Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100010909 | BENEFIT ORDERING AND COMPLIANCE SERVER - A benefits ordering system provides flexible spending account debit cards to employees and allows their employer to enroll in a Plan that ensures compliance with ERISA regulations. The system applies compliance rules during a data collection and plan definition stages of ordering, and produces an ERISA-compliant Plan and documentation as legally required. A directed questioning and answering wizard guides companies and participants through the placing of orders for products. The particular sequence of questions is dependent on the products being ordered, and the parameters drive variations in the plans. Rules and parameters are built into libraries used by the system, and it is these that direct the information collection flow. Each type of Plan is constructed from previously composed paragraphs that are threaded together to encapsulate the parameters and include the required components. Plans can be modified, if new compliance rules must be met, based on changing parameters. | 01-14-2010 |
20110087592 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING TRANSACTIONS - Pursuant to some embodiments, a payment account including multiple subaccounts is provided where each subaccount can be used only for payment for a designated category of products. Pursuant to some embodiments, purchases using the subaccounts can be automatically combined in a single transaction to redeem multiple categories of products, with each subaccount providing funds for the redemption of a single product category. In some embodiments, the payment account may include a subaccount that contains value that is unrestricted and available for general spending or to automatically provide supplementary funds for the redemption of products from subaccounts with product category restrictions. The value contained within each subaccount may be immediately available funds, access to credit provided by an entity who has agreed to extend credit to the account holder for purchasing products in a designated category or a combination of these types of value. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the value may include benefits provided by a health care plan whose redemption is limited to specific categories of products and services as provided by the plan. | 04-14-2011 |
20110099028 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VERIFYING MEDICAL PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY AND PAYMENT DATA - Systems, methods and means for facilitating verification transactions in connection with a discount medical program are provided which include a verification host, configured to maintain rules and logic relating to price and member verification, a rate verification subsystem configured to maintain rules and logic for receiving price information from a plurality of discount medical plan sponsors including the prices for services from each medical service provider participating in the program and for processing requests for price verification received from medical services providers, and a member verification subsystem configured to maintain rules and logic for issuing a payment card to individuals with said card representing membership in a discount medical program, for receiving member information from medical plan sponsors including the current membership status of each member, for processing requests for member verification received from medical services providers, and for processing payment transactions associated with the member payment card. | 04-28-2011 |
20120059701 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORFACILITATING A REWARDS PROGRAM INVOLVING MULTIPLE PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS - Systems and methods are provided for linking multiple payment card accounts to a single rewards program account which include associating, in a program management computer system, a first program identifier with the single rewards program account, associating, in the program management computer system, the first program identifier with a first payment card account, associating, in the program management computer system, the first program identifier to at least a second payment card account; and storing, in the program management computer system, at least a first set of reward program rules associated with the single reward program account, the first set of reward program rules specifying at least one of a reward conversion ratio and a promotion rule. Payment transactions conducted using the first and at least second payment card accounts earning a reward amount are associated with the single rewards program account and the first set of reward program rules are applied to the payment transactions. | 03-08-2012 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080228843 | Filesystem having a filename cache - A system comprising a processor, a data storage device that is accessible by the processor, and filesystem software that is executable by the processor to organize files on the data storage device are provided. The filesystem software is executable to maintain a filename cache having variable size filename entries. The filename entries may include a filename header section and a name section storing an entire filename of a corresponding file. | 09-18-2008 |
20090115736 | SYSTEM HAVING USER INTERFACE USING MOTION BASED OBJECT SELECTION AND MOUSE MOVEMENT - A system includes a touchscreen display and an interface application. The interface application controls the touchscreen display to provide a container and a user interface control. The user interface control may be selected through manipulation of the touchscreen display in an area of the container proximate the user interface control. The user interface application identifies a user manipulation as a mouse movement in response to manipulation of the touchscreen display in an area of the container when the manipulation has a motion magnitude exceeding a threshold value. | 05-07-2009 |
20090195556 | SYSTEM COMPOSITING IMAGES FROM MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS - A system compositing images from different applications includes a movie clip based application, an image application, and a compositing application that is in communication with the movie clip based application and the image application. The movie clip based application defines one or more movie clip images for display. The image application provides one or more images for display with the one or more movie clip images. The compositing application operates to composite the one or more movie clip images with the one or more images of the image application for viewing on a display. | 08-06-2009 |
20110107342 | PROCESS SCHEDULER EMPLOYING ORDERING FUNCTION TO SCHEDULE THREADS RUNNING IN MULTIPLE ADAPTIVE PARTITIONS - A system is set forth that includes a processor, one or more memory storage units, and software code stored in the one or more memory storage units. The software code is executable by the processor to generate a plurality of adaptive partitions that are each associated with one or more process threads. Each of the plurality, of adaptive partitions has one or more corresponding scheduling attributes that are assigned to it. The software code further includes a scheduling system that is executable by the processor for selectively allocating the processor to run the process threads based on a comparison between ordering function values for each adaptive partition. The ordering function value for each adaptive partition is calculated using one or more of the scheduling attributes of the corresponding adaptive partition. The scheduling attributes that may be used to calculate the ordering function value include, for example, 1) the process budget, such as a guaranteed time budget, of the adaptive partition, 2) the critical budget, if any, of the adaptive partition, 3) the rate at which the process threads of an adaptive partition consume processor time, or the like. For each adaptive partition that is associated with a critical thread, a critical ordering function value also may be calculated. The scheduling system may compare the ordering function value with the critical ordering function value of the adaptive partition to determine the proper manner of billing the adaptive partition for the processor allocation used to run its associated critical threads. Methods of implementing various aspects of such a system are also set forth. | 05-05-2011 |
