30th week of 2009 patent applcation highlights part 42 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20090187397 | ADJUSTING LEFT-TO-RIGHT GRAPHICS TO A RIGHT-TO-LEFT ORIENTATION OR VICE VERSA USING TRANSFORMATIONS WITH ADJUSTMENTS FOR LINE WIDTH AND PIXEL ORIENTATION - The present invention discloses a solution for adjusting a horizontal orientation of a graphic. The solution can include a step of identifying a graphic object having a first horizontal orientation, which is to be changed to an opposite horizontal orientation. A determination as to whether the graphic object has an odd number of pixels along an x-axis can be made. When determination results are positive only, a pixel shift can be applied to the graphic object. A matrix transform can be applied to the software object regardless of the determination results. The software object can be visually presented upon a display after the applying step. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187398 | Script Selection Based On SIP Language Preference - The “Accept-language” header field of a first Session Initiative Protocol (SIP) message identifies the preferred language of a first party to a communication, a database correlates languages with writing scripts, and the correlation is used to populate the “P-Asserted-Identity”, “From”, or “Contact” header field of a second SIP message with the name of a second party to the communication expressed in the writing script of the first party's preferred language. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187399 | Using Homophones and Near-Homophones to Improve Methods of Computer Text Entry for Chinese Characters - The invention allows phonetic text input without any knowledge of phonetics. As an assist to the user of computer text entry systems, the invention makes possible an alternative method of Chinese character entry by entering a Chinese character assumed by the user to be a homophone of the character the user desires to enter. Entry methods for such homophone alternative entry include non-phonetic entry of Chinese characters using keyboard stroke input and single stroke, cursive and semi-cursive entry on an electronic surface. Direct correction of some misspellings of Chinese characters during phonetic entry also is made possible. The invention is not only helpful for entry of difficult Chinese characters but also provides an approach to the use of supplementing input methods for most if not all written languages. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187400 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND MULTIPOINT CONTROL UNIT FOR PROVIDING MULTI-LANGUAGE CONFERENCE - A system for providing multi-language conference is provided. The system includes conference terminals and a multipoint control unit. The conference terminals are adapted to process a speech of a conference site, transmitting the processed speech to the multipoint control unit, process an audio data received from the multipoint control unit and output it. At least one of the conference terminals is an interpreting terminal adapted to interpret the speech of the conference according to the audio data transmitted from the multipoint control unit, process the interpreted audio data and output the processed audio data. The multipoint control unit is adapted to perform a sound mixing process of the audio data from the conference terminals in different sound channels according to language types, and then sends mixed audio data after the sound mixing process to the conference terminals. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187401 | HANDHELD ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND ASSOCIATED METHOD FOR OBTAINING NEW LANGUAGE OBJECTS FOR A TEMPORARY DICTIONARY USED BY A DISAMBIGUATION ROUTINE ON THE DEVICE - A method of obtaining data for use on a handheld electronic device having a text disambiguation function which employs a dictionary including a number of first language objects that is usable by the text disambiguation function. The method includes receiving a block of information, displaying a representation of at least a portion of the block of information, and determining whether at least one of one or more predetermined events has occurred, wherein each of the events have been deemed to indicate that the information includes language objects that is accessible for use in disambiguating ambiguous inputs. If it is determined that at least one of the events has occurred, the method further includes obtaining a number of second language objects from the block of information and storing the number of second language objects in a temporary dictionary included in the memory and usable by the text disambiguation function. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187402 | Performance Prediction For An Interactive Speech Recognition System - The present invention provides an interactive speech recognition system and a corresponding method for determining a performance level of a speech recognition procedure on the basis of recorded background noise. The inventive system effectively exploits speech pauses that occur before the user enters speech that becomes subject to speech recognition. Preferably, the inventive performance prediction makes effective use of trained noise classification models. Moreover, predicted performance levels are indicated to the user in order to give a reliable feedback of the performance of the speech recognition procedure. In this way the interactive speech recognition system may react to noise conditions that are inappropriate for generating reliable speech recognition. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187403 | INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING PROGRAM AND RECORDING MEDIUM - A copyright managing information processing apparatus includes a storage module for storing copyrighted content including audio data; a first topic module for recognizing audio data in content opened to the public by a to-be-opened information processing apparatus, converting the audio data into text data, extracting keywords from the text data, and conducting topic processing using the keywords to create topic information; a second topic module for recognizing audio data in content stored in the storage means, converting the audio data into text data, extracting keywords from the text data, and conducting topic processing using the keywords to create topic information; and a similarity determining module for comparing the topic information generated by the first topic module with that created by the second topic module for thereby determining presence or absence of similarity therebetween. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187404 | BIOMETRIC CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD - A large-scale attendance, productivity, activity and availability biometric control method using the telephone network, for individuals client users at their work places, with speaker verification technology based on limited enrolling data and short verification sentences, and the equipment associated to this method. Through the biometric control method by means of the individuals' identity (ID) verification using voice recognition, the individual is biometrically identified which allows for the registering of permanence, entrance or exit times. The type of performed activity, attendance at the work place, and which keeps records on the performed activity type. The method considers receiving and making intelligent calls to achieve an active control on individuals' activity. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187405 | Arrangements for Using Voice Biometrics in Internet Based Activities - In one embodiment, a method for identifying a user of a virtual universe utilizing audio biometrics is disclosed. The method can include prompting a client application with a request for an utterance, processing the reply to the request and creating a voice profile of the user/speaker. The voice profile can be associated with an avatar and when an utterance is received, the avatar can be identified and in some embodiments authenticated. Other embodiments are also disclosed. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187406 | VOICE RECOGNITION SYSTEM - A voice recognition system is provided that outputs a talk-back voice in a manner such that a user can distinguish the accuracy of a voice-recognized character string more easily. A voice recognition unit performs voice recognition on a user's articulation in which a character string such as the telephone number “024 636 0123” is entered via a microphone. Based on each sound existing period delimited by silent intervals, each recognized partial character string “024”, “636” and “0123” is obtained. A talk-back voice data generating unit connects each recognized partial character string “024”, “636” and “0123” together in a manner such that space characters are inserted, and generates a character string “024 636 0123”. The generated character string “024 636 0123” is supplied to a voice generating device as talk-back voice data. A voice signal to be produced by the speaker 2 is generated in the form of the talk-back voice. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187407 | System and methods for reporting - The present invention relates to a system and methods for preparing reports, such as medical reports. The system and methods advantageously can verbalize information, using speech synthesis (text-to-speech), to support a dialogue between a user and the reporting system during the course of the preparation of the report in order that the user can avoid inefficient visual distractions. