08th week of 2014 patent applcation highlights part 49 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20140052425 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EVALUATING A MODEL OF AN INDUSTRIAL PLANT PROCESS - A method of evaluating a model of an industrial plant process, the method comprising the steps of: evaluating at least two out of three criteria, the three criteria consisting of: (i) a condition deviation, (ii) a quality deviation, and (iii) a priori information obtained from a fuzzy logic module; and giving an indication as to whether or not the model should be retrained. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052426 | SYSTEM AND METHOD TO MANAGE CONDENSATE FORMATION - A system and method control condensate formation within headers of a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) in a power generation facility. The system includes measurement devices to measure first parameters including pressure at respective first locations within the power generation facility. A model estimates second parameters at second locations within the power generation facility. A prediction model outputs a prediction of time of condensate formation on each of the headers based on the first parameters and the second parameters, and a controller controls the condensate formation based on the prediction. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052427 | Method for exploitation of a subterranean medium in accordance with an exploitation scheme defined by an optimized representation - The invention is a method for exploiting a subterranean medium, according to an exploitation scheme defined on a representation of the medium based on a two-dimensional grid representing the subterranean medium. The quality of the mesh cells of the grid is optimized by displacing the nodes of the grid by a procedure for minimizing the deformation of the grid by generating a reference grid; imposing a displacement of at least one node, termed a rigid node, of the reference grid on a corresponding node in the grid to be optimized; and constructing an optimized two-dimensional grid by displacement of the other nodes of the reference grid, while minimizing the displacement field of the nodes. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052428 | LEARNING TO PREDICT EFFECTS OF COMPOUNDS ON TARGETS - A method performed by one or more processing devices includes obtaining information indicative of experiments associated with combinations of targets and compounds; initializing the information with a result of at least one of the experiments; generating, based on initializing, a model to predict effects of the compounds on the targets; generating, based on the model and the experiments obtained, predictions for experiments to be executed; selecting, based on the predictions, one or more experiments from the experiments to be executed; executing the one or more experiments; and updating the model with one or more results of execution of the one or more experiments. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052429 | PROACTIVE DATA CENTER COOLING - A mechanism is provided to optimize cooling of a data center having a plurality of computer systems. A dataset is classified into a plurality of data storage regions hosted by at least one of the plurality of computer systems. A plurality of cooling devices is grouped into groups. Each group of the plurality of cooling devices cools at least one of the plurality of data storage regions. The classified dataset is analyzed to identify one of the plurality of data storage regions having heat-intensive data. An operating parameter is selectively adjusted for one of the group of the plurality of cooling devices that corresponds to cooling the identified one of the plurality of data storage regions having the heat-intensive data. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052430 | Partitionless Multi User Support For Hardware Assisted Verification - Embodiments of the disclosed technology are directed toward facilitating the concurrent emulation of multiple electronic designs in a single emulator without partition restrictions. In certain exemplary embodiments, an emulation environment comprising an emulator and an emulation control station is provided. The emulation control station includes a model compaction module that is configured to combine multiple design models into a combined model. In some implementations, the design models are merged to form the combined model, where each design model is represented as a virtual design with the combined model. Subsequently, the emulator can be configured to implement the combined model. Furthermore, an emulation clock control component is provided that allows for portions of the emulated combined model to be “stalled” during emulation without affecting other portions. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052431 | SUPPORTING PROACTIVE DECISION-MAKING IN EVENT-DRIVEN APPLICATIONS - A computerized method of adapting an event management framework comprising providing an event processing network (EPN) which models processing of a plurality of incoming events by the event management framework, providing at least one goal specifying a target value of at least one measurable attribute of the event management framework, performing a plurality of simulations on the EPN, each simulation of the processing of the plurality of incoming events according to a different set of a plurality of control values defining a behavioral pattern of at least one event processing agent of the EPN, selecting a control values set from the plurality of control values sets according to a match between an outcome of the plurality of simulations and the at least one target value, and adapting the event management framework according to the selected control values set. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052432 | METHOD FOR A DESIGN EVALUATION OF A SYSTEM - A method for the design evaluation of a system is described. The system is modelled and simulated on at least one computer. The model ( | 2014-02-20 |
20140052433 | AUTOMATICALLY EXTRACTING A MODEL FOR THE BEHAVIOR OF A MOBILE APPLICATION - A method of modeling behavior of a mobile application includes determining an action associated with the mobile application based on source code of the mobile application. The method further includes dynamically crawling through the mobile application based on the action and generating a graphical user interface (GUI) behavioral model based on dynamically crawling through the mobile application. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052434 | TRANSLATION OF TEXT INTO MULTIPLE LANGUAGES - Methods and systems for translating a text into multiple languages performed by at least one software component executed by at least one processor, comprise: maintaining a translation repository having a plurality of entries associating different types of content with user-specified languages; monitoring the text received by a program to identify one or more types of content and a source language of the text; retrieving the user-specified languages from the translation repository associated with the identified types of content; and for each of the identified types of content, translating the content thereof from the source language to the corresponding user-specified language when the source language is different from the corresponding user-specified language. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052435 | LANGUAGE TRANSLATION IN AN ENVIRONMENT ASSOCIATED WITH A VIRTUAL APPLICATION - Methods and apparatus for language translation in a computing environment associated with a virtual application are presented. For example, a method for providing language translation includes determining languages of a user and a correspondent; determining one or more sequences of translators; determining a selected sequence of selected translators from the one or more sequences of the translators; requesting a change in virtual locations, within the computing environment associated with the virtual application, of one or more selected translator virtual representations of the selected translators to a virtual meeting location within the computing environment associated with the virtual application; and changing virtual locations of the one or more selected translator virtual representations to the virtual meeting location. One or more of determining languages, determining one or more sequences, determining a selected sequence, requesting a change in virtual locations, and changing virtual locations occur on a processor device. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052436 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR UTILIZING MULTIPLE ENCODINGS TO IDENTIFY SIMILAR LANGUAGE CHARACTERS - Described herein are systems and methods for identifying the similarity between language characters. As described herein, a pair of language characters is received at a language character match engine. The language character match engine is adapted to receive encoding configuration information from each of a plurality of encoding components, and is adapted to encode the pair of language characters based on the unique structure of each language character to generate a pair of string identification characters for each encoding component. Thereafter, each pair of string identification characters is compared to one another to generate a similarity score, and the similarity score for each pair of string identification characters is combined to create a composite similarity score. The composite similarity score represents a similarity between the pair of language characters, and is used to identify the similarity between the pair of language characters. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052437 | VIRTUAL KEYBOARD SYSTEM WITH AUTOMATIC CORRECTION - There is disclosed an enhanced text entry system which uses word-level analysis to automatically correct inaccuracies in user keystroke entries on reduced keyboards such as those implemented on a touch-sensitive panel or display screen, or on mechanical keyboard systems. A method and system are defined which determine one or more alternate textual interpretations of each sequence of inputs detected within a designated auto-correcting keyboard region. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052438 | MANAGING AUDIO CAPTURE FOR AUDIO APPLICATIONS - In a computer system that permits multiple audio capture applications to get an audio capture feed concurrently, an audio manager manages audio capture and/or audio playback in reaction to trigger events. For example, a trigger event indicates an application has started, stopped or otherwise changed a communication stream, or indicates an application has gained, lost or otherwise changed focus or visibility in a user interface, or indicates a user change. In response to a trigger event, the audio manager applies a set of rules to determine which audio capture application is allowed to get an audio capture feed. Based on the decisions, the audio manager manages the audio capture feed for the applications. The audio manager also sends a notification to each of the audio capture applications that has registered for notifications, so as to indicate whether the application is allowed to get the audio capture feed. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052439 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POLYPHONIC AUDIO SIGNAL PREDICTION IN CODING AND NETWORKING SYSTEMS - A method, device, and apparatus provide the ability to predict a portion of a polyphonic audio signal for compression and networking applications. The solution involves a framework of a cascade of long term prediction filters, which by design is tailored to account for all periodic components present in a polyphonic signal. This framework is complemented with a design method to optimize the system parameters. Specialization may include specific techniques for coding and networking scenarios, where the potential of each enhanced prediction is realized to considerably improve the overall system performance for that application. One specific technique provides enhanced inter-frame prediction for the compression of polyphonic audio signals, particularly at low delay. Another specific technique provides improved frame loss concealment capabilities to combat packet loss in audio communications. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052440 | CODING THROUGH COMBINATION OF CODE VECTORS - It is inter alia disclosed to determine a single code vector index based on combining at least two code vector indexes, each code vector index being associated with a code vector of a respective codebook. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052441 | INPUT AUXILIARY APPARATUS, INPUT AUXILIARY METHOD, AND PROGRAM - An object of the present invention is to provide an input auxiliary apparatus equipped with an input section to input character strings; an embellishment information retaining section to retain embellishment information on a plurality of postures in a storing section in advance to link each posture with the embellishment information; a posture detecting section to detect the posture; a reading section to read out the embellishment information linked with the posture detected by the posture detecting section from the storing section; and an embellishment applying section to apply the embellishment information read out by the reading section to the character strings. The input section preferably includes a speech recognition section to recognize voice data based on speech recognition and convert the voice data to the character strings. Accordingly, this enables emotions of a speaker to be correctly judged and suitable embellishments to be appended when performing speech recognition. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052442 | System and Method for the Transformation and Canonicalization of Semantically Structured Data - A method of transforming and canonicalizing semantically structured data includes obtaining data from a network of computers, applying text patterns to the obtained data and placing the data in a first data file, providing a second data file containing the obtained data in a uniform format, and generating interface specific sentences from the data in the second data file. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052443 | ELECTRONIC DEVICE WITH VOICE CONTROL FUNCTION AND VOICE CONTROL METHOD - A voice control method of an electronic device is provided. The method includes detecting external voice around, changing detected voices into voices signals; periodically sensing non-vocal physical actions of the user, and identifying the action; comparing the identified action with a preset action to determine whether the identified action is same as the preset action; extracting voice characteristic of linguistic meaning from the voice signals when the signals are received; determining whether the extracted voice characteristic of linguistic meaning matches voice templates stored in a storage unit; and performing a particular function associated with the voice template when the storage unit stores the voice template corresponding to the voice characteristic of linguistic meaning. The electronic device is also provided. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052444 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR MATCHING AN UTTERANCE TO A TEMPLATE HIERARCHY - A system and methods for matching at least one word of an utterance against a set of template hierarchies to select the best matching template or set of templates corresponding to the utterance. Certain embodiments of the system and methods determines at least one exact, inexact, and partial match between the at least one word of the utterance and at least one term within the template hierarchy to select and populate a template or set of templates corresponding to the utterance. The populated template or set of templates may then be used to generate a narrative template or a report template. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052445 | VOICE SEARCH AND RESPONSE BASED ON RELEVANCY - A user seeking information relevant to the purchase of a home improvement product or other product submits a query to an automated system. The system transforms the user's voice query into a text statement and searches a knowledge base for candidate responses. Quality scores for the candidate responses are determined. If no candidate response having at least a minimum quality score is identified, the query is sent to a second device associated with an agent. The agent response is provided to the user and stored in the knowledge base for future use. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052446 | PROSODY EDITING APPARATUS AND METHOD - According to one embodiment, a prosody editing apparatus includes a storage, a first selection unit, a search unit, a normalization unit, a mapping unit, a display, a second selection unit, a restoring unit and a replacing unit. The search unit searches the storage for one or more second prosodic patterns corresponding to attribute information that matches attribute information of the selected phrase. The mapping maps each of the normalized second prosodic patterns on a low-dimensional space. The restoring unit restores a restored prosodic pattern according to the selected coordinates. The replacing unit replaces prosody of synthetic speech generated based on the selected phrase by the restored prosodic pattern. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052447 | SPEECH SYNTHESIS APPARATUS, METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM - According to one embodiment, a speech synthesis apparatus is provided with generation, normalization, interpolation and synthesis units. The generation unit generates a first parameter using a prosodic control dictionary of a target speaker and one or more second parameters using a prosodic control dictionary of one or more standard speakers based on language information for an input text. The normalization unit normalizes the one or more second parameters based a normalization parameter. The interpolation unit interpolates the first parameter and the one or more normalized second parameters based on weight information to generate a third parameter and the synthesis unit generates synthesized speech using the third parameter. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052448 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RECOGNIZING EMOTIONAL STATE FROM A SPEECH SIGNAL - A computerized method, software, and system for recognizing emotions from a speech signal, wherein statistical and MFCC features are extracted from the speech signal, the MFCC features are sorted to provide a basis for comparison between the speech signal and reference samples, the statistical and MFCC features are compared between the speech signal and reference samples, a scoring system is used to compare relative correlation to different emotions, a probable emotional state is assigned to the speech signal based on the scoring system and the probable emotional state is communicated to a user. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052449 | ESTABLISHING A MULTIMODAL ADVERTISING PERSONALITY FOR A SPONSOR OF A ULTIMODAL APPLICATION - Establishing a multimodal advertising personality for a sponsor of a multimodal application, including associating one or more vocal demeanors with a sponsor of a multimodal application and presenting a speech portion of the multimodal application for the sponsor using at least one of the vocal demeanors associated with the sponsor. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052450 | USER INTERFACE FOR ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS - Methods and apparatus for providing a search interface for an electronic device including a tuner configured to tune the electronic device to receive scheduled programming content. A search query is received and one or more data sources including information about media content are searched based, at least in part, on the search query. The results of the search are presented on a user interface using a time-based axis and a time-independent axis. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052451 | USER INTERFACE FOR ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS - Methods and apparatus for providing a search interface for an electronic device including a tuner configured to tune the electronic device to receive scheduled programming content. A search query is received and one or more data sources including information about media content are searched based, at least in part, on the search query. The results of the search are presented on a user interface using a time-based axis and a time-independent axis. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052452 | USER INTERFACE FOR ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS - Methods and apparatus for providing a search interface for an electronic device including a tuner configured to tune the electronic device to receive scheduled programming content. A search query is received and one or more data sources including information about media content are searched based, at least in part, on the search query. The results of the search are presented on a user interface using a time-based axis and a time-independent axis. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052453 | USER INTERFACE FOR ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS - Methods and apparatus for searching for content to display on a digitally-tunable electronic device configured to display scheduled programming content. The method comprises receiving a search query from a user, and determining, based on the search query, an action the user wants to perform. The method further comprises determining one or more data sources to search based, at least in part, on the action the user wants to perform, and searching based, at least in part, on the search query, the one or more data sources for the content to display on the electronic device. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052454 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING FORMAT OF LINEAR PULSE-CODE MODULATION DATA - A method for determining a data format of linear pulse-code modulation is provided. The method includes steps of reading a plurality of bytes of the linear pulse-code modulation data; obtaining a data property by performing a predetermined calculation on the plurality of bytes; and determining the data format of the linear pulse-code modulation data according to the data property. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052455 | METHOD, MEDIUM, AND APPARATUS ENCODING AND/OR DECODING MULTICHANNEL AUDIO SIGNALS - A method, medium, and apparatus encoding and/or decoding a multichannel audio signal. The method includes detecting the type of spatial extension data included in an encoding result of an audio signal, if the spatial extension data is data indicating a core audio object type related to a technique of encoding core audio data, detecting the core audio object type; decoding core audio data by using a decoding technique according to the detected core audio object type, if the spatial extension data is residual coding data, decoding the residual coding data by using the decoding technique according to the core audio object type, and up-mixing the decoded core audio data by using the decoded residual coding data. According to the method, the core audio data and residual coding data may be decoded by using an identical decoding technique, thereby reducing complexity at the decoding end. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052456 | System for Optimizing a Health Care Delivery Infrastructure by Reducing Barriers through a Comparison of an Ideal Infrastructure to a Current Infrastructure and Identifying Recommended Interventions - Systems and methods are disclosed for evaluating geography-based health care systems and recommending infrastructure changes to the geography-based health care systems. The geography-based health care system is determined based upon data input relating to variables for which there is corresponding data in a record for a predetermined comparison health care system. Recommended infrastructure changes are based on comparison of the data of the geography-based health care system to the data of predetermined comparison health care system. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052457 | Method for Treatment Billing - A method of billing is disclosed comprising the steps of the server billing at least one treatment for a client by a device by means of a billing unit, a treatment computer in communication with the device requesting access of the device using an access code, the device granting access for a treatment if the access code is valid and blocking access if the access code is not valid, and treating the client using the device when access to the device is granted. Further disclosed is a method of billing comprising the steps of a service provider locating a device at a clinic, the clinic providing a treatment to a client, the clinic billing a payer, the payer paying a treatment fee to the clinic, and the clinic paying a subset of the treatment fee to the service provider. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052458 | TECHNIQUES FOR CUSTOMIZING AND DELIVERING WELLNESS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES - Techniques for customizing and delivering wellness products and services are provided. A consumer is presented with wellness questions and supplies answers to those questions. Wellness products and services are resolved based on the answers. The consumer makes selections for the products and services and if the consumer is at a kiosk when making the selections the products and services are directly dispensed to the consumer. When the consumer is not at a kiosk, a key is delivered to the consumer and when the key is subsequently presented at the kiosk, the products and services are automatically dispensed from the kiosk. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052459 | READABLE INDICIA FOR HEALTHCARE PAYMENT CODES - Embodiments of the invention include systems, methods, and computer-program products for providing readable indicia for healthcare codes. As such, a readable indicia may be presented at a point-of-transaction (POT) for a user to select. The system may dynamically present the readable indicia based on the user, the merchant, and the products of the transaction. The user may select the readable indicia with his/her user device. Upon selection, the system may provide the user with private viewing and selecting of alternative payment methods available to the user for that transaction. Alternative payment methods may include insurance or government programs. The system may receive authorization to apply one of the alternative payment methods to the transaction. As such, the invention provides private, yet expedited transaction capabilities using alternative payment methods at a merchant POT. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052460 | READABLE INDICIA FOR MEDICAL OFFICE PAYMENT - Embodiments of the invention include systems, methods, and computer-program products for providing readable indicia for medical office payments. As such, a readable indicia may be presented at a point-of-transaction (POT) at a medical treatment providers for a user to select. The system may dynamically present the readable indicia based on the user, the treatments provided, and the user's insurance coverage. The user may select the readable indicia with his/her user device. Upon selection, the system may provide the user with expedited viewing of itemized treatments, insurance coverage for each treatment, and amount due for each treatment, co-pay amount, an amount to be paid by the insurance company, detectable information, and a total amount the user will owe the medical treatment provider. The system may receive authorization to accept the treatment and apply a payment means to the treatment. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052461 | READABLE INDICIA FOR INSURANCE PAYMENT - Embodiments of the invention include systems, methods, and computer-program products for providing a readable indicia for insurance payments. The system may provide a readable indicia on a statement from a treatment provider, such as a medical treatment provider, where the user's insurance may have covered a portion of the treatment price. The readable indicia may provide the user with itemized treatments received and payment methods for each. Furthermore, the system may provide the user with information associated with his/her insurance policy. The itemized treatments received may indicate the treatments that the user received from the medical provider during the visit, such as exams, tests, and the like. Payment methods for each include an amount, if any, that an insurance company may have contributed and/or the amount due from the user for the treatment. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052462 | OUTCOMES DATA COLLECTION AUTOMATION AND HAND-OFF DISPLAY TECHNIQUES - Methods and systems are described for creating health status surveys using questions automatically derived from codes of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), promulgated by the World Health Organization, and then automatically scheduling the surveys to be provided to patients and their clinicians. Results from the surveys can be compared against results from patients with similar medical diagnoses or surgical procedures. Survey results from patients with different medical diagnoses or surgical procedures can also be compared for questions derived from the same ICF code, resulting in greater pools of data from which to extract statistics. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052463 | VETERINARY KIOSK WITH INTEGRATED VETERINARY MEDICAL DEVICES - A veterinary kiosk designed to provide tele-med services, check-in services, and/or prescription services for a user and an animal. The veterinary kiosk can include a user video conferencing system that is designed to enable the user to have a real-time or near real-time tele-conference with a veterinary provider located remotely from the veterinary kiosk. A method of providing veterinary services via a modular veterinary kiosk with one or more integrated veterinary medical devices. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052464 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REMOTE PATIENT MONITORING - A system for remotely monitoring a patient, the system comprises a plurality of input sources operable to acquire information corresponding to a well-being condition of a patient, an external database for storing analytical models and medical data, and a central controller being operable to receive the signal from the input sources, perform an algorithm to select an analytical model from the database based on the information and the data, perform an algorithm on the information and the data with the model to determine a state of the patient and formulate a health prediction, determine a recommendation as a result of the state and the health prediction, and transmit the recommendation to at least one external entity for providing support and assistance to the patient or to a caregiver of the patient. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052465 | METHOD FOR MODELING BEHAVIOR AND HEALTH CHANGES - One method includes: selecting a subgroup of patients associated with a health condition from a population of patients, patients in the subgroup exhibiting similar behavioral characteristics; for patients within the subgroup, characterizing communication behavior of a patient based on use of a native communication application executing on a corresponding mobile computing device by the patient during the period of time; extracting characteristics of medical symptoms of patients within the subgroup from surveys submitted by patients within the subgroup; identifying a relationship between communication behaviors of patients within the subgroup, characteristics of medical symptoms of patients within the subgroup, and a treatment regimen administered to patients within the subgroup; generating a treatment efficacy model for the subgroup based on the relationship, the treatment efficacy model defining a correlation between a change in communication behavior and efficacy of the treatment regimen in alleviating medical symptoms of patients within the subgroup. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052466 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENABLING COMPLIANCE WITH RULES TO REDUCE FRAUDULENT REIMBURSEMENT ASSOCIATED WITH DURABLE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT PRESCRIPTIONS - A method of complying with rules to reduce fraudulent reimbursement associated with durable medical equipment prescriptions includes obtaining, using a processing device, information associated with at least one of a patient, the durable medical equipment, a physician, and an ancillary provider; and providing, using the processing device, selective access to the information. The access is selectively provided to at least one of the physician, ancillary provider, a payor, and an auditor, whereby the selective access enables compliance with the rules to reduce fraudulent reimbursement associated with the durable medical equipment prescriptions. A corresponding computer-readable medium and system are also disclosed. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052467 | MONITORING SYSTEM FOR MONITORING SMART PACKAGE CONTENT USE - A monitoring system for monitoring smart package content use, wherein the system comprises a smart package. The smart package in turn comprises removable content units, such as pill type or tablet type or other singly packed objects, as well as most preferably wireless communication elements. The system comprises also database elements with which the smart package can be in communication. In addition, the smart package is adapted to detect said removal of a content unit and to deliver information to said database elements by way of said communication elements, regarding a removal of said content unit. The smart package is identifiable by the database elements on the basis of information delivered by way of said communication elements. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052468 | Medication Adherence System for and Method of Monitoring a Patient Medication Adherence and Facilitating Dose Reminders - A medication adherence system for and method of monitoring a patient's medication adherence and facilitating dose reminder notifications is disclosed. The medication adherence system includes data-enabled pharmaceutical containers, wherein the data-enabled pharmaceutical containers provide mechanisms for reminding at dose time, then tracking and communicating valid dose events, as well as missed, extra, early, and/or late dose events. The medication adherence system includes a centralized server for collecting and processing the patient-specific information from the data-enabled pharmaceutical containers. Information may be exchanged between the centralized server and the data-enabled pharmaceutical containers via a cellular network and/or the Internet. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052469 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INFORMATION RETRIEVAL AND TRANSFER - A method for providing medical insurance information corresponding to a consumer of medical services can include receiving consumer medical insurance information from a consumer. This information includes one or more identity fields. A request is sent to network sources of identity information for the consumer, the requests including one or more of the identity fields. The identity information that is received is compared to the consumer medical insurance information using matching rules to store data which satisfies the rules. The identity data which satisfies the matching rules is used to generate requests for insurer medical insurance information. The insurer information is compared to the consumer medical insurance information using matching rules to store only data which satisfies the matching rules. A processor can be used to generate different permutations and combinations of the data for the identity requests and for the insurer requests until a satisfactory response has been received. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052470 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING INCENTIVES TO PHYSICIANS UNDER ACCOUNTABLE CARE MODELS AND OTHER HEALTHCARE DELIVERY MODELS - Embodiments are directed to a method of providing a monetary incentive to a health care provider, typically a physician, responsible for treatment decisions of a patient with a condition during an episode of care. Once the patient identity and condition are obtained, a baseline value related to treatment of the condition can be associated. Thereafter, all the claims processed during the episode of care of the patient for the condition can be summed to obtain a total treatment cost. If the total treatment is less than the baseline value, then a monetary incentive can be provided to the provider based upon that episode of care. The healthcare provider may be a member of a managed care organization, such as an accountable care organization, and the monetary incentive may be modified based on time interval for the episode of care. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052471 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATED MULTI-USER MULTI-DURATION ACCESS TO EMERGENCY MEDICAL RECORDS - This invention is designed to offer ready access to an athlete's contact and health information for emergency responders at sporting events while providing improved security constraints to preserve the confidentiality of the athlete's information. The system offers new flexibility in the types of data fields that are collected, the duration of data availability, as well as to whom the data access privileges are granted. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052472 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM - An information processing apparatus includes a person-involved acquisition unit and a granting unit. The person-involved acquisition unit acquires person-involved information that specifies a medical staff member who is involved in a medical procedure scheduled to be performed on a patient. The granting unit grants, to the medical staff member specified by the person-involved information, a view privilege to view a medical record of the patient. The medical record is stored in a medical record memory that stores one or more medical records. The granting unit includes a role acquisition unit and a controller. The role acquisition unit acquires role information that specifies a role of the medical staff member in the medical procedure. The controller controls a valid period of the view privilege in accordance with the role of the medical staff member specified by the role information. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052473 | Method and System for Coordinating Healthcare and Human Services - Disclosed is a system and method for coordinating health care decisions between a participant in the health care system, the health care providers for the participant, the various subscribers, who may be the loved ones of the participant. By way of the system and method, the participant can take a more active role in making decisions regarding long term care. The participant can be effectively monitored by the health care providers and subscribers to that the participant can live safely in the least restrictive environment. The system and method also improves communication between the three groups of people and ensures that treatments and end of life decisions are upheld. