Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm A. Bruce Clay
  • Patent number: 8352878
    Abstract: Selections from a long list of elements on a Graphical User Interface (GUI) are presented. When a context window is presented for the selections, different cues are provided in the context window to provide feedback regarding the selections that are not in the current view, and to also facilitate rapid navigation to those selections on the GUI. Interaction with the GUI widgets within the context window, and interaction with the context window itself, facilitates the navigation toward the other selections that are not in the current view. Interaction with the GUI widgets also facilitates the preview of the selections that are not in the current view, thus making it easier to determine what has been selected without having to navigate to the view that contains those selections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Joel Duquene, Morris S. Johnson, Jr., Henri F. Meli, Karline Vilme
  • Patent number: 8321495
    Abstract: A mobile intelligent agent is used in a Byzantine fault-tolerant computing network. The mobile intelligent agent ensures that only a single instance of the mobile intelligent agent performs processing in the processing host. The agent interrogates an environment in the processing host for presence of a sibling mobile intelligent agent or a trace left by a sibling mobile intelligent agent. If a sibling mobile intelligent agent or a trace left by a sibling mobile intelligent agent is detected, further execution by the mobile intelligent agent in the processing host is ended. The agent will then be forwarded onward to find a processing host wherein the agent has not been executed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Nicholas R. Bailey, Peter J. Stretton
  • Patent number: 8296379
    Abstract: A calendar system handles meeting invitations. Associated entries are determined in a received meeting invitation of a calendar system. A forwarded invitation is generated according to the associated entries. An association is generated between the forwarded invitation and the meeting invitation. The forwarded invitation is then sent. In this way, the calendar distributes meeting arrangements relatively independently, so that meeting invitations and forwarded invitations can be managed relatively independently.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Li-Ju Chen, Si Bin Fan, Yue Ma, Xiang Qian, Dan Zheng
  • Patent number: 8225001
    Abstract: Software is propagated over a social network through an instant message client. The software is propagated to a computing device in the social network over the instant message client, wherein the software is based upon a rating system within the social network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: James E. Hart, Adnan S. Jariwala, Jaitirth V. Shirole
  • Patent number: 8112666
    Abstract: Message type validation occurs at a message producer before a message is sent to a message destination. A message producer system includes an administrator component, which stores message type parameters associated with a message destination. A message is created for the message destination and a validation component at the message producer system checks the created message for conformity with the stored message type parameters for the message destination. An error is reported if the message type does not conform to the stored message type parameters associated with the message destination. The validation component checks the created message for conformity after a publish call by the message producer system and before a send call and, therefore, prevents an invalid or non-conforming message from being sent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John Christopher Hawkins, David John Vines
  • Patent number: 8082554
    Abstract: The present invention provides methods, apparatus and computer programs for event-based control of subscription matching in a publish/subscribe communications environment. Activation and/or deactivation events are associated with subscriptions at a publish/subscribe broker and are used to control when a subscription is active. The broker is responsive to temporally-unpredictable events, such as receipt of a published message on a predefined activation topic, to activate subscription matching for messages that are subsequently received or which have been received earlier and retained at the broker. Conventional subscription matching can be avoided for a registered subscription while that subscription is inactive, and subscribers are not required to explicitly and repeatedly subscribe and unsubscribe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ian Gerald Craggs, Anthony Alan Garrard, Ian Robert Harwood, Andrew Ian Hickson, David Locke, Andrew David Reynolds, Andrew James Stanford-Clark, Jane Louise Stockdill
  • Patent number: 8055592
    Abstract: A system for clustering data objects includes a module for calculating an importance value of at least one member in a first data object represented as a variable length vector of 0 to N members and a clustering module for dynamically forming a plurality of clusters containing one or more data objects. The clustering module is configured to associate the first data object with at least one of the plurality of clusters in dependence upon the at least one member's similarity value in comparison to members in other data objects. The clustering module may be configured to cluster the first data object into a plurality of clusters if it has at least two members and each member belongs to a different cluster.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Currie Boyle, Yu Zhang
  • Patent number: 8036105
    Abstract: A solution for monitoring a problem condition in a communications system is provided. A communications protocol implementation monitors the communications system for the problem condition. The communications protocol implementation can initiate a response based on the problem condition being present. In this manner, the communications protocol implementation provides an effective monitor for detecting and/or recovering from a problem condition in the communications system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Andrew H. Arrowood, Michael G. Fitzpatrick, Constantinos Kassimis
  • Patent number: 7996757
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for incrementally rendering content in a content framework (such as a portal page provided by a portal system). Upon receiving a request for a portal page, a portal server immediately returns a response including the results from portlets which have acquired their content. If some portlets have not yet finished, subsequent content is delivered at a later time through use of one of several alternative programmatically-generated mechanisms. Capabilities of existing browsers are leveraged for several embodiments, including use of refresh headers, multipart MIME (“Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions”) types, and portal pages structured using frames.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John R. Hind, Thomas Schaeck, Brad B. Topol
  • Patent number: 7984106
    Abstract: A message status bartering system is established in a peer-to-peer messaging environment. A message status is made available to a user of the peer-to-peer messaging environment. A bartering engine is used to determine whether an attempted communication with the user is to be allowed based on the message status in use. If the communication is disallowed, the bartering engine can be used to establish a bartering agreement between the parties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Michael D. Facemire, Michael C. Wanderski
  • Patent number: 7979500
    Abstract: A computer implemented user interface allows composition of an electronic mail message. A user selects at least one pre-existing email from an email inbox. An envelope is then created by parsing each of the selected pre-existing emails. The pre-existing email is displayed as a tree structure comprising an envelope with at least a label sub-node in a new email view. A new email is composed by selecting parts from the tree structure. The sub-nodes may further comprise a content sub-node. The content sub-node further comprises multi-media parts, and the new email body is composed by selecting parts from the content sub-node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Li Chen, John R. Hind, Yongcheng Li, Lun Xiao