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187408 | SPEECH INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD - A temporary child set is generated. An elastic ratio of an elastic section of a model pattern is calculated. A temporary typical pattern of the set is generated by combining the pattern belonging to the set with the model pattern having the elastic pattern expanded or contracted. A distortion between the temporary typical pattern of the set and the pattern belonging to the set is calculated, and a child set is determined as the set when the distortion is below a threshold. A typical pattern as the temporary typical pattern of the child set is stored with a classification rule as the classification item of the context of the pattern belonging to the child set. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187409 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING AND DECODING AUDIO SIGNALS - Techniques for efficiently encoding an input signal are described. In one design, a generalized encoder encodes the input signal (e.g., an audio signal) based on at least one detector and multiple encoders. The at least one detector may include a signal activity detector, a noise-like signal detector, a sparseness detector, some other detector, or a combination thereof. The multiple encoders may include a silence encoder, a noise-like signal encoder, a time-domain encoder, a transform-domain encoder, some other encoder, or a combination thereof. The characteristics of the input signal may be determined based on the at least one detector. An encoder may be selected from among the multiple encoders based on the characteristics of the input signal. The input signal may be encoded based on the selected encoder. The input signal may include a sequence of frames, and detection and encoding may be performed for each frame. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187410 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF PROVIDING SPEECH PROCESSING IN USER INTERFACE - Disclosed are systems, methods and computer-readable media for enabling speech processing in a user interface of a device. The method includes receiving an indication of a field and a user interface of a device, the indication also signaling that speech will follow, receiving the speech from the user at the device, the speech being associated with the field, transmitting the speech as a request to public, common network node that receives and processes speech, processing the transmitted speech and returning text associated with the speech to the device and inserting the text into the field. Upon a second indication from the user, the system processes the text in the field as programmed by the user interface. The present disclosure provides a speech mash up application for a user interface of a mobile or desktop device that does not require expensive speech processing technologies. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187411 | METHOD FOR ENCODING A SOURCE AUDIO SIGNAL, CORRESPONDING ENCODING DEVICE, DECODING METHOD, SIGNAL, DATA CARRIER AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT - A method is provided for coding a source audio signal, involving the transformation of an amplitude/time space into a multi-component amplitude/phase/time space, including the sinusoidal modeling of the audio signal and the delivery of the sinusoidal components that change over time. The method includes the following steps in which: the components are compared to one another in order to define at least one group with at least two components using at least one similarity criterion; and, for at least one group, at least one reference datum is coded, the reference datum being represented by an evolved phase originating from a first component of the group, known as the reference component, and at least one complement datum is coded, the complement datum being associated with at least a second component from the group and, together with the reference datum, enabling the reconstruction of at least one piece of information that is representative of at least one component. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187412 | CORRELATION/RELATIONSHIP AND FORECASTING GENERATOR - A method, system and computer readable recording medium for forecasting financial data and economic data correlations including and executing the steps of selecting, from a database storing a plurality of data types, two or more two or more data types for forecasting, analyzing the two data types to determine the period of the data points in each selected data type, standardizing the time period of the selected data types to create time standardized data sets, converting the time standardized data sets into year over year percentage changes to create year over year data sets, creating a correlation matrix of the standardized year over year data sets, to determine the correlation coefficients between each of the selected two or more data types, and displaying the correlation matrix. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187413 | SERVICE DELIVERY PLATFORM FOR AUTOMATED AND REMOTE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT - An apparatus for providing remote services to an integrated information technology environment. The information technology environment comprises a services appliance. The services appliance provides agent-less monitoring of information handling systems within the information technology environment. The apparatus comprises a remote management platform. The remote management platform comprises a service delivery platform and a network operations center. The service delivery platform receives services information from the services appliance, analyzes the services information and determines a response based upon the services information. The service delivery platform provides the response to the network operations center. The network operation center proactively initiates the response based upon the services information. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187414 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO RECRUIT PERSONNEL - Methods and apparatus to recruit personnel are disclosed. A disclosed example recruiting system includes an electronic test administrator to present a test to a candidate and to record at least one of the candidate's answers to the test; and a recruiter interface to provide a recruiter with access to the at least one of the candidate's answers, to facilitate manual scoring of the at least one of the candidate's answers and to receive an assessment of the candidate's speaking voice. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187415 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VALIDATING A SERVICE ORDER - Disclosed is a method and system for receiving a service order having a service order parameter and a service type of the service order and determining a set of services based on the service order parameter and the service type. A service validation rule set is fetched based on the service type, the set of services is evaluated with the service validation rule set to generate an evaluation result and a service order proposal matching the service order is generated based on the evaluation result. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187416 | Fuel Station Apparatus and Method for Utilizing the Same - An apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a housing, one or more fluid tanks disposed within the housing, a fluid modification network in fluid communication with the one or more fluid tanks, one or more dispenser nozzles each including a hose that are connected to and in fluid communication with the fluid modification network, and a controller connected to fluid modification network. A method for operating an apparatus is also disclosed. A method associated with the operation of an apparatus is also disclosed. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187417 | Age and Identity Verification for Online Creative Works - A computer-implemented method of verifying the age and/or identity of a participant in a digital creative work to be published includes storing a participant profile in memory, confirming a date of birth (DOB) input by the participant in the participant profile, and identifying the digital creative work. A date of production (DOP) associated with the creative work is determined, an age at the time of production (ATOP) for the participant is determined based on DOB and DOP, and the digital creative work is published over a network, if the ATOP exceeds a predetermined threshold. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187418 | Methods and Systems for Outputting a List of Complementary Treatments for a Patient - There is described a method for outputting a list of complementary treatments for a patient using a complementary treatment database which comprises entries for prescription drugs and complementary treatments associated to at least some of the prescription drugs. The method comprises: inputting a drug search criteria on a user interface, the drug search criteria corresponding to an identification of a drug prescribed to the patient; obtaining, from the complementary treatment database, a list of complementary treatments matching the drug search criteria and hence adapted to the prescribed drug; and outputting the list of complementary treatments on the user interface for consultation. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187419 | Systems And Methods For A Decision Support Alert Feed - Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a clinical decision support system comprising a clinical decision support processing component adapted to determine the occurrence of an event based at least in part on at least one message received by the clinical decision support processing component and an alert feed server adapted to publish a clinical alert to an alert feed based at least in part on the event. The alert feed is in a standard syndication format. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187420 | Methods and Systems for Providing Individualized Wellness Profiles - Methods and systems for providing a user with personalized wellness and health information are described. More particularly, methods and systems are provided for creating an individual health profile display, presented on a network-based interface, based on the analysis of a user-submitted biological sample that has been compared to a knowledge database, and including information related to the comparison. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187421 | MOBILE HEALTHCARE DATA - The present invention provides an apparatus for configuring a mobile healthcare network of monitoring a being. The apparatus comprises a sender for sending the composition of the mobile healthcare network to a home healthcare network of monitoring the being, a receiver for receiving a configuration recommendation, the configuration recommendation corresponds to the composition of the mobile healthcare monitoring network and a history database of the home healthcare monitoring network, and an arranger for arranging parameters of the mobile healthcare network according to the configuration recommendation. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187422 | DEFORMABLE REGISTRATION OF IMAGES FOR IMAGE GUIDED RADIATION THERAPY - A system and method for developing radiation therapy plans and a system and method for developing a radiation therapy plan to be used in a radiation therapy treatment is disclosed. A radiation therapy plan is developed using a registration of medical images. The registration is based on identifying landmarks located within inner body structures. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187423 | Method for online management of medical record forms - An object of the present invention is to provide a method for the online management of medical record forms, which can provide web screens through terminals to enable doctors, nurses, pharmacists, or the like to immediately online input and read a variety of information created upon treating and caring for patients in a hospital, and can add, modify, delete or manage various medical record forms provided on the web screens and images inserted into records. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187424 | System and method for monitoring and recording locations of medical products and applications thereto - A system for autonomous monitoring of administration of prescribed items for patients may include a plurality of wireless locator tags each having an indicator coupled thereto, an indoor positioning system, a database, a processor, and a radio transceiver. A method for autonomous monitoring of administration of prescribed items for patients may include detecting a contemporaneous collocation of a prescribed item and a patient, verifying that the identity of the prescribed item is equivalent to a prescribed item recorded in a physician's order for the patient, determining if the prescribed item is supplied in a correct dose and at a correct time, recording the identities of staff members in contemporaneous collocation to the patient, and commanding a locator tag coupled to a container holding the prescribed item to annunciate either an error condition if the prescribed item, dosage, or time of administration is not consistent with the physician's order, or a no error condition if the prescribed item, dosage, and time of administration are consistent with the physician's order. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187425 | PDA software robots leveraging past history in seconds with software robots - The International market is a vital horizon for todays and future strategies since it provides a robust and competitive arena for expanding business. The focus of the forgoing is to deploy a suite of decision search tools which will live on the phone network and the internet. The prime focus is to mainstream an electronic data record and medical diagnostic application [telephone/internet deployment architecture] which will address one of the most threatening problems in America “Mainstreaming of remote Health Care Services Access”. These tools will primarily be used to determine the severity of health condition providing Doctor Collaboration and health services routing. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187426 | IMPLANTABLE MEDICAL DEVICE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADAPTING FUNCTIONS OF THE CLINICIAN'S WORKSTATION THEREOF - Functions of a clinician's workstation, which is a part of an implantable medical system that also includes an implantable medical device, are dynamically adapted dependent on collected patient data and/or collected data relating to operation of the implantable medical device. The adaptation can take place based on instructions provided to the workstation from a server, that is supplied with the collected data, and that processes the collected data to produce the instructions. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187427 | System, Apparatus, and Methods for Developing and Delivering Health Information - An individual is enabled to develop medical contingency plans that are automatically activated if the individual is rendered unable to assert his or her own will by an injury or a medical condition. Medical information and health information are assembled and advance directives are formulated in a manner that combines systematic guidance to optimize contingency plan effectiveness and individual autonomy to permit individuals to design their own plan. When a participating individual is rendered unable to assert his or her own will by an injury or medical emergency, identification information and instructions carried by the individual enable responding care givers to access enforceable documents that direct medical care and address personal needs. The documents produced are designed to overcome mitigating factors associated with the urgency of the individual's condition, institutional policy, conflicting family member opinions, information transmission difficulties, the attitudes of treating physicians, language discrepancies, and the governmental rules in effect where the emergency happens. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187428 | EVALUATING EFFECTIVENESS OF CLAIMS EVALUATION, ASSESSMENT, AND SETTLEMENT PROCESSES - Methods and systems are provided for evaluating processes for insurance claim estimation and settlement. Data may be provided for closed claims that have been previously settled using an estimation and settlement process. Each closed claim in the data is treated as a candidate claim. For each candidate closed claim, a set of closed claims similar to the candidate closed claim is identified based on characteristics of the candidate closed claim. For each set of similar claims so identified, a representative value for the set of similar claims, such as an arithmetic mean, is determined. The settlement values for the candidate closed claims are compared to the representative values for the sets of similar closed claims. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187429 | DETERMINING AMOUNTS FOR CLAIMS SETTLEMENT USING LIKELIHOOD VALUES - Methods and systems are provided for determining and displaying amounts for use in settling insurance claims are disclosed. Closed claims that match an open claim are identified based on one or more characteristics of the open claim. A likelihood value associated with at least one of the matching closed claims is determined. An amount for use by an adjuster in settling the open claim is determined based on the likelihood value for at least one of the matching claims. A most likely amount and most likely range associated with the open claim may be determined based on the likelihood values. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187430 | DETERMINING RECOMMENDED SETTLEMENT AMOUNTS BY ADJUSTING VALUES DERIVED FROM MATCHING SIMILAR CLAIMS - Precedent claims that match a pending claim are identified. A general damages amount is determined based on the likelihood value for at least one of the matching precedent claims. A general damages amount is derived from the likelihood value for at least one of the matching precedent claims. Pending claim adjustments are calculated based on amounts associated with the pending claim. Pending claim adjustments are applied to the general damages amount to determine a recommended settlement amount. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187431 | ADJUSTING GENERAL DAMAGES VALUES USING EQUALIZATION VALUES - A selection is made from a defined list of one or more equalization criteria. Based on the selected equalization criteria, equalization values are derived from a set of closed claim data. During processing of open claims, bodily injury data for the open claims are entered into the system. For one or more of the open claims, precedent claims that match the open claim are identified based on characteristics of the open claim. A value for one or more of the matching precedent claims is adjusted using the previously determined equalization values. An amount for use in settling the open claim is determined based on the adjusted value. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187432 | DISPLAYING LIKELIHOOD VALUES FOR USE IN SETTLEMENT - Likelihood values are determined for one or more closed claims that match an open claim. The likelihood values are displayed as a function of an amount (e.g., general damages amount). The graph may be an x-y graph in which the x-axis is amount and the y-axis is likelihood value. The graph may include a likelihood curve. A band to corresponding a most likely range of amounts is indicated on the graph. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187433 | System for providing insurance associated with a lost-and-found service - A system for providing insurance associated with a lost-and-found service, according to which a person and/or item (the “insured”) is covered by an insurance policy that provides compensation in the event of at least one of loss, theft, damage, and/or destruction of an item, and in association with said insurance, also receives one or more services that facilitate the return of the item if it is lost or stolen. The insurance policy pays for the facilitation of the return of an item if it is lost by the insured and subsequently found and reported to a lost-and-found service provider. The insured pays the insurance provider a deductible for the return of the previously insured and/or lost item. Also, a lost-and-found service provider is reimbursed by the insurance provider when an item is lost in exchange for providing the services of identifying the insured using unique markings contained on a lost item owned by the insured, contacting the person associated with the item, contacting the insurance service provider (which may or may not be the same as the lost-and-found service provider), and/or facilitating the return of the lost item to the owner or insurance provider. Registering for an insurance policy also facilitates registering for the services of a lost-and-found service provider. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187434 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A HEALTH INSURANCE RISK EVALUATOR - A computer implemented method for selecting a health plan includes logging into a server comprising a risk evaluation application and starting the risk evaluation application. Upon being prompted by the risk evaluation application selecting a health plan for an individual or for a family. Upon being prompted by the risk evaluation application selecting an amount of upfront claims cost responsibility (CCR) willing to assume. Next, actuating a control for determining health plan premium contribution savings and then determining the health plan premium contribution savings based on the selected health plan and the selected CCR. Finally, displaying the selected CCR and the determined health plan premium contribution savings. The method empowers each user to design a unique health care plan that reflects that user's specific health profile, benefit budget and level of risk tolerance. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187435 | SECURITY METHODS EMPLOYING DRIVERS LICENSES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS - Driver's licenses and other security documents include one or more machine-readable features, each conveying plural bits of information. These features are used in a variety of ways to increase security, and/or to enhance functionality. In one embodiment, data encoded on a driver's license is used at airport check-in, to link to a state DMV database and obtain information by which the document, and its custodian, can be authenticated. In like fashion, a license can be used to authenticate a bearer and/or his/her age prior to the sale of alcohol or tobacco products. In other embodiments, different elements of a driver's license (e.g., the substrate, photo, text data, and machine-readable data) are logically bound together (e.g., interlinked through payloads conveyed by different machine-readable features) as a deterrent against counterfeiting. Driver's licenses can be similarly logically bound to personal checks and other documents. Many other arrangements are also disclosed. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187436 | Online Marketplace for Moving and Relocation Services - Methods and systems for operating an online marketplace for the sale of goods and services associated with self-help moving and relocating are described. A customer enters an online marketplace where vendors offer services and goods relating to moving and relocating, specifically in the “do-it-yourself” moving field. The venue for the online marketplace is an Internet web site or a site on a computer network and is operated by a host that determines which vendors will be listed on the site. Once in the marketplace, the customer can view informational content on numerous vendors providing services relating to moving and relocating. Based on the estimates provided by the marketplace as well as reviews, ratings, customer feedback, and background information on the vendors, the customer selects a vendor and “prepays for” the vendor's services on the marketplace. The customer is then provided a confirmation code. The code is given to the vendor upon completion of service or delivery of the good to the customer's satisfaction. The vendor accesses the online marketplace and enters the confirmation code to activate a payment for the service or good. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187437 | Method and system for auditing internal controls - The present invention provides a computer-implemented method and system for assessing internal controls. The method includes: presenting internal control items; processing an input set associated with at least some of the internal control items; and (c) generating a set of assessment information based on the processed input set. The method may further include one or more of: (d) prior to presenting, automatically grouping and presenting a subset of the plurality of internal financial control items based on a user input related to an assessment of risk; (e) prior to presenting, automatically presenting a previously identified risk associated with one or both of an audit area and a transaction class associated with a subset of the plurality of internal financial control items; (g) receiving a user test input designating an internal financial control item for testing and presenting a set of test procedures associated with the designated internal financial control item; (h) documenting assessments with the set of test procedures; and (i) receiving from a user a plurality of inputs representing user assessment of the effectiveness of internal financial control items and presenting a summary of the effectiveness assessments. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187438 | Method for review appraisals - A system and method for reviewing property appraisals which provides reviewers with assessment parameters on a point by point basis for each input on a standard appraisal form and regulations via a computer network to input information regarding the review. The system automatically associates regulatory citations and language with negative assessment parameters identified by a reviewer. The reviewers upload the review information to a database via computer network where an administrator can access the review information, compiling the review information by various criteria to analyze trends and identify problems. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187439 | COMMISSION TRACKING WEB SERVICES - Web services allow a real estate professional to create tracking services to monitor commission transactions, expense transactions, performance goals, taxes, and so on. Using an Internet client, the real estate professional creates a tracking service by accessing a server across a network. The tracking service allows the real estate professional to add, edit, and delete commission transactions associated with clients and various pieces of property. Expenses can also be tracked to allow the real estate professional to better understand revenue and costs connected with the revenue. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187440 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FACILITATING SECURITY MANAGEMENT IN AN ELECTRONIC NETWORK - A method and system for facilitating security management in an electronic network is provided. The method comprising obtaining a set of criteria corresponding to a security requirement of an enterprise. The method further comprising a set of entitlements verification components based on the set of criteria to obtain a customized set of entitlements verification components. The customized set of entitlements verification components comprises one or more entitlements verification components from the set of entitlements verification components. The method further comprising deploying the customized set of entitlements verification components in the electronic network. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187441 | System and Method for Vendor Management - A system and method are provided for vendor management during a procurement process. Vendor qualification data is stored and compared relative to a procurement request. Based upon statistical data in relation to previous bidding information and vendor relevance a list of recommended Vendors for invitation can be generated. The recommended list ensures fairness in the selection of Vendors and statistics are automatically updated. Data in relation to the selection process is maintained to provide an audit trail through the procurement process. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187442 | FEEDBACK AUGMENTED OBJECT REPUTATION SERVICE - Described herein is technology for, among other things, implementing a feedback augmented optic reputation service. A request for an object reputation is received from a user, and in response to the request, a reputation generation service is accessed to determine a value for the object reputation. The value for the object reputation is returned to the user. Feedback is solicited from the user when displaying information regarding the object reputation. Feedback regarding the returned object reputation is received from the user, and a knowledge base describing the object reputation is updated in consideration of the feedback. An updated object reputation is returned in response to a subsequent request. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187443 | VISUAL METAPHOR FOR ELAPSED TIME SPENT - An embodiment provides a system that visually indicates time spent on applications. During operation, the system can measure time spent on applications to obtain time spent data. The user can provide rules which specify when to start and when stop measuring time for an application. Next, the system can generate visual indicators based on the time spent data. A visual indicator can indicate an amount of time spent on an application by conveying the information in a non-textual manner. The system can then display the visual indicator to the user. The time spent data can be used to generate bills for clients by associating time spent records with client matters. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187444 | Service knowledge map - The Service Knowledge Map or Service Knowledge Bus will help developers and subject matter experts (SME) describe, find, assemble, and execute software services. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187445 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING ENERGY SAVINGS BY USING A BASELINE ENERGY USE MODEL THAT INCORPORATES AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ALGORITHM - A computer-based system, computer-implemented method and computer program product facilitate determining energy cost savings in an energy-consuming facility, such as a commercial building, using an artificial intelligence model, for example a neural network model, that projects or estimates the amount of energy that would have been consumed by the facility but for the implementation of energy efficiency or conservation measures. Energy savings are represented by the difference between the estimate of energy that would have been consumed but for the measures and the actual amount of energy consumed by the facility under actual conditions during a time interval after the measures have been implemented. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187446 | COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED SYSTEM FOR HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT - A system and method for testing and/or evaluating employees or potential employees is disclosed. An applicant terminal presents a first set of a plurality of questions to an individual, the answers to which are stored by an applicant screening server. An electronic predictor system is configured to predict at least one business outcome for at least one job performance criterion if the individual were to be employed by the employer based upon correlations of the stored answers with answers to sets of questions by other individuals for which post-hire information has been collected. A viewing system can provide an output indicative of the prediction and can determine a score for the individual and identify the individual as a favorable candidate if the score is over a norm. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187447 | CHECKING THE CORRECTNESS OF GIS DATA - A method and apparatus for checking the correctness of GIS data. The method includes the steps of: receiving GIS data; receiving business data of each branch; determining the geographic area to which each branch belongs, wherein the GIS data in the geographic area will be checked; and, checking whether the GIS data of the geographic area to which each branch belongs are correct based on the business data of each branch. The method and apparatus can automatically check geographic and demographic data of a given city or region. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187448 | Alerts Realtime LLC - Today, the average Emergency Alert Vendor is limited by their business model and infrastructure capabilities. This market is built around vendors who build capacity for delivery and whose business model is built on recouping their capital investment through charging customers for transactions on their platforms. This model works for consistent monthly recurring revenue but breaks down for large scale emergency users who need a large amount of capacity for a short period of time. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187449 | System and method for managing unscheduled maintenance and repair decisions - A system for managing unscheduled maintenance and repair decisions may include a maintenance swap options prioritizer. The maintenance swap options prioritizer may include a data access and transformation module to find and assemble information from different sources for computing performance data and generating a list of prioritized swap options. The maintenance swap options prioritizer may also include an options selection module to generate the list of prioritized swap options based on the information found and assembled by the data access and transformation module and based on any user preferences. The maintenance swap options prioritizer may also include means to present the performance data and list of prioritized swap options to at least one user. The maintenance swap options prioritizer may further include means to permit collaborative decision making and planning by multiple users to manage shared maintenance and repair resources. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187450 | System for optimizing transportation scheduling - A computer modeling application is disclosed for finding the optimal solution to maximize total net margin, for the assignment of vehicles (e.g., especially vessels) in an available fleet to perform a set of voyages to transport cargo comprising one or more bulk products during a planning period, as well as an apparatus and method employing the same. The fleet can include term vehicles and spot vehicles. The vehicles, voyages, and cargos can be heterogeneous. In one embodiment, the vehicles are crude carrier vessels and the bulk products are different grades of crude oil. To increase speed, the model is broken into linear programming and mixed integer (linear) programming problems. The model can be run on a real-time basis to support complex scheduling operations. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187451 | METHOD, COMPUTER AND PROGRAM FOR ASSIGNING SEAT TO PERSON - The present invention has the object of providing a method of managing changes of assignments in response to various disturbances that may occur up to the work date after creating an assignment plan. A computer | 2009-07-23 |
20090187452 | Cleaning work estimating system, cleaning work estimating method, and cleaning work estimating program - There is provided a cleaning work estimating system | 2009-07-23 |
20090187453 | METHOD FOR EVOLVING SHARED TO-DO LISTS INTO BUSINESS PROCESSES - A method and apparatus for evolving a shared to-do list into a business process is disclosed. A business process includes one or more business steps and zeroor more action rules related to the business steps. Members of a workgroup participate in the business process and are able to view, modify, add and delete business steps and action rules as needed. An action rule is comprised of one or more business actions and one or more events that trigger the actions to be executed. A computer program keeps track of the business steps, interprets the set of rules, and updates states of the business process, notifies the members and validates and accepts modifications by the members to the action rules of a business steps. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187454 | Computer Program Product For Efficient Scheduling Of Meetings - A computer program product for efficient scheduling of meetings including a computer usable medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to obtain scheduling information of one or more potential meeting participants that includes a work schedule of the one or more potential meeting participants, a work office location of the one or more potential meeting participants during the work schedule, and a remote work schedule of when the one or more potential meeting participants will work remotely from the work office location during the work schedule; and to schedule a meeting based on the scheduling information, wherein a computer-accessible schedule notation of the meeting is created. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187455 | System and method for prioritization of website visitors to provide proactive and selective sales and customer service online - A system that (a) monitors and analyzes a website visitor's (or ‘user's’) behavioral patterns in real-time; (b) identifies key users by comparing the user's actions and information derived thereof to a set of pre-defined, merchant-specific business rules; (c) makes a sales and customer service offer to the user only if ( | 2009-07-23 |
20090187456 | Automated sales support system - A system and method for notifying salespersons of customer communications including a target item is provided. Individual customers are mapped to one or more salespersons. Target items of interest to a salesperson are defined and a salesperson is associated with a customer. For each salesperson, on-line communication channels are monitored for the occurrence of a communications involving a customer associated with the salesperson and including a target item defined by the salesperson. When such an occurrence happens, a notification is directed to the salesperson. Salesperson access to the system and customer access to the on-line communication channels requires authorization. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187457 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING A REMINDER OPTION ASSOCIATED WITH AN OBLIGATION - Systems and methods for facilitating fulfillment of an obligation associated with an established agreement are disclosed. In various example embodiments, during a predetermined time interval following an establishment of an agreement, a reminder display element may be presented to one or more parties in a first state to indicate that a reminder option is unavailable. Following expiration of the predetermined time interval, the reminder display element may be presented to the one or more parties, in a second state, to indicate that the reminder option is available. For some example embodiments, the reminder display element may be presented to the one or more parties in the first state based on the reminder option being exercised more than a predetermined number of times. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187458 | KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN A PROJECT ENVIRONMENT - Various techniques for effecting knowledge transfer are provided. In one embodiment, knowledge transfer tasks are identified through parsing of one or more repositories comprising project-related artifacts to ascertain tasks that are relevant to a transitioning project participant, and that may be further analyzed to determine whether knowledge transfer is necessary. In a similar vein, knowledge transfer recipients may be identified through similar parsing of the one or more repositories to identify project participants that are relevant to knowledge transfer tasks, with the resulting list of associated project participants narrowed down to selected knowledge transfer recipients according to their respective ability/availability to receive the knowledge transfer. Because these processes can be automated, including the use of an interactive interface, and based on stored artifacts, the subjectivity and variability of prior art techniques may be substantially reduced. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187459 | System and method for qualifying a lead originating with an advertisement published on-line - A system and method are provided for qualifying leads originating from an advertisement published online. The system is configured to track certain events relative to an advertisement. Tracked event data may be recorded to a database. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187460 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REAL-TIME FEEDBACK - An application for a computer system for obtaining feedback at a location of service includes at least one touch screen computer terminal device located at the location of service and software. One computer software module is for authoring a survey, the survey comprising a plurality of survey question with at least one of the survey questions having an answer value configured to trigger a notification signal. Another computer software module presents the survey at the touch screen computer terminal(s) and for obtaining respondent answers to the survey questions and another computer software module monitors the respondent answers and if any of the respondent answers have the answer value configured to trigger the notification signal, the computer software module that monitors the respondent answers triggers the notification signal. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187461 | MARKET SEGMENTATION ANALYSES IN VIRTUAL UNIVERSES - This description presents techniques for performing market segmentation analyses in virtual universes. In one embodiment, a method includes collecting virtual universe data associated with interactions between avatars, entities, and objects in a virtual universe. The collecting can include recording at least some of the virtual universe data as the interactions occur, determining a criteria with which to perform a market segmentation analysis on the virtual universe data, where segmentation divides the virtual universe data into a plurality of groups. The method can also include performing the market segmentation analysis on the virtual universe data, and generating a report indicating results of the market segmentation analysis. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187462 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING RELEVANT COUPONS TO CONSUMERS BASED ON FINANCIAL TRANSACTION HISTORY AND NETWORK SEARCH ACTIVITY - A method and system for providing relevant coupons includes a process for providing relevant coupons whereby a consumer's financial transaction data is obtained from one or more sources using a computing system implemented financial management system. The consumer is provided one or more financial transaction based coupons based, at least in part, on the consumer's financial transaction data. The financial transaction based coupons are then stored in a financial transaction based coupon database in an account and/or location associated with the consumer. When the consumer is conducting network search, data about the network search and/or search results is then used to search the financial transaction based coupon database to attempt to find one or more financial transaction based coupons relevant to the network search conducted by the user and/or the search results. If one or more financial transaction based coupons relevant to the network search conducted by the user and/or the search results are found, the consumer is alerted to the relevant financial transaction based coupons. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187463 | Personalized Location-Based Advertisements - Advertising content is selected and provided to a mobile device user based on user location information in combination with user profile information. In one embodiment, user location information and user profile information is provided to an advertisement server over a network connection. An advertisement database lookup operation may then be performed based on current location information for the mobile device, in combination with the aforementioned profile information. The result of this lookup operation is to identify the available advertisements that are most likely to be of interest to the user at the current time. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187464 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR END-TO-END RETAIL STORE SITE OPTIMIZATION - A method and apparatus for end-to-end retail store one-stop site configuration integrates multiple data sources, identifying key customers, forecasting merchandise demand. Site configuration is formulated as a mathematical optimization problem with both in-store and external data as input to the problem whose solution provides proper suggestions for retail store transformation. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187465 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION IN WEB AD - A system for generating supplemental advertisement information. The system includes an advertisement engine and a user server. The advertisement engine is configured to select advertisements for a web page based on advertisement criteria. The user server is in communication with the advertisement engine to provide user identification information allowing the advertisement engine to access supplemental advertisement information based on the user identification. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187466 | Location-Based Information-Geo Retail Notification - Sales information corresponding to one or more retailers is collected and stored. A customer/user can access the sales information using a client application running on his mobile device. The access may be responsive to a customer profile that establishes the customer's preferences or tastes. The access may be responsive to detecting that the customer's mobile device is within a threshold distance of one or more matching retailers. The access may be responsive to a customer request to obtain the sales information. One or more reminder notes may be sent to the customer to serve as a reminder that the customer likely needs to acquire a product or service. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187467 | LINGUISTIC EXTRACTION OF TEMPORAL AND LOCATION INFORMATION FOR A RECOMMENDER SYSTEM - One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that recommends activities. During operation, the system receives a piece of content obtained from text or converted to text from speech. The system then analyzes the received content to identify any activity type, indication of willingness to participate in any type of activities, and at least one piece of temporal information, which can be implicitly and/or explicitly stated in the content, and/or one piece of location information associated with the activity type. The system further recommends one or more activities, venues, and/or services that afford or support activities for a user based on the information extracted from the content. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187468 | Automated replenishment using an economic profit quantity - Prior art methods base inventory management on maximizing cost. The present invention shifts the focus to maximizing economic profit, taking income tax into account. Systems and methods are provided for digitally calculating an economic profit quantity that maximizes economic profit, defined as the excess of net operating income over capital charge, as well as the corresponding values of economic profit and recommended safety stock. Methods are provided for utilizing the economic profit quantity and associated recommended safety stock quantity for automatically placing orders, for choosing among suppliers, and for calculating space requirements. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187469 | METHOD FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS DIFFUSION OF SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES ON A NETWORK OF AFFILIATED WEB SITES - The method according to the invention consists of dynamically adapting survey questionnaires to the content of the affiliated Web sites of editors and the specific visitors of said sites. It comprises the dynamic selection of the most appropriate questionnaire for a given survey in function of the content of the site of the editor and/or the specific who visits the Web site of the editor and/or the response rate to the questionnaire. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187470 | METHOD FOR CARRYING OUT SURVEYS BY THE EXCHANGE OF TARGETED INFORMATION BETWEEN USERS AND WEB SITES OF A NETWORK - The method according to the invention involves a plurality of Web sites each belonging to an editor and on which survey questionnaires may be displayed that are accessible to users distributed by means of a survey network, on the initiative of a plurality of advertisers who wish to carry out market surveys. It comprises the issuing by the advertiser of a survey questionnaire, the answer by the user to this questionnaire, a step where the advertiser asks the user additional questions, the qualification of the user based on the answers made to the additional questions and the provision to the user of a targeted content. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187471 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING ONE OR MORE ATTRIBUTES OF AN ORGANIZATION - A method of evaluating at least one attribute of an organization, by identifying at least one group of information holders, the group having at least one member who has information about the organization and at least one member who has information about at least one competitor of the organization, with the information about the organization and the competitor being related to the attribute; surveying a plurality of information holders within the group to seek responses comprising the information about the organization and the competitor, and analyzing the responses to produce an evaluation. A system for carrying out the method is also provided. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187472 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING PERSONALIZED COSMETIC PRODUCTS - An apparatus and method of manufacturing a personalized cosmetic product, said method comprising, receiving data relating to a person; obtaining a predefined list of items and determining at least one item to be used in manufacturing the personalized cosmetic product according to the data relating to a person. The apparatus containing a computerized device for analyzing the received personalized data according to the list of items. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187473 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RECRUITING ONLINE - An automated recruitment system can use a variety of techniques to provide information for assisting in recruitment and selection of candidates for various activities. For example, predetermined parameters indicative of future performance for a given activity can be identified and collected electronically from candidates through a candidate portal. The collected information can be graded according to one or more of the predetermined parameters, or according to parameters derived from the one or more collected parameters, with results stored in a searchable database. The grading can be used to predict future performance of a candidate in a given activity, or more particularly, for a particular role within the activity (e.g., a baseball pitcher). A recruiter can access stored information through a portal by performing a structured search, using filters (e.g., geography, gender, age, academic performance) to identify one or more target candidates for a given position. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187474 | METHOD AND SYSTEM OF TRACKING, COORDINATING, AND QUANTIFYING CHARITABLE ACTIONS AND COMMUNITY SERVICE - A central and remotely accessible system of tracking, quantifying, and standardizing community service activity among a plurality of participants and service organizations is disposed on at least one central computer. The system includes a points tracking module adapted to receive logs of community service activity from participants and convert the logs into numerical values corresponding to the community service activity. A database is in communication with the points tracking module and adapted to accumulate the numerical values and sort the numerical values at least by respective participants. A first interface, remotely accessible by the participants and in communication with the points tracking module, is adapted to enable participants to enter the logs of community service activity. The first interface may also include a reflection tool enabling the participants to record subjective experiences associated with the logged community service activity, wherein the numerical values are adjustable based on the recorded experiences. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187475 | Computer System and Method for Matching Businesses and Investors - A computer system allows businesses and investors to present information about themselves and allow the two find one another for working together. The businesses may also present their business on a television program, where judges and the audience will be able to vote for the best business. The businesses participate on the television program by receiving votes on the website hosted by the computer system. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187476 | NETWORK TRANSACTION INTERMEDIATING METHODS, AND NETWORK PLATFORM THEREFOR - A network transaction intermediating method is adapted to be executed by a network platform. The network platform provides basic product data to a buyer terminal upon receipt of a product inquiry request from the buyer terminal, and transmits a connection command to the buyer terminal in response to selection of any one entry of the basic product data at the buyer terminal to enable the buyer terminal to connect to a corresponding vendor terminal of the selected entry of the basic product data so as to obtain the product introduction data corresponding to the selected entry of the basic product data. Thus, the transmission of the product introduction data can be made more efficient. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187477 | Universal Ad Creative - Methods for generating one or more advertisement creatives for multiple advertisement types. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a selection and data entered in an electronic form, the selection being for two or more different advertisement types, the entered data being of one or more data types, the data types including text, image, audio, or video, generating two or more advertisement creatives using the entered data, the two or more advertisement creatives being for the selected two or more different advertisement types, and presenting the two or more advertisement creatives. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187478 | ITEM-BASED SELLER SALES INCENTIVE METHOD - A manufacturer to dealer incentive program allows the manufacturer to incentivize sales of the dealer. The manufacturer allocates credits to the dealer for vehicles sold by the dealer, and the dealer assigns the credits to individual vehicles in the dealer's inventory. When a sales person of the dealer sells a particular vehicle having credits assigned to it, the manufacturer provides an incentive to the sales person as a function of the number of credits assigned to the particular vehicle. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187479 | CONVERSION TRACKING FOR PAID SEARCH MARKET - Conversion rates and tracking data may be considered in conjunction with a paid search market. A generalized second price (GSP) auction may be extended by incorporating conversion rates and tracking data in the payment rule. Such an extension is referred to as a generalized acquisition-aware second price (GASP) auction. A simplified version of GASP, referred to as simplified generalized acquisition-aware second price or SGASP, does not use conversion tracking for each advertiser. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187480 | METHOD, SYSTEM, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR PROVIDING SELECTIVE ADVERTISING TO SUBSCRIBERS - A method, apparatus, system, and computer program for providing selective advertising. The method includes providing an advertisement request specifying that advertising content be provided and automatically providing the advertising content on at least one network service in response to the advertisement request. The advertising content provided is based upon advertising content preferences pre-specified by a subscriber. Also provided is a method for exchanging payments, which includes determining a payment payable to a network service provider from a subscriber and providing the payment to the network service provider from the subscriber. The payment is determined as a cost for access to a selective advertisement service and/or a provisioning of selective advertising. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187481 | AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF ELECTRONIC ADVERTISING MESSAGES - A facility for generating an advertising message is described. The facility extracts visual content from a model web page. The facility then constructs an advertising message that contains the extracted visual content. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187482 | Systems, Methods, and Computer Program Products for Supply Chain Finance - Systems and methods for providing supply chain financing that include receiving a request to finance an asset of a borrower, where the asset is associated with goods provided by a supplier to a buyer under the control of a supply chain/logistics entity. Attributes of a trade ecosystem of the supplier and/or the buyer are evaluated to determine whether to finance the asset. Financing of the asset is then established based upon the analyzed attributes of the trade ecosystem, where the terms of the financing permit control over movement of goods before and/or after default of the terms of the financing. Information associated with movement of the goods is monitored and analyzed to determine adjustments to at least one of the financing terms based on the information associated with movement of the goods. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187483 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING ADVERTISEMENT IMAGE BASED ON USER INFORMATION - An apparatus and method for providing an advertisement image based on user information, the apparatus including: a selection unit to select an advertisement object, from a plurality of advertisement objects, to be applied to a basic image based on user information; and a playback unit to play back an advertisement image generated after the selected advertisement object is applied to the basic image. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187484 | Soil treatments with carbon dioxide - A method is described for treating soil to increase plant growth or improve the health of plants, wherein a combination of carbon dioxide and a surfactant having pesticidal effects is applied. The invention also pertains to methods for applying bio-derived surfactants in combination with carbon dioxide to crops and other plants or to the soil used for such plants in order to reduce the need to apply environmentally unfriendly pesticides or fertilizers, as well as to improved methods of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by applying the carbon dioxide to plants and soil in combination with surfactants, particularly bio-derived surfactants that can reduce the activity of certain pests in the soil. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187485 | METHOD AND SYSTEM OF DISPLAYING INFORMATION RELATED TO ITEMS OFFERED FOR SALE IN A NETWORK-BASED MARKETPLACE - A system for transmitting information related to a network-based marketplace includes identifying information that may be interesting, useful, and entertaining to the users and to the potential users of the network-based marketplace. The identified information may be other than information that is already being displayed in listings by the network-based marketplace. The identified information may be about the sellers, the buyers or other items related to the items offered for sale | 2009-07-23 |
20090187486 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING TARGETED CONTENT - Embodiments of the present invention permit a user to receive content that is directly targeted to that particular user's interests, including a method for targeting content that is arranged on a page that is displayable by a computing device, including the steps of displaying a list of categories of available advertising content, wherein the available advertising content is stored in a database, receiving a selection of at least one of the categories of the advertising content from a user, selecting advertising content from the database that corresponds to the selection of categories received from the user, and transmitting a page including the selected advertising content to a computing device for display on the computing device. In addition, embodiments of the present invention allow the tracking of content from when it is initially shared, to when revenue is generated based on an action of a user on the shared content portion. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187487 | ADVERTISEMENT DISPLAY METHOD - An advertisement display method for providing advertisements from a display device, includes acquiring advertisement information which is endowed with an advertisement display right for displaying one or more advertisements, the advertisement information identifies an advertisement displayable by an advertisement display right, deciding whether the advertisement identified by the acquired advertisement information is to be displayed on the display device, on a basis of one or more advertisement points to be consumed by a display of the advertisement on the display device, displaying on the display device, summary data of the identified advertisement once it is decided to be displayed, and displaying detailed data of the identified advertisement on the display device, and consuming the advertisement points of the identified advertisement as displayed, based on a browsing request for details of the advertisement. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187488 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING A SERVICE TO A CUSTOMER - A system and method for providing a service to a customer wherein a transaction engine processes an order placed by a customer for at least one product provided by at least one provider. A location engine provides the customer location information to the provider to enable thereby an adaptation of a provider order fulfillment process. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187489 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTING A PICKUP LOCATION BASED ON CUSTOMER LOCATION - A method and apparatus for determining a pickup location for an item selected in an online transaction based on location information or data. The method comprises obtaining location data for the mobile communication device and determining availability of the selected item at one or more locations based on proximity to the location. According to an embodiment, one of the locations with item availability is selected and the online transaction is completed. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187490 | SYSTEM AND A METHOD ENABLING A CUSTOMER AND A BUSINESS TO INTERCONNECT VIA INSTANT MESSAGING IN ORDER TO COMPLETE A BUSINESS TRANSACTION - A method to provide a service to enable a buyer and a seller to interconnect via real-time messaging to complete a successful business transaction. The method includes registering by the buyer and customizing a profile by the buyer. The method also includes registering, paying a subscription and customizing a profile by the seller businesses. The system receives the buyer's inputs and the sellers' profiles. The buyer logs in and specifies an acquisition request. The system matches the buyer's acquisition request with relevant seller businesses and sends a list of the relevant seller businesses to the buyer that accommodate his acquisition request. He decides whether to purchase, designates a seller business, makes the purchase online and the seller pays a commission. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187491 | Activation of Digital Products on Mobile Electronic Device - Systems, methods and apparatus for distribution of digital products to portable electronic devices are disclosed. Digital products, such as digital assets or digital gifts, can be a purchased from a centralized location and associated with particular ones of the portable electronic devices. In one embodiment, the digital product is a digital asset (e.g., digital media asset) that is pre-stored to a portable electronic device, and after the digital asset is purchased, the digital asset can be activated on the portable electronic device. In another embodiment, the digital product is a digital gift that can be associated with a portable electronic device or a user account for a user of the portable electronic device. Optionally, a personalized message can be provided and associated with a portable electronic device. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187492 | LOCATION BASED AUTHENTICATION - A portable consumer device that is used to conduct a transaction at a merchant is authenticated. Information provided to a server computer includes locations of a merchant and a mobile communication device possessed by a consumer. If the location of the mobile communication device corresponds to the location of the merchant, the portable consumer device that is used to conduct the transaction is authenticated. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187493 | Method for offsetting carbon dioxide emissions associated with shipping - The invention is a method that provides consumers and retailers an easy way to track shipments, use shipment information (e.g. tracking information) to accurately calculate carbon dioxide emissions generated by the shipment, and provide a means to offset the carbon dioxide emission either before or after the shipment takes place. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187494 | VIRTUAL INVENTORY SYSTEM - A system and method are provided that allow a user to search for products within the inventory of multiple vendors. The disclosed web-based application allows a customer to maintain a virtual inventory. A web server is maintained separately from the customer's and vendor's computer system and the web server runs virtual inventory software. A database server is interfaced with the web server and the database server stores user settings specific to the user. A plurality of vendor inventory databases is interfaced with the web server. The web server is configured to receive a product search request from the user and search the plurality of inventory databases pursuant to the product search request | 2009-07-23 |
20090187495 | SIMPLIFICATION OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT - A simplified inventory management method. The method employs a plurality of stock-keeping unit labels, with each of the plurality of stock-keeping unit labels having a same stock-keeping unit number. Individual ones of the plurality of stock-keeping unit labels are utilized to track individual items of a plurality of items. A sale price of individual ones a first set of the plurality of items is different from a sale price of individual ones of a second set of the plurality of items. | 2009-07-23 |
20090187496 | DATA WORKBENCH FOR ACCOUNTING DATA MANAGEMENT - Methods and apparatuses enable management of accounting data for currency exposure analysis. A management system receives general ledger data defining asset and liability accounts balances for a business entity. The management system selectively filters the account balances based on functional currency and whether they are subject to revaluation. The management system can thus provide a data set of data that can properly be evaluated for currency exposure risk. The management system generates one or more reports to indicate what errors or potential errors, if any, exist within the data. The management system may be configured to apply additional filters to the data and/or provide additional processing to prepare the data for passing to a foreign exchange risk analysis module. | 2009-07-23 |