20110246477 | FILESYSTEM HAVING A FILENAME CACHE - A system comprising a processor, a data storage device that is accessible by the processor, and filesystem software that is executable by the processor to organize files on the data storage device are provided. The filesystem software is executable to maintain a filename cache comprising filename entries. The filename entries may include a filename header section and each filename entry identifies a filename of a corresponding file. | 10-06-2011 |
20110289511 | Symmetric Multi-Processor System - The present invention relates generally to computer operating systems, and more specifically, to operating system calls in a symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) environment. Existing SMP strategies either use a single lock or multiple locks to limit access to critical areas of the operating system to one thread at a time. These strategies suffer from a number of performance problems including slow execution, large software and execution overheads and deadlocking problems. The invention applies a single lock strategy to a micro kernel operating system design which delegates functionality to external processes. The micro kernel has a single critical area, the micro kernel itself, which executes very quickly, while the external processes are protected by proper thread management. As a result, a single lock may be used, overcoming the performance problems of the existing strategies. | 11-24-2011 |
20130247066 | Process Scheduler Employing Adaptive Partitioning of Process Threads - A system includes a processor and memory storage units storing software code. The software code comprises code for a scheduling system and for generating a plurality of adaptive partitions that are each associated with one or more process threads and that each have a corresponding processor budget. The code also is executable to, when the system is under a normal load, allocate the processor to one of the threads that is in a ready state and has the highest priority among the process threads that are in a ready state. The code is also executable to, when the system is in overload, allocate the processor to one of the process threads that is in a ready state and has the highest priority among the process threads that are in a ready state and for which the adaptive partition that the process thread is associated with has available guaranteed processor budget. | 09-19-2013 |
20140245311 | ADAPTIVE PARTITIONING FOR OPERATING SYSTEM - An adaptive partition scheduler is a priority-based scheduler that also provides execution time guarantees (fair-share). Execution time guarantees apply to threads or groups of threads when the system is overloaded. When the system is not overloaded, threads are scheduled based strictly on priority, maintaining strict real-time behavior. When the system is overloaded, threads are scheduled based priority of threads that are in a ready state and based on the available guaranteed processor time budget of the adaptive partition associated with each thread. | 08-28-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080265094 | Structural Element and Method of Manufacture - In a method for manufacturing a structural element intended for aeronautical construction, at least a first and second metal block are made available, the limit of elasticity under compression of the first metal block being greater than that of the second metal block. The first metal block is machined in such a manner as to obtain a first machined monolithic part which has a first web portion and at least one stringer element whose height is such that a stringer portion extends beyond the first web portion. There is prepared, by shaping the second metal block, at least one second part having at least a second web portion capable of co-operating with the first web portion to form the web. The first monolithic part and the second part are assembled by placing the first and second web portions end-to-end over their entire common length. | 10-30-2008 |
20110203343 | Method To Achieve A Stiffened Curved Metallic Structure And Structure Obtained Accordingly - The invention relates to a process for making a reinforced curved metallic structure, made from a heavy-gauge or plate-gauge sheet of an aluminium alloy containing scandium. | 08-25-2011 |
20140278292 | Method for coupling non-destructive inspection data for a material or structure to an analysis tool - A computer aided method is provided for coupling non-destructive inspection data for a material or structure to an analysis tool. The method includes receiving a voxel data representation of a damaged area of the material or structure, and generating a finite element mesh based on the voxel data representation. The finite element mesh includes a plurality of nodes, each node corresponding to one or more voxels of the voxel data representation. The method further includes integrating damage information from the voxel data representation into the finite element mesh by applying at least one integration rule, the damage information indicating whether or not a given voxel has sustained damage. Damage information for areas of the finite element mesh that do not include damage information is interpolated by applying at least one interpolation rule. A finite element model including a finite element mesh having damage information associated therewith is output. | 09-18-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080292300 | Method, Apparatus and Software for Processing Photographic Image Data Using a Photographic Recording Medium - The present invention relates to a method, apparatus or software for processing photographic image data using a photographic recording medium arranged for capturing successive optical images in a series of discrete frames. | 11-27-2008 |
20080320332 | Error Processing Across Multiple Initiator Network - An architecture for error log processing is provided. Each error log is given a defined priority and mapped to an error recovery procedure (ERP) to be run if the log is seen. The system has a plurality of software layers to process the errors. Each software layer processes the error independently. Errors are reported to a higher software stack when error recovery fails from the lower stack ERPs and recovery is non-transparent. If the system host identified for error processing fails, the control of the ERP is transferred during the failover process. Non-obvious failed component isolating ERPs are grouped to be run together to assist in isolating the failed component. Prioritization of the error systems may be based on a plurality of criteria. ERPs are assigned to run within a particular software stack. | 12-25-2008 |
20100205617 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTONOMIC APPLICATION PROGRAM SPAWNING IN A COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - A method and system for self-managing an application program in a computing environment, is provided. One implementation involves spawning a primary application for execution in the computing environment; the primary application monitoring status of the primary application and the computing environment resources while executing; and upon detecting a first status threshold, the primary application spawning a secondary application in the computing environment, wherein the secondary application comprises a lower functionality version of the primary application, and the primary application terminating. | 08-12-2010 |
20130254774 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTONOMIC APPLICATION PROGRAM SPAWNING IN A COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - A method and system for self-managing an application program in a computing environment, is provided. One implementation involves spawning a primary application for execution in the computing environment; the primary application monitoring status of the primary application and the computing environment resources while executing; and upon detecting a first status threshold, the primary application spawning a secondary application in the computing environment, wherein the secondary application comprises a lower functionality version of the primary application, and the primary application terminating. | 09-26-2013 |