  • Patent number: 7970840
    Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for associating a virtual instant messaging client, of an avatar, with a standard instant messaging account. When a communication transcript is completed in a virtual instant messaging session, the communication transcript is stored. Wherein the stored communication transcript is an archived virtual world (VW) communication transcript. The archived VW communication transcript is associated with one or more instant messaging clients. A request is received to continue communication, with one or more avatars, when a virtual instant messaging session is completed. When the request is received a graphical user interface (GUI) is automatically displayed. One or more of the following selections are enabled: communicate via the instant messaging session or do not communicate via the instant messaging session.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ulysses Lamont Cannon, Angela Richards Jones, Ruthie D. Lyle-Cannon
  • Patent number: 7945779
    Abstract: For use in a distributed system where a client computer is operable to communicate with a server computer and to receive a digital certificate associated with a remote external component, apparatus for securing a communications exchange between computers includes a hasher, responsive to the client computer receiving a digital certificate, for hashing data associated with the client computer and the server computer with data associated with the digital certificate to create a first message digest, and a first transmitter for transmitting the first message digest to the remote external component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Cameron Kenneth Martin
  • Patent number: 7925528
    Abstract: Method, apparatus, and computer program products for estimating, scheduling, and tracking preparatory work associated with electronic meeting invitations. When a meeting invitation is received and tentatively accepted, preparation time for associated work is estimated programmatically from characteristics of documents associated with the meeting invitation. A floating block of time is created, subject to the constraint that it must be completed before the meeting convenes, and added to the user's electronic calendar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ana Claudia Biazetti, Fonda J Daniels, Eric Leonard Masselle, Patrick Gabriel McGowan, Christopher Joseph Paul, Andrew Lewis Schirmer
  • Patent number: 7925250
    Abstract: A method, system, and program product for providing for reuse of a mobile device application in a desktop environment is disclosed. The method includes obtaining an application that is configured for running on a mobile device, and then running the mobile device application on a desktop. A method for deploying an application that includes providing a computer infrastructure that is operable to run the application on a desktop and provide user preferences for the application on the desktop is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Richard Redpath
  • Patent number: 7899787
    Abstract: The present invention describes a technique for using shadowing object for approval control in an object-oriented software environment. The technique calls a business operation and determines whether the business operation needs to be approved. If the business operation needs to be approved, a shadowing business object and a shadowing connector corresponding to the original business object and the connector are created, and the business operation is performed on the shadowing business object and connector, and all results are stored in the shadowing business object, and all messages to be sent are buffered in the connector. If the business operation is approved, the original business object is replaced by the shadowing business object. The technique is flexible, efficient, easy to be modified and supplemented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Xiao Wei Hu, Qing Jiu Zhu
  • Patent number: 7822860
    Abstract: The invention provides a software construct, herein termed a Web service container, for managing Web services at a network node and an adaptive model for the dynamic configuration of a plurality of Web service containers distributed throughout a network, such as the Internet or an intranet, in a software and hardware platform-independent manner. Containers can communicate with each other via the network to determine contextual information such as the identity of each other, the capabilities of each other, the operating system or platforms of each others, the contents of the container (i.e., the available Web services at that location), etc. By providing a container framework and the ability to exchange contextual information, the present invention allows servers as well as clients to dynamically exchange Web services software as well as contextual information, such as current workload, so that servers and clients are virtually limitlessly reconfigurable based on context.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Kyle G. Brown, Stephen Glen Graham, Steven M. Miller, Mark Douglas Weitzel
  • Patent number: 7721276
    Abstract: Under the present invention, source input corresponding to a first release of Java byte code and target input corresponding to a second release of the Java byte code is received. The input is transformed into a first list containing class names associated with the first release and a second list containing class names associated with the second release. Thereafter, any classes corresponding to class names that appear on both lists (e.g., matching class names) are loaded. The methods within the matching classes are then compared to determine if any of the APIs have been modified between the two releases. After the comparison, the matching class names are removed from the lists. Any class names remaining on the first list represent APIs that have been removed from the second release, while any class names remaining on the second list represent APIs that have been added for the second release.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Fuhwei Lwo
  • Patent number: 7451431
    Abstract: The present invention is a method, system and apparatus for integrating and configuring resource management objects in an integrated solutions console through a linkage with an external registry. The linkage can be a real-time linkage with respect to the development and configuration of the resource management objects in an integrated development environment. The method can include programming a new resource management object to manage a corresponding resource in an enterprise domain. Subsequently, a registry of existing resource management objects can be consulted to determine a proper placement for the new resource management object in a maximal hierarchy of the existing resource management objects. In consequence, the new resource management object can be configured for insertion into the maximal hierarchy based upon the determined proper placement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Marcy R. Howerter, Robert E. Moore
  • Patent number: 7295953
    Abstract: In a Web application testing method which has been configured in accordance with the present invention, a network message from one of several network clients can be intercepted. Session data in the network message can be identified and state information retrieved for the session in the Web application. An operation and corresponding associated parameters can be selected from a Web scenario template based upon the retrieved state information. Finally, operations can be invoked in the Web application, the operations corresponding to the operation and associated operational parameters selected from the Web scenario template.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John S. Cox, Gennaro A. Cuomo, Brian Keith Martin