Patents Examined by Alexander Kalinowski
  • Patent number: 8589266
    Abstract: In some example embodiments, a system and method is illustrated as including receiving a funds request that contains an identifier to uniquely identify a first member of a social networking community, the funds request including an amount of funds requested. Further, this method may include receiving a funds authorization from a grantor of funds. Additionally, this method may include transmitting a funds transfer instruction based upon the funds authorization. Moreover, this method may include transferring the amount of funds requested from an account held by the grantor of funds to an account held by the first member of a social networking community.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: eBay Inc.
    Inventors: Deborah Yee-Ky Liu, Su-I Lu
  • Patent number: 8589294
    Abstract: The present invention provides an automated system configured to facilitate transfers of cash value from one or more lines of credit to one or more deposit accounts or payment systems. An automated system ensures that requested funds are available in a customer's one or more lines of credit and electronically deposits the requested funds into one or more designated deposit accounts or payment systems. An automated system provides a means for customers to manage lines of credit, setup transfer transactions, define rules governing transfers and view transactional history. The automated system, in network connection with the lending organization's backend systems, may authenticate customer identities and credit accounts as well as insure that the requested funds are available for transfer into a deposit account.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas C. Baker, Diane M. Derocher, Lawrence Stanton Hoffman, Bruno Jimenez, Yogesh R. More, Pauline Raffaele, Andrea M. Saporito, Jennifer Lynne Wybraniec
  • Patent number: 8583537
    Abstract: Embodiments of a system and method for cross trading a publicly traded security are disclosed. In an embodiment, a cross trade is executed at the volume weighted average price of the publicly traded security calculated for a portion of the trading day. An embodiment of the method includes accepting offers to buy and sell the security during a first window of time, calculating the volume weighted average price of the security during a second window of time, and cross trading the offers. An embodiment of the system includes a user interface for accepting offers, a volume weighted average price calculator for calculating the volume weighted average price at which to execute the cross trade and a cross trade application for executing the cross trade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
    Inventors: Samuel Ayzyk Birnbaum, Cristian Zarcu
  • Patent number: 8571965
    Abstract: Techniques for reducing delta values of credit risk positions in online trading of credit derivatives are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: Creditex Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark A. Rowell, Christopher J. Crowley, F. Charles Doerr
  • Patent number: 8571895
    Abstract: The described embodiments contemplate a system, method and computer-readable medium with computer-executable instructions for recording information relating to an accident. In one exemplary and non-limiting embodiment, once an accident is detected, a storage file is created, and information relating to the accident is stored in the storage file. In another exemplary and non-limiting embodiment, an insurance company may process a claim by receiving a notification that an accident has occurred, transmitting a request to record information relating to the accident, receiving the information, establishing an accident record, and processing an insurance claim. In another exemplary and non-limiting embodiment, an accident is detected, primary accident information is transmitted from a first recording device, a communication link is established between the first recording device and a second recording device, and a request is transmitted to the second recording device to transmit secondary accident information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
    Inventors: Reynaldo Medina, III, Charles L. Oakes, III, Michael Patrick Bueche, Jr.
  • Patent number: 8566243
    Abstract: The instant application describes a Mobile Service Provider network configured to provide its users with a secure Electronic Mail (“E-mail”) bill statement. The network includes first through third servers. The first server is configured to (i) receive, from a user, an enrollment request for a secure E-mail billing statement, the request including an E-mail address and account information and (ii) update the account of the user to reflect that the user has requested the secure E-mail billing statement. The second server is configured to (i) receive the request from the first server; (ii) generate an identifier for the request; (iii) store the request along with the identifier in a table; and (iv) validate the E-mail address of the user by sending an E-mail to the provided E-mail address, the E-mail includes the identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Cellco Partnership
    Inventors: Madhu Bharathula, Shreeshah Vedagiri, Veera Inapakolla
  • Patent number: 8566215
    Abstract: A computer-implemented, transaction-making, municipal bond trading system having a capability to conduct a private electronic auction of bid wanteds between a central brokers' broker and multiple prospective remote bidders and to maintain a reference database of accurate individual bond lot descriptions and identifications, including CUSIP (trademark) numbers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: BGC Partners, Inc.
