Patents Examined by A. H. Walker
  • Patent number: 8560359
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for modeling consequences of events on performance indicators. A causality model is provided to define relationships between events and the consequences associated with each one of the events to modify a value of at least one of the performance indicators associated with each one of the events. An algorithm included in the causality model is executable to compute an impact of the consequences on the value. A causality model management system is provided to manage the causality model, including storing, execution of the algorithm, interfacing with other systems, and simulating what-if scenarios of the events and the performance indicators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Mathias Salle, Yassine Faihe, Abdel Boulmakoul
  • Patent number: 8554595
    Abstract: Systems, methods, non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer program instructions for causing a computer device to implement methods, and the like utilize weather information from one or a variety of locations to estimate costs for providing weather-dependent work, and to provide financial controls for weather-dependent work allegedly performed. One method includes utilizing historical weather information relating to performance of weather-dependent work at a work location to generate an estimate of an anticipated frequency with which weather-dependent work will be necessary, utilizing information to estimate an anticipated cost per incident for performing weather-dependent work at the selected work location, and using such information at a plurality of locations to generate an aggregate bid for performing weather-dependent work at the locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Symbiot Business Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Raymond P. Jones, Jr., Gregory G. Gonzales, Michael L. Edwards, Douglas S. Haymore, II
  • Patent number: 8538800
    Abstract: Aspects of the invention relate to displaying on a graph data describing events and data describing key performance indicators (KPIs). The event data describes an occurrence that may influence the performance objectives of a business, such as the appearance of an advertisement for the business in a magazine. The KPI data describes a quantifiable measure of the business's performance, such as the number of sales of a product. The event data and KPI data are received and displayed on a graph so that the business owner can understand the relationship between the events and the KPIs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ajay Gupta, Sharad Nandwani
  • Patent number: 8504402
    Abstract: A schedule for a network of transportation resources is produced by iteratively generating sets of variables for each market pair using an objective function and based on at least an identified range of permissible departure or arrival times for each market pair and spacing parameters. Each variable represents a different set of possible departure or arrival times for a particular market pair. The proposed schedule is built based on the generated sets of variables for each market pair and a set of constraints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: Southwest Airlines Co.
    Inventors: Chieh Hsien Tiao, David John Michael
  • Patent number: 8458012
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein can produce and present sustainable price information to help dealers to price vehicles for sustainability and facilitate consumers in making purchase decisions. In one approach, a sustainable price range for a specific vehicle configuration may be based on an average profit margin (APM) determined utilizing historical sale prices and an estimated actual dealer cost. Other approaches may utilize some or all of the following steps: determine APM and build a model of distribution of profit margins by APM, build a model to adjust APM by certain variables, identify sustainable levels for the inventory, production, and incentives variables feeding into the APM model, plug those in to get the averages for those sustainable levels, identify sustainable percentile cutoffs for a given profit margin, then use this relationship with the now identified sustainable levels as inputs to find the overall sustainable profit margin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Truecar, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Swinson, Scott Painter
  • Patent number: 8452638
    Abstract: Certain embodiments disclosed herein provide devices, systems, and methods of using location-based virtual audience feedback to estimate interest in an attraction at one or more venues. Certain embodiments provide devices, systems, and methods of using location-based virtual audience feedback and/or other audience data to estimate interest in a plurality of attractions or other items of interest at a particular venue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2013
    Assignee: Kickdrum, LLC
    Inventors: Kacie Maiken Pickton, David Barel
  • Patent number: 8428995
    Abstract: Computer systems and methods are disclosed for improving professional services delivery, such as services in a data management environment. In certain examples, computer systems comprise portals for transmitting and receiving information from parties involved in the performance and receipt of professional services. For instance, a first portal can receive data (e.g., from sales personnel) descriptive of a customer's product environment. A manager module populates a record with the data, and a second portal provides the customer with access to the record for review, correction and/or validation prior to the generation of a Statement of Work or other like project description. The second portal can also request additional information from the customer regarding the product environment. The manager module compares the data received through the first portal with the customer-entered information to identify and/or address discrepancies between the sets of data and customize the generation of the Statement of Work.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: CommVault Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Keith Brower, Jr., Peter Messore
  • Patent number: 8412556