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052474 | METHOD FOR MODELING BEHAVIOR AND HEALTH CHANGES - One method for detecting a change in health status of a patient includes: accessing a log of use of a native communication application executing on a mobile computing device by the patient; selecting a subgroup of a patient population based on the log of use of the native communication application and a communication behavior common to the subgroup; retrieving a health risk model associated with the subgroup, the health risk model defining a correlation between risk of change in a medical symptom and communication behavior for patients within the subgroup; predicting a risk of change in a medical symptom for the patient based on the log of use of the native communication application and the health risk model; and transmitting a notification to a care provider associated with the patient in response to the risk of change in the medical symptom for the patient that exceeds a threshold risk. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052475 | METHOD FOR MODELING BEHAVIOR AND HEALTH CHANGES - One method for supporting a patient through a treatment regimen includes: accessing a log of use of a native communication application executing on a mobile computing device by a patient; selecting a subgroup of a patient population based on the log of use of the native communication application and a communication behavior common to the subgroup; retrieving a regimen adherence model associated with the subgroup, the regimen adherence model defining a correlation between treatment regimen adherence and communication behavior for patients within the subgroup; predicting patient adherence to the treatment regimen based on the log of use of the native communication application and the regimen adherence model; and presenting a treatment-related notification based on the patient adherence through the mobile computing device. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052476 | Points-Based Reward Program For Improving Medication Adherence and Outcomes - The invention relates to a method for improving medication adherence and outcomes. The method includes registering a patient in a predetermined manner with a web site thereby creating an associated user profile, manually entering patient medication data and patient health data associated with the user profile, automatically acquiring from a third party and then storing patient medication data and patient health data associated with the user profile and assigning a points based reward based on a comparison of at least one of the manually entered data and the automatically acquired data to a predetermined set of reward criteria parameters. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052477 | OWNER-DIRECTED UNIVERSAL LIFE INSURANCE PRODUCT - A universal life type insurance policy is provided with added automated features controlled by policy documents and account authorization arrangements with service providers, which enables the policy holder to have the benefits of a tax-advantaged life insurance arrangement and retain control over the types of investment in asset accounts associated with the life insurance arrangement. Simultaneously, the arrangement may provide for fall-back authorizations such that the arrangement maintains the tax-advantaged status and, so long as asset balances permit, currency of payment of policy premiums. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052478 | Method and System for Marketing Vehicles for Sale or Lease to Replace Totaled Vehicles - Methods and systems are disclosed for marketing vehicles for sale or lease to drivers whose ordinary vehicles have been totaled. In an exemplary embodiment, data about a totaled vehicle may be entered by an insurance adjuster into a computer system, and this data can be leveraged to trigger the marketing of vehicles for sale or lease to a driver to replace the totaled vehicle. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052479 | ESTIMATING INSURANCE RISKS AND COSTS - In some examples, a method for estimating insurance risk is described. The method may include receiving, by a processor, real-time information related to a travel itinerary. The method may also include estimating, by the processor, the insurance risk by analyzing the real-time information based on a quantitative assessment of risks posed to a population by the at least one factor. The method may also include generating, by the processor, an insurance risk profile based on the estimated insurance risk | 2014-02-20 |
20140052480 | VOICE ACTIVATED DATABASE MANAGEMENT VIA WIRELESS HANDSET - An insurance claim report generating system includes an interactive voice response (IVR) system, a voice recognition server, and a voice activated database (VAD) device. The IVR system receives telephone calls from remote devices, delivers audio scripts having prompts directed by both templates and data received from the remote devices. The IVR system receives dual-tone, multi-frequency (DTMF) information and human voice information in response to the prompts. The voice recognition server generates text from the human voice information using a dictionary of insurance relevant terms. The VAD device receives first digital information from the IVR system and second digital information from the voice recognition server. The first digital information is derived from the DTMF information, and the second digital information is derived from the human voice information. The VAD device generates an insurance claim report from at least some of the first or second digital information. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052481 | ITINERARY ANALYSIS FOR PASSENGER RE-ACCOMMODATION - Systems, methods, and computer program products for analyzing itineraries to re-accommodate passengers in the event of a flight schedule change. A schedule change is received for an impacted flight and a plurality of original itineraries that include the impacted flight are identified. The computer reservation system is used to simulate application of a default travel solution that replaces the impacted flight in the original itinerary of each passenger to define a replacement itinerary. Each replacement itinerary is assessed for compliance with a plurality of validity conditions. For each replacement itinerary that fails to comply with at least one of the validity conditions, one or more replacement travel solutions are computed each connecting the origin location with the destination location and each subject to satisfying at least one constraint on one or more flights comprising each replacement travel solution. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052482 | PASSENGER ORIENTED SEATING SYSTEM AND METHOD - A computer-implemented system of passenger oriented seating allocation proposes seats to passengers based on both a passenger and an airline's ranking of seating criteria. The system may assign a numerical weight to each seating criteria based on the passenger and the airline's ranking of the seating criteria, and a seating generation module may generate a seat based on these numerical weights. The system may also generate affinity links between passengers, which may be utilized to integrate personal passenger-oriented and professional information of a passenger to be utilized during the seating allocation process to take into account passengers' preferences in being seated next to people with whom they may be interested. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052483 | METHODS, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR MEDIATING SERVICES - A computerized method for providing a service is described. The method may instantiate an instance of a process object. The process object may be configured to manage two or more business process objects of one or more backend systems to provide the service. The service may be performed utilizing the process object. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052484 | Self-Service Device Paper Tracking - Described are a system, method, apparatus, and computer readable medium that facilitates efficient replenishment of paper, such as receipt paper, at self-service devices. A rate of paper use may be determined for a self-service device. This information may be used to forecast when the paper is expected to be depleted. A time to replace the paper may be selected based on the forecast and on a schedule of other services to be performed at the self-service device. A report including the selected replacement time may be generated and sent to a division responsible for replacing the paper. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052485 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ON-LINE EVENT PROMOTION AND GROUP PLANNING - Systems and methods are provided for enabling on-line collaboration among a group of people, such as a group of friends, an affinity group, a fan club, a group of co-workers, a team, or the like, to arrive at a decision, such as a decision as to the nature of an event in which the group wishes to participate. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052486 | 3D Glasses with RFID and Methods and Devices for Improving Management and Distribution of Sold Commodities - RFID data is utilized for billing and management of 3D glasses in a cinema theater or group of theaters. RFID pedestals identify privately owned or rented 3D glasses brought into a theater by a customer. An invoice is automatically generated billing the theater operator for the use of the 3D glasses. Usage of the glasses along with other data collected about the customers is utilized for targeted advertising (e.g., e-mails, texts, selected advertise in pre-show, etc.). The invention reduces up front cost in installing a reusable 3D glasses system. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052487 | DEPLOYING DISPATCH FORM WITH IMPLIED WORKFLOWS TO MOBILE DEVICES - A workflow system allows a user to define dispatch forms for use by workers working on jobs of various job types. A dispatch form is a combination of the form and a query for selecting jobs. A query specifies a criterion for matching jobs by specifying a field of the form and a corresponding data value. When a worker accesses a dispatch form via a mobile device, the query of the dispatch form is sent to a data store to access the data of jobs that are ready to be dispatched to that worker. The worker can then update the data of a job using the form of the dispatch form that has been deployed to the mobile device of that worker. As the data store is updated, queries for dispatch forms for other workers will indicate that the job is now ready to be dispatched to them. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052488 | CONTEXTUAL TASK MANAGEMENT AND NOTIFICATIONS - Systems and processes for presenting event notifications to a target user based on the context of the user are disclosed. The event notification can be selectively presented to the target user based on a comparison between the event and the context of the user. If the event and the context of the user meet predefined criteria, the event notification can be presented to the target user. If the event and the context of the user do not meet the predefined criteria, the event notification may be stored for later delivery to the target user. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052489 | TIME DERIVATIVE-BASED PROGRAM MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Systems and methods for program management are presented. A user can perform analysis and evaluate levels of potential disruption or efficiency that exist in a program or a project thereof through one or more project metrics of a program. Understanding disruption and efficiency indices in a program can help evaluate the duration, location, reason, or severity of the disruption, and assist the program team to take appropriate measures to rectify or prevent the disruption. Disruption metrics in a program can be assessed based on computation of higher order time derivatives of one or more project metrics, such computation of at least a third order time derivative to reveal pattern or other characteristics of the disruption or efficiency or inefficiency in the program. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052490 | PHILANTHROPY MANAGEMENT AND METRICS SYSTEM - Organizations, which may be charitable organizations, may plan, implement, and report to interested on the impact their projects. Users may create and modify components, which demonstrate a relationship between, for example, a donor donation, and an effect of that donation. Users can set up, modify and allowing reporting on, for example, activities sponsored by a charitable organization, inputs into that activity which may be sponsored by donors, and results of the activity. Results can be tracked over time producing a moving picture of the impact of the activity. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052491 | Incorporating A Repair Vendor Into Repair Planning For A Supply Chain - One embodiment includes a computer-implemented system for incorporating a repair vendor into repair planning for a supply chain. The system accesses a logical representation of the supply chain, access an inventory plan for the supply chain, and generates a replenishment plan for meeting the inventory plan for the supply chain that includes suggested repair orders. Unserviceable parts in the supply chain are moved from the supply chain to the repair vendor, repaired at the repair vendor, and moved from the repair vendor back to the supply chain to meet the requirements for serviceable parts at the locations in the supply chain according to the suggested repair orders. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052492 | SERVICE REQUESTS FOR MULTIPLE SERVICE LEVEL CHARACTERISTICS - A system, method, program product and service for processing a multiple service level bid in a resource management framework. A buyer's agent is provided to receive a multiple service level request from a business unit and query a resource unit broker for available resource types that can be utilized to provide at least some of the service level requirements of the multiple service level request. A mapping system is provided to map the available resource types to a list of resource sets (i.e., bidding options) and a prioritization system is provided to order the list. Once the list is ordered, a bidding system is provided to submit a bid for the highest priority resource set. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052493 | METHOD FOR CALCULATING ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT - The present invention provides a METHOD TO CALCULATE AN ENERGY EFFICIENCY RATING for information technology equipment. This method specifically pertains to information technology equipment that doubles its capabilities in a predetermined timeframe according to Moore's Law. This method uses a formula to calculate an energy efficiency rating based on power consumption and transactions per second. It further calculates a normalized rating where the absolute rating is adjusted based on Moore's Law prediction of improvements. As a result the method invented is the first and only method to compare information technology from various generations of hardware, processor and component architecture with each other in terms of their energy efficiency. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052494 | Identifying Scenarios and Business Units that Benefit from Scenario Planning for Operational Risk Scenario Analysis Using Analytical and Quantitative Methods - Methods, computer-readable media, and apparatuses are disclosed for risk scenario analysis. Aspects of the embodiments disclose methods, computer readable media, and apparatuses for identifying scenarios for operational risk scenario analysis using analytical and quantitative methods. Additional aspects of the embodiments disclose methods, computer readable media, and apparatuses for identifying business units for performing risk scenario analysis using analytical and quantitative methods. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052495 | Systems and methods for determining if change events affect viewership - Elements of a document that can affect viewership are identified, monitored and recorded as change events. The numbers of computers, individuals or others viewing a publication (viewers) and what times they viewed it are collected from the appropriate source for the medium. One or more groups of change events for a given period of time are compared to the corresponding viewers via statistical regression to determine how much a given set of change events affects the changes in total viewers. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052496 | AUTOMATED ATTACHMENT OF SEGMENTATION DATA TO HOT CONTACT LEADS FOR FACILITATING MATCHING OF LEADS TO INTERESTED LEAD BUYERS - In an automated leads-and-bids matching system, bid profiles are defined to describe desires of lead buyers. Received leads are matched to active ones of the bid profiles whose specifications the leads substantially match. Lead segmentation data is captured on-the-fly for example by inducing potential consumers to navigate their way through tree-organized web sites that categorize the consumers according to their geographic location, income/revenue range, class of products desired and/or other attributes. Live voice or other telecommunication connections to the pre-classified consumers are coupled to corresponding, pre-classified telecommunication nodes of a call processing system. The call processing system deduces the segmentation data of the consumers from the identities of the pre-classified nodes through which their connections pass. The deduced segmentation data is passed to an automated matching system or auctioning subsystem that finds the highest bids for each given lead. A quality rating database rates the quality of leads provided by different sellers. A price discounting engine discounts the amount paid to sellers who are hot-rated as sources of inferior leads. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052497 | CORRELATING LOCATION DATA - An example embodiment includes a method of associating mobile devices with transactional entities. The method includes identifying a first transaction performed by a first transactional entity and identifying a first set of mobile devices in a location of the first transaction at a time of the first transaction. The method further includes identifying a second transaction performed by the first transactional entity and identifying a second set of mobile devices in a location of the second transaction at a time of the second transaction. The first set of mobile devices is compared to the second set of mobile devices. When a single mobile device is common to the first set of mobile devices and the second set of mobile devices, the single mobile device is associated with the first transactional entity. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052498 | SYSTEMS and METHODS FOR PROVIDING GOODS - A robobox may automate all of the functions of a retail store, combining the best of online and traditional retail in a platform that costs significantly less to operate than a brick and mortar store while providing greater availability, a more predictable experience, and instant gratification to the shopper. Customers may use a touch screen interface to choose products from an inventory of the robobox. They may also place orders in advance through the web or with mobile devices. As soon as an order is completed and the payment has been collected electronically, the inner workings of the robobox pick the items in the order and may deliver it to the customer on-site. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052499 | Telenostics performance logic - In a method for managing a vehicle fleet using operational and maintenance data, wherein the improvement comprises the steps of also using financial, environmental, and industry data. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052500 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING SUSTAINABILITY GOALS OF AN ORGANIZATION - The present disclosure discloses an embodiment for managing sustainability goals of an organization. Organizational activities associated with the sustainability goals and performed in the organization are identified. The attributes of the stakeholders of the organization are identified. A first set of activities from the plurality of organizational activities and a second set of activities associated with each of the stakeholders of the organization are determined. Based on the one or more attributes, the first set of activities and the second set of activities, a first sustainability goal to the stakeholders of the organization is assigned. Further, a first set of data corresponding to the first set of activities, a second set of data corresponding to the second set of activities associated with each of the stakeholders are extracted. Based on the first set of data and the second set of data for each of the stakeholders, a personal sustainability index is determined. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052501 | In service support center and method of operation - In a method for in service support for a vehicle fleet wherein the improvement comprises providing Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), Conditioned Based Maintenance (CBM), Fleet Management (FM), Vehicle/Component Asset Tracking, Stores/Consumable Inventory, and maintenance management. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052502 | BALANCED WEB ANALYTICS SCORECARD - A balanced web analytics scorecard comprises perspectives, objectives and measures based on web analytics. The balanced web analytics scorecard comprises at least one perspective relating to web-based activities of an organization, such as a traffic generation perspective, a visitor engagement perspective, a growth and innovation perspective or an e-commerce perspective. The web analytics are based on user interactions with a website. Scores for web analytic-based measures are calculated based on the web analytics, and scores for objectives associated with web analytic-based measures are based on measure scores. Updated balanced web analytics scorecards can be stored on computer-readable media or presented at a display of a computing device. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052503 | SYSTEM, TECHNOLOGY, AND METHOD FOR A UNIVERSAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY OPTIMIZATION PLATFORM FOR ENERGY CONSUMING DEVICES, APPLIANCES AND SYSTEMS AT RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL, AND INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES - A computer implemented system and method for optimizing the operating and financial efficiency of any energy consuming device, from a desk lamp to a major industrial chiller, by profiling its current, or recent, energy use in comparison to its own select recent or historical energy use baseline, monetizing the difference in energy use, and then transforming the information into actionable insight by contextualizing it in light of the device's own design operating parameters, hours of operation, and other relevant factors, as well as giving users direct control and scheduling over its operations for optimum operating and financial efficiency. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052504 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MARKETING POLITICAL MEMBERSHIP - A method and system for providing a fundraising/voting service is described. In one example, the method includes receiving user information, a candidate selection and a pledge amount, storing, by a processor, the user information, the candidate selection and the pledge amount, and determining, by the processor, an election influence associated with the candidate selection and the pledge amount. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052505 | MULTI-PURPOSE CONFIGURABLE VOTING SYSTEM - A portable electronic voting machine is provided. The portable electronic voting machine comprises a smart panel configured to display voting process information; and a base station configured to house the smart panel. The electronic voting machine is configured to have the smart panel be removable from the base station and store voting information selected while the smart panel is removed from the base station. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052506 | ENERGY EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOUD-BASED ENVIRONMENTS - An energy efficient cloud-based environment includes multiple users requesting delivery of cloud-based services from a cloud service provider. Each user provides inputs for the delivery of one or more specific cloud based services. The inputs include the type of service, time frame for using the service, and either an energy efficiency level or a performance level pertaining to the service's delivery. The service provider allocates different resources to the users for delivering the requested services, and calculates an actual price and an operating energy cost for delivering the requested services to each of the users. The profit of the service provider due to users is calculated. An overall profit of the service provider associated with delivering the cloud-based services is calculated, and a fraction of the overall profit is distributed as an incentive among the users. The incentive of each user is proportional to the profit contribution of that user. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052507 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR TARGETING MOBILE DEVICES DURING CHARGING - Methods and systems for targeting advertisements to mobile electronic devices while the devices are being charged are disclosed. An indication is received from a mobile electronic device that the device is currently being charged. Targeting criteria are determined based at least in part on usage of the mobile electronic device during a time period between the last charge and the current charge. An advertisement is selected based at least in part on the targeting criteria. The advertisement is transmitted to the mobile electronic device for display on the mobile electronic device. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052508 | ROGUE SERVICE ADVERTISEMENT DETECTION - In an example embodiment, unauthorized wireless services and advertisements can be detected by access points via active or passive scanning. Unauthorized, or rogue, service advertisements are reported to the venue owner along with contextual information for further mitigation. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052509 | Dynamically Controlling a Computer's Display - A method and/or computer system dynamically manages screen real estate of a remote computer's display. A first computer receives an initial state of screen real estate of a remote second computer's display on a portable computing device, where the initial state describes information displayed on the remote second computer's display. The first computer detects a change to an external physical environment of the remote second computer's display from one location to another location within a same building. The first computer then adjusts the initial state of the screen real estate in order to remotely create an adjusted state of the remote second computer's screen real estate, where the adjusted state comports with the change to the physical location of the remote second computer's display, and where the adjusted state alters an appearance of the information displayed on the remote second computer's display. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052510 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INCENTIVIZING AN ACTIVITY OFFERED BY A THIRD PARTY WEBSITE - A system for incentivizing an action offered by a third-party website. To this end, the system includes a host website comprising an offering module configured to display an incentive for taking an action on the third-party website. The host website further includes a user interface module configured to register users as participants, and accept inputs from the participants. In addition, a reporting module receives a report of an action on the third-party website and the identity of the participant taking the action. Further, an incentive calculation module present on the host website calculates an incentive applicable to the identified action and provides information regarding the calculated incentive. Moreover, a data storage module is configured to assemble, store, retrieve, and process information regarding the participant and the third-party website action. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052511 | INTER-APPLICATION ACHIEVEMENT NORMALIZATION AND REDEMPTION SYSTEMS AND METHODS - An inter-application redemption platform may provide a normalized measure of player achievement across multiple games/applications, which need not share a common scoring system, to facilitate the presentation of relevant promotional offers to application users, and to facilitate the redemption of such promotional offers in exchange for the normalized inter-application player achievements. The inter-application normalized measure of player achievement may be adjustable such that system points accumulate at rates that encourage users of varying skill levels to keep obtaining and using/playing applications/games, and to keep redeeming promotional offers | 2014-02-20 |