    Inventor: David Lawrence
  • Patent number: 8566138
    Abstract: A method and computer program are disclosed to assist the user in constructing a decision-tree for outsourcing software development business processes. The tree contains a node for the cost of completing the business processes in-house, nodes containing the expected costs of outsourcing the complete business process to different vendors, and nodes containing the expected costs of outsourcing part of the business process to different vendors. The user calculates the expected cost of outsourcing a business process by multiplying the estimated costs for outsourcing the business process by probabilities that risks will occur in the outsourcing process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: SAP AG
    Inventor: Amit Nagar
  • Patent number: 8560456
    Abstract: Facilitating the purchase and sale of private data between anonymous entities based on the use of encryption and a centralized on-line entity to exchange the private data in a secure environment. The seeker of private data, such as consumer information, transmits an encrypted query to the centralized exchange entity. The query submission includes legal representations stating the legally permissible purpose for seeking the information. The centralized exchange entity compares the encrypted query to an encrypted data index collected from at least one data provider, to determine if the query matches any private data held by a data provider. The comparison is conducted within a secure, search component to ensure the privacy of all data and all parties to the transaction. The exchange entity facilitates the anonymous exchange between the data purchaser and the data provider. A payment invoice can be generated and electronically presented by maintainer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Assignee: Credigy Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Jason S. Williams
  • Patent number: 8548882
    Abstract: A method and associated system comprise obtaining historical auction data, determining, from the historical auction data, a first parameter that is a function of a joint bid distribution and a density function related to the joint bid distribution, selecting a bidder, obtaining a value distribution for the selected bidder, and solving an equation. The equation may include the first parameter and the selected bidder's value distribution, and not the value distribution of other bidders. The equation computes a bid value associated with the selected bidder for a given bid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Bin Zhang, Kemal Guler
  • Patent number: 8548886
    Abstract: A system that facilitates opening of a bank account by banking personnel for a customer. The account opening system includes an automatic rate determination feature that uses customer information, account information and other criteria to determine an account interest rate. The rate determination system may also mediate rate negotiation between a personal banker and the customer by limiting the increase in rate awarded by the personal banker. An auditing system assigns numbers to a series of profiles, each describing a request to open an account. Profiles to be audited are determined by generating random numbers that fall within the range of assigned profile numbers. Random number generation is repeated until a threshold percentage of profiles have been selected for auditing. The account opening system includes a system for tracking the progress of the account application and for organizing information recorded by the personal banker during interactions with the customer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
    Inventors: Joel Joseph Bosch, Prashant Rathi, Kathleen Marie Howcroft, Robert McCoy West
  • Patent number: 8548898
    Abstract: An electronic trading marketplace (ETM) communicates with interfacing modules interfacing directly with order management systems (OMS's) at trading institutions. The interfacing modules automatically transmit orders from the OMS databases to the ETM and update the OMS databases in response to orders executed at the ETM. Traders can communicate with the ETM to anonymously negotiate trades of securities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: Liquidnet Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Seth I. Merrin, John Halloran, Demian Kosofsky, Kevin Lupowitz
  • Patent number: 8538847
    Abstract: A method of doing business comprises receiving an investment contract offer from a corporate investor specifying a principal amount and a maturation term. The investment contract offer is communicated to a plurality of securities dealers, each of whom may communicate an acceptance of the offer by providing an identification of the securities and a rate. At the end of a predetermined time period, a selection algorithm is used to select the most favorable or aggregation of most favorable acceptances to the corporate investor. In one embodiment of the invention, selection at the close of the predetermined time period is automatic acceptance and is communicated to the corporate investor and to the securities dealer having the selected acceptance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Inventor: Lee Epstein
  • Patent number: 8494955
    Abstract: The invention broadly comprises a method for determining financial loss related to performance of an internetwork. The method correlates input information regarding performance of an internetwork to operations of a financial entity underwriting insurance premiums and bonds and translates the correlated input information into at least one operational risk for the entity. In some aspects, the internetwork is the Internet. The method gathers secondary external information other than directly from the internetwork, correlates the input and secondary external information, and translates the correlated input and secondary external information into at least one operational risk for the entity. For at least one subset and one peril, the method determines a spread in time and space of effects of the at least one anomaly and peril on the internetwork and on the at least one subset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Inventors: John S. Quarterman, Peter F. Cassidy, Gretchen K. Phillips