    Abstract: Systems and methods for analyzing projects in a business entity including multiple groups and multiple levels of decision making authority are provided. Project identification data that identifies a particular project is received. A project categorization of the project is performed to categorize the project based on one or more of the size, general risks, and complexity of the project. An anti-corruption risk assessment of the project is performed to categorize an anti-corruption risk associated with the project. A group-specific risk assessment of the project is performed to categorize a risk associated with the project relevant to one of the multiple groups of the business entity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2013
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Dagmar Wötzel, Thomas Morus Erich Luethi, Hans-Juergen Schloss
  • Patent number: 8380552
    Abstract: An approach is provided for determining an estimated completion time for a task and/or a project. A plurality of electronic communications of a plurality of users are accessed, wherein the electronic communications relate to a common project engaged in by the users. Timing information is extracted from the electronic communications. For each of the users, an average delay period is computed using the extracted timing information. An estimated delay value is generated for the project based on the computed average delay periods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.
    Inventor: Devin Moore
  • Patent number: 8311866
    Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for customizing a worker's career development within an organization is provided. Information concerning the worker is obtained by either or both soliciting input directly from the worker and retrieving the information from one or more databases containing such information. The information is applied to a set of stored rules for defining available options along predefined career dimensions reflective of career-life fit. Based on application of the information to the set of stored rules, a profile is automatically created. If the profile accurately reflects the career-life fit goals of the worker, it is used as the operative profile for the worker until it is appropriate or necessary to change it.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Deloitte Development LLC
    Inventors: Cathleen Benko, Anne Weisberg, Molly Anderson
  • Patent number: 8290808
    Abstract: Computer systems and methods are disclosed for improving professional services delivery, such as services in a data management environment. In certain examples, computer systems comprise portals for transmitting and receiving information from parties involved in the performance and receipt of professional services. For instance, a first portal can receive data (e.g., from sales personnel) descriptive of a customer's product environment. A manager module populates a record with the data, and a second portal provides the customer with access to the record for review, correction and/or validation prior to the generation of a Statement of Work or other like project description. The second portal can also request additional information from the customer regarding the product environment. The manager module compares the data received through the first portal with the customer-entered information to identify and/or address discrepancies between the sets of data and customize the generation of the Statement of Work.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2012
    Assignee: CommVault Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Keith Brower, Jr., Peter Messore
  • Patent number: 8239239
    Abstract: Certain embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for modifying a user interface to provide easier access to succeeding user actions in a stored workflow after receiving a subsequent user action that corresponds to a user action in a stored workflow. In one embodiment, workflows that include a series of such user actions are received and stored. User actions may be inputs from a user that select an option representing a function that is performed by the application. A subsequent user action is received that corresponds to a user action in one or more stored workflows. Each of the workflows that include a corresponding user action are identified. A favorite workflow is determined based on the number of identified workflows that include the same user actions, including a user action corresponding to the subsequent user action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated
    Inventors: Vibha Malhotra, Akshaya Saxena
  • Patent number: 8239241
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for providing information to a client or customer about anticipated service center delays comprising maintaining data about the client's call preferences, modeling a best indicator of delays specific to an individual client when answering a call from the client by the service center in order to capture the greatest market share of the clients, and communicating to the client a best indicator of delays suited to the client's call preferences in answering the call from the client to the service center.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Parijat Dube, Zhen Liu, Laura Wynter
  • Patent number: 8234151
    Abstract: Certain embodiments disclosed herein provide devices, systems, and methods of using location-based virtual audience feedback to estimate interest in an attraction at one or more venues. Certain embodiments provide devices, systems, and methods of using location-based virtual audience feedback and/or other audience data to estimate interest in a plurality of attractions or other items of interest at a particular venue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2012
    Assignee: Kick Drum, LLC
    Inventors: Kacie Maiken Pickton, David Barel
  • Patent number: 8234150
    Abstract: Certain embodiments disclosed herein provide devices, systems, and methods of using location-based virtual audience feedback to estimate interest in an attraction at one or more venues. Certain embodiments provide devices, systems, and methods of using location-based virtual audience feedback and/or other audience data to estimate interest in a plurality of attractions or other items of interest at a particular venue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2012
    Assignee: Kick Drum, LLC
    Inventors: Kacie Maiken Pickton, David Barel
  • Patent number: 8219429
    Abstract: The present invention provides a communication monitoring and analysis method and system. More specifically, the present invention provides a method for determining the health and overall satisfaction of employees in an organization. The determination may be made by monitoring communications generated by employees for their tone and other parameters related to their satisfaction with various decisions made within the organization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignee: Avaya Inc.
