Abstract: A system and a related method are disclosed for effective advertisement of sponsors among multiple (i.e. joint) sponsors in a joint-sponsorship website. In one example, each sponsor in a joint-sponsorship website presents itself as a “prominent” sponsor, or “most visible” sponsor to an equal number of visitors. In this example, if there are twenty sponsors for the joint-sponsorship website and one million visitors to the joint-sponsorship website, each sponsor can show its “prominent” sponsorship theme to fifty thousand visitors. In another example, “prominent” sponsorship themes may not be divided equally but weighted based on weighted advertising budgets of sponsors, which enables a sponsor with a higher weighting present more of its “prominent” sponsorship theme over other sponsors. The system can also track identifying information of a particular visitor and ensure a correct amount of “prominent” sponsorship theme showings for that visitor.

Abstract: A system and related methods for creating and managing award-based cross promotions (ABCP) online are disclosed. An ABCP management system can allow sponsor entities (e.g. merchants) or an ABCP campaign organizer to create and specify details of a particular ABCP campaign, which is designed to be jointly funded by multiple sponsor entities interested in the particular ABCP campaign. The novel concept of joint-funded ABCP campaign via an online ABCP management system provides an advantage of creating a larger award for a selected winner from a pool of entrants to the ABCP campaign. The participation of a pool of sponsors allows each sponsor to leverage from a wider marketing reach of the pool, which creates a greater marketing buzz. Furthermore, the larger award in the joint-funded ABCP campaign reduces financial burdens of advertising/promotion campaigns per sponsor entity while attracting more potential entrants to the particular ABCP campaign.

Abstract: A compensation system is provided which assigns compensations to nodes in specific paths within a hierarchical network. The system receives a task and a compensation method from an original poster and generates an original, uniquely identifiable posting, which can be viewed by various contacts. If any of these contacts is unwilling or unable to achieve the task, then they can generate a derived uniquely identifiable posting based on the original posting, which can then be viewed by one or more of their contacts. This process is repeated until an Nth level contact achieves the task, forming a hierarchical network of contacts with the original poster as a root node of the network. The contacts in the chain of contacts from the original poster to the achieving contact are compensated according to the stated compensation method. Contacts not in the achieving contact path are compensated differently from those in the path.

Abstract: A method and system for flexible cost management in a hierarchical network is disclosed. The method and system define paths and a cost function for each type of node in a hierarchical network. The cost function depends on the hierarchical level of the node, cost function of the node's parent node, and cost functions for the node's child nodes. Constraints can be placed on the costs of the nodes by introducing time periods and/or various user defined criteria in their cost functions. Constraints on the total network can also be defined to bound the total cost of the network. In this manner, flexibility is injected in the management of costs in the hierarchical network.

Abstract: An automated design for manufacturability platform which provides integrated physical verification and manufacturing enhancement operations. The platform uses an efficient data structure capable of handling and manipulating both layout circuit and geometry characteristics, which permits a wide range of operations such as timing analysis, design-rule checking and optical proximity corrections on a single platform. This feature eliminates the need to translate layout representations between various tools without the requirement of using a common database. Moreover, the platform's common user interface enables encapsulated information exchange between the design and the manufacturing teams, permiting early consideration of manufacturing distortion or enhancement impact on circuit performance.