  • Patent number: 8494923
    Abstract: An Internet-based customer referral system enables individuals and other business entities (“associates”) to market products sold on a merchant web site in return for commissions. Following registration, the associate sets up a web site (or other information dissemination system) to distribute hypertextual catalog documents that include marketing information (product reviews, recommendations, etc.) about selected products of the merchant. In association with each such product, the catalog document includes a hypertextual “referral link” that allows a user/customer to access the merchant web site and purchase the product. When a customer selects a referral link, the customer's computer transmits unique IDs of the selected product and of the associate to the merchant's site, allowing the merchant to identify the product and the referring associate. If the customer subsequently purchases a product from the merchant's site, a commission is automatically credited to an account of the referring associate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey P. Bezos, Sheldon J. Kaphan, Ellen L. Ratajak, Thomas K. Schonhoff
  • Patent number: 8489432
    Abstract: Insurance customers may establish and contribute to a self-insurance account. The insured may set aside an amount each policy period that is deposited to the self-insurance account. The value of the self-insurance account may further grow in value with earnings via common investment vehicles. The deposits and investment growth may continue until the account reaches maturity (self-insurance status). From that point forward customers can forego paying insurance premiums. The self-insurance account is accessible to the insured as a financial asset, and may be provided to the insured upon termination of the self-insurance account.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
    Inventor: Arthur Quentin Smith
  • Patent number: 8473416
    Abstract: A digital downloading jukebox system including a mechanism for delivering custom services to a recognized user is provided. For example, information specific to a recognized user may be stored and optionally may include a recognized user avatar representative of the recognized user. The user avatar may be an image, video, and/or animation, which may be displayed on and/or played through the jukebox. The user avatar may be associated with transactions associated with the user. For example, an avatar may be displayed when a playlist of the recognized user is played, when a message is sent, etc. In other examples, the avatar may introduce instances of media by playing an audio and/or video message, and the avatar may sing, dance, etc. while an instance of media is playing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: TouchTunes Music Corporation
    Inventors: Francois Brillon, Dominique Dion, Loic Gratton
  • Patent number: 8463712
    Abstract: A system for enabling verification in traceability of a supply chain while maintaining confidentiality of private suppliers. A group signature is applied to an undisclosed supplier. The undisclosed supplier previously receives registration to the certificate authority device, and performs a group signature based on the certificate issued by the certificate authority device. A disclosed supplier and the undisclosed supplier sign and generate a signature chain when they ship parts. A verifier device receives a signature chain with products shipped from the supplier manager device, divides a signature of the disclosed supplier from a signature chain, and verifies the undisclosed supplier from the group signature. Identification of the undisclosed supplier is performed by a third-party auditor system requested to do so by the verifier device by using a group private key.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Mika Saito, Yuji Watanabe, Madoka Yuriyama, Takeo Yoshizawa
  • Patent number: 8438098
    Abstract: A method of charity funding, using prepaid cards. A winner of a charity lottery is provided with a prepaid card having, as an initial balance, the lottery winnings. As part of the card activation process, the winner is asked whether they would like to donate all or part of their winnings back to the charity. Systems and methods for providing same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2013
    Inventor: Jonathon Hamburg
  • Patent number: 8438078
    Abstract: A system for providing supplementary product sales is provided in which a central controller receives a purchase from a card authorization terminal. The purchase includes at least one purchase parameter, such as a customer account identifier, product identifiers for specifying items purchased or product price. The central controller determines a supplementary product to offer that is based on the at least one purchase parameter. A product identifier for specifying the supplementary product is transmitted to the card authorization terminal, where the customer chooses whether to accept the offered supplementary product. The card authorization terminal generates and transmits to the central controller a selection signal indicative of whether the supplementary product is accepted. If the selection signal indicates that the supplementary product is accepted, the central controller adjusts a balance of a financial account in dependence on an adjustment value associated with the supplementary product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2013
    Assignee: Ebay Inc.
    Inventors: Jay S. Walker, Andrew S. Vanluchene, Daniel E. Tedesco