| 27th week of 2009 patent applcation highlights part 66 |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
|---|
| 20090171697 | Optimization and Individualization of Medication Selection and Dosing - The invention provides population models, methods, and algorithms for targeting a dosing regimen or compound selection to an individual patient. The methods and algorithms of the invention utilize population models that incorporate genotype information for genes encoding drug metabolizing enzymes for one or more compounds of interest. The methods allow integration of genotype information for one or more genes encoding a drug metabolizing enzyme, particularly a cytochrome P450 gene with patient data. The methods allow integration of genotype information and the effect of one or more compounds on one or more drug metabolizing enzymes. The methods allow iterative feedback of drug metabolizing data obtained from a patient into the process of generating a dosage regimen recommendation for a compound of interest for an individual patient. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171698 | PROVIDING HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE APPLICATION AS ENTERPRISE SERVICES - Methods and apparatus, including systems and computer program products, for a service architecture design that provides enterprise services having human capital management functionality at the level of an enterprise application. The design includes a set of service operations, process components, and optionally deployment units. Suitable business objects are also described. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171699 | System and Method for Managing a Property - The present invention provides a system and method for managing rental income. The system includes an interrogation module arranged to secure information regarding a financial institution account controlled by an owner of a property, and verify that rental income has been paid by a tenant of the property. The system is accessible by an agent for the owner of the property. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171700 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EVENT SLOT NEGOTIATION - A method and computer program product for receiving a slot request, from a second respondent having a second seniority level, for an original event slot that was previously reserved by a first respondent having a first seniority level. The second seniority level is compared to the first seniority level. If the second seniority level exceeds the first seniority level: the reservation of the original event slot by the first respondent is cancelled, and the event slot request for the original event slot by the second respondent is accepted. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171701 | Method and System for Providing Dynamic and Real-Time Air Travel Information - Providing passengers and other interested parties with dynamic and real-time air travel information. This dynamic and real-time air travel information is shown in various screens on a computer monitor, and includes flight information, passenger information, other general air information, and advertising. The information is presented to passengers in a manner which reduces passenger wait time and allows gate agents to focus on other responsibilities. Information on seat standby status, upgrade standby status, and cleared standby status is provided on the computer monitor. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171702 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MAINTENANCE OF RESIDENCES - An application for a computer-based method for managing a property includes providing a server computer system and a client computer system. A list of maintainable inventory items is accepted at the client computer system and sent from the client computer system to the server computer system where the list of the maintainable inventory items is processed. The processing includes generating maintenance tasks relating to the list of the maintainable inventory items based upon a set of maintenance procedures. The maintenance tasks are then tracked at the server computer system. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171703 | USE OF MULTI-LEVEL STATE ASSESSMENT IN COMPUTER BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS - Management of a business environment is facilitated by enabling customers to determine the sensitivity of events on resources, dynamically evaluate composed state of those resources, based on the sensitivity, and use that state in management of the environment. Management is further facilitated by the dynamic evaluation of aggregated state of business applications, which may also be used in management. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171704 | MANAGEMENT BASED ON COMPUTER DYNAMICALLY ADJUSTED DISCRETE PHASES OF EVENT CORRELATION - Management of a customer's IT environment is facilitated by correlating events that occur within the environment, obtaining information relating to those events, and performing actions, such as environment tuning or recovery actions, based on the information. Discrete phases of processing are used to obtain the information and/or perform the actions. One or more of these discrete processing phases have tunable time intervals associated therewith. That is, at least one time interval is dynamically adjusted based on the runtime state of the environment. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171705 | DEFINING AND USING TEMPLATES IN CONFIGURING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENTS - Templates are provided and used in an Information Technology (IT) environment. A template represents a pattern of resources and resource relationships of the IT environment. Templates are applied to automatically generate recommendations of programmatic representations of artifacts of the IT environment. The artifacts include Recovery Segments, Redundancy Groups, Business Resilience Manager deployment configurations and/or resource pairing represented by relationship data stores, as examples. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171706 | COMPUTER PATTERN SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT SUPPORTING BUSINESS RESILIENCY - A Pattern System Environment is formed. The Pattern System Environment is a representation of information technology (IT) resources of a customer's business environment. The Pattern System Environment is based on information associated with the IT resources of the customer, and that information indicates how the IT resources are utilized during a business cycle of the customer. Pattern System Environments are usable in many environments, including those that support business resiliency. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171707 | RECOVERY SEGMENTS FOR COMPUTER BUSINESS APPLICATIONS - Recovery Segments are defined and employed to facilitate management of a customer's environment. A Recovery Segment is a runtime usable representation of resources and relationships between those resources associated with a business application. That representation is usable in managing the business application. Associated with the representation is one or more goals to be met by resources of the representation. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171708 | USING TEMPLATES IN A COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - Templates are used to programmatically create workflows used in managing an Information Technology environment. The templates include conditional processing that enable the workflows to be created based on the current state of the environment. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171709 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ASSESSING SALES ACTIVITY OF A MERCHANT - A method for assessing sales activity of a merchant using a computer system coupled to a database is provided. The sales activity includes purchases made by a customer using a financial transaction card over a financial transaction card network. The method includes storing within the database a plurality of merchant profiles wherein each merchant profile describes a customer community of the corresponding merchant utilizing the financial transaction card network, determining a violator merchant profile based on a customer community associated with a violator merchant wherein the violator merchant uses the financial transaction card network to engage in at least one of illegal, potentially illegal and undesirable sales activities with at least a portion of the associated customer community, comparing the violator merchant profile to each merchant profile stored within the database, and identifying at least one potential violator merchant for further investigation based on the comparison. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171710 | Mobile Advertisement System With Advertisement Status - A method of operating a mobile advertisement system includes receiving an advertisement parameter by a client from a server to be shown on a display of the client; detecting an advertisement control parameter with the advertisement parameter in the client; operating the client based on the advertisement control parameter and the advertisement parameter; creating an advertisement status parameter based on the advertisement parameter in the client; and sending the advertisement status parameter from the client to the server. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171711 | METHOD AND SYSTEM OF MANAGING TRANSACTIONS - Method and system of managing transactions. The transactions may be executed over different networks, such as but not limited to networks associated with different cable television service providers. The transactions may be monitored so that product purchases may be facilitated without requiring product vendors to support electronic communications with each of the networks. The transactions may also be monitored to tabulate metrics and other measurables reported from the different networks in such a manner that the vendors can receive a report without having to understand the reporting and tabulating means used by the different networks to measure the same metrics. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171712 | Architectural Design for Ad-Hoc Goods Movement Software - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing ad-hoc goods movement. The application is structured as multiple process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, and multiple service operations, each being implemented for a respective process component. The process components include an Accounting process component that records the relevant business transactions for valuation and profitability analysis; an Inventory Processing process component that handles the management of inventory and the recording of inventory changes and may provide services to maintain current stock, handling unit content, logistics operating unit content, and allocation content; a Site Logistics Processing process component that handles the preparation, physical execution, and confirmation of logistics processes within a site; and a Supply and Demand Matching process component that combines the tasks necessary to ensure that sufficient material receipt elements exist to cover material demand while taking available capacity into account. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171713 | Architectural Design for Self-Service Procurement Application Software - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing service procurement. The application is structured as multiple process components interacting with each other through service interfaces and multiple service operations, each being implemented for a respective process component. The process components include an Accounting process component, an Internal Request Processing process component, a Purchase Request Processing process component, a Purchase Order Processing process component, a Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component, a Supplier Invoice Processing process component, a Payment Processing process component, an RFQ Processing process component, a Project Processing process component, a Source of Supply Determination process component, a Due Item Processing process component, a Balance Of Foreign Payment Management process component, a Pricing Engine process component, and an Accounting Coding Block Distribution Processing process component. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171714 | LIVE INTENTION MANAGEMENT - Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to service dispatch and provide a method, system and computer program product for live intention management in a computer communications network. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for live intention management can be provided. The method can include selecting a serviceable object in a service area, changing live intention metadata data for the selected serviceable object to reflect an awareness state of the serviceable object indicating that an actor intends to service but has not yet serviced the serviceable object, and displaying the serviceable object and the awareness state in a map in a graphical user interface. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171715 | Powerfully simple digital media player and methods for use therewith - A powerfully simple digital media player and methods for use therewith are disclosed. In one embodiment, a digital media player with a simplified user interface is disclosed that, like an FM radio, allows a user to easily select a category of digital media for playback. In another embodiment, to make the experience more FM-radio-like for a user, instead of charging the user for the digital audio files, digital media files can be distributed for free (or at a reduced charge) by playing advertisements before, during, or after the playback of a digital audio file. In yet another embodiment, an exemplary network infrastructure is provided. In another embodiment, a generic streaming content file interface is presented. Other embodiments are disclosed, and any of these embodiments can be used alone or in combination with one another. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171716 | ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN FOR PERSONNEL EVENTS APPLICATION SOFTWARE - Methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing personnel events functionality. The application is structured as multiple process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, and multiple service operations, each being implemented for a respective process component. The process components include a personnel administration process component, a payroll processing process component, an expense and reimbursement management process component, a time and labor process component, a compensation management process component, an employee payroll administration process component, and numerous country-specific employer regulatory compliance process components. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171717 | APPLICATIONS OF CLUSTER ANALYSIS FOR CELLULAR OPERATORS - Subscriber travel behavior is defined using cellular call location data. The defined travel behavior is used to segment the customer population. In a further aspect of the disclosed principles, a method to consolidate numerous of price plans is disclosed wherein price plans are grouped using cluster analysis. In the context of this disclosure, the term “cluster analysis” encompasses a number of different algorithms and methods for grouping objects of similar kind into respective categories to thus organize observed data into meaningful structures. In this context, cluster analysis is a data analysis process for sorting different objects into groups in a way that the degree of association between two objects is maximal if they belong to the same group and minimal otherwise. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171718 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING WORKFORCE AND WORKLOAD MODELING - Workforce and workload prediction is provided. A portal is configured to receive input from a user, wherein the input relates to forecasting workload and workforce for providing a communication service. The workload includes ticket loads relating to repair and provisioning, and the workforce includes human resources and equipment. A load prediction is output in response to the input, wherein the load prediction is generated by a forecast model that utilizes regression analysis of historical data and real-time information that includes workforce availability data and one or more factors impacting the workload. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171719 | Interactive system and method for displaying support and support-related processes - An interactive system for displaying support and support-related processes includes a memory arrangement, a processor, a display and an interactive user interface. The memory arrangement is configured to store support and support-related processes across multiple entities for a lifecycle of a system and/or project. The processor is configured to generate relationships between the support and support-related processes. The system also includes a display and an interactive graphical user interface displayable on the display, wherein the interactive graphical user interface illustrates the support and support-related processes across the lifecycle of the system and/or project in a hierarchical structure. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171720 | Systems and/or methods for managing transformations in enterprise application integration and/or business processing management environments - In certain example embodiments of this invention, systems and/or methods for managing transformations in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and/or Business Process Management (BPM) Environments are provided. In certain example embodiments of this invention, when a process and/or transform is defined, design-time encoding data is extracted and stored as metadata. When the process or transform is implemented, runtime data is captured and/or managed, and also stored as metadata. When new processes and/or transforms are defined, and/or when an already-defined process and/or a transform is executed, heuristics may be applied so as to suggest one or more already-existing transformation chains for use in accomplishing at least a part of the same and/or a similar process or transform. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171721 | Bidding system for search engine marketing - A method for search engine keyword bidding, including providing a search engine that is used by shoppers to search for products and services, maintaining by an advertiser a keyword database used by the search engine, collecting by the advertiser statistics for revenue generated during each Internet session on the advertiser's website that begins when a shopper visits the advertiser's landing page in response to the shopper clicking on an advertiser's sponsored ad, maintaining by the advertiser a tracking database comprising records of Internet sessions for a plurality of shoppers, and periodically revising by the advertiser a bid amount for a keyword in the keyword database, based on total revenue in the tracking database corresponding to the keyword over a given time period. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171722 | Green Rating System and Associated Marketing Methods - A method and system for assigning a rating to an entity based on a plurality of metrics, for example, assigning a rating to an entity which reflects that entity's level of environmental performance, and then assigning an indicia to the entity which reflects the rating relative to other like entities. The system includes ways to generate revenue based on the entity's use of the indicia, such as integrating the display of the indicia with search engines such that the indicia is displayed when the entity's link appears on a search results list and charging a per impression and/or a per click through microfee. The invention also comprises a filtered search facility which only features rated member entities on its search results list. A website is also provided which contains landing pages for each rated entity which may be accessed by clicking on the displayed indicia in the search results list. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171723 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ELECTRONIC ACCOUNT CERTIFICATION AND ENHANCED CREDIT REPORTING - Systems and methods are provided for electronically certifying financial account data and providing enhanced credit reporting capabilities. The systems and methods may include electronically receiving a certification request from a requesting computer, wherein the request is associated with a financial account requiring certification, collecting financial data from at least one financial data provider, where the financial data provider is associated with at least one financial account requiring certification. The systems and methods may further include routing at least a portion of the financial data to a certification engine for electronically certifying at least a portion of the collected financial data and electronically generating an electronic account certification for at least a portion of the collected financial data. Authorized recipients may be electronically transmitted information contained in a report which may provide indication that at least a portion of the account has been certified or indication that at least a portion can not be certified. Further electronic processes include electronically determining if at least a portion of the certification data is acceptable for total financial reporting and directing communication to authorized recipients at least a notice of availability of the total financial reports. Enhanced credit reports may spawn with electronically certified financial asset data consolidated with historical debt data reported by a credit bureau. Credit interest matching and interactive credit accounts may also spawn as a function of receiving the electronically certified financial data. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171724 | CONSTRUCTION PAYMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH SUB-TIER DOCUMENT EXCHANGE AND APPROVAL FEATURES - Systems and methods for managing a construction payment process wherein a higher degree of functionality is provided to primary users and only a limited subset of functionality is provided to sub-tier contractors. One construction of the system is configured to receive an electronically signed document and a request for payment from the sub-tier contractor. The request for payment is presented to a first primary user who is a contractual parent of the sub-tier contractor. When approval of the request for payment is received, a payment is initiated from a project payor to the sub-tier contractor. In some embodiments, the project payor is a contractual grandparent of the sub-tier contractor and a contractual parent of the first primary user. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171725 | PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR SELLER CREDIBILITY VERIFICATION IN TRADING OF FACTUAL OR OPINIONATIVE INFORMATION - A process and an apparatus that perform seller credibility verification in trading of factual or opinionative information are disclosed. When buying information, buyers already have some prior information about the subject of the purchase. The present invention facilitates comparison of said prior information known by buyers with information known by sellers without revealing the content of the sellers' information to buyers before the sale completion. A buyer submits to a network server for the selected seller a verification request comprising the data the buyer expects the seller to know. The network server interacts with the seller and other data sources to obtain seller's verification data representing the seller's knowledge. The network server uses the seller's verification data for comparison against the data expected by the buyer. The comparison report not revealing the content of the seller's verification data is provided to the buyer. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171726 | ENTERPRISE PROPOSAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A system and method for managing an enterprise is provided. The system and method may be based on a layered architecture including a data center that may store all documents and data abstractions for an enterprise. One or more services may interact with an enterprise resource planning system and/or a customer relationship manager to facilitate interaction with the documents and data abstractions. A client access point of the system may include a graphical user interface that includes one or more enterprise management functions for managing the enterprise documents and/or data abstractions. The enterprise management functions may include a user proposal manager, an enterprise proposal manager, a proposal library, a content health manager, an archive library, a bid center, a contracts manager, a resume manager, a debriefing center and/or a projects manager. The enterprise management functions man re-engineer business processes and enable users to manage all aspects of an enterprise using a single unified interface. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171727 | PROCESSING AND MANAGEMENT OF TRANSACTION TIMING CHARACTERISTICS - A transaction management and processing approach involves using timing-related aspects of transaction events to manage and process transaction-type information. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, a transaction management approach involves using a transaction processor arrangement to track transaction events with or as a function of timing characteristics. In one implementation, the timing between related transaction events for a particular transaction is tracked such that parties to the transaction can identify and monitor the timing. In another implementation, the timing between pickup and delivery events for a shipping transaction is identified and processed for use by parties to the transaction. With these and other approaches, the management, monitoring and processing of transactions is facilitated. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171728 | SIMULATION FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING DESIGNS FOR SPONSORED SEARCH MARKETS - The present invention provides a method and apparatus for sponsored Internet-based search simulation. The present invention includes receiving a search query sequence that represents a search query and selecting one or more advertisements based on the search query sequence. The present invention further includes filtering the plurality of advertisements based on advertising budget data and determining a number of user-selections on the advertisements using a pre-calculated user-selection model. The present invention further includes updating advertiser account information regarding advertising rates in response to the number of user-selections and generating simulation log data reflecting the advertisings, user-selections and advertising account information. This technique thereby performs the simulation based on user search queries, in response to user-selection models and references the user-selection and advertisement with advertisement budget data, consistent with live sponsored search result operations. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171729 | Method for Assembling a Business Process and for Orchestrating the Process Based on Process Beneficiary Information - A system for assembling a business process or a portion thereof includes a rules base containing executable rules and defined business process elements, a workflow orchestration engine, and at least one interface available to a process beneficiary. Information known about and or provided by a process beneficiary interacting with the at least one interface is used to execute one or more of the rules causing assembly of a new business process or a portion thereof according to workflow orchestration rules the new or modified process directing servicing of the process beneficiary accordingly. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171730 | NON-DISRUPTIVELY CHANGING SCOPE OF COMPUTER BUSINESS APPLICATIONS BASED ON DETECTED CHANGES IN TOPOLOGY - A change to resource scope is to be made. Responsive to the changed resource scope, the IT environment is changed. This change is performed non-disruptively. Further, during the change, management to the existing resource scope is continued. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171731 | USE OF GRAPHS IN MANAGING COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS - Resource graphs are provided for use in managing Information Technology environments. The resource graphs include representations of resources of the environment and their relationships. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171732 | NON-DISRUPTIVELY CHANGING A COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - A change to a goal specified for an IT environment is to be made. Responsive to the changed goal, the IT environment is changed. This change is performed non-disruptively. Further, during the change, management to the existing goal is continued. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171733 | DYNAMIC SELECTION OF ACTIONS IN AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT - Management of an Information Technology environment is facilitated by preparing the environment for management. The environment is prepared for a specific management goal, such as an availability goal or a performance goal. To prepare the environment, one or more recommended preparatory actions are selected, initiated and monitored. Resources associated with the actions are also monitored. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171734 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RESERVING SCHEDULING TIME - A method and computer program product for reserving scheduling time includes defining a reserve time period in a scheduling system for a user. A reserve user group is defined including one or more reserve users, and the reserve user group is associated with the reserve time period. Scheduling permissions are assigned for the reserve time period based upon, at least in part, the associated reserve user group. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171735 | AUTOMATED KITTING FOR SHORT BUILD MANUFACTURING - A method for managing production of a product when components of the product are missing during a manufacturing process is provided. The method includes applying a first set of rules for determining whether a short work unit can be released for manufacturing and clearing the short work unit to build. The method further includes allocating for manufacturing components of the short work unit present in inventory and storing a record including a list of short components. The method further includes generating a first kit and storing a record including a location of the first kit. The method further includes initiating manufacturing of the first kit and determining that at least one of the short components of the short work unit are present in inventory. The method further includes generating a second kit for the short components of the short work unit that are present in inventory. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171736 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT OF SOURCES OF SUPPLY - Methods, systems, and software for determining sources of supply are provided. The system for determining sources of supply is centralized so as to be accessible to a plurality of clients. Sources of supply may be determined and the results prioritized according to user defined criteria. Specifically, the system may offer or facilitate a reusable, centralized service that can data mine sources of supply, which are stored in a business object. These sources of supply may include transportation lane, purchase contract, scheduling agreement, material costing, and any other suitable sources of supply. In some cases, this example system can assign priorities to centralized sources of supply that may help make decisions easier for the planner. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171737 | Vehicle Sales Space System - The present invention relates to a method for managing a vehicle sales geographic location/site and a method for facilitating vehicle sales in a Vehicle Sales Space System (VSS System) by managing and organizing the flow of people, vehicles, and material through the site. The VSS System has been developed using the latest technology to provide a safe, secure, and economical way to sell a vehicle at a secure access site. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171738 | SERVICE PROVIDING SYSTEM, SERVICE PROVIDING METHOD AND PROGRAM - A service providing system for providing a user with service, includes a service providing unit which provides service, a service provision right storing unit which stores a service provision right necessary for providing the service, and a service provision right manufacturing unit which manufactures the service provision right, wherein the service providing unit includes a function of obtaining the service provision right from the service provision right storing unit to provide service, the service provision right storing unit includes a function of storing the service provision right up to a predetermined storage capacity, and the service provision right manufacturing unit includes a function of manufacturing the service provision right defined by a manufacture amount at a manufacturing interval set in advance. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171739 | Special Occasion Reminder and Gift Giving System - A method for on-line shopping for special occasions includes the steps of providing a link to a network accessible website, receiving and storing data from a user identifying at least one recipient, wherein the data includes at least one special occasion date, sending a notification to the user prior to the special occasion date, wherein the notification reminds the user of the special occasion date, offering a plurality of gifts for on line ordering via the website, receiving and storing an order for a gift in advance of the special occasion date and sending the gift to the recipient a predetermined number of days prior to the special occasion. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171740 | Contextual management system - An automated system ( | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171741 | BSM Problem Analysis Programmable Apparatus - A system (apparatus), computer implemented method, and program product for analyzing a problem in a distributed processing business system used to provide a service comprises identifying the problem; preparing for an audit; performing the audit; reviewing the audit; developing an action plan; developing an execution plan; deploying a solution in accordance with the execution plan; monitoring the deployed solution; and recording lessons learned. Alternatively, the system (apparatus), computer implemented method, and program product may be applied to evaluate the capacity of a distributed processing business system to provide a prospective service. In this alternative embodiment, the system (apparatus), computer implemented method, and program product comprises identifying the problem; preparing for an audit; performing the audit; reviewing the audit; preparing a rating table; populating the rating table with results from the audit; calculating a service rating based upon the results entered in the rating table; and presenting the service rating to management. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171742 | SCHEDULING SYSTEM - A scheduler combines characteristics of a forward and backward schedulers to determine a schedule for activities that require the use of resources. The system handles conflicting requirements for resources by considering target dates and the relative priority of the activities. As a result, higher priority activities are more likely to be scheduled to complete on or before their target date than are lower priority activities. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171743 | SERVICE REQUEST SYSTEM WITH NATURAL SERVICE PROVIDER PROFILING AND METHODS THEREOF - A system and method for managing service requests performs the steps of loading profile settings for service providers, where the profile settings comprise a two dimensional matrix of actions and objects, processing a work order by determining task involved in the accomplishment of the work order, mapping the profile settings into a hierarchy of determined tasks of the work order and providing a listing of service providers for the work order through results of the mapping step. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171744 | System and method for reducing employee training time and distributing corporate and job information to employees - A system and method for communicating corporate information to employees of a company which may include creating an employee user profile that includes an identifier of a job position of the employee within a company. Corporate information to be communicated to employees of the company may be identified. Distribution information may be assigned to the corporate information, where the distribution information may include an identifier associated with at least one job position to communicate the corporate information. The corporate information may be pushed to employees associated with the distribution information, where the pushed corporate information may cause the corporate information to be presented to the employee. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171745 | 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. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171746 | METHOD FOR PROVIDING SEARCH SERVICE AND SYSTEM FOR EXECUTING THE METHOD - The search service providing method according to the present invention includes: maintaining a search listing database including a keyword, a search listing associated with the keyword, a bid amount, an exposure index, and/or an advertiser identifier associated with the search listing, computing an average click rate for each of the search listings, computing the exposure index based on the average click rate and the bid amount for each search listing and recording the exposure index in the search listing database in association with the search listing to be updated, receiving a search request including a keyword from a user, selecting a predetermined number of the search listings whose exposure index ranks high from the search listings associated with the keyword with reference to the search listing database, and generating a search result list including the predetermined number of the selected search results and providing the search result list to the user. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171747 | PRODUCT ACTIVATION/REGISTRATION AND OFFER ELIGIBILITY - An offer may be provided to a user in conjunction with activating or registering a software product. A request for activation of the software product or registration of the software product may be sent to a server via a network. In response to receiving the request, the server may send an activation code to the processing device, or may record the registration of the software product, respectively. The server may work with components of the system to determine whether the user is eligible to receive one or more offers based on the software product and user information. The user may accept one of the one or more offers and the system may provide a corresponding order, along with at least some of the user information, to a processing device of a vendor. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171748 | USING PRODUCT AND SOCIAL NETWORK DATA TO IMPROVE ONLINE ADVERTISING - Methods and apparatus for improving word-of-mouth online advertising are provided. Construct a social network including multiple users based on the users' social network data and optionally further based on the users' demographical and/or other personal information. Categorize the users in the social network with respect to a type of product in terms of their propensity to adopt the type of product and to influence others in the social network in adopting the type of product. Determine appropriate content object(s) for each category of users, and send the content object(s) to each category of users via different channels at the appropriate time during the product's lifecycle. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171749 | Method for Dynamic Advertisement Placement Based on Consumer and Response Capability Statistics - A network-based processing server for processing statistics and serving advertisements includes a first network interface to a first stat server for receiving consumer statistics, a second network interface to a second stat server for receiving response capability statistics, and a dedicated input/output port connecting the processing server to a broadcast network. The processing server selects and serves advertisements over the broadcast network to consumers positioned to receive the advertisements based on the processing of consumer statistics and advertisement response capability statistics against at least one rule. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171750 | INCORPORATING ADVERTISING IN ON-DEMAND GENERATED CONTENT - A system and a method of incorporating advertisements in on-demand printed content are disclosed. In response to receiving a request from a consumer for on-demand printed content, an advertisement is selected. The selected advertisement is included within the requested content. Thereafter, and further responsive to the request, an on-demand printed copy of the requested content, included the selected advertisement, is printed. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171751 | ON-DEMAND GENERATING E-BOOK CONTENT WITH ADVERTISING - A method of providing fixed computer-displayable content in response to a consumer request for content is presented. Upon obtaining a digital image corresponding to the requested content, an advertisement is selected. The advertisement is to be included in an on-demand electronic content corresponding to the requested content. The advertisement is included with the digital image corresponding to the requested content. A fixed computer-displayable content corresponding to the requested content is generated. The fixed computer-displayable content is then provided to the consumer. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171752 | Method for Predictive Routing of Incoming Transactions Within a Communication Center According to Potential Profit Analysis - A transaction routing method in a contact center has steps for (a) identifying an initiator of a received transaction; (b) gathering information about the initiator of the transaction; (c) determining agents available to receive and service the transaction, and gathering information about the agents; (d) using the gathered information, determining a product or promotion; (e) forming combinations among the available agents, the initiator, and the products; (f) determining potential profit contribution or probability for individual ones of the combinations formed in step (e); and (g) selecting an agent to service the transaction based on the potential profitability determined in step (f). | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171753 | ZERO COST LOYALTY & CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM - A method of using a Zero Cost Loyalty & Consumer Engagement Program comprising the steps of (1) consumer paying a subscription fee to enroll, (2) the company sending a welcome kit detailing the program features, benefits and process, (3) the consumer being credited with the notional currency of the program, (4) the consumer bidding for rewards from an auction catalogue published periodically, (5) the company posting the data entry into the database and validation of the accrued currency claim, and (6) the company issuing a winner report detailing the number of winners & the said rewards, characterized in that the said subscription fees received from the consumers in the said consumer loyalty program generates funds for the implementation of the said program and creates zero cost for the said company. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171754 | WIDGET-ASSISTED DETECTION AND EXPOSURE OF CROSS-SITE BEHAVIORAL ASSOCIATIONS - A content provider system interacts with a network of web sites to provide behavior-based content to users. Operators of the web sites add widgets to selected web pages of their sites. The widgets, when executed on the computing devices of users who view the selected web pages, report user-generated events to the content provider system. The content provider system analyses the reported events to detect behavioral associations between particular web sites, web pages, products, and/or other types of items. The widgets may also retrieve and display behavior-based content that is based on these item-to-item behavioral associations. For example, when a user views a particular web page, a widget on that page may request and display descriptions of, and links to, other sites or pages that are (a) behaviorally related to the page being viewed or an item represented thereon, and/or (b) behaviorally related to the past browsing activities of the particular user. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171755 | BEHAVIOR-BASED GENERATION OF SITE-TO-SITE REFERRALS - A content provider system interacts with a network of web sites to provide behavior-based content to users. Operators of the web sites add widgets to selected web pages of their sites. The widgets, when executed on the computing devices of users who view the selected web pages, report user-generated events to the content provider system. The content provider system analyses the reported events to detect behavioral associations between particular web sites, web pages, products, and/or other types of items. The widgets may also retrieve and display behavior-based content that is based on these item-to-item behavioral associations. For example, when a user views a particular web page, a widget on that page may request and display descriptions of, and links to, other sites or pages that are (a) behaviorally related to the page being viewed or an item represented thereon, and/or (b) behaviorally related to the past browsing activities of the particular user. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171756 | Modeling Responsible Consumer Balance Attrition Behavior - A request to generate a balance attriter risk score that characterizes a likelihood of a change in a level of creditworthiness of an individual following balance attrition is received. Thereafter, one or more creditworthiness indicators such as future credit balance increases (a proxy for the responsibility of the individual) are estimated for the individual using a predictive model trained using historical creditworthiness data of a plurality of balance attriters. These estimated future balance increases are then associated with a balance attriter risk score so that such score can be provided. Related apparatus, systems, techniques, and articles are also described. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171757 | Modeling Responsible Consumer Debt Consolidation Behavior - A request to generate a consolidation risk score that characterizes a likelihood of a change in a level of creditworthiness of an individual following a consolidation of debt of the individual using a secured line of credit is received. Thereafter, future credit balance increases are estimated for the individual using a predictive model trained using historical creditworthiness data of a plurality of consolidators. These estimated future balance increases are then associated with a consolidation risk score so that such score can be provided. Related apparatus, systems, techniques, and articles are also described. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171758 | ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN FOR PHYSICAL INVENTORY APPLICATION SOFTWARE - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing physical inventory. The application is structured as process components such as Accounting process component that records relevant business transactions for valuation and profitability analysis; a Financial Accounting Master Data Management process component that manages financial accounting master data that is used both for accounting and costing purposes; a Physical Inventory Processing process component that manages a process for preparing and executing a physical inventory count, from the preparation, through the actual counting and gathering of count results, to the approval of those results; an Inventory Processing process component that manages inventory and the recording of inventory changes; and a Supply and Demand Matching process component that combines the tasks for ensuring that sufficient material receipt elements exist to cover material demand while taking available capacity into account. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171759 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING AN ENSEMBLE MERCHANT PREDICTION SYSTEM - A computer-based method for discovering patterns in financial transaction card transaction data for the purpose of determining group membership of a merchant within the transaction data is described. The data relates to merchants that accept the financial transaction card for payment. The method includes receiving transaction data from at least one database, predicting a membership of a merchant in a group using at least one prediction algorithm and the retrieved transaction data, the algorithm generating meta-data describing the predictions, inputting the at least one predicted group membership and the meta-data into a data mining application, and assigning a confidence value to each predicted group membership by the data mining application, utilizing the predicted group memberships and the meta-data. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171760 | Systems and Methods for Facilitating Electronic Commerce - In electronic commerce, a user profile may be used to determine one or more product recommendations. The user profile may be selectable so that a first user may receive product or service recommendations for a second user associated with the user profile. Additionally or alternatively, price quotes may be solicited from a plurality of providers in an attempt to obtain the best price for a consumer. Profiles may be generated in a variety of ways including tracking user actions. Interests may be inferred from such user actions and may further be weighted based on various methodologies. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171761 | Systems and Methods of Matching Purchase Requests with Consummated Sales - A sales matching system which may match sales of products or services with consummated sales by collecting selected leads from a group of lead suppliers, collecting a plurality of sales records from multiple sales sources, and matching at least some of the sales records to selected leads. The matches may be assigned a matching confidence, and may reach a threshold level of confidence to be considered a matched sale. The system may also generate invoices to selected sellers identifying invoice-able sales for which compensation may be obtained in exchange for providing leads giving rise thereto. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171762 | Advertising in an Entertainment Access Service - This document describes tools capable of managing advertising in the field of digital entertainment content. The tools may enable advertisers to know which advertisements are more effective or are more likely to be effective with all users, users having similar demographic profiles, or a particular user. The tools may do so by building and maintaining profiles for users. These profiles may include many users' interactions with various advertisements, demographic information for the users usable to compare users, explicitly selected preferences of users, users' implicit preferences based on what entertainment content they watch, and other information. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171763 | System and method for online advertising driven by predicting user interest - An improved system and method for online advertising driven by predicting user interest is provided. An advertising demand engine may be provided for selecting advertisements to be served to a user for display with requested content. An advertisement may be correlated to an advertisement previously selected by a user or by other users in the user's segment. An advertising correlation engine may be provided for correlating an advertisement to another advertisement using collaborative filtering, an advertising clustering engine may be provided for clustering correlated advertisements using item-based collaborative filtering, and a user correlation engine may be provided for segmenting users by selected advertisements and creating a cluster of advertisements associated with each cluster of users. Correlated advertisements that are selected may be allocated web page placements and then served to a user for display with requested content. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171764 | Method for Real Time Data Processing to Produce Indexing of an Advertisement in Internet Research Tools - The present invention relates to a method of real-time data-processing designed for an indexing of an advertisement in Internet search tools, the present method is directed to a simultaneous, real-time management of the indexing position of one or more advertisements in one or more search tools. Particularly, the present invention enables the management of the recording and positioning of the advertisement website in search tools and directions in order to make the advertisement known to the web surfers, increase its visibility and thus increase the number of visitors to the advertiser's website. Accordingly, the present invention includes an algorithm for positioning the indexing of advertisements according to real-time bidding for keywords or combinations of keywords. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171765 | Identifying Luxury Merchants and Consumers - Transaction-level data and size of wallet data may be used to identify luxury merchants. In an embodiment, luxury merchants are identified based on their average record of charge (ROC) size in combination with the percentage of high-wallet consumers who transact with the merchants. Customers having a high share of wallet spent at luxury merchants may be identified as luxury consumers. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171766 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING ADVERTISEMENT OPTIMIZATION SERVICES - Systems and methods for providing advertisement optimization services are disclosed. In one aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure include a method, which may be implemented on a system, of analyzing a first set of images hosted by the web-publisher for display on the website. One embodiment can include, analyzing metadata associated with a set of advertisements available to the web-publisher for placement on the website, and identifying an advertisement suitable for placement on a webpage of the website for a fee. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171767 | RESOURCE EFFICIENT RESEARCH DATA GATHERING USING PORTABLE MONITORING DEVICES - Methods and systems are provided for carrying out a research operation in which each of a plurality of panelists carries a portable research data gathering device. Each of the portable research data gathering devices is configured to gather research data only during a time period or time periods of a monitoring day of the research operation having a total duration which is less than the duration of the monitoring day. Methods and systems are also provided for setting up and/or managing such a research operation. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171768 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INCENTIVE BASED TIE-IN TRANSACTION - A method and system for incentive based tie-in transaction is disclosed. In one embodiment, an e-commerce system embedded with a transaction engine performs a method of an e-commerce transaction, the method including displaying multiple sale items on a website, and forwarding offering data which proposes a deal for a first item in exchange for a participation in one or more tie-in offers to an electronic device of a user upon receiving request data for purchasing the first item from the electronic device of the user, where the tie-in offers are selected from multiple registered offers based on transaction data associated with the user using the transaction engine. The method further includes forwarding receipt data confirming a sale of the first item to the electronic device of the user in response to a purchase signal triggered by the electronic device of the user. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171769 | Self learning method and system for managing a group reward system - A system for managing a purchase agreement, including: a memory element for at least one specially-programmed general purpose computer for storing an artificial intelligence program (AIP) and a purchase agreement between a customer and at least one business entity, the purchase agreement including at least one requirement regarding at least one retail transaction between the customer and the business entity; a processor in the specially-programmed general purpose computer for: compiling a purchasing history for the customer with respect to the business entity and the purchase agreement, the memory element for storing the purchasing history, and modifying, using the purchasing history and the AIP, the at least one requirement to increase revenue or profitability of the business entity; and an interface element in the specially-programmed general purpose computer for transmitting the modified at least one requirement for presentation to the customer. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171770 | INTEGRATED PURCHASING SYSTEM - A system for use in conjunction with an electronic purchasing guide may include definition of a purchasing objective, generation of an evaluation of the purchasing objective based on purchasing activity, identification of an employee performance indicator associated with the purchasing objective, and determination of an employee evaluation based on the employee performance indicator and the evaluation of the purchasing objective. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171771 | METHOD, SYSTEM AND SOFTWARE FOR TALENT MANAGEMENT - A method of managing talent including the steps of a user dragging an icon representing an individual within a continuum of one or more dimensions to record the value of one or more attributes of the individual; and refining the position of the icon within the continuum with reference to an objective standard; wherein each dimension corresponds to an attribute. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171772 | RNSS-based lane-level vehicle tolling method and system - An RNSS-based lane-level vehicle tolling method and system for a roadway having at least one managed traffic lane and at least one unmanaged traffic lane, and on-vehicle equipment for use therein, overcome lane identification limitations of RNSS-based tolling and achieves lane-level tolling through explicit lane identification. In some embodiments, a vehicle transmits a lane presence indication (LPI) to indicate to off-vehicle toll processing whether the vehicle is currently in a managed or unmanaged traffic lane. In other embodiments, on-vehicle toll processing uses lane identification information locally to determine whether the vehicle is currently in a managed or unmanaged traffic lane. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171773 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADMINISTERING A VALUE VAULT FOR USE IN FACILITATING A FINANCIAL TRANSACTION - A system and method for administering a value vault for use in facilitating a financial transaction described herein. In one embodiment, the system includes a communication interface; a database having stored therein information regarding a plurality of value programs associated with a plurality of merchants; and a payment provider system configured to receive a purchase request from one of the plurality of merchants via the communication interface, and make available at least one or more of the value programs associated with the merchants during the purchase of an item. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171774 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DISPLAYING MATTRESSES BY COLOR - A method for displaying a plurality of mattresses according to a color scheme is provided. The method includes categorizing a plurality of mattresses into at least three different types based on features of the mattresses other than size (e.g., based on comfort or style), designating a different color for each type of mattress, and displaying each of the mattresses with the designated color, or an article having the designated color, for the particular mattress type. For example, the article may include a pillow and/or foot protector having the designated color displayed prominently for a customer's reference. The method may further include grouping at least a portion of the mattresses together within the showroom based on the type of mattress, and displaying one of each type of mattress in a common region (e.g., a comparison center) for side-by-side comparisons of the different types of mattresses by customers. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171775 | PROMOTIONAL INCENTIVE VOUCHER AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A SELECTABLE GIFT CARD TO A RECIPIENT - A promotional incentive voucher and method for providing a selectable gift card (stored value card or SVC) as a gift to a recipient. The incentive voucher includes an advertising portion comprising information that identifies a business that is providing the voucher and SVC as a gift to a recipient of the voucher; a gift display portion listing a plurality of SVCs available for selection by the recipient; and a gift redemption portion for use by the recipient to selected a desired SVD from the listing and to direct delivery of the gift to the recipient. A method for producing a promotional incentive voucher of the invention includes obtaining from a business desired advertising and SVC gift selection information to be included in the promotional incentive voucher, and producing a voucher comprising the desired information and a gift redemption portion for enabling the recipient to obtain the selected SVC gift. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171776 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING VARIABLE INCENTIVES BASED ON SPENDING - Systems and methods for providing incentives to a customer based on spending behavior include a customer account established with the customer for depositing funds and for purchasing one or more items from at least one merchant. A first rate of return is applied to the deposited funds in the customer account based on the amount of funds spent from the customer account. A second rate of return is applied to funds in the customer account based on the amount of funds not spent from the customer account. The first rate of return is at least greater than the second rate of return, and the first and second rates of return comprise an interest rate. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171777 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR APPLYING PROMOTION CODES TO PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS - A method for applying promotion codes to a payment transaction is provided. The method uses at least one input device in communication with a database. The payment transaction includes a purchase made by a cardholder using a payment card over a payment card network. The method includes storing promotion data within the database including at least one merchant participating in the payment card network, each promotional program offered by the at least one merchant to the cardholder, and promotion codes associated with each promotional program offered to the cardholder. The method further includes accessing the promotion data using the at least one input device, receiving a selected promotional program from the cardholder using the at least one input device, and automatically applying the promotion codes associated with the selected promotional program to the payment transaction. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171778 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR APPLYING A REWARDS PROGRAM PROMOTION TO PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS - A method for applying promotion codes to a payment transaction using an input device in communication with a database is provided. The payment transaction includes a purchase made by a cardholder using a payment card over a payment card network. The method includes storing promotion data within the database including at least one promotional program having a qualifying number of rewards points for a rewards program, and storing rewards data within the database including a current number of rewards points accumulated by the cardholder. The method further includes providing access to the promotion data through the at least one input device including each promotional program having a qualifying number of rewards points that is less than the current number of rewards points for the cardholder, receiving a selected promotional program from the cardholder, and automatically applying the promotion codes associated with the selected promotional program to the payment transaction. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171779 | Mobile Advertisement and Rating System - A method of operating a mobile advertisement and rating system includes receiving an advertisement parameter by a client from a server to be shown on a display of the client; detecting an advertisement control parameter with the advertisement parameter in the client; operating the client based on the advertisement control parameter and the advertisement parameter; entering a rating parameter in the client; and sending the rating parameter from the client to the server. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171780 | METHODS AND SYSTEM FOR A TARGETED ADVERTISEMENT MANAGEMENT INTERFACE - A system and method can include entering targeted advertisements for multiple types of targeted consumer devices, managing associated targeted advertisement campaigns, sending a targeted advertisement to a targeted consumer device over a network, and receiving receptivity data associated with the targeted advertisement from the targeted consumer device. The targeted advertisement can be associated with a targeted advertisement campaign and can be based on a profile associated with a targeted consumer device and rules associated with the targeted advertisement campaign. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171781 | LOCATION BASED ADVERTISEMENT DELIVERY TO PERVASIVE DEVICES - A computer implemented method, computer program product, and data processing system display advertisements on a pervasive device. A wireless signal for an advertisement is received by the pervasive device. The advertisement includes advertisement information. Responsive to receiving the wireless signal, the advertisement information is compared to user preferences to determine whether the advertisement information matches the user preferences. In the event that the advertisement information matches at least one of the user preferences, the advertisement is displayed on the pervasive device. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171782 | SYSTEM AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR PROVIDING FLIGHT INFORMATION - A system and a computer program are provided for providing real-time flight information to a user over a telephone network. The system includes a server having access to real-time flight information, an interface in communication with the server and a telephone network, a database in communication with the server. The database is continuously updated with the real-time flight information. The database contains a plurality of advertisements. The server is configured to prompt a user to enter flight identifying information over the telephone network, receive the flight identifying information from the user, determine matching flight information from the database based upon the flight identifying information, and to provide at least one of the plurality of advertisements to the user over the telephone network while the flight information is being determined. Advertiser fees are provided from one or more advertisers for each of the plurality of advertisements provided to the user. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171783 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING DIGITAL PHOTOS - Methods and systems for managing digital photos are disclosed. In one implementation, a method for organizing digital photos includes receiving a set of digital photos, analyzing the set of digital photos to create tags that identify content information in the set of digital photos, tagging the set of digital photos in accordance with their corresponding content information, categorizing the set of digital photos in accordance with their corresponding tags, and displaying the digital photos and their corresponding tags with a display device. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171784 | Method and apparatus for splitting advertising opportunities - A dynamic advertising insertion system automatically inserts advertisements in response to opportunities that arise in the course of content playback. For example, when a user hits a pause button, an advertising opportunity may be created and an appropriate advertisement may be inserted. One basis for determining which advertisement to insert is to enforce a predetermined agreement between a content provider and one or more distributors that sets forth a percentage of advertising opportunities that each entity will be afforded. Thus, the decision of what advertisement to insert may be based on a number of factors, including the type of content, the particular user's equipment, information about the user, and the need to adjust the playback of advertisements to enforce the percentage split between the advertising entities. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171785 | ADVERTISEMENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND ADVERTISEMENT DISTRIBUTION METHOD - A home storage (a first storage device) installed in each home is provided with an area for a user to store data (user area) and an area for storing ads (ad area). The first storage device checks interest and favorite information for the user in the user area, and transmits the interest and favorite information at the same time backup is performed in a second storage device at a remote site. The second storage device selects a suitable ad based on the interest and favorite information from the first storage device and transmits the selected ad to the first storage device. The user views the transmitted ad when viewing content in the first storage device. The user's viewing record for the ads is kept as statistical data, and the second storage device compiles the record, charges a sponsor an ad charge, thereby subsidizing the usage charge for the first storage device regardless of online or offline connection. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171786 | ADVERTISEMENT APPARATUS WITH RFID TAG - An advertisement apparatus including a controller, a display panel, a reader and a tag is provided. The controller is suitable for receiving advertising content information and tag information corresponding to the advertising information simultaneously. The display panel is suitable for receiving the advertising information from the controller and displaying the same. The reader is suitable for receiving the tag information from the controller and writing the same to the tag. Thus, a user may read the tag information stored in the tag via a portable device to get the message related to the advertising information. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171787 | Impressionative Multimedia Advertising - A method for making online adverisement makes an impressionative presentation of an advertisement to a viewer. The impressionative presentation is an impressionized version of an original online source medium such as a photo. The method associates advertisements with the source medium based, at least in part, on calculated ad relevance, and determines one or more viewer iteractive points on the original source medium. The method then presents to the viewer an ad-augmented medium including an impressionized version of the source medium, which has the ability to change the form of impression to a viewer in response to an interactive act conducted by the viewer. The ad-augmented medium may include the associated advertisement content or direct the viewer's attention thereto. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171788 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACTIVATING A DEVICE BASED ON A RECORD OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY - In a redeemable coupon there is a housing, a motion detector coupled to the housing, wherein the motion detector detects an amount of motion of the coupon, and an indicator coupled to the motion detector, wherein the indicator is activated by the motion detector upon detecting the amount of motion. Additionally, in a method of providing an incentive for a user to exercise, providing the user with a coupon to be coupled to the user, monitoring the motion of the user with a motion sensor included in the coupon, and activating the coupon when the motion sensor has detected a predetermined amount of motion such that the coupon becomes redeemable by the user. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171789 | Method and System for Managing and Trading Web-Based Virtual Services - Virtual services are works that can be carried out without physical presence. This invention relates to a method and a system that allows subscribers of the system to manage and trade virtual services over a wide area network, such as the Internet. Subscribers can advertise and provide virtual services through this system. They also search the virtual services and schedule appointments. The virtual services can be conducted through virtual offices provided in this system. Virtual offices can be used alone to perform advertising tasks, where users can search for products and services and talk to the advertisers directly through online media. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171790 | Time based targeted advertising - A system and method to display advertising using a client and a server device enabling streaming advertisements onto the client device using a timing mechanism. Said timing mechanism allows selected target areas on the client display to be updated at regular intervals to create a visual perception of motion. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171791 | METHOD OF ADVERTISING - A method of advertising is disclosed, and more particularly, a method for the targeted advertising of products and services to the visiting customers/clients of a business having a waiting area including the steps of providing a network in electronic communication with a source of media content in the waiting area, compiling information related to a customer/client visiting the business, and directing media content through the network to the customer/client in the waiting area based on the information related to the visiting customer/client. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171792 | TRANSACTION SYSTEM AND METHODOLOGY WITH INTER-PARTY COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITY - In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, although not necessarily limited thereto, the system of the present invention may function in the context of an internet based commercial real estate brokering system. In such a system, potential buyers, sellers, lessors and lessees list and respond to offerings having characteristics as described in connection with the listings. For example, a potential landlord may, through interaction with the system of the present invention, list one or more buildings for lease. Communication and interaction may occur on an anonymous basis such that the potential landlord is unaware of the actual identity of the prospective tenant and vice versa until such time as one or the other or both decide to reveal their identity. It is also possible to avoid the need to reveal any contact information associated with either party (including, for example, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, etc.) until such time as a party wishes to disclose such information. Another aspect of the system of the present invention provides users of the transaction system as well as the operator thereof with the ability to conveniently and accurately track orders and renewals of listings. All that is necessary from the advertiser's point of view is to select and activate the “reply” button on, for example, the advertiser's email application screen. Once this is done, a reply email is sent to and received by the system of the present invention and, based upon the specific “reply to address”, the system processes the reply and carries out the automated billing process. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171793 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING SAVINGS BASED UPON COMBINATION PURCHASES AT A RETAIL LEVEL - A method of providing rewards to a customer based upon purchasing multiple items. The method comprises offering a group of multiple products for sale, providing a reward to the customer for each product of the group that is purchased, and providing a bonus reward to the customer when each product of the group is purchased. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171794 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROCESSING A PAYMENT TRANSACTION - Systems and methods for point of sale instant access are provided. In one aspect, a method for processing a payment transaction in real time is provided. The method uses a server system coupled to an input device, the input device is located at a point of sale (POS) of a merchant. The input device includes an Internet protocol (IP) address. The method includes capturing at the input device transaction data including an account number associated with a payment card used in the transaction and other information relating to the transaction, and receiving at the server system, directly from the input device, the transaction data. The method also includes processing, at the server system, the transaction data including determining whether to authorize the transaction, and communicating, directly from the server system to the input device, one of an authorization of the transaction and a denial of the transaction. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171795 | PERSONAL CHECK ACCEPTANCE SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Tools for facilitating the acceptance of personal checks and other presentation instruments. The tools, in some aspects, allow for preauthorization of a personal check (or other presentation instrument) prior to the merchant receiving the actual check, allowing a merchant, for example, to accept an order by phone, obtain details about the check that will be used to pay for the order, obtain preauthorization to accept the check, and arrange for delivery of the order. Upon delivering the order, the merchant can receive the check, and then obtain a full authorization to accept the check. The full authorization can be based primarily on the preauthorization, giving the merchant assurance that the check will in fact be authorized. In some cases, the tools of the invention also settle the check; in a particular aspect, the check can be settled without requiring the merchant to deposit the check. | 2009-07-02 |
| 20090171796 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ASSIGNING INTERCHANGE RATES TO FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS USING AN INTERCHANGE NETWORK - A method for assigning an interchange rate to a financial transaction is provided. The method uses at least one input device in communication with an interchange database. The financial transaction is initiated by a cardholder using a card over a card interchange, the card having been issued by an issuer bank. The method includes the steps of storing issuer data within the interchange database, the issuer data including whether the issuer bank has entered into a special relationship with the interchange. | 2009-07-02 |