    Inventors: Colin Blair, Kevin Chan, Christopher R. Gentle, Neil Hepworth, Andrew W. Lang
  • Patent number: 8214243
    Abstract: Systems and methods for managing large oil field operations are provided. A oil field map is displayed on a monitor. The oil field map includes oil well objects, oil field facility objects, surface work crew objects, sub-surface work crew objects, safety zones objects, and work equipment rig objects associated with at least one work crew object and having a geographic locater device for tracking its location, each of the objects include a date attribute and a location attribute. The oil field map is customizable by date and has a date selector tool. At least two surface or sub-surface work crew objects are scheduled via a domain-specific software application from which the surface or sub-surface work crew object was extracted. The scheduling of the surface or sub-surface work crew objects is repeated until all surface and sub-surface work crews are scheduled for a date range of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2012
    Assignee: Chevron U.S.A. Inc.
    Inventors: Troy Darcy Graham, Andrew Kent Olson, Justin Lewis Walker, Kenan Oran
  • Patent number: 8185426
    Abstract: A system and method for providing real-time appointment rescheduling by providing access to one or more computer-based appointment scheduling systems and a virtual open appointment wait-list associated with one or more appointment slots in the scheduling systems. One or more service consumers request to be placed on the wait-list. When an appointment becomes available, wait-list data is searched to find the first consumer that is next on the wait-list and whose wait-list data is consistent with the newly available appointment. The first consumer is then contacted with a designated period of time to respond and accept the appointment. After the designated period of time has passed with no response from the first consumer, the wait-list data is searched again to find the second service consumer that is next on the wait-list. The process is repeated automatically until the newly available appointment is accepted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Intuit Inc.
    Inventor: Siamak Khoubyari
  • Patent number: 8165905
    Abstract: A data processing unit, a data processing method, and a program product for determining a transhipment method are provided. The data processing unit may include a solution search processor for performing solution search processing of a plurality of physical objects. In the data processing unit, a data representation of a loading state of an object may have a corresponding variable which takes as a value an identification number of a heap at a predetermined physical location. The data representation of the loading state may include a coordinate value indicating a loading order of the object in the heap. The data processing unit may also include an initial condition inputter. The solution search processor may perform the solution search processing by constructing a search tree.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: NS Solutions Corporation
    Inventor: Masashi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8131578
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for scheduling a workforce. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: receiving a shift activity template; receiving an association between the shift activity template and at least one worker; and scheduling a plurality of schedulable objects. The scheduling is performed in accordance with a workload forecast and schedule constraints. Each of the schedulable objects is based on the shift activity template. The shift activity template describes a worker activity performed during a shift. The template has range of start times and a variable length for the activity. The activity is associated with a queue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2012
    Assignee: Verint Americas Inc.
    Inventors: Jason Fama, Uri Peleg, Michael R. Bourke, Jr., Richard M. Lawrence, Sameet Vasant Joshi