39th week of 2009 patent applcation highlights part 52 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20090240526 | Systems and Methods for a Medical Device Data Processor - Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a medical device data processor comprising a connector component adapted to receive clinical data from a plurality of medical devices; a data processor component adapted to receive the clinical data from the connector component; and an integration component adapted to receive the processed clinical data from the data processor component and provide the processed clinical data to an integrated information system. The data processor component comprises a content-based router and a plurality of data processing pipelines. The content-based router is adapted to provide the clinical data to one or more of the plurality of data processing pipelines. The data processing pipelines are adapted to process the clinical data. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240527 | COMMUNITY BASED MANAGED HEALTH KIOSK SYSTEM - The present invention is directed to community based managed health kiosk systems for recording and analyzing individual user's health-related data in various locations throughout a community. The disclosed kiosk systems collect health data from a user to create and transmit a personal health record and to facilitate communication of the health data to remotely located health care professionals and researchers. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240528 | COMMUNITY BASED MANAGED HEALTH KIOSK AND PRESCRIPTION DISPENSEMENT SYSTEM - The present invention is directed to community based managed health kiosks and prescription drug dispensing systems, and more particularly to facilitating automated drug dispensement by a kiosk system following authorization by a remotely located health care professional monitoring a patient via the kiosk system. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240529 | Method for selecting a high risk patient for participation in a care management program for patients having poor prognoses - The method of the present invention is used to select high risk or co-morbid patients for participation in a care management program. An acuity score determines which patients are selected for care management. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240530 | METHOD FOR SELLING MARINE CARGO INSURANCE IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT - A storage media and method for transacting cargo insurance business in a network environment includes the on-line automation of quoting, billing, certificate issuance, underwriting, and claims processing. Moreover, the method also includes customer qualification and support services, in addition to data collection and analysis, for management report generation. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240531 | Integrated Processing System - According to one embodiment, an integrated processing system and method is configured to route a customer contact to a handler based at least in part on a contact type and on information identifying the customer, dynamically generate handler scripting based at least in part on the information identifying the customer, a policy, and a claim type. The system further is configured to present the handler scripting to a handler, and receive claim data based on the scripting. The system further validates the claim data based on the claim type, and generates, based on the validated claim data, a claim record in a claims system. The system generates at least a first workflow assignment and notifies a responsible party of the at least first workflow assignment. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240532 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MANAGING AN INSURANCE SCHEME - A method of managing an insurance scheme includes defining a plurality of diseases which are covered by the insurance scheme so that if an insured life contracts one of these diseases they will be paid an amount of funds from the insurer or the insurer will pay or partially pay for treatment of the disease. A request is received from an insured life who has contracted one of the defined diseases. The insured life is provided with a choice of receiving treatment in the country in which they reside or receiving treatment in another country. A selected country is received from the insured life and an amount of funds is paid from the insurer to the insured life wherein the amount of funds is at least partially determined by the selected country. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240533 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALIGNING CREDIT SCORES - In competitive pricing analysis, a dataset of insurance premium quotes having associated insurance rating parameters such as credit scores or tiers can be ranked by the average insurance premium for each unique value of the insurance rating parameter. The rankings establish price points that can be aligned with price point rankings of multiple other insurance companies that use different methods or algorithms for determining the insurance rating parameter. The alignment of rankings for different insurance companies allow different parameter systems to be correlated. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240534 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALIGNING TERRITORIES - In competitive pricing analysis, a system and method aligns territory definitions for a plurality of insurance companies. Each territory definition may be mapped for a region and interest and then aligned to determine the uniquely aligned territories. Each uniquely aligned territory identifies only a single territory of a company's territory definition, allowing an accurate comparison of insurance premiums rates to be made between insurance companies for the uniquely aligned territory. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240535 | APPARATUSES AND PROCESSES FOR CALCULATING OPTIONS - The present invention introduces an apparatus and process which may be implemented on a vast variety of computer systems. The apparatus and process of the present invention use a computer system to receive and store data representative of a particular asset, a type of option (call or put), requested exercise price and a multitude of other variables related to the asset. The apparatus and process then generate data representative of an option premium. The data representative of the option may then be used for transacting an option, as the basis for determining a correlated expiring option premium, or to determine the premium of an asset relatable to a corresponding option. Other embodiments are also claimed and described. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240536 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTING AND RESERVING AIRLINE SEATS - The present invention relates to a system and method for selecting and reserving airline seats. The system or method receives first data representing payment information over the network from a general purpose computer. The system or method also transmits second data to an application running on the general purpose computer, the second data including information descriptive of available individual seats on one or more airplanes, the second data processed by the application to generate a graphical user interface on the general purpose computer that comprises an interactive seating map representing individual seats on the one or more airplanes, the second data processed by the application to generate an additional display of information about one or more of the individual seats in response to a user interaction with the graphical user interface, the interaction being triggered when placing a mouse over a portion of the graphical user interface. In addition, the system or method receives from the general purpose computer third data representing one or more seats selected by one or more mouse clicks. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240537 | APPARATUS FOR DESIGNING AN OPTICAL METROLOGY SYSTEM OPTIMIZED FOR OPERATING TIME BUDGET - Provided is an apparatus for designing an optical metrology system for measuring structures on a workpiece wherein the optical metrology system is configured to achieve a time budget for completing metrology process steps. The design of the optical metrology system is optimized by using collected operating data in comparison to the selected operating criteria. In one embodiment, the optical metrology system is used for stand alone systems. In another embodiment, the optical metrology system is integrated with fabrication clusters in semiconductor manufacturing. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240538 | System and Method for Local Call-Based Advertising - A system and method for tracking calls based on advertising. An advertisement is communicated to a user through a communications network. A determination is made that a call connection is made between the user and one or more numbers associated with the advertiser. The advertiser is billed in response to the determined call connections. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240539 | MACHINE LEARNING SYSTEM FOR A TASK BROKERAGE SYSTEM - A machine learning system learns models to assist providers in processing documents of customers. Providers may use various productivity tools that use the learned models to assist in performing tasks on target documents of customers. The machine learning system may initially train models based on demographic information of customers and training data of the customers. To generate the models, the machine learning system collects the training data for the customers of each cluster and then trains a model for each cluster. The machine learning system uses the models to perform tasks on documents of customers. A provider can then modify the results of the task. The machine learning system can use those modifications to adjust the models. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240540 | System and Method of Distributing Audio Content - Systems and methods of distributing content are provided. A particular method includes receiving data related to content to be distributed. The method also includes automatically estimating a financial return associated with an audio version of the content based at least partially on a particular text-to-speech conversion process used to generate the audio version. The method further includes selecting one of a plurality of available text-to-speech conversion processes based on the estimated financial return. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240541 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR UPDATING CERTIFICATE INFORMATION BETWEEN BUYERS AND SUPPLIERS - A computer system that manages compliance information between a buyer and a number of suppliers includes a database and is operable to store supplier guidelines corresponding to a product the buyer desires to purchase, store a list of approved suppliers, provide the suppliers with access to the supplier guidelines, store compliance information indicating whether one or more of the suppliers is in compliance with the supplier guidelines, and selectively update the list of approved suppliers in response to the compliance information. The computer system is also operable to store supplier certificates and to request updated supplier certificates provided directly from a certification issuer. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240542 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTING RECALL INFORMATION THROUGHOUT A SUPPLY CHAIN - A computer system that manages compliance information between a buyer and a number of suppliers includes a database and is operable to store supplier guidelines corresponding to a product the buyer desires to purchase, store a list of approved suppliers, provide the suppliers with access to the supplier guidelines, store compliance information indicating whether one or more of the suppliers is in compliance with the supplier guidelines, and selectively update the list of approved suppliers in response to the compliance information. The computer system is also operable to distribute recall information to buyers and suppliers associated with a supply chain related to the recall. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240543 | PROJECT TROUBLE OCCURRENCE PREDICTION SYSTEM, METHOD AND PROGRAM - Based on expression patterns describing project information, a trouble occurrence probability and time are estimated by using a project trouble occurrence probability distribution in which a point where the expression pattern appears in a text of the project in formation is set as a reference, and by using statistics representing the distribution. With high likelihood, projects likely to have a trouble are narrowed down. The project information is a project state report regularly created for each project and includes at least a text describing the project state and information indicating the case where the project falls into a troubled state. The expression pattern is one or more definition descriptions that each specifies a specific linguistic expression in natural language processing. Expression pattern characteristics include a project trouble occurrence probability distribution in which a point where a certain expression pattern appears in a text of the project information is set as a reference, and statistics representing the distribution. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240544 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING ORDER FULFILLMENT ALTERNATIVE WITH MULTIPLE SUPPLY MODES - A system and method for optimizing order fulfillment by considering multiple supply modes in one aspect, plans supply of inventory by forecasting demand, estimating accuracy of said forecasted demand, and establishing reorder point policy based at least on said accuracy of said forecasted demand and a plurality of supply transportation modes. Current inventory position is monitored and if the current inventory position is below the reorder point policy, orders are placed according to a selected shipping method. The selected shipping method may be based at least on customer order priority and transportation budget. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240545 | ADAPTIVE PRODUCT CONFIGURATION MODEL - The adaptive product conditioning is a computer-implemented method for identifying product configurations that can be provided to customers in reaction to supply imbalances. The methodology uses data mining techniques to collect and analyze business level meta data to coordinate supply and sales goals in terms of optimizing profits or managing product and technology transitions. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240546 | Workflow management system - A disclosed workflow management system includes a skill input unit through which skill information is input; an experience value update unit updating the skill information of an executor of a task; a task information acquisition unit acquiring task information including at least a task name and detailed information; a skill profile information input unit from which skill profile information including at least a skill name is input; a similar task search unit searching for an existing similar task; an associated person acquisition unit acquiring an associated person of the task; a confirmation unit confirming whether the associated person has consistency with the skill profile information; a skill search unit searching for human resources having a common skill; and an integration unit calculating a ranking of the human resources or the tasks and presenting the calculated rankings in descending order. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240547 | AUTOMATING RESPONSES BY GRID PROVIDERS TO BID REQUESTS INDICATING CRITERIA FOR A GRID JOB - A method, system, and program for automating responses by grid providers to bid request indicating criteria for a grid job are provided. A bid controller grid service of a grid provider receives a job request from a client for processing a job within a grid environment of the grid provider, wherein the job request specifies at a least one criteria required for the grid provider to handle a particular grid job. The grid service determines whether the grid environment includes the hardware platform class, software platform class, and network bandwidth required by the job request. If the grid service determines that the grid environment includes a sufficient hardware platform class, software platform class, and network bandwidth, then a total required workload for the job request is calculated. Next, a total cost for the total required workload is estimated and the grid service automatically returns a bid response to the client system, where the bid response includes an identifier for the grid provider and the total cost for the job request. In addition, the bid response may include a total time for performance of the grid job described by the job request. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240548 | Systems and Methods for Generating a Configurable Workflow for Application Packaging Jobs - A system and method for generating a configurable workflow for application packaging jobs are disclosed. A method may include receiving input from a user interface by a packaging application configured to manage an application packaging job. The method may also include creating a plurality of workflow states based on at least the received input, each workflow state associated with a particular step in the application packaging job. The method may further include associating at least one action with at least one workflow state based on at least the received input, each action defining a transition from its associated workflow state to a target workflow state. Additionally, the method may include associating an assignee type with at least one action based on at least the received input, the assignee type defining at least one assignee that may assigned to the application packaging job for the particular action. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240549 | RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM FOR A TASK BROKERAGE SYSTEM - A recommendation system is provided that recommends tasks to be performed on electronic documents, providers for performing tasks on documents, and prices for tasks that are to be performed on the documents. In some embodiments, the recommendation system works in conjunction with a task brokerage system provided by a broker that helps customers who need tasks to be performed on documents to identify providers who can perform the requested tasks. The task brokerage system allows customers to publish their tasks and providers to discover the published tasks. The discovery process may match providers to customers based on criteria such as reputation, pricing, and availability. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240550 | Methods and systems for real estate transactions - A communication hub to facilitate one or more real estate transactions is provided. The communication hub includes a memory to inventory available properties and a pool of appraisers, contracts, inspectors, and the like that may be scheduled via the communication hub to perform necessary or desired services. The communication hub further operates to initiate an escrow and title search for each inventoried or listed property to facilitate cash-out, trade-in, sale, or purchase of the inventoried or listed property. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240551 | SERVICE ALIGNMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method for creating and executing a service strategy using a service alignment system includes updating a skill set of a service professional available to perform service and defining a service team, wherein service professionals may be assigned to the service team. The method further includes assigning the service team to a contract, updating service obligations associated with the contract, assigning a service professional available to perform service to the service team assigned to the contract by matching a skill of the service professional to an updated service obligation of the contract, storing and executing the team and service professional assignments using the service alignment system. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240552 | NETWORK-BASED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - The invention relates to a network-based information technology solution development and management system and method. In the system and method according to an embodiment of the invention, when a customer requests the development of information technology solutions, a server computer provides information on analysts to a customer computer and allows the customer to contract with a specific analyst. Then, the analyst receives requirements for the development of the solutions from the customer to perform the planning of the solutions, the analysis of the requirements, and the design of the solutions, and then the server computer places an order for each unit program to developers. Subsequently, when the developers who have assigned the unit programs develop the unit programs and deliver the developed unit programs to the server computer, the server computer tests the unit programs to accept or return the unit programs. Then, the server computer provides information the account and payment of the developers having delivered the unit programs to a financial institution computer and allows the financial institution computer to pay development costs to the developers. Subsequently, the server computer performs an integrated test on the unit programs corresponding to each project that are delivered by the developers and delivers the tested unit programs to the customers. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240553 | Workflow management system - A workflow management system for dynamically structuring a workflow model when executing a workflow is disclosed. Task information including at least a task name and detailed information is acquired from a working task when a search request of a human resource or a task is made, skill profile information including at least a skill name is input when the search request is made, a similar existing task is searched for based on the task information, related person information of a searched task is acquired, a consistency is checked with the skill profile information with respect to the searched related person information, the human resource having the skill indicated in the skill profile information is searched for, ranking points for each human resource or each task are calculated based on outputs of the check part and the skill search part, and the ranking points prioritized by higher points are presented. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240554 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING IDENTIFICATION AND LOCATION INFORMATION OF CERTAIN ITEMS - A system and method for recording the identification and location of items in furtherance of maintaining public works infrastructure includes a portable computing device in communication with a server unit. A user selects designated icons visually representing a variety of items needing attention by a local public works department, such as discarded appliances, brush piles, downed power lines, or code violations. The portable computing device stores the type and location of these items electronically for transfer to the server unit, where work orders may be issued to appropriate employees to later address the items in a coordinated manner rather than merely addressing these items as they are randomly encountered during a normal public works route. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240555 | DYNAMIC INTERNET SHOPPING METHOD AND SYSTEM | 2009-09-24 |
20090240556 | ANTICIPATING MERCHANDISING TRENDS FROM UNIQUE COHORTS - A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer-usable program product for identifying marketing trends in unique cohort groups. Information describing a plurality of unique cohort groups associated with a public environment is retrieved. Each member of a cohort group in the plurality of unique cohort groups shares at least one common attribute. Sets of attributes associated with the plurality of unique cohort groups are identified. The sets of attributes are analyzed by a cohort trend detection engine to identify attribute trends associated with the sets of attributes and a frequency of occurrence of the attribute trends in the plurality of unique cohort groups to form current attribute trends. In response to a query to an inference engine requesting inferences associated with the marketing trends, inferences describing future occurrences of the attributes in the plurality of cohort groups are received to form a set of future attribute trends. A set of marketing trends are generated using the current attribute trends and the set of future attribute trends. The set of marketing trends describes probable future marketing trends in the given environment. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240557 | METHOD, APPARATUS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR VALUING A TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION - A method, apparatus and computer program product for valuing a technological innovation is provided which determines at least one measure of market success of an objective based upon the desirability, availability and affordability of the objective. In this regard, the measure of market success may be the salability and/or the marketability of the objective. A fair value of the objective implemented utilizing existing technology may also be determined as well as a fair value of the objective implemented utilizing the technological innovation. For example, the fair value of the objective implemented utilizing either existing technology or the technological innovation may be determined using parameterized cost estimation. A real options pricing model may then be used to determine the value of the technological innovation based upon the fair value of the objective implemented utilizing existing technology and the fair value of the objective implemented utilizing the technological innovation. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240558 | ENTERPRISE ANALYSIS AIDE AND ESTABLISHMENT OF CUSTOMIZED SALES SOLUTION - An enterprise analysis aide is provided comprising four layers. The first layer comprises indicia of strategic considerations relevant to developing a sales strategy for the market. The second layer comprises indicia of sales channels to be used when defining an integrated resource alignment for the plurality of sales channels. The third layer comprises indicia of categorized operating capabilities that may be used to define standardized operating capabilities for sales. The fourth layer comprises indicia of data management operations to be considered when defining supportive data processing operations in furtherance of the sales strategy, integrated resource alignment and standardized operating capabilities. Because the enterprise analysis aide provides comprehensive vertical and horizontal integration, a customized sales solution may be developed for an enterprise in a more efficient and timely manner and result in solutions that are more naturally suited to the enterprise for which they are designed. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240559 | Competitor Offering Analysis for Product Catalogs - An automated competitor offering analysis system including a competitor offer compiler configured to retrieve at least one competitor offering from a source of competitor offerings, identify any of the competitor offerings that correspond to any offering in a set of monitored offerings, and create a set of competitor offerings including any of the corresponding offerings, and a monitor engine configured to compare any of the offerings in the set of monitored offerings to any of the corresponding offerings in the set of competitor offerings, and calculate at least one score for the compared offering in the set of monitored offerings in accordance with at least one predefined scoring function, where the score indicates the competitiveness of the compared monitored offering with respect to the compared competitor offering. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240560 | DOCUMENT DATA DISPLAY PROCESS METHOD, DOCUMENT DATA DISPLAY PROCESS SYSTEM AND SOFTWARE PROGRAM FOR DOCUMENT DATA DISPLAY PROCESS - The present invention is intended for all documents and specifically provides matters-of-interest to users and characteristic information of those matters-of-interest in correspondence to identifiers within the documents and allows related services to be utilized through these documents. An information display system | 2009-09-24 |
20090240561 | Systems and Methods to Generate Leads to Connect People for Real Time Communications - Methods and apparatuses to connect people for services delivered via real time communications and to optionally generate leads to new customers for the services. One embodiment includes: providing a communication reference to an entity for distribution to customers; establishing connections for real time communications between the entity and the customers in response to requests made via the communication reference; charging the customers on behalf of the entity using a process to establish the connections for a service of the entity provided to the customers over the connections; presenting the service of the entity to customers on behalf of the entity; charging the entity a first fee according to what the entity charges a customer for the service; and charging the entity a second fee according to a bid price specified by the entity in response to a determination that the presenting of the service leads to the customer. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240562 | BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT SUPPORT APPARATUS - A business improvement support apparatus includes an achievement level calculation unit which calculates an achievement level in accordance with each of a plurality of evaluation indexes with respect to business in a predetermined period. A satisfaction level calculation unit calculates a customer satisfaction level with respect to the same evaluation index as the evaluation index in accordance with which the achievement level is calculated by the achievement level calculation unit. A detection unit detects a gap between the achievement level calculated by the achievement level calculation unit and the customer satisfaction level calculated by the satisfaction level calculation unit. A decision unit sets a target value in accordance with the evaluation index corresponding to the gap detected by the detection unit, and decides on specific itemized target values relevant to the evaluation index from the target values set in accordance with the evaluation index. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240563 | ECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS AND SUPPLIER INTERFACE SYSTEM - A method, apparatus and program product may measure the economic impact of a business venture on a targeted area. An organization's expenditure data may be automatically analyzed in conjunction with supplier survey data indicative of how the initial project budget investment is re-spent. Correspondence prompting payees to upload the survey data may be automatically generated and sent. A multiplier or other economic indicator useful in analyzing economic impact may be automatically generated using the original investment figure, as well as the expenditure and survey data. Program code may enable modeling of different scenarios to optimize money allocation. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240564 | OPEN FRAMEWORK FOR INTEGRATING, ASSOCIATING, AND INTERACTING WITH CONTENT OBJECTS INCLUDING ADVERTISEMENT AND CONTENT PERSONALIZATION - Information regarding a mobile user's context including but not limited to current mobile activity, social relations and associations history, and past mobile, search and browsing history is identified and converted to metadata. Metadata is also applied to content sources delivering content to a search engine or personalized content engine. The metadata is used in part to determine the relative display of content objects delivered to the mobile user as search results or a personalized aggregated information resource, e.g., home page. The user may select information, from one or more entities or search results or as presented to the user in other contexts, to be automatically delivered to the user's home page as a content feed including multiple content objects or content feeds associated with an entity. Information regarding mobile user activity is compiled and used to permit publishers and advertisers to identify target candidates to receive advertisements or marketing materials. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240565 | Online system and method for property rental transactions, property management, and assessing performance of landlords and tenants - An online system and method for tenants and landlords to conduct property rental transactions and property management, while simultaneously assessing the performance of landlords and tenants in an online environment. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240566 | Method of managing customer information - A multi-function customer satisfaction survey device, system, and method. A restaurant management system includes a plurality of electronic tip trays and a base unit. Each of the tip trays electronically obtains and stores customer contact information, customer payment information, and responses to a customer satisfaction survey. A data transceiver wirelessly transmits the information to the base unit. The base unit collects the information and sends the contact information to a correspondence server such as an e-mail server. The payment information is sent to an external authorization network and/or the restaurant's POS system. The survey responses are sent to an analysis unit. Particularly adverse or positive responses may be matched through the POS system to a food server and a food order. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240567 | INTERACTIVE MARKETING SYSTEM - The present invention is a system which enables a marketing team to initiate and sustain directed and interactive communication with thousands or millions of existing or prospective customers. In the preferred embodiment, a marketer accesses a database and selects a group of qualified prospects, using lifestyle dimensions and or demographic information, from a stable group of prospective or existing customers conducting financial transactions online. Once a prospect list is selected, the marketer designs a series of questions, typically using branch and skip logic, and the system deploys the question sequence to the target list in the form of a response-redeemable savings coupon. When prospects are next performing their financial transactions online, they are presented with a lifestyle-relevant coupon which is immediately redeemable by responding to the question/communication, therewith lowering the respondent's bill instantaneously upon response, as in the case of online bill payment. Reponses are made available to the marketer who can use this information to further segment and qualify respondents. The marketer can then initiate a new, more relevant line of inquiry, based on previous responses, with a more highly qualified subset of prospects. By repeating an ever more relevant communication process with an increasingly qualified prospect group, which ultimately may result in a welcomed invitation to purchase a product or service (e.g. in the form of a coupon redeemable with product or service purchase), both marketer and consumer engage in an interactive relationship. The present invention can use systems and methods for the payment of debts. A communications network can be used by debtors to acquire and transfer funds, securities or any other transferable instrument that increases in value with time to satisfy the debt. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240568 | AGGREGATION AND ENRICHMENT OF BEHAVIORAL PROFILE DATA USING A MONETIZATION PLATFORM - The present application discloses improved capabilities for aggregating user behavioral data across multiple wireless operators and delivering content to a mobile communication facility based on that aggregation, among other factors. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240569 | SYNDICATION OF A BEHAVIORAL PROFILE USING A MONETIZATION PLATFORM - The present application discloses improved capabilities for aggregating user behavioral data across multiple wireless operators and delivering content to a mobile communication facility based on that aggregation, among other factors. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240570 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION CONCERNING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES BY CORRELATION WITH SETS OF RULES - A device (D) is dedicated to the analysis of information concerning products and services. Said device (D) comprises analysis tools (MA) intended, in the event of reception of an identifier representing a product or service, to access a first set of data to identify such a product or service among them, as a function of the identifier received, then to access at least one source of information (SI) in order to research information therein about the identified product or service, then to determine from among the information thus researched whether the identified product or service satisfies a chosen set of at least one rule, and to deliver a message indicating at least the result of such determination. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240571 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF ACQUIRING ACTUAL REAL-TIME SHOPPER BEHAVIOR DATA DURING A SHOPPER'S PRODUCT SELECTION - The invention provides systems of acquiring actual real-time shopper behavior data during product selection by a shopper in a store. More specifically, disclosed herein are systems of using a communications network, a First Moment of Truth device and a data collections device to track actual real-time shopper behavior data relating to the presumed locations of shoppers in a store, the time spent and location of time spent by a shopper while considering a product for selection and products chosen for purchase. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240572 | BUSINESS TRANSACTION REPORTING SYSTEM - An embodiment of the present invention provides a business transaction reporting system for use in tracking revenue from entertainment commodities distributed by one or more distribution parties. The distribution of the entertainment commodities is conducted through a plurality of entities that are independent from the distribution parties. In the embodiment, at least two of the entities are independent from one another. The system includes a plurality of point-of-sale (POS) computers operated at a plurality of locations. Each computer is operated by one of the independent entities and each POS computer hosts an application for recording entertainment unit transactions related to the entertainment commodities. The system further includes a central host computer system coupled to the POS computers to receive an accounting of the entertainment unit transactions, and a database configured to store, process, and report on the entertainment unit transactions. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240573 | Computerized Method and System for Providing a Continuing Education Credit Card - An improved computerized method for provides credit card services by a card issuer. The improvement operates in connection with continuing education offered to a constituent of an organization. In this context, the constituent has an account with the card issuer and the improvement includes storing, in association with the account, data associated with a provider's course approved by the organization for enrollment by the constituent. It also includes processing incoming merchant charges to be posted to the account to flag any charge identified as pertaining to the approved course by the associated data and to store such charge as flagged. Finally it includes deferring billing of any flagged charge, pending settlement of such flagged charge under an arrangement with the organization. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240574 | Systems and Methods for Ranking Investors and Rating Investment Positions - Systems and methods for ranking an investor are described. An investor is one buying an investment position. The ranking comprises generating a skill score for each investor of a plurality of investors, where the skill score represents an Information Ratio (IR) of the investor. The ranking comprises generating a persistence score for each investor of the plurality of investors such that the persistence score represents skill of the investor relative to a benchmark. The ranking comprises generating a confidence score for each investor of the plurality of investors. The confidence score represents an investment win percentage relative to an investment loss percentage. The ranking comprises generating a rank score for each investor by combining the skill score, the persistence score and the confidence score. The rank score categorizes the investor relative to other investors based upon historical investment data and real-time brokerage account data. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240575 | BICYCLE RENTAL SYSTEM AND STATION - A bicycle rental system and automated station that may be integrated with an automobile parking payment and management system. Users may pay for parking and/or rent and pickup bicycles at the station. The station has a meter, bicycle docks, and power plant. Transaction formalities for parking payment and rental may be handled at the meter. The bicycle docks each are adapted to secure a bicycle. The power plant uses a solar panel to collect power and stores it in energy storage device. Low-power operation may be achieved by placing some electronics in a low-power mode. Each bicycle dock may have a trigger mechanism that when activated powers on associated electronics. The bicycle docks may be divided among a number of bicycle modules. The bicycle modules provide flexibility and modularity so that the number of bicycle docks at a station may be changed. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240576 | METHODS, MEDIA, AND SYSTEMS FOR SELECTIVELY DISPLAYING ADVERTISING MATERIALS WITH USER GENERATED CONTENT - A method for selectively displaying advertising materials includes receiving an advertising material and an associated advertising rule, wherein the advertising rule specifies a restriction on user generated content that can be displayed together with the advertising material, and receiving user generated content via a network. The method further includes determining if the user generated content violates the advertising rule, and if the user generated content violates the advertising rule, generating a web page containing the user generated content without the advertising material. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240577 | Method and Apparatus for Sharing Data Using an Exchange Procedure in a Network - A method and apparatus are provided for sharing data using an exchange procedure in a network. In one example, the method includes receiving an opportunity from an auction to place an ad on a webpage, receiving valuable data from a data source, wherein the data source includes at least two databases of at least two entities, calculating a bid for the opportunity based on the valuable data, selecting a desired ad based on the valuable data, and sending the bid and the desired ad to the auction, wherein the valuable data of each particularly entity remains substantially unrevealed to others outside the particular entity. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240578 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR GRAPHICAL SECURITY AUTHENTICATION AND ADVERTISING - The present invention is directed to a graphical image identity authentication system. In particular, the invention is directed to methods and systems for graphical security authentication and advertising. A security authentication system may receive advertisements from an advertising service company, process the advertisements to integrate them into the graphical image identity authentication system, and transmit the processed advertisement information back to the advertisement service company. The security authentication system may also monitor user interaction with the advertisements and transmit the logged information to the advertising service company. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240579 | CUSTOMER LOYALTY PROGRAM WITH SHARED DATA AND SUB-PROGRAMS - Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for increasing participation in loyalty programs. In embodiments, the customer opts into a loyalty program. The customer is then provided with information about his or her loyalty participation and also is provided with information about one or more other customer's participation in the loyalty program. In another embodiment, one or more loyalty members can form their own competition or group within the loyalty program. The members can create loyalty sub-program rules for a competition and allow fellow loyalty members to participate in the competition. The customizable loyalty sub-program competitions further enhance member participation. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240580 | Method and Apparatus for Automatically Targeting and Modifying Internet Advertisements - A method and apparatus are provided for automatically targeting and modifying an Internet ad. In one example, the method includes receiving a page and an ad to be placed on the page, rendering the page into a graphical format, computing descriptive features about the graphical format, mapping the descriptive features to parameters for rendering the ad, and rendering the ad based on the parameters. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240581 | Web-based management system for print and copy services with advertisements - An apparatus and method for a web-based management system for print and copy services with advertisements are presented. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a document from a user of a web-based print and copy service to store at a main server of the web-based print and copy service, associating the document with an account of the user, the account to enable access privileges to the web-based print and copy service, determining one or more advertisements to target at the user based on an advertising profile associated with the user, merging the one or more advertisements with the document into a final document, presenting an access link for the final document to the user when the user accesses the account of the user, and providing the final document to the user when the user selects the access link associated with the document. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240582 | Systems and methods for providing purchasing incentives and advertisements - In accordance with at least one exemplary embodiment, system and methods for providing purchasing incentives and/or advertisements are disclosed. An exemplary system can include an application suite stored and executable on one or more servers. The application suite can have one or more modules, including any of an advertisers module, a consumers module, a channel partners module, an affiliates module and a system provider module. The advertisers (and affiliates) module can include design functionality, demographical-targeting functionality, promotional campaign planning functionality and promotional campaign management functionality. The consumers module can provide purchasing incentives (e.g., coupons) or other advertisements in at least one of a demographically-targeted manner, a searchable manner and a hierarchally-arranged manner. The consumers module can also include registration functionality wherein consumer data is solicited and can be shared with any of advertisers, affiliates and channel partners. The system provider (and channel providers) module can include administrative functionality. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240583 | Advertising system and method for providing targeted advertising in a communications network - The present invention relates to an improved advertising network and system, which relates to interconnecting a plurality of venues through a network, each of the venues having at least one display panel or display screen for displaying advertisements and marketing materials to a plurality of users. Advertisers provide advertising preferences information (such as demographics preferences) in accessing the network, so as to locate a listing of pertinent venues, and display screens at these venues, where the particular demographic sought is found to be most prevalent. The present invention enables advertisers to identify, pinpoint and direct a targeted advertising display towards a specific subset of display screens or display panels at selected venues in an inter-connected network with a view to catering their advertising displays to a specific clientele (consistent with their advertising preferences information) in these selected venues. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240584 | Method and system for conducting online cash deposit auctions for transacting assets and other goods and services - The present invention provides a cash deposit auction method and system, whereby upon payment of a fee, a seller uploads details of his business where so desired along with those of the assets, goods and services intended to be sold onto the auction system web-site provided by the manager of auction system. A specified amount of cash from the pool created from the fees paid by the sellers is auctioned. Many buyers make bids for the cash deposit by haggling the price up or down depending on the type of auction they are participating in The cash deposit won in the auction can only be used by the successful bidder to purchase from the seller advertising his business or sale information of any assets, goods and services on the website. The bid-winner is satisfied by buying the items offered for sale with the money won at the auction, the seller gets full value for his assets, goods and services and the auction system manager is compensated by the bid amount and additional service charge, if any paid by the successful bidder. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240585 | Automated quote generation and advertising buy placements - A method can include transmitting buying criteria to a remote user, receiving buying criteria inputs corresponding to the transmitted buying criteria, and computing a quote of providing the advertising placements based on the buying criteria inputs. The buying criteria inputs can specify an advertiser request to buy advertising placements on at least two remotely located media outlets. The method can associate an identifier to the quote, transmit the quote, store the identifier and the quote in an enterprise database, determine at least one quote acceptance constraint based on predetermined criteria, receive an acceptance communication in response to the quote, approve the acceptance communication based on the at least one quote acceptance constraint, and transmit instructions of advertising placements to the associated at least one remotely located media outlet. The approval can be associated with at least one remotely located media outlet. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240586 | REVENUE MODELS ASSOCIATED WITH SYNDICATION OF A BEHAVIORAL PROFILE USING A MONETIZATION PLATFORM - The present application discloses improved capabilities for aggregating user behavioral data across multiple wireless operators and delivering content to a mobile communication facility based on that aggregation, among other factors. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240587 | METHOD OF SEARCHING FOR BUSINESS OFFERS - This invention relates generally to a system and method for potential consumers to find business offers and business hours based on a variety of alternative criteria, and more particularly to a system and method for providing a user or searcher with search results based on a business' days and hours of operation, days and/or hours that it offers particular deals or other similar criteria. The system and method is applicable to a wide variety businesses and deals, including, but not limited to, restaurants, grocery stores, service providers and any other business that typically offers day or time-based discounts, deals or other offers. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240588 | Method And Apparatus For A Promotional Couponing System - Methods and apparatus for promotional couponing system where coupons, campaigns, and promotions are designed on central server and issued to network of printing devices and redeemed from redemption devices. The logic that processes input contained within each printer and print and redeem device connected to network so each device independently analyzes its own input and requests permission to print coupon from central server. The system uses coupons to maneuver players to play games least in use or to a specific location. Coupons include map and directions to direct the player. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240589 | STRUCTURED WEB ADVERTISING - A system for selecting a candidate information unit for linking to a given information unit based on the content of the given information unit. The content of the given information unit may be automatically determined and then compared to content of the candidate information unit to determine which unit of candidate information to select. When the unit of candidate information is selected, it bears a chosen given information unit and it is linked with the given information unit. The system can be used to implement a structured advertising system for the World Wide Web. Web pages (given information) are searched and indexed, producing indexed content data. This indexed content data is then ranked according to relevancy. The ranked content data are compared to content data of advertisements (candidate information) and an advertisement is selected. The advertisement is then copied onto (linked to) the Web page. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240590 | Interactive And Adaptive Messaging Systems - The present invention provides a new interactive and adaptive messaging system and method adapted to allow effective communication and relationship between customers, owners of a confined predetermined area and advertisers. The system comprises at least one server adapted to receive content from the customers, the owners, the advertisers, and the predetermined area and to create relevant information and adapted to distribute the information to the customers. A part of the information is distributed when the customer is identified by the messaging system to enter the predetermined area and another part of the information is distributed to the customer according to content received by the server from the customer or the predetermined area. The customers are exposed to the information regularly as they are traveling within the predetermined area as well as at specific locations and times within the predetermined area. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240591 | RESTAURANT MENU - A restaurant menu is provided comprising a plurality of menu selections, a plurality of corresponding prices each associated with one of said plurality of menu selections, and a plurality of selectively revealable messages each corresponding to one of said menu selections. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240592 | ELECTRONIC NETWORK ACCESS DEVICE - Methods and systems are described for processing transactions. The methods and systems enable a consumer to present a customer identifier, such as a merchant loyalty or membership card or other identifier as a payment device at a point of sale. In one implementation, a personal account number is generated by appending a proprietary routing code to a customer registration account number so that the personal account number is formatted for transmission as a payment device number over an electronic funds transfer network. In another implementation, the customer registration account number comprises the proprietary routing code. A preferred payment account identifier is accessed, based on the personal account number, from a database base, and a transaction approval message is constructed comprising the preferred payment account identifier. The account from which payment is made may be a credit account, a demand deposit account, a stored value account, or another kind of account. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240593 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PERMITTING A GIFT EXCHANGE BETWEEN MOBILE STORAGE DEVICES - A method for permitting a gift exchange between mobile storage devices ( | 2009-09-24 |
20090240594 | System and Method for Facilitating Online Transactions - Methods and systems for facilitating online transactions are disclosed. One method includes supplying content for display in a frame of a website, the website hosted by a third-party. The method also includes receiving transaction information from the third-party, and returning a token to the frame, the token including state information based on the transaction information. The method further includes passing the token from the frame to the third-party. The method optionally also includes receiving the token from the third-party and transferring funds from a first account to a second account based on the transaction information and the state information. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240595 | Collaborative commerce hub - A server acts as the hub of a collaborative commerce system. Suppliers of goods or services self publish information to the hub. Buyers are able to query the hub for product and service availability, price etc. Buyers are able to integrate real time multi product and multi service orders from multiple suppliers, carriers and field serve providers and thus secure available goods as well as the delivery and installation of those goods from the records available on the hub. Once an order is complete to the buyer's satisfaction, the order is transmitted to the hub. The hub then transmits the appropriate information to the relevant suppliers, carriers and installers as required. The system also provides for a system of virtual partitioning of a supplier's inventory. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240596 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR VENDOR ASSURANCE - Methods and systems for managing financial transactions. Specifically, the invention includes methods and systems for creating order profiles used to select vendors for carrying out third-party sub-transactions needed to complete financial transactions. A product related to the completion of the financial transaction is selected, a vendor ordering profile is selected, a product vendor that most closely matches the characteristics designated in the ordering profile is selected, and the selected product is ordered from the selected product vendor. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240597 | System and method for managing recipient accounts - A system and method to use a recipient account by a user for the purchase of goods from a merchant. During the purchasing transaction, the user submits a recipient account identifier, which can be used to identify a recipient account maintained by a shipper, to the merchant. The merchant further receives a transaction request for the purchasing of goods to be shipped to the user. By using the recipient account identifier, the merchant can request a payment from the shipper. The shipper does not reveal the method of payment by the user to the merchant. Upon receiving a payment from the shipper, the merchant and the user can commit the purchasing transaction. The shipper can later be used to transfer the purchased goods from the merchant to the user, without revealing the user's address. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240598 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATED ORDERING AND PAYMENT - A method and apparatus for ordering and payment using a mobile device such as a mobile telephone. A graphical code element corresponding to goods to be ordered is scanned or photographed using a camera function on the mobile phone, the code is decoded by the phone, and an order for the goods is transmitted by the phone. The order transmission may include user address information for the delivery of the goods and payment information. Payment for goods or services includes scanning or photographing a code with price and payee information using the mobile device. The code is decoded and payment information is sent by the mobile device. The code for the payment may be presented to the purchaser by a seller as a displayed code on a mobile device of the seller, such as on a mobile device of a delivery person delivering the goods. The purchaser images the displayed code using the purchaser's mobile device to initiate the payment. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240599 | Auto salvage bid.com vehicle auctioning system - An online automobile auction, which allows the consumer to participate by using their home computers and accessing the system via an internet connection. Before the designated time for an auction, the consumer may access the database of available automobiles. Along with displaying visual depictions of the vehicles, the computer system affords the consumer the ability to access statistics on the current inventory of vehicles. Prior to the auction, using an automated auction feature, a plurality of bidders input their minimum starting bid, the maximum bid and the incrementing value. Bidders are also allowed to bid on vehicles during the auction process. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240600 | System and Method for Conducting an Auction-Based Ranking of Search Results on a Computer Network - A method and system are disclosed for displaying a search result list in response to a search request from a searcher using a computer network. Ranks in the search result list are auctioned for a search term for a determined display period. A database is maintained to include search listings, where the search listings are associated with a winning bidder for a specified rank in the search result list, the search term and the determined display period. The search result list displayed to the searcher includes search listings ordered in accordance with respective ranks, for the determined display period. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240601 | INCREASES IN SALES RANK AS A MEASURE OF INTEREST - A facility for displaying consumption information about items is described. The facility uses a current consumption rank for each of a number of items and at least one or more previous consumption ranks for each of these items to attribute to at least a portion of the items a score characterizing the magnitude of increase in the consumption rank of the item. The facility then generates a display incorporating at least a portion of the attributed scores in the corresponding items. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240602 | AUTOMATED PRICE QUOTE ENGINE - Methods and systems for automated price quote generation are provided. A requesting party submits a request that includes information regarding a geographic location and at least one specification. A database is searched based on the information provided by the request. A price quote is automatically generated based on at least the results of the search and provided to the requesting party. The requesting party may be a potential customer, a dealer, or a third party acting on behalf of the potential customer or dealer. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240603 | DETERMINING TOTAL INVENTORY OF BATCH AND CONTINUOUS INVENTORIES IN A BIOFUEL PRODUCTION PROCESS - System and method for determining total inventory of batch and continuous biomass inventories in a biofuel production process. Measured biomass inventory values are received, including batch inventories from multiple batch fermenters and at least one continuous beer well inventory. The values are premised on a controlled vapor pressure of the batch fermenters and beer well(s), where the pressure fluctuates in an uncontrolled manner. A measured vapor pressure for the batch fermenters and beerwell(s) is received, and pressure compensated inventory values determined based on the measured inventory and pressure values. Measured biomass input flow to the batch fermenters and output flow from the beerwell(s) are received, and are premised on a constant biomass temperature and density, where biomass temperature and density fluctuate in an uncontrolled manner. The total inventory of batch and continuous inventories is determined based on the measured flows and the pressure compensated inventory values, and stored. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240604 | Method and apparatus for data acquisition in an asset health management system - An asset management system includes a controller area network bus and a data acquisition module connected to the controller area network bus. The data acquisition module has a plurality of analog input channels. One or more sensor systems are connected to the input channels with the input channels receiving analog signals from the sensor systems. The data acquisition module passively conditions the received analog signals prior to digital conversion. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240605 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED TRANSACTION SPLITTING - A system and method are provided for automated transaction splitting. A central repository gathers details of multi-category transactions between a first payee (e.g., merchant, investment firm) and one or more users. Each category's proportionate share of the total of the transactions is calculated and used to configure an average or model transaction. When a new transaction is received, it is automatically split among the categories based on the model transaction. Multiple types or tiers of model transactions may be applied. For example, a user-specific model transaction may reflect one specific user's history of transactions with the payee. A community model transaction may reflect multiple users' transactions. Similarly, one type of model transaction may reflect transactions with a single payee, while another type may reflect transactions with related payees (e.g., payees having similar businesses). | 2009-09-24 |
20090240606 | Internal Process Audit Surveillance System - A system and methods for auditing one or more auditable items are provided. The auditable items are associated with one or more audit checklists. The audit checklists comprise one or more audit-header questions and one or more audit-checklist questions. The auditable items are associated with the audit checklists. The auditable items may be associated with the audit checklists based on answers to the audit-header questions. The audit checklists are completed for the auditable items. The audit checklists may be completed by answering the audit-checklist questions. To audit the auditable items, one or more audit reports are generated. The audit reports are based at least in part on the completed audit checklists. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240607 | Payroll processing, certification, reporting & project management system and method - A business method and process directed to enabling an employer who contracts with one or more government agency or with concurrent private and public works activities to process payroll on contract-specific bases in order to: generate certified payroll records for predetermined intervals; provide alerts and reports allowing said contractor to anticipate compliance vulnerability and choose real time manpower adjustments; provide evidence of meeting and exceeding government objectives as well as managing the assignment of personnel to enhance worker cooperation, spirit, and hence, morale. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240608 | Methods of an auditor querying an audit log for a database which contains records of image-based check deposit transactions - A method is provided of an auditor operating an auditor terminal to query an audit log for a database which contains records of check deposit transactions. The method comprises on a first display screen, entering in a customer name, on a second display screen, selecting a link which corresponds with a particular check deposit transaction associated with the customer name, and on a third display screen, receiving audit details associated with the particular check deposit transaction. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240609 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRACKING AND ANALYZING LOANS INVOLVED IN ASSET-BACKED SECURITIES - Embodiments of the disclosure are directed to providing unique loan identifiers to track loans involved in Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) throughout the life-cycle of the individual loans. In one embodiment, a unique loan identifier, for example, a loan number, may be appended to loan data at initiation of each loan, for example, at the application stage, to and/or beyond the retirement of the loan. The unique loan identifiers may allow disparate financial data sources such as the credit histories of the borrowers to be associated with the individual loans, even as the loans are repackaged and resold as ABS in the secondary markets. Thus, market participants such as loan servicers and investors can access current and historical data associated with the loans. Other embodiments are directed to analyzing the data associated with the underlying loans and providing the analysis to the market participants including servicers, investors, and underwriters. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240610 | Integrated e-Commerce Sales & Use Tax Exchange System and Method - The invention provides a system and method for calculating, collecting and/or disbursing one or more third party payments owed to one or more third parties resulting from one or more electronic transactions occurring over a wide area network (WAN) between a customer and a merchant. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240611 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DISPLAYING A DATA MODIFICATION TIMELINE - Systems and methods for displaying data modification may include a user interface displaying a timeline with one or more items, which may include their own item timeline, corresponding to the same time period. A change made in item values may be reflected in the timeline. The invention may be applied to payroll or human capital management software, which may provide means for displaying payroll or human capital management information and how it is modified. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240612 | Life Insurance Cooperative - A business method and computing system for providing a death benefit to a participant having an uninsurable trait. The method collects registration information from the participant, and associates the participant with at least one other participant having the uninsurable trait to form a group of participants. The method receives a funding payment from each participant in the group to create a funding pool for a time period. The method disburses the funding pool to deceased participants in the group who died during the time period, each deceased participant receiving a portion of the funding pool. An amount of the portion of the funding pool for each deceased participant is the death benefit for the deceased participant. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240613 | System and Method for the Automated Brokerage of Financial Instruments - Disclosed herein in a preferred embodiment is an automated financial instrument brokerage system wherein a front end layer interacts with customers to generate activity requests for an intermediate layer. The intermediate layer preferably processes the activity requests and places financial instrument orders on a financial market if appropriate. A backend layer preferably provides data to the intermediate layer for processing activity requests. Multiple heterogeneous front end customer applications may be supported by the same intermediate layer. Further, multiple backend layer applications may interact with the intermediate layer in a manner transparent to the front end layer. Further, scalability can be achieved be partitioning various tasks of the intermediate layer onto separate servers, and more preferably on separate redundant servers. Load balancers may then be used in the intermediate layer to provide distributed access to these servers. Also disclosed herein is a caching technique whereby turnaround time for processing activity requests can be reduced by reducing the number of times that the intermediate layer needs to interact with the backend layer. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240614 | ENTITY VALIDATION FRAMEWORK - A method is provided for validating one entity, say a business or job applicant, for another entity (the requesting entity), say another business, that includes the steps of, classifying the entity type to be validated based on one or more predefined classifiers of an entity, applying one or more validation rules based on the classification for the entity type to produce a validation request, providing a validation request to one or more validation entities that perform at least a portion of the validation in accordance with the validation rules, and providing a validation outcome to the requesting entity that allows the requesting entity to assess the business or job applicant based on the validation rules and the source of the validation outcomes. Such a system and framework allows businesses to perform checks in a more structured and efficient way and allows for the sharing of validation outcomes amongst like entities. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240615 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BANKING USING CODED FORMS - Methods and systems are disclosed which relate to online banking via interface surfaces printed with information and coded data. The coded data, encoded visibly or invisibly, may be queried by an appropriate sensing device. The sensing device communicates with a computer system. Together, the interface surfaces, sensing device and computer system are capable of effecting banking transactions over a network. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240616 | Establishing an Inventory Management and Trading Application for Alternative, Liquid Repurchase Agreement Markets - The invention relates to a system and method for repo trading. The invention facilitates the inventory collection, organization, and search of the long and short positions of financial instruments such as corporate bonds and equities through the provision of a database. The invention also provides users with the ability to match borrowers and lenders with opposing positions for financial instruments. In a second embodiment the invention provides a system for creating pseudo-securities, from a diverse population of corporate bonds or equities that meet parameters specified by a user. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240617 | Trading Interface for Facilitating Trading of Multiple Tradeable Objects in an Electronic Trading Environment - A system and method are provided for trading multiple tradeable objects. One example method includes displaying at least one combined quantity indicator representing a combined quantity associated with at least two tradeable objects, detecting an input associated with an order for a predetermined order quantity in relation to one of the combined quantity indicators, and allocating the order quantity between the at least two tradeable objects using at least one quantity allocation rule. In one example embodiment, a plurality of quantity allocation rules can be user-configurable, and different rules can be defined and applied in relation to different order types. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240618 | Method of detering parameters of long-term lease - There is disclosed a technique for determining parameters of a long-term lease of an asset. The method involves determining a set of payments defining an amortisation path from an initial value (A) to a final residual value (M) of said asset over a long-term lease period, and determining a plurality of sets of short-term lease payments such that the plurality of sets of short-term lease paths define respectively one or more interim short-term lease paths (ADF, DGI, GJL) and a final short-term lease path (JM), each interim short-term lease path (ADF, DGI, GJL) consisting of an amortisation portion that corresponds to said amortisation path (AD, DG, GJ) for a respective short-term lease period and a termination amortisation portion (DF, GI, JL) that links the amortisation portion to a short-term termination value falling on a residual value path to said final residual value at a position such that the short-term lease corresponding to the short-term lease path satisfies a predetermined value condition, and the final short-term lease path (JM) consisting of an amortisation portion, whereby the plurality of amortisation portions of the interim and final short-term lease paths correspond collectively to said amortisation path. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240619 | MULTI-NATIONAL GIFT CARD SETTLEMENT - Systems and methods for settling stored value account transactions between merchants in countries that use different currencies. A host computer system receives transaction data resulting from a number of stored value account transactions performed at a number of merchants. The merchants are grouped into separate entities with separate accounting systems, and at least one entity operates in a different country than another entity. The transactions include any combination of origination transactions, redemption transactions, and reload transactions, and the transaction data includes for each redemption and reload transaction a transaction amount, locations in which the transaction occurred and the account was originated and the base currency of the account and the currency in which the transaction is performed. Periodically, accounts are settled between the entities in each country using a central country bank account in each country, and periodically accounts are settled between pairs of central country bank accounts. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240620 | SECURE PAYMENT SYSTEM - Systems and method for performing secure electronic payment transactions to allow merchants to perform payment processing such that the merchant is only required to identify a unique identifier of a customer account and not data specific to a particular payment device. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240621 | Method of Administering an Annuity Having Payments That Maintain or Increase in Purchasing Power - A method of administering a single premium immediate annuity is disclosed. The method includes specifying an income payment amount representing a base level of purchasing power each scheduled annuity payment shall be able to substantially achieve. The amount of the annuity payment to be made at scheduled intervals being adjusted to maintain the purchasing power of the annuity payment, whereby the annuity payment is adjusted to accommodate inflation and maintain a base level of purchasing power. The method of administering the annuity including the inclusion of income payment adjustment ceilings and floors, whereby income payments cannot be reduced below a predefined minimum level, nor can income payments increase above a predefined maximum level in any given year. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240622 | Method and System for Payment Processing - A system and method are provided which include providing a payment processor including a first processing module identifying the payer and an actual payment due based upon received information and a second processing module determining the account from which the actual payment due is to be paid based on the stored information. Communication is had with the payment processor via a mobile device to provide information about an actual payment due by a payer, and the payment processor effectuates payment of the actual payment due in accordance with the stored information. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240623 | Business Event Triggered, Policy-Driven Payment Management - Techniques are disclosed for using business events as triggers to drive payment processing for electronic commerce. As the business logic of a merchant's e-commerce software application reaches various stages that impact payment considerations, it issues a corresponding event notification. According to preferred embodiments, these event notifications are processed by a policy engine, which locates policy information or rules previously configured for that event. Actions are then carried out, based on the configured policy. The merchant e-commerce application is therefore shielded from the details of the underlying payment processing. New payment types can be provided, and existing payment types can be modified if necessary, by adding/modifying policies; the merchant's e-commerce application does not need to change. This event-driven model allows application developers to focus on creating software for the merchant's key business requirements, and makes it easier to maintain the software. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240624 | RISK DETECTION AND ASSESSMENT OF CASH PAYMENT FOR ELECTRONIC PURCHASE TRANSACTIONS - A system and methods are provided which allow consumers to pay for ecommerce transactions through online bill payment and for merchants to determine that payments are not fraudulent. The system and methods do not rely on personal or confidential customer information relating to credit-cards and/or bank account routing information, date of birth and/or social security number. A risk manager can perform risk assessment for the cash payment based on order information and non-confidential purchaser information included in a cash payment request. In response to receiving an indication of the cash payment from the purchaser, a determination is made whether the cash payment is a good payment based on the risk assessment. The cash payment is released to a merchant in response to a determination that the cash payment is a good payment. | 2009-09-24 |
20090240625 | POWERING FINANCIAL TRANSACTION TOKEN WITH ONBOARD POWER SOURCE - There is provided a card or token for use in financial transactions. The financial transaction token or card has an onboard energy storage device that enables onboard electronics to operate when the card is not in the proximity of a merchant Point-Of-Service (POS) terminal. In one implementation, the onboard energy storage device includes a capacitor such as a thin-film capacitor that stores sufficient energy to power onboard electronics without the need for an onboard battery. The card may be incorporated within various conventional apparatus such as a see-through and/or protective substrate, an item of clothing, an item of jewelry, a cell phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a credit card, an identification card, a money holder, a wallet, a personal organizer, a keychain payment tag, and like personality. | 2009-09-24 |