug's route of administration, targeted disease, possible adverse reactions, risk of toxicity, cost, need for patient compliance with the treatment regime, and handling, preparation, and/or storage requirements. If the overall value or its partial overall values meet certain criteria, the drug is deemed to be a specialty drug. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084098 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR POPULATING ELECTRONIC HEALTHCARE FORMS - A computer-implemented method, computer program product, and computing system for monitoring an answer being solicited from a user of a healthcare system concerning a question included within an electronic healthcare form. The user is provided with information that assists the user in answering the question on the electronic healthcare form. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084099 | METHOD, SYSTEM AND ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE, SUCH AS A CARD, TO PROVIDE USER SELECTABLE MEDICAL INFORMATION AND INFORMATION TO OBTAIN ELIGIBILITY OF HEALTHCARE PAYMENTS - A method obtains and stores medical information in a machine-readable format. An interface is provided to select a portion of the medical information. In response to a user selection, the portion is displayed on a substrate, and the medical information is accessed by information, recorded in a machine-readable format on the substrate. A system includes a healthcare provider processing device obtaining eligibility information from the substrate and generating an eligibility request to an entity processing device that forwards the eligibility request to a payer. An eligibility response from the payer is then provided to the healthcare provider via the entity processing device. In an embodiment, medical information in a paper format is faxed using a unique user identifier and password and categorized into a machine-readable format. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084100 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING CANDIDATE AND SUBJECT PARTICIPATION IN CLINICAL TRIAL STUDIES - The present invention discloses systems and methods for facilitating candidate and subject participation in clinical trial studies. Medical professionals participating in the study at satellite sites assist in recruitment of their pre-existing patients as subjects in the study. Clinical trial data collected from the subjects is communicated over a computer network from the satellite sites to core sites. Study coordination is performed at the core sites. The collected clinical trial data is analyzed in accordance with the study at an interested party site. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084101 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LONGITUDINAL DISEASE MANAGEMENT - A longitudinal medical outcome collection and reporting (LMOCR) system provides a system for collecting, storing and displaying medical information. In particular, the system includes a patient database for storing medical records and information pertaining to a plurality of patients. The LMOCR system further includes an application server that stores applications for communicating with the patient database, a remotely located patient device, and a remotely located provider device. The application server includes a patient module that displays on the patient device a patient portal that allows the patient to interact with the LMOCR system. The patient module provides a questionnaire to the patient portal to collect information from the patient and applies a first set of rules to collected patient information to selectively modify the questionnaire to collect relevant follow-up information from the patient. The application server further includes a provider module that displays on the provider device a provider portal that allows the provider to interact with the LMOCR system. The provider module applies a second set of rules to collected patient information to translate the collected patient information into a format relevant to the provider, wherein the provider is able to review, modify, and add to the collection of patient data stored in the patient database. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084102 | Systems and Methods for Electronic Insurance Policy Delivery - A system and method in which data regarding an insurance policy to be presented to a consumer for review and execution is stored in one or more databases. The consumer is presented with one or more electronic messages indicating that the insurance policy is available for review and inquiring as to whether the consumer agrees to review and execute the policy in electronic form. After receiving an electronic indication from the consumer that he agrees to review and execute the policy in electronic form, the policy is presented to the consumer in electronic form. After receiving an electronic indication from the consumer of agreement to review and execute the insurance policy in electronic form, the consumer is electronically presented with one or more options for enhancing the insurance coverage without performing any additional underwriting for the policy. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084103 | System and Method for Estimating Loss Costs and Propensity of an Insured Vehicle and Providing Driving Information - A system for estimating loss costs for a vehicle is provided. A server is provided in communication with a network, and electronically obtains location information over a period of time from a telematics device installed in a vehicle and transmitted to the server over the network. At least one driving territory is identified, through which the vehicle is driven. At least one garaging loss cost associated with the vehicle is identified, and the system calculates at least one level of exposure for the vehicle based upon the at least one driving territory through which the vehicle is driven. The at least one garaging loss cost and the at least one level of exposure are processed to calculate a driving loss cost for the vehicle, which can be transmitted to a third party in communication with the server over the network for subsequent use by the third party. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084104 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELLING INSURANCE USING RAPID DECISION TERM - An insurance company sells a life insurance policy having a coverage period. The policy provides a total benefit amount which includes an all-cause benefit amount and an accidental death only benefit amount. The policy is initially underwritten on a limited basis and the ratio of the all-cause benefit to the accidental death benefit is low. The insured has the option of providing material to enable comprehensive underwriting and to enable risk classification. If the risk classification improves the policy benefits, the mix of coverage is adjusted to include a higher ratio of the all-cause benefit amount to the accidental death only benefit amount. If the insured does not provide any additional information or materials, or if the materials provided do not result in an underwritten risk classification that enables the policy provisions to be improved, the mix of coverage remains unchanged. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084105 | METHOD FOR SELECTING A ROUND TRIP TRANSPORT SERVICE IN ONE CLICK - The present invention concerns a method for selecting in one click a round trip transport service among a plurality of transport services between a departure place and a destination for a preferred departure date and a preferred return date, said plurality of transport services covering direct and/or multi-stop journeys at various prices, said method comprising the steps of:—displaying on a first axis a range of dates covering at least the preferred departure and return dates;—displaying on a second axis a range covering the various prices of said plurality of transport services;—selecting transport services corresponding to said departure place, said destination and at least said preferred departure and return dates;—for each of said selected transport services, placing the service at a level on the second axis corresponding to the price associated with this service;—on the first axis, placing at least one icon corresponding to the departure date and at least one icon corresponding to the return date of said transport service, these icons being linked by an information bar;—selecting one of the displayed transport service by clicking on said information bar. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084106 | System And Method For Designing Supply Chain For Commodity Product Distribution - Techniques are disclosed for designing a supply chain distribution network. A network design tool may be configured to facilitates strategic decision making for a producer/distributor of a commodity products (e.g., molecular gas mixtures stored in cylinders) by incorporating transportation costs (i.e., operational decisions) into the strategic decision making process. Further, the network design tool may also integrate investment decision costs, which are usually considered ‘tactical decisions’, into the strategic decision process (e.g., which filling tools are assigned to which plant/hub location). The network design tool implements different algorithm approaches allowing a user to obtain optimal, near-optimal, and approximate solutions. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084107 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MATCHING BUYERS AND SELLERS IN AN ANONYMOUS ONLINE MARKETPLACE - In one embodiment, the present invention is a method and apparatus for matching buyers and sellers in an anonymous online marketplace. One embodiment of a method for defining a community of network users includes collecting data relating to the network users, where the data is of at least one of the following types: demographic information relating to the network users, Internet Protocol address information relating to the network users, and Internet Protocol traffic information relating to the network users. The collected data is then anonymized, where the anonymizing is performed individually for each type of data. The anonymized data is aggregated to generate an activity-to-demographic mapping representative of network activity associated with particular demographics of the community of network users. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084108 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR A WORK FLOW MANAGEMENT APPLICATION SUITE FOR MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS DEVICES - Systems and methods for a work flow management application suite for mobile communications devices are provided. In one embodiment, a method for providing work flow management from a mobile communication unit comprises: initiating a login from the mobile communication unit to a back-end database by transmitting a unique device ID for the mobile communication unit, a username and password to a supervisory server; when the logon is granted, retrieving project information records from the back-end database for one or more projects assigned to the username; and displaying on the mobile communication unit a schedule of project information for the one or more projects based on the project information records, wherein the project information includes a Method of Procedure (MOP) status for each of the one or more projects, the MOP status indicating whether a MOP to perform a work task is currently valid. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084109 | Decisioning Guidelines And Framework - A system and method of identifying one or more locations eligible to perform a work function based on one or more filtering parameters is provided. The system and method may include receiving a first plurality of locations and filtering the first plurality of locations to identify a second plurality of locations eligible to perform an identified work function based on a first filtering parameter. The second plurality of locations may be further filtered to determine a third plurality of eligible locations, the third plurality of eligible locations being identified based on a second filtering parameter. In some examples, the third plurality of locations may be further filtered to identify a fourth plurality of eligible locations, the fourth plurality of eligible locations being identified based on a third filtering parameter. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084110 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SMART OIL, GAS AND CHEMICAL PROCESS SCHEDULING - A system and method support smart scheduling for an oil, gas and chemical process system with a plurality of facility units. A subset of the process facility units can be selected from the plurality of process facility units. A partial scheduling calculation can be performed on the selected subset of process facility units, independently from the rest of the chemical process facility units. A schedule can be calculated for the subset of chemical process facility units, based on the partial scheduling calculation. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084111 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADAPTIVE MULTIPLE CONTACT ASSIGNMENT - Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a system and method for adaptively assigning multiple contacts to an agent determined by that agent's current metrics data or effectiveness measure. In one embodiment, there is provided a method for adaptively assigning multiple contacts to an agent in a contact center, comprising providing a reporting engine containing an agent's metrics; providing an assignment engine for assigning multiple contacts to the agent based upon the agent's metrics received from the reporting engine; storing each contact being served by the agent with at least one agent metrics element to be measured by the reporting engine; updating the agent's metrics in the reporting engine based upon the measured at least one metrics element; comparing the agent's updated metrics with stored target metrics; and assigning multiple contacts to the agent when the agent's metrics is within the target metrics. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084112 | PROVIDING COMMUNITY FOR CUSTOMER QUESTIONS - A system for providing community for customer questions receives a customer question. The customer question may be classified into a classification from a plurality of classifications categorizing whether a question is answerable, needs expert assistance, needs more information, or is not answerable. Based on the classification and one or more incentives, the question may be further routed to an appropriate community. The interactions with a customer in receiving and answering the customer question may be recorded. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084113 | VIRTUAL RESOURCE COST TRACKING WITH DEDICATED IMPLEMENTATION RESOURCES - Virtual resources may be provisioned in a manner that is aware of, and respects, underlying implementation resource boundaries. A customer of the virtual resource provider may specify that particular virtual resources are to be implemented with implementation resources that are dedicated to the customer. Dedicating an implementation resource to a particular customer of a virtual resource provider may establish one or more information barriers between the particular customer and other customers of the virtual resource provider. Implementation resources may require transition procedures, including custom transition procedures, to enter and exit dedicated implementation resource pools. Costs corresponding to active and inactive implementation resources in a dedicated pools associated with a particular customer may be accounted for, and presented to, the customer in a variety of ways including explicit, adjusted per customer and adjusted per type of virtual resource and/or implementation resource. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084114 | CAPTURING AND REVIEWING CHANGES IMPACTING ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING SYSTEMS - A change memo system facilitates the identification and review of changes to legal requirements and/or other guidelines that may impact enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Identified electronic references are tracked for changes. When a change is detected, a change memo is created as a record of the change. The change memo may be reviewed to verify, among things, that the identified change is one that warrants an update to an ERP system and to validate the change. Once the change memo is approved, information from the change memo may be employed to develop and implement an update to an ERP system. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084115 | TURF MANAGEMENT - A turf management system includes an irrigation system for providing water to the turf at a turf site, and an irrigation evaluation system for evaluating the performance of the irrigation system. The irrigation evaluation system segments the turf site into irrigation management units, where each of the irrigation management units includes at least one sprinkler head. Qualities of the turf are measured to generate collected data points. The data points are used by the irrigation evaluation system to compute a value for the turf in each of the irrigation management units. The values can then be used to identify irrigation management units having common characteristics. The values can be used to define irrigation management zones for controlling the irrigation system. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084116 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING WHETHER TO ALLOW CREATION OF A CONTENT CHANNEL - An apparatus may include a content channel drafting module configured to provide for drafting of a content channel. A content channel comparison module may compare the content channel with existing content channels to determine a similarity factor. A channel creation determination module may determine whether or not to allow creation of the content channel based at least in part on the similarity factor. Thereby, creation of the content channel may be allowed in instances in which the similarity factor is less than a threshold correlation value and disallowed in instances in which the similarity factor exceeds the threshold correlation value. Further, when creation of a content channel is allowed, selection of a public channel status configured to allow sharing of the content channel may be disallowed in an instance in which the similarity factor exceeds a lower threshold correlation value. | 2012-04-05 |
