40th week of 2012 patent applcation highlights part 71 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20120253800 | System and Method for Modifying and Updating a Speech Recognition Program - The system provides a speech recognition program, an update website for updating a speech recognition program, and a way of storing data. A user may utilize an update website, to add, modify, and delete items that may comprise speech commands, dll's, multimedia files, executable code, and other information. Speech recognition program may communicate with update website to request information about possible updates. Update website may send a response consisting of information to speech recognition program. Speech recognition program may utilize received information to decide what items to download. A speech recognition program may send one or more requests to update website to download items. Update website may respond by transmitting, requested items to a speech recognition program that overwrite existing items with newly received items. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253801 | AUTOMATIC DETERMINATION OF AND RESPONSE TO A TOPIC OF A CONVERSATION - A system, computer-readable medium, and method for automatically determining a topic of a conversation and responding to the topic determination are provided. In the method, an active topic is defined as a first topic in response to execution of an application. The first topic includes first text defining a plurality of phrases, a probability of occurrence associated with each of the plurality of phrases, and a response associated with each of the plurality of phrases. Speech text recognized from a recorded audio signal is received. Recognition of the speech text is based at least partially on the probability of occurrence associated with each of the plurality of phrases of the first topic. A phrase of the plurality of phrases associated with the received speech text is identified. The response associated with the identified phrase is performed by the computing device. The response includes instructions defining an action triggered by occurrence of the received speech text, wherein the action includes defining the active topic as a second topic. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253802 | Location-Based Conversational Understanding - Location-based conversational understanding may be provided. Upon receiving a query from a user, an environmental context associated with the query may be generated. The query may be interpreted according to the environmental context. The interpreted query may be executed and at least one result associated with the query may be provided to the user. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253803 | VOICE RECOGNITION DEVICE AND VOICE RECOGNITION METHOD - According to embodiments, a voice inputting unit converts voice into a digital signal. The state detecting unit includes an acceleration sensor, and detects movement and/or a state of an equipment main body. The holding unit stores movement or state pattern models of predetermined movement or a state of the equipment main body and predetermined voice recognition process patterns corresponding to the models. The pattern detecting unit detects whether or not movement and/or a state of the equipment main body from the state detecting unit matches the movement or state pattern models stored in the holding unit, and detects a voice recognition process pattern corresponding to the matched model. The voice recognition process executing unit executes the voice recognition process on the digital signal output from the voice inputting unit according to the detected voice recognition process pattern. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253804 | VOICE PROCESSOR AND VOICE PROCESSING METHOD - According to one embodiment, a voice processor includes: a storage module; a converter; a character string converter; a similarity calculator; and an output module. The storage module stores therein first character string information and a first phoneme symbol corresponding thereto in association with each other. The converter converts an input voice into a second phoneme symbol. The character string converter converts the second phoneme symbol into second character string information in which content of the voice is described in a natural language. The similarity calculator calculates similarity between the input voice and a portion of the first character string information stored in the storage module using at least one of the second phoneme symbol converted by the converter and the second character string information converted by the character string converter. The output module outputs the first character string information based on the similarity calculated by the similarity calculator. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253805 | SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND MEDIA FOR DETERMINING FRAUD RISK FROM AUDIO SIGNALS - Systems, methods, and media for determining fraud risk from audio signals and non-audio data are provided herein. Some exemplary methods include receiving an audio signal and an associated audio signal identifier, receiving a fraud event identifier associated with a fraud event, determining a speaker model based on the received audio signal, determining a channel model based on a path of the received audio signal, using a server system, updating a fraudster channel database to include the determined channel model based on a comparison of the audio signal identifier and the fraud event identified, and updating a fraudster voice database to include the determined speaker model based on a comparison of the audio signal identifier and the fraud event identifier. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253806 | System And Method For Distributed Speech Recognition - A system and method for distributed speech recognition is provided. Audio data is obtained from a caller participating in a call with an agent. A main recognizer receives a main grammar template and the audio data. A plurality of secondary recognizers each receive the audio data and a reference that identifies a secondary grammar, which is a non-overlapping section of the main grammar template. Speech recognition is performed on each of the secondary recognizers and speech recognition results are identified by applying the secondary grammar to the audio data. An n number of most likely speech recognition results are selected. The main recognizer constructs a new grammar based on the main grammar template using the speech recognition results from each of the secondary recognizers as a new vocabulary. Further speech recognition results are identified by applying the new grammar to the audio data. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253807 | SPEAKER STATE DETECTING APPARATUS AND SPEAKER STATE DETECTING METHOD - A speaker state detecting apparatus comprises: an audio input unit for acquiring, at least, a first voice emanated by a first speaker and a second voice emanated by a second speaker; a speech interval detecting unit for detecting an overlap period between a first speech period of the first speaker included in the first voice and a second speech period of the second speaker included in the second voice, which starts before the first speech period, or an interval between the first speech period and the second speech period; a state information extracting unit for extracting state information representing a state of the first speaker from the first speech period; and a state detecting unit for detecting the state of the first speaker in the first speech period based on the overlap period or the interval and the first state information. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253808 | Voice Recognition Device and Voice Recognition Method - According to an embodiment, a voice recognition device includes a voice inputting unit, a voice recognition processing unit, a vibration movement pattern model holding unit, and a vibration movement unit. The voice recognition processing unit performs voice recognition processing using a digital signal output from the voice inputting unit to output a voice recognition result and outputs voice reliability of the received voice signal. The vibration movement pattern model holding unit stores models prepared according to a number of patterns of the voice reliability output from the voice recognition processing unit and holds vibration movements corresponding to the models. The vibration movement unit detects whether or not the voice reliability output from the voice recognition processing unit matches any one of the models in the vibration movement pattern model holding unit and performs vibration movement predetermined for a matched model. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253809 | Voice Verification System - A voice verification module | 2012-10-04 |
20120253810 | COMPUTER PROGRAM, METHOD, AND SYSTEM FOR VOICE AUTHENTICATION OF A USER TO ACCESS A SECURE RESOURCE - Authenticating a purported user attempting to access a secure resource includes enrolling a user's voice sample by requiring the user to orally speak preselected enrollment utterances, generating prompts and respective predetermined correct responses where each question has only one correct response, presenting a prompt to the user in real time, and analyzing the user's real time live response to determine if the live response matches the predetermined correct response and if voice characteristics of the user's live voice sample match characteristics of the enrolled voice sample. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253811 | SPEECH PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method for identifying a plurality of speakers in audio data and for decoding the speech spoken by said speakers;
| 2012-10-04 |
