Abstract: A system, method and software application track call failures on a wireless phone. A software application on the phone monitors outbound calls made on the phone to determine whether or not a call fails. In one embodiment, such monitoring is done only for a select period of time (e.g., the initial few seconds when the phone is attempting to connect to a call to the wireless communication carrier's network), and, in an alternate embodiment, such monitoring is done for the duration of the call. If a call fails, the software application stores information related to the call. Examples of such types of information include the time the call failed, the location of the phone at call failure, and identification information for the phone. The stored call information is then sent to the wireless communication carrier to enable the carrier to assess network quality.

Abstract: The present invention includes a method and software application for providing a promotion to a user on a phone. The software application resides on a user's phone and “listens” for phone numbers dialed by a user. In response to the user dialing a phone number, the software determines whether a promotion or an offer for a promotion should be provided to the user. In response to determining to play or offer to play a promotion to the user, the software application on the phone effectively “intercepts” the call and plays to the user either a promotion or an offer to hear about a promotion prior to placing an outbound voice call. The software application may retrieve the promotion from local memory or may connect with a remote server to download an applicable promotion.

Abstract: The present invention provides a configuration system, method, and software program for efficiently configuring products with dynamic components. Component definitions in the configuration system can include both static and dynamic attributes. Static attributes are fixed and are defined prior to the user configuring a product. Dynamic attributes are defined during a configuration session, and the values of dynamic attributes are unique to a configuration session. When an attribute of a dynamic component is specified or changed during the configuration process, the configurator creates only a partial instance of the component with the specified dynamic attribute, and it associates a state of the configuration process with such partial instance. When the configurator executes a constraint that involves a component with one or more dynamic attributes, the configurator uses, for each dynamic attribute, the most recent partial instance of the component with a value for that attribute.

Abstract: The present invention includes a method and software application for providing a promotion to a user on a phone. The software application resides on a user's phone and “listens” for phone numbers dialed by a user. In response to the user dialing a phone number, the software determines whether a promotion or an offer for a promotion should be provided to the user. In response to determining to play or offer to play a promotion to the user, the software application on the phone effectively “intercepts” the call and plays to the user either a promotion or an offer to hear about a promotion prior to placing an outbound voice call. The software application may retrieve the promotion from local memory or may connect with a remote server to download an applicable promotion.

Abstract: A visual mapping system and method facilitate communication and collaboration among users sharing visual maps or topics in visual maps. The visual mapping system tracks user presence in individual topics in the visual mapping system. User presence is tracked for users that are online. If an online user is present in a topic, the system displays an indication of such presence in the topic to other online users currently sharing the same topic. The visual mapping system also provides an interface in the visual map through which an online user can initiate communications with other online users that are present in a shared topic. Types of communications that can be initiated through the visual map include chat sessions, instant meetings, telephone calls, and email messages.