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. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084118 | SALES PREDICATION FOR A NEW STORE BASED ON ON-SITE MARKET SURVEY DATA AND HIGH RESOLUTION GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION - A method for predicting sales for a new store in a certain geographical area is disclosed, the method comprising geographic and non-geographic information and customer segmentation in the area to estimate sales and optionally the impact on existing competitor stores. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084119 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EXCESS INVENTORY MANAGEMENT - A method for managing excess inventory includes receiving a physical shipment of goods and submitting a description and expiration date of each inventory item in the physical shipment of goods to an inventory management application. The inventory management application tracks number of units of each inventory item at the merchant. The method further includes, at a predefined timeframe prior to the expiration date, receiving a notification when a forecast of the number of unit of an inventory item remaining in the inventory at the expiration date is greater than a pre-defined threshold, selecting a buyer network of a plurality of buyer networks for selling the inventory item to generate a selected buyer network, and selling the inventory item via the selected buyer network. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084120 | SURVEY ASSESSMENT - A reply of a survey responder is evaluated. A verbal response to a survey is received and a corresponding audio file is encoded. One or more evaluators are given access to both the audio file and a questionnaire including a question regarding a disposition of a survey responder. The evaluators select from a plurality of predefined answers to the question. A report is created based on the selected answers of the evaluators. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084121 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING A SALE BETWEEN A CONSUMER AND MOBILE SUPPLIER - A system and method for facilitating a sale between a consumer and a mobile supplier offering one or more transportable goods for sale that includes one or more supplier devices and one or more consumer devices communicatively coupled to at least one of the supplier devices. The supplier devices may be configured to determine and transmit the approximate current location of one or more items offered for sale, as well as information at least partially describing the items. The consumer devices may be configured to receive the information transmitted by the communicatively coupled supplier device. The consumer devices may further be configured to identify one or more desired items from the items offered for sale. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084122 | COUPON INTEGRATION WITH SHOPPING LISTS - In an embodiment, an application receives data indicating that a user has selected a coupon offer. The application identifies an item that is associated with the selected coupon offer. In response, the application adds the item to a shopping list for the user. In an embodiment, an application receives data indicating an item that has been added to a shopping list. The application identifies one or more coupon offers based on data associated with the item. In response, the application presents the one or more coupon offers to the user. Responsive to presenting the one or more coupon offers to the user, the application receives selection, from the user, of a particular coupon offer of the one or more coupon offers. In response to the user selecting the particular coupon offer, the application generates a print or electronic coupon for the particular coupon offer. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084123 | INTERACTIVE COMPUTER MOUSE - An interactive computer mouse is configured to provide one or more interactive features that take advantage of the close proximity of the mouse to its users. The mouse may comprise one or more mouse buttons and a motion sensor. The mouse may also have a housing that is formed with a display. The display may be used to present information such as advertising or other marketing information on the mouse and be configured to conform to a mouse's curved, ergonomic, or other shape. A launch button, one or more sensors, or both may be configured to signal the mouse to display marketing information on the display. The mouse may include a memory device for synchronizing a user's data files. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084124 | SOCIAL ADVERTISING - In general, one aspect of the subject matter disclosed in this specification can be embodied in a method for inviting a plurality of candidate badge holders to become badge holders. Criteria are defined for being a badge holder. Information is provided, to a verification system, for verifying that badge holders are authorized, the information comprising the criteria. An indication is received of issuance of a badge to a badge holder from the verification system. One or more reports are received related to activities of badge holders from a publication system that exposes badges associated with the badge holders. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084125 | Search Change Model - Systems, methods and computer program products for determining lost opportunities resulting from changes to advertising spending are described. To assist advertisers in evaluating and allocating a proper budget to advertising, an analyzer can be used to develop an analytical model that gathers data pertaining to the incremental value of search advertising. (e.g., the true cost of the additional click lost or gained), which can be presented to the advertisers when changes have been made/proposed to the advertiser's advertising spending. The analyzer can detect large changes in advertising spending, and indicate (e.g., by prediction) how many total clicks were lost or gained as a result of the change in advertising spending to allow the advertisers to visualize the impact to changes in advertising spending, and determine when to decrease advertising budget on ads that yield low return-on-investment or to increase advertising budget to maximize the effectiveness of an active ad campaign. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084126 | Systems and Methods of Using a Lighting System to Enhance Brand Recognition - The present solution described herein provides systems and methods to coordinate and control the lighting of areas of a display unit in manner desired based on the type, brand and other characteristics of the product presented for display via the display unit. A lighting control system may control the characteristics of light emanating from one or more light sources to cause a reaction or visual effect from light reactive material of the product or display unit. In some cases, the lighting control system may control the characteristics of light emanating from one or more light sources based on signals from detectors, such as sensing any state or condition of the ambient environment. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084127 | TRANSACTION SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTING PROFIT-SHARING INCENTIVES WITHIN SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS AND ONLINE COMMUNITIES - A system and method for conducting revenue-generating transactions by creation and dissemination of a pooled profit-sharing incentive among users of a social network or other online community. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084128 | System and Method For Providing Incentives to Purchasers - An online system presents remote users with static incentives, dynamic incentives and the ability to create and submit customizable incentives related to goods or services of interest to the user. By using the incentive delivery system, the user can research goods or services of interest and in an interactive fashion create an incentive package most desirable to the user and submit same to a central location. The systems performs decisioning routines on submitted incentive requests and makes such requests available for review. Ultimately, the submitted requests may be accepted or rejected or a counter-incentive may be issued to the user for consideration. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084129 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SUBSCRIPTION-BASED DELIVERY SERVICE - A subscription-based discounted delivery service that allows consumers to make purchases from multiple merchants through multiple sales channels. User preference information is stored by the service provider and provided to any of the multiple merchants from whom the user seeks to make a purchase, from the product detail page of such merchant, to be delivered using the discounted delivery service. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084130 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRACKING INDIVIDUALS VIA REMOTE TRANSMITTERS ATTACHED TO PERSONAL ITEMS - A system and method are provided for verifying presence at a location is defined. In an embodiment, user information, user identifier information, vendor information, and time information is stored in at least one database accessible to at least one processor. First electronic user identifier representing a first user is received from a first computing device respectively associated with a first identification tag reader, wherein first identification tag reader received the first electronic user identifier. In addition, first vendor information respectively associated with the vendor is received, as is first electronic time information representing a time when the first user is present at the location. The name of the first user and the name of the vendor are determined as a function of the first user identifier, the first vendor identifier, and at least some of the electronic user information; and are transmitted to at least a third computing device. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084131 | Data communication system - The present invention relates to systems for communicating data. In particular, systems for communicating data to and from mobile devices are described. One system involves the use of a server to store the association between a shortcode and the data. A user device can be used to transmit the shortcode to a second user device. The second user device can then access the association at the server to access the data. The shortcode is transmitted via an audibly unique signal between the two devices. Further devices, systems, and methods for redeeming vouchers, transferring money, unlocking content on a device, and authenticating transactions all using audio are also disclosed. A method for managing data communication on a mobile device is further disclosed. In addition, a system for asynchronous transmission of the data is disclosed by use of reserving a shortcode at a server before the shortcode is associated with data. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084132 | METHODS, SYSTEMS AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIA FOR ISSUING AND REDEEMING CO-BRANDED ELECTRONIC CERTIFICATES - The subject matter described herein includes methods, systems, and computer readable media for issuing and redeeming co-branded electronic certificates. In one example, a method includes receiving, via near field communication (NFC), a co-branded electronic certificate and an electronic payment card to conduct a wireless purchase transaction for at least one good or service. The method further includes determining whether qualification information contained in the co-branded electronic certificate matches at least a portion of the account number associated with the electronic payment card used to conduct the wireless purchase transaction. The method also includes applying the co-branded electronic certificate to conduct the purchase transaction if the qualification information matches the at least a portion of the account number. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084133 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN PARENT AND CHILD WEBPAGE ACCESSES AND/OR BROWSER TABS IN FOCUS - Methods and apparatus to distinguish between parent and child webpage accesses and/or browser tabs in focus are disclosed. An example implementation includes identifying an HTTP request; retrieving Page Info data from a browser; electronically detecting if the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify a same Internet resource; electronically classifying the HTTP request as a parent call when the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify the same Internet resource; and electronically classifying the HTTP request as a child call when the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify different Internet resources. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084134 | Energy Conservation Incentivisation System - An energy conservation incentivisation system is disclosed. The energy conservation incentivisation system is provided with a website having a web server reading information representative of a customer's energy usage for a given period of time in relation to a corresponding period of time. The website verifies a reduction of energy usage, and registers the customer in a rewards program. The energy conservation incentivisation system also includes a communication system communicating with the Internet using an Internet protocol to receive the information from the customer. The information representative of the customer's energy usage can be one or more electronic files of utility invoices from the given period of time and the corresponding period of time. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084135 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRACKING TRANSACTION RECORDS IN A NETWORK - The disclosure describes a database system and method for processing a transaction record of a transaction between a merchant and a user is provided. The system comprises a database and a server. The database stores and updates an account record and coupon records. The account record contains account data associated with the user and transaction data. The server provides update instructions for the account record to the database; communicates with a first terminal associated with the merchant to process the account record; builds the transaction record for the database using data relating to the transaction provided from the first terminal, the transaction record containing information relating to the transaction, the merchant and the customer; associates the transaction record with the transaction data in the account record; provides data relating to a selection of coupon records to the first terminal during a session relating to the transaction; and provides access to the account record to a requesting entity upon verification of access rights of the requesting entity to access the account record. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084136 | EBOOK ADVERTISING, INCLUDING COST-SHARING TECHNIQUES - Techniques are provided that include allowing an ebook reader to select an advertising setting which specifies permissible forms of advertising to be presented to the ebook reader via one or more ebooks. Based at least in part on the selected setting, the ebook reader may be provided with a reduction relating to cost of the one or more ebooks. The reduction may be greater if the selected option indicates more valuable permissible advertising. Permissible advertising may be presented to the ebook reader via at least one of the one or more ebooks. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084137 | Method for Creating, Distributing, and Tracking Variable Coupons - A method and system for generating dynamic coupons for items in which a discount amount of a first product is dependent on other products selected by the consumer. The method and system allows a seller to establish a set of rules for calculating a discount amount for products it sells. On a designated website, the consumer can select a variety of products available at discount prices. Each time the consumer selects a product the amount of the discount for the products may change depending on the rules established by the seller of those products. When the consumer has completed her selection, a coupon can be generated and printed or sent to a mobile device to redeem at the indicated store. A map can be generated to help the consumer locate the most convenient stores. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084138 | ADVERTISEMENT MANAGEMENT - Advertisement management techniques are described. In one or more implementations, a plurality of identifiers are collected of advertisements communicated to respective ones of a plurality of mobile communication devices, each identifier exposed by a respective mobile communication device at a physical location of a merchant. A monetary amount is calculated to be provided to a service that was involved in providing the one or more advertisements to the mobile communication device. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084139 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO MATCH A REPRESENTATIVE WITH A COMMERCIAL PROPERTY BASED ON NEUROLOGICAL AND/OR PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE DATA - Example methods, systems and tangible machine readable instructions to match a representative with a commercial property are disclosed herein. An example method for matching a representative with a commercial property includes comparing one or more of neurological or physiological response data from a panelist exposed to the property or a facsimile of the property to a plurality of representative attributes to determine a plurality of compatibility scores. Each of the representative attributes corresponds to a respective candidate representative. The example method also includes selecting the candidate representative having a highest one of the compatibility scores to represent the property. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084140 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADJUSTING NUMBER OF ADVERTISEMENT INVENTORIES - Provided is a system and method for adjusting a number of advertisement inventories based on a competition factor. An advertisement inventory adjusting system includes a competition determining unit to determine a competition factor for a keyword, an advertisement inventory adjusting unit to dynamically adjust the number of advertisement inventories based on the determined competition factor, and a data storage medium to store advertisement inventories. A method that uses a processor to adjust a number of advertisement inventories includes determining a competition factor for a keyword advertisement with respect to a keyword, and dynamically adjusting, using the processor, the number of advertisement inventories based on the determined competition factor, in which the advertisement inventories refer to available areas to display the keyword advertisement. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084141 | System and Method to Predict the Performance of Keywords for Advertising Campaigns Managed on the Internet - Historical data from keywords in a pay-per-click internet advertising campaign are used to predict performance of other keywords with the goal of optimizing a keyword portfolio to maximize returns from the advertising campaign. A computing system receives the keyword portfolio for the advertising campaign, and classifies the keywords based on whether or not sufficient historical data exist to generate acceptable predictions about the performance of the keywords in the advertising campaign. Historical data are then used to make performance predictions for keywords having sufficient data. For keywords without sufficient historical data, generic prediction functions are created based on a generic change rate obtained from keywords with sufficient historical data. These generic prediction functions are then used to predict keyword performance in the advertising campaign. Predictions for keywords with and without sufficient historical data are then used to optimize the advertising campaign. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084142 | BID LANDSCAPE FORECASTING IN ONLINE ADVERTISING - Techniques are provided for advertiser bid forecasting in online advertising, including display advertising. Methods are provided in which key targeting-related user segments are determined from bidding statistics. A feature set is extracted from an impression opportunity, based at least in part on the bidding statistics. A gradient boosting descent tree technique is utilized in determining an initial bid forecasting result. A linear regression-based model is used in post-tuning to arrive at a post-tuned result. For short-term forecasting, this may be the final result. For long-term forecasting, a hybrid approach may be utilized with further processing including utilization of a publisher-specific model. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084143 | OPTIMAL LIST-PRICE MECHANISM DESIGN FOR MULTI-LEVEL DEVICE CLICK-THROUGH IN TARGETED PRINT OR ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION - A method for optimizing a price for delivering at least one communication from an advertiser to a consumer, the method including (a) defining an advertisement product with at least one parameter, (b) obtaining a demand curve for the advertisement product, (c) calculating a first profit function as a function of the demand curve, (d) determining a first price at a maximum of the first profit function, (e) determining a second price at a point on the first demand curve corresponding to a capacity of communications that can be delivered to the consumer, and (f) determining a greater of the first and second prices as an optimal price. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084144 | ADVERTISEMENT SERVICE SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF - An advertisement service system includes an advertisement application service providing module to provide an advertisement application service to a publisher, in which the advertisement application service provides the publisher online access to manage operation of an advertisement resource belonging to the publisher; an opened transaction service providing module to provide an opened transaction service that enables advertisement resource of the publisher to be transacted between the publisher and an advertiser or an advertisement agency; and an advertisement reporting module to provide a report about the advertisement resource executed by the advertisement application service providing module. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084145 | METHOD, SYSTEM AND COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM FOR DYNAMICALLY SELECTING AND PROVIDING ADVERTISEMENTS BASED ON ACCESS CHANNELS OF CONTENT - Disclosed herein are a method, a system, and a computer-readable storage medium for dynamically selecting and providing advertisements based on access channels of content. The method for dynamically providing advertisements using a computer, the method includes receiving a request for access to content of a content owner; determining an access channel for accessing the content, based on the request, using the computer; selecting an advertisement based on the access channel; and providing a content integration screen including the advertisement and the requested content. | 2012-04-05 |
20120084146 | CLICK FRAUD DETECTION - Systems and methods for detecting instances of click fraud are disclosed. Click fraud occurs when, for example, a user, malware, bot, or the like, clicks on a pay per click advertisement (e.g., hyperlink), a paid search listing, or the like without a good faith interest in the underlying subject of the hyperlink. Such fraudulent clicks can be expensive for an advertising sponsor. Statistical information, such as ratios of unpaid clicks to pay per clicks, are extracted from an event database. The statistical information of global data is used as a reference data set to compare to similar statistical information for a local data set under analysis. In one embodiment, when the statistical data sets match relatively well, no click fraud is determined to have occurred, and when the statistical data sets do not match relatively well, click fraud is determined to have occurred. | 2012-04-05 |