20120253812 | SPEECH SYLLABLE/VOWEL/PHONE BOUNDARY DETECTION USING AUDITORY ATTENTION CUES - In syllable or vowel or phone boundary detection during speech, an auditory spectrum may be determined for an input window of sound and one or more multi-scale features may be extracted from the auditory spectrum. Each multi-scale feature can be extracted using a separate two-dimensional spectro-temporal receptive filter. One or more feature maps corresponding to the one or more multi-scale features can be generated and an auditory gist vector can be extracted from each of the one or more feature maps. A cumulative gist vector may be obtained through augmentation of each auditory gist vector extracted from the one or more feature maps. One or more syllable or vowel or phone boundaries in the input window of sound can be detected by mapping the cumulative gist vector to one or more syllable or vowel or phone boundary characteristics using a machine learning algorithm. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253813 | SPEECH SEGMENT DETERMINATION DEVICE, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - A speech segment determination device includes a frame division portion, a power spectrum calculation portion, a power spectrum operation portion, a spectral entropy calculation portion and a determination portion. The frame division portion divides an input signal in units of frames. The power spectrum calculation portion calculates, using an analysis length, a power spectrum of the input signal for each of the frames that have been divided. The power spectrum operation portion adds a value of the calculated power spectrum to a value of power spectrum in each of frequency bins. The spectral entropy calculation portion calculates spectral entropy using the power spectrum whose value has been increased. The determination portion determines, based on a value of the spectral entropy, whether the input signal is a signal in a speech segment. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253814 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR WEB TEXT CONTENT AGGREGATION AND PRESENTATION - A system and method for aggregating text-based content and presenting the text-based content as spoken audio is described herein, where a server module retrieves and aggregates web content from web content providers that may include text-based web content that is then extracted, filtered and categorizes for a client module to retrieve and play as spoken audio. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253815 | TALKING PAPER AUTHORING TOOLS - A range of unified software authoring tools for creating a talking paper application for integration in an end user platform are described herein. The authoring tools are easy to use and are interoperable to provide an easy and cost-effective method of creating a talking paper application. The authoring tools provide a framework for creating audio content and image content and interactively linking the audio content and the image content. The authoring tools also provide for verifying the interactively linked audio and image content, reviewing the audio content, the image content and the interactive linking on a display device. Finally, the authoring tools provide for saving the audio content, the video content and the interactive linking for publication to a manufacturer for integration in an end user platform or talking paper platform. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253816 | TEXT-TO-SPEECH USER'S VOICE COOPERATIVE SERVER FOR INSTANT MESSAGING CLIENTS - A system and method to allow an author of an instant message to enable and control the production of audible speech to the recipient of the message. The voice of the author of the message is characterized into parameters compatible with a formative or articulative text-to-speech engine such that upon receipt, the receiving client device can generate audible speech signals from the message text according to the characterization of the author's voice. Alternatively, the author can store samples of his or her actual voice in a server so that, upon transmission of a message by the author to a recipient, the server extracts the samples needed only to synthesize the words in the text message, and delivers those to the receiving client device so that they are used by a client-side concatenative text-to-speech engine to generate audible speech signals having a close likeness to the actual voice of the author. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253817 | Mobile speech attendant access - A system and method for connecting to a telephone extension listed in a telephone number database is disclosed. The method comprises recording an audio token on a mobile communication device. The audio token is associated with a telephone number included in the database. The audio token is transmitted from the mobile communication device to a server over a digital channel. The telephone number in the database that is associated with the audio token is selected using speech recognition. The mobile communication device is then connected with the telephone number. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253818 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND PROGRAM - There is provided an information processing apparatus including an operation information transmitting unit transmitting operation information for operating respective appliances out of a plurality of appliances connected via a network, a character processing unit carrying out processing relating to characters, which correspond to the respective appliances and have individual personalities, and changes a content represented by the characters in accordance with the operation information for operating the appliances, and a display processing unit carrying out processing that displays the characters on a display unit. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253819 | LOCATION DETERMINATION SYSTEM AND MOBILE TERMINAL - A location determination system includes a first mobile terminal and a second mobile terminal. The first mobile terminal includes a first processor to acquire a first sound signal, analyze the first sound signal to obtain a first analysis result, and transmit the first analysis result. The second mobile terminal includes a second processor to acquire a second sound signal, analyze the second sound signal to obtain a second analysis result, receive the first analysis result from the first mobile terminal, compare the second analysis result with the first analysis result to obtain a comparison result, and determine whether the first mobile terminal locates in an area in which the second mobile terminal locates, based on the comparison result. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253820 | Mixed-mode interaction - A user of a wireless device, such as a mobile phone, can make purchases or obtain information via a network, such as the Internet, using both voice and non-verbal methods. Users can submit voice queries and receive non-verbal replies, submit non-verbal queries and receive voice replies, or perform similar operations that many the voice and data capabilities of modern mobile communication devices. The user may provide notification criteria indicating under what conditions a notification should be sent to the user's wireless device. When purchasing opportunities matching the selected notification criteria become available, the user is notified. The user can respond to the notification, and immediately take advantage of the purchasing opportunity if he so desires. Mixed-mode interactions can also be used by sellers to more advantageously control the marketing of distressed, time sensitive, or other merchandise/services. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253821 | VEHICULAR DEVICE AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATING THE SAME WITH INFORMATION CENTER - A communication unit is connected with an information center, which is receivable analog data, through an external network. A transmission unit transmits predetermined vehicle information in a form of a voice prompt of analog data when the communication unit is in connection with the information center. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253822 | Systems and Methods for Managing Prompts for a Connected Vehicle - A method for providing audio prompts via a service-providing remote center includes receiving a list of requested data from an on-board navigation system of a vehicle, and, for each item in the list of requested data, determining whether an audio prompt is available and delivering an associated audio prompt from the service-providing remote center over a data channel. Also provided is a method for obtaining audio prompts using a minimal amount of text-to-speech ports including determining a plurality of known data items, generating audio prompts for the plurality of known data items with a single text-to-speech engine using batch mode processing, obtaining an associated audio prompt for each of the known data items, and storing each associated audio prompt in a recording database. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253823 | Hybrid Dialog Speech Recognition for In-Vehicle Automated Interaction and In-Vehicle Interfaces Requiring Minimal Driver Processing - A system and method for implementing a server-based speech recognition system for multi-modal automated interaction in a vehicle includes receiving, by a vehicle driver, audio prompts by an on-board human-to-machine interface and a response with speech to complete tasks such as creating and sending text messages, web browsing, navigation, etc. This service-oriented architecture is utilized to call upon specialized speech recognizers in an adaptive fashion. The human-to-machine interface enables completion of a text input task while driving a vehicle in a way that minimizes the frequency of the driver's visual and mechanical interactions with the interface, thereby eliminating unsafe distractions during driving conditions. After the initial prompting, the typing task is followed by a computerized verbalization of the text. Subsequent interface steps can be visual in nature, or involve only sound. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253824 | METHODS AND SYSTEM OF VOICE CONTROL - This invention relates to a system with different modes of operation or performance that integrates all the key components for the control of most domestic services, such as telephone, lighting and audio/video system, through audio inputs such as words or phrases by a user. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253825 | RELEVANCY RECOGNITION FOR CONTEXTUAL QUESTION ANSWERING - Disclosed are systems, methods and computer-readable media for controlling a computing device to provide contextual responses to user inputs. The method comprises receiving a user input, generating a set of features characterizing an association between the user input and a conversation context based on at least a semantic and syntactic analysis of user inputs and system responses, determining with a data-driven machine learning approach whether the user input begins a new topic or is associated with a previous conversation context and if the received question is associated with the existing topic, then generating a response to the user input using information associated with the user input and any previous user input associated with the existing topic. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253826 | TRANSMITTING DEVICE, TRANSMITTING METHOD, RECEIVING DEVICE, RECEIVING METHOD, PROGRAM, AND BROADCASTING SYSTEM - Disclosed herein is a transmitting device including an audio encoder and a transmitter. The audio encoder is configured to generate an encoded audio stream in which trigger information relating to control of an application program to be executed in conjunction with content in a receiving device is buried. The transmitter is configured to transmit the generated encoded audio stream to the receiving device. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253827 | ADVANCED ENCODING OF MUSIC FILES - Example embodiments allow for the creation, distribution, and use of flexible media formats. Example embodiments may allow individual content files to be rendered in multiple formats and versions. In addition, example embodiments may provide for granular rights management, which may allow users to access content files on a feature-by-feature basis. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253828 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SENSITIVITY OR NUTRITIONAL FACTOR EXPOSURE MONITORING - A system for classifying and monitoring food and non-food products alike with respect to sensitivity or nutritional factor information comprising a database infrastructure storing product information for a plurality of products, a producer interface through which a product producer can input product information to be stored in the database infrastructure, and a consumer interface through which a consumer can define a profile containing sensitivities or nutritional factor parameter ranges requiring monitoring and which provides feedback to a consumer regarding products being consumed, applied or purchased and may be linked to their medical records. The product information for each product generally comprises one or more elements of sensitivity or nutritional factor metadata, and a consumer's profile defines one or more allergies, diseases or dietary conditions that identify associated sensitivities. Feedback provided comprises generating an alert when a consumer attempts to consume, apply or purchase a product that is either associated with sensitivities or outside nutritional factor parameter ranges defined in that consumer's profile. One such method using this system comprises monitoring a product selected for consumption, application or purchase by the consumer to identify if the product is associated with a defined sensitivity or is outside a defined nutritional parameter range and alerting the consumers when such products are selected to be consumed, applied or purchased. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253829 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL PHARMACIES FOR MANAGEMENT OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG OR PRODUCT COSTS - Systems and methods may be provided for interactive virtual pharmacies. The systems and methods may include receiving, by a non-dispensing virtual pharmacy comprising one or more computers, an electronic prescription associated with a patient, where the electronic prescription is associated with at least one drug or product prescribed for the patient; determining, by the non-dispensing virtual pharmacy, a plurality of dispensing pharmacies capable of filling the prescription; determining, by the non-dispensing virtual pharmacy, a respective total price payable to each of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies for filling the prescription for the patient; delivering, in real-time to a patient device by the non-dispensing virtual pharmacy, an identification of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies and the respective total prices; and receiving, by the non-dispensing virtual pharmacy from the patient device, a selection of one of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253830 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VARIABLE CUSTOMER PRICING FOR VIRTUAL PHARMACIES - Systems and methods may be provided for interactive virtual pharmacies. The systems and methods may include receiving, by a non-dispensing virtual pharmacy comprising one or more computers, an electronic prescription associated with a patient, where the electronic prescription is associated with at least one drug or product prescribed for the patient; determining, by the non-dispensing virtual pharmacy, a respective total price payable to each of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies for filling the prescription for the patient; determining, by the non-dispensing virtual pharmacy based upon the determined respective total price, a respective patient payable amount for filling the prescription at each of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies; and delivering, in real-time from the non-dispensing virtual pharmacy to a patient device, an identification of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies and the respective patient payment amount at each dispensing pharmacy. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253831 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING PHARMACY LOCATIONS BASED UPON A CURRENT LOCATION FOR USE WITH A VIRTUAL PHARMACY - Systems and methods may be provided for interactive virtual pharmacies. The systems and methods may include receiving, by a non-dispensing virtual pharmacy, an electronic prescription identifying at least a prescribed drug or product for a patient; obtaining, by the virtual pharmacy, a location preference of the patient; determining, by the virtual pharmacy, that the location preference of the patient indicates a current location associated with a patient mobile device; responsive to determining that the location preference indicates the current location, obtaining, by the virtual pharmacy, current location information of the mobile device; determining, by the virtual pharmacy, a plurality of dispensing pharmacies within proximity of the current location provided by the current location information, where the determined dispensing pharmacies are capable of filling the prescription for the patient; and delivering, in real-time from the virtual pharmacy to a mobile device, identification of at least a portion of the determined dispensing pharmacies to the mobile device. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253832 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REMOTE CAPTURE OF PAPER PRESCRIPTIONS FOR USE WITH A VIRTUAL PHARMACY - Systems and methods may be provided for remote capture of paper prescriptions for use with a virtual pharmacy. The systems and methods may include receiving, by a non-dispensing virtual pharmacy comprising one or more computers, an image of a paper prescription for a patient, where the paper prescription includes information identifying at least a prescriber, a drug or product, a quantity of a drug or product, and usage information for the drug or product, where the image is a photograph of the paper prescription taken by a camera of a patient mobile device; analyzing, by the non-dispensing virtual pharmacy, the received image to determine whether any information from the paper prescription is illegible or missing; and responsive to the analyzing, delivering, by the non-dispensing virtual pharmacy, a response indicating whether the received image is accepted as an electronic prescription. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253833 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FINANCIAL PROCESSING FOR A VIRTUAL PHARMACY - Systems and methods may be provided for financial processing for a virtual pharmacy. The systems and methods may include receiving, by a non-dispensing virtual pharmacy comprising one or more computers, an electronic prescription associated with a patient, where the electronic prescription is associated with at least one drug or product prescribed for the patient; determining, by the virtual pharmacy, a respective patient payable amount for filling the prescription at each of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies; delivering, in real-time from the virtual pharmacy to a patient device, an identification of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies; receiving, by the virtual pharmacy from the patient device, a selection of one of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies; directing, by the virtual pharmacy, financial processing for the respective patient payable amount corresponding to the selected pharmacy to generate financial processing information; and delivering, by the virtual pharmacy to the selected pharmacy, the electronic prescription and the financial processing information. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253834 | METHODS, APPARATUSES AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR FACILITATING DISPLAY OF RELEVANT QUALITY MEASURES BASED ON DIAGNOSES - An apparatus is provided for generating one or more preventive health care plans. The apparatus includes at least one memory and at least one processor configured to receive medical information, associated with one or more patients, from different medical entities. The processor is further configured to identify whether data in the received medical information indicates that the medical information corresponds to at least one patient. The data comprises one or more unique identifiers identifying the patient. The processor is further configured to determine at least one medical condition or age/gender criteria of the patient based in part on one or more unique codes in the received medical information and generate at least one preventive health care plan on behalf of the patient based in part on the determined medical condition and one or more defined measures associated with the codes. Corresponding computer program products and methods are also provided. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253835 | METHODS, APPARATUSES AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR FACILITATING QUALITY REPORTING AND ALERTS MANAGEMENT - An apparatus is provided for generating one or more customizable health care alerts. The apparatus includes at least one memory and at least one processor configured to generate one or more customizable health care alerts based in part on a defined query. The processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to define one or more actions to be monitored for a plurality of patients meeting criteria of the defined query and assigning the defined actions to the generated alerts to enable a status of the actions to be tracked. Corresponding computer program products and methods are also provided. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253836 | FACILITATING AND TRACKING CLINICIAN-ASSIGNMENT STATUS - Subject matter described herein is related to assigning a healthcare clinician to provide care to a patient. For example, a GUI is provided that includes contextual information relevant to the assignment and that allows a user to electronically create the assignment. Relevant information includes a list of clinicians, a list of patients, and an estimate of the amount of resources required to provide care to a patient. In addition, this disclosure describes tracking the status of a healthcare clinician, such as primary provider, secondary provider, and on-break. Status might be tracked by capturing an image of a display board, which supports clinician barcodes that are movable to desired locations within a depiction of a healthcare facility (e.g., floor plan laid out using barcodes). | 2012-10-04 |