20140052512 | SALES BONUS REWARD SYSTEM AND METHOD - A sales bonus reward system and method includes a central controller, at least one cash register and a judgment unit. The central controller generates an accumulated award random value. The cash register generates a sales bonus after checkout of a consumption activity. The judgment unit accumulates the sales bonus to generate an accumulated sales bonus and offers the accumulated sales bonus as an incentive reward when it is greater than the accumulated award random value. Thus consumers are stimulated to spend more in order to get extra accumulated sales bonus in the consumption. As a result, business revenue can increase and profits can be boosted. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052513 | Social Commerce Intelligence Engine - Embodiments of the present disclosure include an intelligence engine implemented in accordance with a social commerce network community. The social commerce network community may include members, merchants, third party providers, or other entities that have agreed to participate in a social commerce network system. The intelligence engine is configured to use member information stored in a member profile to match members with a commercial opportunity. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052514 | Method and Apparatus for Hyperlink Conversion in a Referral System - In some embodiments, a crawl program or other automated program, which acquires links to various merchants from the merchant's webpage automatically, converts hyperlinks to those web pages into referral links to those web pages routed through the central depository opposed directly to the merchant. In an alternative, embodiment automated programs convert merchant web pages into referral links directly to the merchant. In this way the referred user can keep track of the discounts. In some embodiments, a first referring site shares referral information with a second referring site, which adds the second referring sites information to the referral link | 2014-02-20 |
20140052515 | Method and Apparatus for Anonymous Referred User Discount Process - In some embodiments, the process involves performing similar functions articulated by the referral and discount process contained in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 13/551,983, 13/552,011, and 13/552,031 only without the user creating an account. Rather, the central depository stores the discounts with the internet protocol address, (hereinafter “i.p. address” or “ip address”) of the referred user and transfers the referred user to the merchant with an i.p. address opposed to a referred user identity. In an additional embodiment, the merchant stores the discount with the i.p. address of the referred user without storing the discount with a referred user account that the referred user creates. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052516 | Method and Apparatus for Combining Referral Rates in a Referral System - In some embodiments, for resellers of goods, multiple referral rates can be combined to yield a greater total referral rate. For example, the manufacturer can offer one referral rate and the reseller can offer a second referral rate. The central depository combines the two referral rates to have a greater total referral rate, which is paid to the referring user. The central depository also displays the combined referral rate in a list for the referring user. Upon activation, the central depository collects payment from all parties offering a referral rate in this example the manufacture and the reseller. The central depository can collect payment separately for each party (the manufacture and the reseller). In an alternative embodiment, the central depository collects payment from one party for both referral rates. In this embodiment the party who pays the combine referral rate collects payment from the other party. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052517 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING DATA POINTS COLLECTED FROM A CUSTOMER TO PROVIDE CUSTOMER SPECIFIC OFFERINGS - A retailer computer system receives from a first computing device a shopping recap Having data indicative of one or more products that were shown to a customer by the sales associate while the customer was within a retail establishment. The received shopping recap is stored within a data repository where it is linked to a customer identifier that is associated with the customer and an associate identifier that is associated with the sale associate. If the customer later purchases a product, data indicative of the product being purchased is compared against data within any shopping recap that is linked to that customer to determine if a sales associate that is also linked to any shopping recap linked to that customer is to be awarded a commission for the product being purchased. The purchase of the product by the customer may further generate a digital receipt where the digital receipt includes a notice that the customer is being awarded an incentive, such as a coupon. The incentive may be automatically linked to a rewards account of the customer whereupon, if the customer purchases a product that is associated with the incentive, the incentive will be automatically redeemed for the customer. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052518 | Affiliate Marketing Method That Provides Inbound Affiliate Link Credit Without Coded URLs - A method of affiliate marketing provides inbound affiliate link credit without coded URLs. Affiliate web sites link directly to merchant web sites, so that all of a merchant site's affiliates potentially contribute to its inbound link credit. The merchant web server parses incoming web page requests, and extracts the referrer. The merchant web server, directly or via an affiliate network manager, consults a database of affiliate web sites to determine whether the referrer is an authorized affiliate. If so, the affiliate is credited for the traffic, and may additionally be credited for user activity at the merchant site. The affiliate network manager writes a cookie to the user terminal to further track the user through the affiliate network. The method reduces or eliminates cookie hijacking and other forms of affiliate fraud, and may be used to track non-affiliate referring web sites. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052519 | Forum for Purchasing Crowd Funded Goods and Services Using Dividend Credits - In some embodiments of the invention, a method providing a private marketplace among early stage companies and investors in which dividend credits on investments are applicable to products or services offered for sale may register a plurality of companies with an equity crowd funding system. The method may also register an investor with the equity crowd funding system. The method further receives, from an investor, payment for investing in a given company in the plurality of companies. Then, the method receives, from the company, a dividend credit on the payment for the investor. The method applies the dividend credit to an account of the investor and displays to the investor offers to purchase goods or services from companies within the plurality of companies. The dividend credit is applicable to purchase prices of the goods or services. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052520 | System and Method for Coordinating Purchases of Goods and Services - A method for coordinating purchases of goods or services comprises the steps of establishing a consumer group ( | 2014-02-20 |
20140052521 | CAMPAIGN REWARD SYSTEM IN COMMUNICATION WITH FINANCIAL INSTITUTION - A campaign offer system provides an offer using a mobile device. A service provider includes one or more servers with engines and attached storage. The service provider is configured to be in communication with a mobile application running on a user mobile device of a use. The service provider is in communication with an advertiser, a retailer and a financial institution. A retailer gateway is in communication with a retailer checkout system that has a unique identifier for each retailer checkout location captured by the mobile device. The unique identifier is transmitted to the service provider which effects transactions between the user and the retailer checkout system via the retailer gateway. The service provider invoices the advertiser for the offer with redemption information. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052522 | Promotion Management Systems and Methods - A request may be received from a customer device to access a local area network, the local area network accessible via one or more network access points in a geographic location. A network entry page may be provided to the customer device in response to the request, the network entry page providing a portal to a set of promotions offered by a set of merchants, the set of promotions redeemable by a user of the customer device, the set of merchants being in the geographic location. A selection may be received by the user of a particular promotion from the set of promotions. A promotion code associated with the particular promotion may be provided to the customer device. The promotion code may enable redemption of the particular promotion from a particular merchant. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052523 | Systems and Methods for Mutually Promoting Fundraising Organizations and Merchants - The disclosure includes systems and methods for promoting fundraising organizations and merchants. In one embodiment, a method can be provided. The method can include receiving an indication a merchant-associated tag was scanned by a tag reader via a processor-based device at a merchant location; validating the merchant-associated tag and scanning event; and providing an incentive to a beneficiary based at least in part on the validation of the merchant-associated tag and the scanning event. | 2014-02-20 |
20140052524 | Systems and Methods for Providing Transaction Rewards - A computer-implemented method for processing a transaction between a user and a merchant comprises receiving a request from the user to conduct a transaction with the merchant. The request is received by a computer system programmed to facilitate the transaction. Next, with the aid of a processor of the computer system, the transaction between the user and the merchant is processed. A rewards database of the computer system is then updated with a record of the processed transaction. The rewards database includes a history of one or more transactions between the user and the merchant and a milestone that must be met for the user to be provided a reward from the merchant. | 2014-02-20 |