20120253837 | MEDICAL KIOSK AND METHOD OF USE - A medical kiosk having a modular configuration and designed to provide tele-med services to a user. The medical kiosk includes first and second front panels, first and second rear panels, an interior chamber, a chamber access opening, and a user video conferencing system in the interior chamber. The user video conferencing system is designed to enable the user in the interior chamber to have a real-time or near real-time tele-conference with a medical provider located remotely from the medical kiosk. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253838 | EXAMINATION RESERVATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - An examination reservation management system includes an information acquiring means for acquiring examination reservation information including priority information indicating priority of an examination; a reservation status presenting means for distinguishing and displaying a time frame in which examination can be reserved and a reserved time frame based on the examination reservation information; a reservation input means for making a new examination reservation; a priority information determining means for determining whether or not the new examination reservation can be reserved using the priority information; and a reservation designing means for confirming the examination reservation from the determination result by the priority information determining means. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253839 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING MEDICAL INFORMATION - Systems and methods for managing medical information for medical service providers are provided. Personnel are able to manage and track workflow operations, evaluate profitability, and maintain records in an integrated and streamlined manner by executing various modules of a software application. A Dashboard module provides a unitary display of information regarding employee efficiency and operational profitability; a Virtual Will Call module allows for the virtual placement of items in storage areas reflecting the corresponding physical will call storage locations; an Rx Tracker module provides information regarding the status of prescriptions as they go through the process from ordered to dispensed; the Maintenance module allows personnel to define customized delivery methods; and the Archive Viewer module provides a way for personnel to archive images in any accessible drive or memory device, including portable storage media, and to view such images independently of the module using an archive viewer executable. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253840 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR ESTIMATING HBA1C, TREATMENT RESPONSE, AND HYPOGLYCEMIA RISK USING SELF-MONITORING OF BLOOD GLUCOSE DATA - A system and method for estimating HbA1 | 2012-10-04 |
20120253841 | METHOD, APPARATUS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PROVIDING DOCUMENTATION OF A CLINICAL ENCOUNTER HISTORY - A method for providing documentation of clinical encounter history may include providing for display of an electronic medical chart having a plurality of chart sections associated with respective different healthcare related topics associated with a patient, providing for display of an encounter history defining a set of activities performed in connection with a selected encounter where each activity of the set of activities is represented by a respective activity indicator and where the encounter history is dynamically updated to include an additional activity indicator for each respective activity that is undertaken in relation to a corresponding different chart section of a current patient visit, and enabling user selection of an activity indicator to link the user to a corresponding chart section related to the corresponding activity indicated by the activity indicator. A corresponding computer program product and apparatus are also provided. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253842 | METHODS, APPARATUSES AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR GENERATING AGGREGATED HEALTH CARE SUMMARIES - An apparatus is provided for generating one or more patient health care summary documents. The apparatus may include at least one memory and at least one processor configured to receive medical information, associated with one or more patients, from one or more different health care entities. The processor is also configured to identify one or more unique codes from the received medical information. The unique codes may correspond to code terminologies related to one or more types of medical data. The processor is also configured to generate a patient health care summary document(s), corresponding to a patient, in response to receipt of a request from at least one health care entity. The patient health care summary document may be generated based in part on at least one of the code terminologies determined to be utilized by the health care entity. Corresponding computer program products and methods are also provided. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253843 | METHODS, APPARATUSES, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR FACILITATING MEDICAL CASE CHARTING - Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products are provided for facilitating medical case charting. A method may include causing presentation of one or more default value options for a case being charted. The default value options may have been captured from data charted in one or more previously charted cases. The method may further include determining a selection of one or more presented default value options. The method may additionally include copying the selected default value options to the case being charted. Corresponding apparatuses and computer program products are also provided. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253844 | APPARATUS, METHOD AND COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUMS FOR PROVIDING A CONTEXT-SENSITIVE ALERT REGARDING A MULTIMEDIA OBJECT - An apparatus is provided that includes a processor and a memory storing executable instructions that in response to execution by the processor cause the apparatus to at least perform a number of functions. The apparatus is caused to direct presentation of a user interface including a region presenting a list that presents information regarding elements of each of a plurality of exams in which the presented information regarding at least some but not all of the exams is viewable at a time. One or more of the exams is designated as being of higher priority. And the apparatus is caused to identify an instance in which the presented information viewable in the region does not include information regarding at least one of the higher-priority exams; and in response thereto, direct presentation of an alert to notify a user of an availability of information for a higher-priority exam. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253845 | APPARATUS, METHOD AND COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUMS FOR BROWSING AND SELECTING A MULTIMEDIA OBJECT - An apparatus is provided that includes a processor and a memory storing executable instructions that in response to execution by the processor cause the apparatus to at least perform a number of functions. The apparatus is caused to direct presentation of a user interface having a first view presenting a list which includes one or more elements. The list of patient exams presents information regarding the respective exams including, for each of at least some of the exams, thumbnail images representative of respective elements of the patient exam. The apparatus is caused to receive user selection of a patient exam from the list, retrieve an element of the selected patient exam, and direct presentation of a second view of the user interface, where the second view includes a region presenting the retrieved element of the selected patient exam. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253846 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INCENTIVE STRUCTURES FOR VIRTUAL PHARMACIES - Systems and methods may be provided for interactive virtual pharmacies. The systems and methods may include receiving, by a non-dispensing virtual pharmacy comprising one or more computers, an electronic prescription associated with a patient, where the electronic prescription is associated with at least one drug or product prescribed for the patient; determining, by the virtual pharmacy, a respective total price payable to each of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies for filling the prescribed drug or product for the patient; determining, by the virtual pharmacy based upon the determined respective total prices, availability of a respective incentive or penalty for filling the prescription at one or more of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies; and delivering, in real-time from the virtual pharmacy to a patient device, a presentation of at least a portion of the plurality of dispensing pharmacies, where the presentation is based at least in part on the determined incentive or penalty for filling the prescription. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253847 | HEALTH INFORMATION TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM AND METHOD - Health information communications systems and methods are disclosed. In one embodiment, the system includes one or more medical sensors providing one or more health information data types. The system further includes a patient communications device coupled to at least one medical sensor over a communications network. Particularly, the patient communications device includes a patient quality of service (QoS) manager that dynamically specifies a set of data quality management parameters for transporting at least some of the health information and modifies at least some of the health information into value factored health information. Additionally, the system includes a specialist communications device communicatively coupled to the patient communication device over the communications network. The specialist communications device includes a specialist QoS manager that provides measured channel characteristics to the patient communications device. The patient QoS manager dynamically specifies the set of data quality management parameters based at least in part on the measured channel characteristics of the specialist communications device. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253848 | NOVEL APPROACH TO INTEGRATE AND PRESENT DISPARATE HEALTHCARE APPLICATIONS IN SINGLE COMPUTER SCREEN - Method and system for integrating different applications like imaging system, audio-video streaming system, Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Electronic Health Records (EHR), Patient Health Records (PHR), PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System), Lab System and patient monitoring systems/databases/warehouses into single application, wherein all the applications are displayed in a single computer screen/interface preferably by using a common interaction platform, for example a web browser, wherein the web browser provides the patient direct interface in real time with the health care professional. The system enables standardized data, records and content of patients, store the information captured into integrated application database and/or into its objects stored in the application folders. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253849 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR STANDARDIZING ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION - A method for standardizing patient registration includes a step of allowing a patient to one of create an account on a data management system and manage the account that has been previously created on the data management system. The account has patient information entered into the account by the patient. The patient is permitted to authorize a sharing of at least a portion of the patient information in the account with a healthcare provider. The healthcare provider is provided with access to the portion of the patient information in the account authorized for the sharing by the patient via the data management system. The healthcare provider can further request additional information from the patient for their own data collection purposes, all done through the same mechanism as perceived by the patient. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253850 | HEALTH CARE PATIENT BENEFITS ELIGIBILITY RESEARCH SYSTEM AND METHODS - The software of the present invention provides a means for creating a file of unpaid claims for a service provider. The software is used to create one or more queries to compare information in the file of claims against records in a benefit provider's database to determine the eligibility status of the claim. A file is created containing each claim for which a matching record in the benefit provider's database is found, and the information from that matching record. A report can be generated from the file of matching claims and benefit provider records, so the claims can be submitted for payment by the service provider. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253851 | System And Method For Controlling Displaying Medical Record Information On A Secondary Display - A computer implemented method for displaying patient medical data during an interaction between a patient and a healthcare provider. The method includes receiving an identification of a patient at an electronic medical record server and transmitting patient medical data from an electronic medical record associated with the identified patient to the healthcare provider computing device. The method further includes identifying a location of the provider computing device, transmitting an activation key to a secondary display device for display on the secondary display device, and receiving confirmation from the healthcare provider computing device that the activation key was entered into the healthcare provider computing device. Following activation, the method includes displaying information from the electronic medical record on the secondary display based on a command received from the healthcare provider computing device. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253852 | RESTRICTED-USE ACCOUNT PAYMENT ADMINISTRATION APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS - The RESTRICTED-USE ACCOUNT PAYMENT ADMINISTRATION APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS (hereinafter “RUAP”) transform purchase item information inputs or purchase receipt inputs via RUAP components into restricted-use account payment settlement outputs. A method is disclosed, including: receiving a restricted-use account reimbursement request including receipt information related to a purchase transaction from a user; obtaining purchase item information from the receipt information included in the restricted-use account reimbursement request; identifying a restricted-use account of the user; determining a purchase item is eligible for the restricted-account usage; determining a reimbursement amount associated with the purchase item form the purchase item information; generating a reimbursement authorization request message including the purchase item information and the reimbursement amount; transmitting the reimbursement authorization request message to a restricted-account issuer for approval; and transacting the reimbursement amount from the restricted-use account to a user financial account upon the restricted-account issuer approval. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253853 | Institutional Endowment Using Donor Originated Life Insurance - A method of converting a series of donations by a donor to an institution so the institution is able to maintain premium payments on a donor-owned life insurance policy. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253854 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FILING A COMPLAINT RELATED TO NETWORK-BASED TRANSACTIONS - A method and system that allows a user to file a complaint related to a transaction completed over a network-based transaction facility. For example, a method can include the following operations conducted via a server: receiving a complaint from a first party, communicating information about the complaint to a second party, enabling an exchange of information regarding the complaint, and determining whether a criterion required for approval of the request for compensation has been satisfied. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253855 | CAPTURING A FUTURE LOCATION OF AN ONLINE USER - A method and a system are provided for capturing a future location of a user. In one example, the system receives user data including plans for one or more future locations of one or more users. The system identifies a particular user who is associated with one or more users who plan to go to a particular future location. The system then provides to a particular user device a suggestion for the particular user to be at the particular future location. The particular user device is presumably operated by the particular user. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253856 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ITINERARY PLANNING - The present invention relates to a method and system for itinerary planning. The method commences with the receipt of an itinerary-planning request specifying an origin and a destination. A build of network segments extending from the origin is generated. A continuing network segment extending from the build is identified. The continuing network segment is discarded if the continuing network segment is marked as a local network segment and is distant from the origin and from the destination. The continuing network segment is evaluated if the network segment is proximate to one of the origin and the destination. At least one suitable itinerary is determined for the itinerary-planning request. The at least one suitable itinerary is outputted. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253857 | STRUCTURED METHODS FOR BUSINESS PROCESS UNIFICATION - The proposed disclosure relates to a computer aided method for the implementation of process unification across regionally distributed process environments. The method includes the establishment of a process framework. It further includes the creation of a present state model for each regionally distributed process environment and the creation of a unified future state model. The normalization of the future state model across the regionally distributed process environments is also called for. Some aspects of the method may include the use of computer based tools in the establishment of the process framework, the establishment of the present state model and the establishment of the future state model. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253858 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTEGRATING TEXT ANALYTICS DRIVEN SOCIAL METRICS INTO BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE - Embodiments of the invention relate to an architectural structure for representing an underlying business and tools to support dynamic adjustment of the structure. A social media metric is created and associated with a business metric of a component represented in the architectural structure, and an impact on the underlying business is identified and measured based upon this association. Accordingly, elements of the structure are parsed and analyzed, and in response to the analysis, the structure is dynamically modified to mitigate receipt of measured negative output data. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253859 | METRICS BASED DESIGN METHOD AND SYSTEM - A metrics based design method and system is disclosed. The method includes receiving by a computer processor, an informational model comprising data objects, attributes, and relationships associated with a service. The data objects comprise sub-objects. The computer processor receives business affinity (BA) band data associated with the data objects, threshold levels associated with the business affinity (BA) band data, business affinity (BA) levels associated with the business affinity (BA) band data, and service interface operation parameters. The computer processor computes a business affinity (BA) for the informational model based on the business affinity (BA) band data, the threshold levels, the business affinity (BA) levels, and the service interface operation parameters. The computer processor computes a data variation percentage and a reusability count. The computer processor performs: a nested level computation for service valency, a factorization process for computing service valency, and a data element count. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253860 | METHODS FOR DECISION MAKING THROUGH CONVEX HULL OPTIMIZATION AND DEVICES THEREOF - Described are methods, systems, and computer-readable storage media for decision making through convex hull optimization. A plurality of key performance indicators (KPIs) are received. A convex hull encompassing the plurality of KPIs is generated. Based at least in part on the generated convex hull and on at least one KPI satisfying a condition, an operating range of one or more other KPIs is determined. Moreover, specific values at which each of the other KPIs may be maintained in order to reach a defined objective are determined. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253861 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR UPDATING MAPS BASED ON TELEMATICS DATA - Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to a mapping management computer system. According to various embodiments, the mapping management computer system may be configured for updating geographical maps by assessing map data and operational data including vehicle telematics data to identify portions of a vehicle path that do not correspond to known travel paths. In various embodiments, the system is configured to define these identified portions as new known travel paths corresponding to a public road, private road, parking lot lane, or the like, and update the map data to reflect the new known travel paths. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253862 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING A FLEET MANAGEMENT USER INTERFACE - Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to a fleet management computer system configured for providing a fleet management user interface. According to various embodiments, the fleet management computer system is configured for assessing operational data to determine a vehicle travel path and one or more operational characteristics indicated by the operational data. In addition, according to various embodiments, the fleet management computer system is configured for generating a graphical user interface that includes an evaluation results display showing the operational characteristics and a geographical map showing the vehicle travel path. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253863 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PARATRANSIT RUN-CUTTING - A method and system for paratransil run-cutting is provided. A target number of paratransit vehicles is determined for each of a set of time intervals. A target number of trips corresponding to the target number of paratransit vehicles is generated for each time interval, each of said mock trips being defined such that a vehicle performing one of said mock trips in one of said time intervals is able to perform any of said mock trips in an immediately subsequent one of said time intervals. The target number of mock trips for each of the time intervals is entered into a fixed-route transit run-cutting application. Paratransit runs are created using fixed-route transit runs generated by said fixed-route transit run-cutting application. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253864 | METHODS FOR RECORDING AND TRACKING PROJECTS AND DEVICES THEREOF - A method, non-transitory computer readable medium and apparatus that obtains project data in one or more form fields of one or more remotely located user based interfaces for a project. The obtained project data from the one or more form fields of the one or more remotely located user based interfaces for the project is validated. The validated project data is recorded in a project database for the project directly from each of the one or more remotely located user based interfaces. A project tracking report is generated based on the recorded project data. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253865 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING PLANNING PRODUCTION USING FEATURE DRIVEN VALUE APPROXIMATION TECHNIQUES - A system and method is disclosed of implementing a production planning module that is configured to optimize overall costs associated with reconfiguring a production facility during a changeover between to produce a another product family over a plurality of cycles. User input data is received via a user interface and a first state vector is created and is representative of a first product family and a first inventory of items of all product families manufactured at the production facility. A first action vector is created of a first quantity of items to be produced of the first product family in a first current cycle and a second product family to be produced in a second cycle. A first state-action value function is calculated for the first action vector in a first iteration and incorporates a first sampled demand of the first inventory items of the product families, a first inventory cost associated with the first inventory and a first set up cost. A second state vector is created based on the first state vector, the first action vector and the first sampled demand. The second state vector is made of a second inventory of items of all the product families. The method comprises creating a second action vector of a second quantity of items to be produced of the second product family in the second cycle and a third product family to be produced in a third cycle. A second state-action value function is calculated for the second action vector, a second sample demand of items, a second inventory cost associated with production of the second quantity of items and a second set up cost associated with reconfiguration of the production facility from producing the second product family to producing the third product family. A cost optimization result policy is output by minimizing, over all actions vectors, the first state-action value function in the user interface. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253866 | ORGANIZATION OF REVERSE FLEXIBLE MEETING SCHEDULES - A method and system for scheduling a meeting between a schedule entity and a plurality of booking entities over a communications network. The method comprises presenting a meeting schedule of the schedule entity for access by the plurality of booking entities, such that the meeting schedule defines a meeting period including a start time and an end time and the meeting period is divided into a first meeting interval and a second meeting interval such that the intervals are located in the meeting period between the start and end times. The method also confirms booking of a first meeting for a first booking entity of the plurality of booking entities in the first meeting interval and maintains the availability of the first meeting interval to accept another meeting booking by another booking entity of the plurality of booking entities based on a booking number threshold defining the maximum number of allowed meeting bookings for the first meeting interval. The method also confirms a second meeting for a second booking entity of the plurality of booking entities in the same first meeting interval. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253867 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ASSESSING OPERATIONAL DELAYS BASED ON OPERATIONAL DATA - Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to a fleet management computer system configured for assessing operational delays. According to various embodiments, the fleet management computer system may be configured for assessing service data in order to identify delay code segments representing an occurrence indicated by a vehicle operator as delaying a delivery-related activity. In certain embodiments, the fleet management computer system may be configured for generating a graphical representation of such delay code segments. In addition, various embodiments of the fleet management computer system may be configured for comparing planning data and operational data to identify off-course portions of a travel path of a vehicle that do not follow a predefined planned route. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253868 | HEALTHCARE INFORMATION COMMUNICATION SYSTEM - A healthcare information communication system is configured to facilitate scheduling of patient appointments without sending information to the medical practice indicating preferred appointment times. The system searches a current schedule for appointments at the medical practice for available timeslots to schedule an appointment. The current schedule is stored by a scheduling component of a practice management system. In response to receiving a selection of an available timeslot to schedule the appointment, the current schedule for appointments at the medical practice is updated in real-time without intervention from staff at the medical practice. An administrator at the medical practice may configure aspects of the scheduling component to customize appointment scheduling for one or more departments and/or providers at the medical practice. The system stores scheduling configuration information associating appointment types with schedule timeslots and the scheduling configuration information may be used in the determination of available timeslots when scheduling an appointment. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253869 | System and Method for Process Improvement and Associated Products and Services - A method for identifying opportunities in a computer environment to improve a process comprising providing a tool for measuring and manipulating inputted and collected data. The measurements are scaled in large or small increments, convertible to other scales, and provided in units that are mixable. The tool allows a user to associate objects with other objects and resources. The tool provides the ability for a user to select, view, manipulate, analyze and graph effects to resources and other objects caused by incremental changes to an object to determine an amount of improvement of the process. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253870 | MAINTENANCE PLAN FORMULATION SYSTEM, MAINTENANCE PLAN FORMULATION DEVICE, CONTROL METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - A maintenance plan formulation system formulates a plan for maintaining an industrial machine used to conduct a specific operation. The maintenance plan formulation system includes first measuring means, second measuring means, and a maintenance plan formulation device. The first measuring means measures a value of information which varies by causing the industrial machine to operate for a specific job. The second measuring means measures a value of information which varies by causing the industrial machine to operate for a job other than the specific job. The maintenance plan formulation device formulates a plan for maintaining the industrial machine on the basis of the values of information measured by the first measuring means and the second measuring means. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253871 | System and Method for Optimizing Allocation of Merchandising Resources and Pricing - A system and method of optimizing allocation of services and pricing for those services is described for group transactions having at least three distinct entities. The entities can include a retailer, a plurality of vendors in need of the services and a plurality of service providers who provide the services. The system and method include creating an allocation of services to be performed at the retailer by service providers on behalf of vendors, and a price schedule for the designated for services, and placing the allocation of the services up for commitment by the vendors in discrete increments. Final pricing is determined for the discrete increments of time, services or other discrete measure designated for services based on the amount of time committed to by the plurality of retailers, and schedules the services providers to provide the services on behalf of the vendors at the retailer. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253872 | ROLE MAPPING AND TRAINING TOOL - A role mapping and training tool may include a rule-based system determining parameters for tasks, roles, jobs, individuals, and training courses, and determining mappings between the tasks, roles, jobs, individuals, and training courses. The system may utilize segregation rules to determine mappings between roles and jobs that are acceptable. Also, from the mappings, training plans may be generated. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253873 | ELECTRONIC CLEARINGHOUSE - Systems and methods for efficiently exchanging goods and services, including sharable goods and services, are provided. Certain aspects relate to electronic auctions and clearinghouses that may be configured to more efficiently distribute resources. A task regarding the performance of services and/or provisioning of goods may be generated without assigning a predefined or pre-specified individual to complete that task. In certain embodiments, any one of a plurality of individuals or a group of individuals (i.e., a business) may bid or accept a task. Pledgers may also provide compensation for the successful completion of a task. Tasks may be updated to reflect an aggregate compensation value. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253874 | GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR PRODUCT QUALITY PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT - A method to facilitate a Product Quality Planning and Management (PQPM) project associated with a product development cycle is provided. The method includes displaying on a user interface one or more activities to be executed for the PQPM project. The method further includes receiving, with an aid of the user interface, textual inputs indicative of a measurement criterion associated with an execution status the one or more activities. The method further includes tracking a progress of the PQPM project based at least in part on the received textual inputs for the measurement criterion associated with the execution status of the one or more activities. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253875 | RISK REPORTS FOR PRODUCT QUALITY PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT - A method to facilitate a Product Quality Planning and Management (PQPM) project associated with a product development cycle is provided. The method includes displaying on a user interface one or more activities to be executed for the PQPM project. The method further includes receiving, with an aid of the user interface, textual inputs indicative of a measurement criterion associated with an execution status the one or more activities. The method further includes developing a report to monitor a risk associated with the PQPM project, the report is based on the measurement criterion associated with the execution status of the one or more activities. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253876 | BENEFIT-BASED EARNED VALUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A benefit-based earned value management (BEVM) system that may store a work plan identifying tasks for completing a project, a time and cost baseline including time and cost estimates for completing the tasks and a benefits baseline including estimates of benefits and time estimates for achieving the estimated benefits over the duration of the project. The BEVM system may determine actual costs, actual time to complete the tasks, and actual benefits as the project progresses to completion and compare the metrics to the time and cost baseline and the benefits baseline to determine variances which in turn may be used to determine corrective actions and other activities that may be performed in order to improve project performance and business outcomes. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253877 | E-MEETING REQUIREMENT ASSURANCE FOR E- MEETING MANAGEMENT - Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for e-meeting requirements assurance in e-meeting management. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for e-meeting requirements assurance in e-meeting management is provided. The method includes selecting a scheduled e-meeting for an invitee in memory of a computer, retrieving resource requirements published for the selected scheduled e-meeting, inspecting local computing resources of the invitee, comparing the local computing resources to the retrieved resource requirements to identify local resource deficiencies, and generating a notice of the local resource deficiencies to the invitee prior to a scheduled date and time for the e-meeting. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253878 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SCHEDULING PARATRANSIT SERVICE - A method and system for scheduling paratransit service are provided. Demand metrics in a database are identified for a set of past days matching the type of a day for which service is being planned. The database is stored in storage of a computer system. One of the set of past days whose demand metrics correspond to a target demand level to be satisfied is selected. A service schedule for the day is initialized using actual service provided for the one past day. The service schedule is adjusted for the service fit metrics for the one past day stored in the database. The service schedule for the day is outputted. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253879 | Optimizing workforce capacity and capability - A workforce capacity and capability at an entity is optimized. Values for parameters related to the workforce capacity and capability at the entity are received. A workforce capacity and capability model is used to generate values for decision variables related to the workforce capacity and capability at the entity, based on the values for the parameters that have been received. The workforce capacity and capability model models uncertainty associated with a workforce. The values for the decision variables assist evaluation of workforce capacity and capability strategic decisions | 2012-10-04 |
20120253880 | SIMULATING DEPENDENCY OF TOKEN ARRIVAL ON PROCESS PERFORMANCE - A process analysis tool simulates the dependency of token arrival on performance of a business process. For example, the process analysis tool includes a token generator and a feedback module. The token generator schedules arrival of tokens to a business process simulator and, using feedback that depends on state of a process model, adjusts a parameter that characterizes the arrival of tokens. In particular, the adjustment can simulate the adverse effects of customer perception of processing cycle time and/or queue length on the arrival of tokens. The feedback module generates the feedback for the token generator. In this way, the process analysis tool simulates how the arrival of tokens depends on performance of the process model. A business analyst, other user or automated testing tool can use the process analysis tool to gain a better understanding of resource requirements or lost opportunities for a business process. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253881 | ELECTRICAL RESOURCE CONTROLLER - In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, an electrical system is provided. The system comprises a controller including a plurality of machine implemented processing sequences. The electrical system also includes a plurality of sensors configured to receive input related to the environmental conditions of the environment surrounding the plurality of sensors and transmit the input to the controller, at least one power source in electrical communication with the controller. The electrical system further includes at least one storage device in electrical communication with the controller, and at least one device sensor in communication with an end user. The at least one device sensor includes memory, and the memory includes priority information regarding the priority of a device associated with the at least one device sensor. The at least one device sensor is operable to transmit information to the controller. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253882 | Identification of Instable Service Plan - A method for identification of an instable network operator service (NOS) plan having one or more mobile users. Instable NOS plans are determined by first determining a heterogeneity constant for each of a plurality of NOS plans. Based at least in part on the constant, the NOS plans are classified among different categories, wherein at least one category identifies an instable NOS plan. For each of the mobile users subscribed to at least one of the instable NOS plan category, determining a best NOS plan from amongst the plurality of NOS plans and a sample network operator service plan based at least in part on a spending behavior of the respective ones of the mobile users. Identifying, the instable NOS plan from amongst the plurality of NOS plans in which maximum number of mobile users correspond to the sample NOS plan as the correspondingly determined best NOS plan. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253883 | Food product contamination event management system and method - An event management system has a first input node, a second input node, and a food event management system. The first input node is adapted to receive epidemiological information. The second input node is adapted to receive food distribution path information. The food event management system is coupled to the first input node and to the second input node. The food event management system is adapted to compare the epidemiological information and the food distribution path information to identify one or more possible correlations and to generate an event output related to the one or more possible correlations. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253884 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MODELING RELATIONSHIPS AT MULTIPLE SCALES IN RATINGS ESTIMATION - Systems and techniques for generating item ratings for a user in order to allow for recommendations of selected items for that user. A set of known ratings of different items for a plurality of users is collected and maintained, and these known ratings are used to estimate rating factors influencing ratings, including user and item factors. Initial user and item factors are estimated and new user and item factors are successively added, with the original rating factors being progressively shrunk so as to reduce their magnitude and their contribution to the rating estimation as successive factors are added. When an appropriate number of user and item factors has been estimated, the rating factors are used to estimate ratings of items for a user, and the estimated ratings are employed to generate recommendations for that user. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253885 | REFERRED INTERNET TRAFFIC ANALYSIS SYSTEM AND METHOD - Methods and a system for exploiting the secondary traffic generated by social networking sites are disclosed. Traffic on a commercial website is constantly monitored by a web analytics tool, which collects traffic measurements of hits, button presses, enquiries, purchases etc., as well as the referrer URL of a site such as a social networking site through which the commercial website is accessed. The collected measurements are forwarded to a Referred Traffic Analysis System. Concurrently, the Referred Traffic Analysis System crawls the Internet and collects a large number of social networking sites, analyses their content by extracting insight terms and phrases from them. In a third step, the collected traffic measurements are correlated with the collected insights from the social networking sites, and the top insights that reoccur frequently enough to appear to be a driver for the measurements observed, are presented to the client. A corresponding system is also provided. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253886 | Systems and Methods for Client Development - Included are systems and methods for client development. Some embodiments may include receiving a client roster for an entity, the client roster including a plurality of clients, receiving client billing data for the plurality of clients, and computing billing trend data for the plurality of clients. Similarly, some embodiments are further configured to generate a user interface for display that provides the billing trend data according to a plurality of fields. The user interface may include a filtering user option to alter the user interface by filtering at least one of the plurality of fields and a report option to generate a report that comprises at least a portion of the billing trend data. Similarly, some embodiments are configured to generate the report in response to selection of the report option and alter the report in response to selection of the filtering user option. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253887 | Methods and System for Obtaining and Using Opinions - The intent of this patent is to provide an electronic based platform for the general public and members of particular groups to share their opinion, make payment toward influencing policies, and provide input to commercial, social, financial, and political groups and influence their actions. Demographic, geographic, and other information may also be cross-referenced to increase the utility of the data and focus questions relevant to the participants. Conceptually, we can have the equivalent a Nielsen® rating not from a few thousand but millions. We can have the equivalent of Election Day every week or every month. We can have a referendum on issues every day. The implication of its effect on society is a democracy come true. The ease of use and the accessibility will make even the true novice in electronic communication devices enthusiastic participants. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253888 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ASSESSING VEHICLE AND VEHICLE OPERATOR EFFICIENCY - Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to a fleet management computer system for assessing vehicle efficiency. According to various embodiments, the fleet management computer system is configured for receiving and assessing vehicle telematics data in order to determine an idle percentage of engine run time value representing the percentage of the vehicle's engine run time during which the vehicle's engine was idling during the one or more time periods. In addition, the fleet management computer system may be configured for assessing vehicle telematics data in order to identify segment of engine idle time and generate a graphical display indicating various attributes of the identified idle time segments. The idle time percentage and idle time segments generated by the system can be used to assess the efficiency of vehicles and/or vehicle operators in an associated fleet. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253889 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ASSESSING ASSET EFFICIENCIES - Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to an asset management computer system configured for assessing the efficiency of one or more assets, such as human employees. According to various embodiments, the asset management computer system may be configured for analyzing operational data indicative of one or more asset dynamics and segmenting the operational data into a plurality of activity segments representing periods of time classified according to asset activity. In addition, the asset management computer system may be further configured to determine one or more operational characteristics for each of said activity segments and generate a graphical representation of the activity segments. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253890 | ARTICULATING VALUE-CENTRIC INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DESIGN - A framework for articulating value-centric information technology design is presented. The framework can perform business value articulation, including establishing a relationship between change enablers and ultimate resulting business value. Key business process metrics of information technology services can be assessed. Change enablers can be identified. A business value articulation model can represent connections between change enablers and ultimate value to the organization. The framework assists an information technology service provider articulate how it can deliver higher business value to an organization. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253891 | Computer-Implemented Generation Of Roadmap Visualizations - A method, computer program product, and system for generating a roadmap visualization for a set of topics, comprising collecting topic data about each topic in a set of topics from an entity, analyzing the collected topic data to calculate one or more business scores for each topic, generating a visualization by plotting entity datapoints for each topic in a visualization format, where visual characteristics of the entity datapoints indicate the business scores for each topic, and displaying the visualization on a display device. The topics may relate to information technology, human resources, risk, audit, capital planning, research and development, or any other entity-related topic desired to be visualized, and the business scores may be any suitable information desired to be visualized, such as risk scores, business impact scores, implementation scores, or alignment scores. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253892 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ASSESSING DELIVERY PERFORMANCE BASED ON OPERATIONAL DATA - Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to a fleet management computer system for assessing delivery performance. According to various embodiments, the fleet management computer system may be configured for assessing operational data to identify the occurrence of one or more delivery stops, identify one or more stop attributes for each of the identified delivery stops, and generate a graphical display indicating the identified delivery stops and stop attributes. In addition, the fleet management computer system may be configured to assess the operational data to determine dispatch statistics including cumulative or average delivery performance statistics grouped according to various working shifts. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253893 | Identification of Borrowers for Digital Items - Digital items may be lent from one user to another. A lending system may facilitate matching users that have a digital item to lend with users that wish to borrow a digital item. Each user may have a reputation associated with his or her lending behavior that is represented as a lending metric. The lending metric may show whether a given user is primarily a lender or borrower of digital items. Heavy borrowers that do not engage in commensurate lending may be penalized. Multiple users that lend and borrow digital items from one another may be connected in a social network. The nature of a relationship in the social network may and the lending metrics of users are factors used to make lending decisions. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253894 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING TAG-BASED CONTENT INSTALLATION - An approach is provided for providing tag-based content installation. The content manager causes, at least in part, reading of tag information from one or more memory tags, the one or more memory tags compliant with at least one protocol for automated content installation. Next, the content manager processes and/or facilitates a processing of the tag information to determine at least one link to one or more content items. Then, the content manager causes, at least in part, retrieval, installation, or a combination thereof of the one or more content items according to the at least one protocol. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253895 | VIRTUAL SHOPPING CART SPANNING PLURALITY OF SALES SITES - A system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption provides customers making online purchases to automatically retrieve and redeem all applicable rebates and coupons during an online purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system makes purchases from merchants or manufacturers using all applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system automatically retrieves coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site and to retrieve manufacturer's and merchant's coupons prior to an online purchasing activity for subsequent submission to an online merchant during a subsequent purchasing activity. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253896 | EMAIL-BASED E-COMMERCE - An electronic commerce (e-commerce) system may send advertisement emails to customers that are registered with the e-commerce system. The advertisement emails may include mailto hyperlinks. Each mailto hyperlink may be associated with a product that is being offered for sale, and each mailto hyperlink describes an email message that may be generated when that hyperlink is selected. When a mailto hyperlink is selected, the generated email message may include one or more parameters related to the product associated with the hyperlink, such as an identifier of the product. The generated email message may then be transmitted to the e-commerce system. The e-commerce system may receive the message and, based on the parameters in the received message, execute a transaction to purchase the identified product on behalf of the customer. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253897 | EMAIL-BASED DONATIONS - An electronic commerce (e-commerce) system may send advertisement emails to customers that are registered with the e-commerce system. The advertisement emails may include mailto hyperlinks. Each mailto hyperlink describes an email message that may be generated when that hyperlink is selected. When a mailto hyperlink is selected, the generated email message may include one or more parameters related to a donation that be made by the customer to a non-profit organization. For example, the generated email message may include a customer identifier, and/or one or more parameters that indicate the non-profit to which a donation should be made, and an amount to be donated. The generated email message may then be transmitted to the e-commerce system. The e-commerce system may receive the message and, based on the parameters in the received message, communicate with a payment processing system to perform the donation indicated in the message. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253898 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVDING COUPON INFORMATION VIA RING-BACK SIGNAL - An approach is provided for delivering one or more coupon and/or other information via a ring-back signal. One or more communication networks and/or one or more services platforms receive one or more requests for one or more coupon and/or other information and cause, at least in part, delivery of one or more coupon and/or other information via a ring-back signal on one or more communication channels. | 2012-10-04 |
20120253899 | TABLE APPROACH FOR DETERMINING QUALITY SCORES - Some implementations construct a quality score table based on historic data collected for a plurality of ad-keyword pairs. An ad-keyword pair may be selected for determining a quality score. One or more advertisement parameters may be determined for the selected ad-keyword pair. Based on the one or more advertisement parameters, the quality score for the selected ad-keyword pair may be determined from the quality score table. In some implementations, the quality score table is constructed by iteratively cutting a directed graph representing the advertisement parameters and the historic data. Further, in some implementations, the table may be smoothed using a smoothing operation. | 2012-10-04 |