Patents Represented by Attorney Herman Rodriguez
  • Patent number: 7990400
    Abstract: Method, apparatus and program product for efficient display of an image at a targeted position in an image on a display screen by displaying, on the display screen, an image on which the targeted position is not displayed; setting a first position specified on the image displayed on the display screen, and a second position having a point symmetry with respect to a center of the displayed image; displaying the image while reducing a display magnification of the displayed image to a certain magnification to a degree with which the targeted position can be identified in the image, employing the second position as a center; and displaying the image while enlarging the displayed image to a certain magnification, employing the targeted position or a designated neighboring point as a center on the image obtained after the magnification change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Chikashi Hara
  • Patent number: 7519322
    Abstract: A method, system, and program for tracking locally broadcast electronic works are provided. According to one aspect of the invention, a sending player locally broadcasts an electronic work. In particular, the local broadcast may be a wireless broadcast creating an ad-hoc radio system. At least one recipient player receives the localized broadcast of the electronic work and accepts a distribution cookie for tracking distribution of the electronic work. The at least one recipient player updates the distribution cookie with tracking information about the broadcast of the electronic work, including ratings by users at the second player and purchase of the broadcast electronic work. Each of the at least one recipient players may in turn become a sending player that broadcasts the electronic work to other recipient players and requires the other recipient players to accept a copy of the distribution cookie updated by the second player.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Wayne Brown, Michael A. Paolini, Newton James Smith, Jr., Cornell G. Wright, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7515873
    Abstract: A method, system, and program for responding to recipient ratings of wirelessly broadcast electronic works are provided. A secondary player receives a wireless broadcast of an electronic work from a primary player. Next, responsive to a playback of the electronic work from the secondary player, the secondary player requires a recipient of the electronic work to rate the electronic work. Then, responsive to the recipient rating the electronic work or an automatic rating selection made based on the recipient's preferences, the options available to the recipient may be dynamically adjusted. First, responsive to the recipient rating the electronic work with a favorable rating, the secondary player triggers a purchase offer for the electronic work when the secondary player is connected to a network providing access to a purchase server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Wayne Brown, Michael A. Paolini, Newton James Smith, Jr., Cornell G. Wright, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7500080
    Abstract: A chunking controller within a broker layer detects a large object, where a large object is one that the size of the allocation of the large object within a memory heap exceeds a maximum contiguous free space within the Java heap. The broker layer operates atop the Java Virtual Manager to facilitate communication and business processes between heterogeneous systems. The chunking controller describes the large object by an underlying array of the large object divided into multiple pieces of a size not exceeding the maximum contiguous free space. Then, the chunking controller enables requests through the broker layer for allocation by the Java Virtual Manager of each of the pieces of the large object within the Java heap, such that the broker layer facilitates efficient allocation of large objects in the Java heap managed by the Java Virtual Manager.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Phani Gopal V. Achanta, Robert Tod Dimpsey, Harshal Hemendra Shah
  • Patent number: 7487116
    Abstract: At least one computing system, in a network or stand-alone environment, accesses a consumer representation, wherein the consumer representation comprises a three dimensional model rendered to depict a consumer appearance and movement in each frame of a captured video stream and specified by a selection of sizing measurements detected from a scan of a consumer body shape. The computing system selects at least one merchandise item from among multiple merchandise items each with separate merchandise characteristics. The computing system selects the merchandise item of a size selected to fit the selection of sizing measurements for the consumer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Michael A. Paolini
  • Patent number: 7480695
    Abstract: A method of retrieving information via a network by initiating a phone call by entering a dialing sequence on a telephone to make a telephone connection. If it is determined that the phone call is a request for web-based information, the requested web-based information is determined as well as a network address associated with the phone call. A network protocol request is the generated for the requested web-based information. The network protocol request is then sent to a network server capable of retrieving the information and the retrieved information is delivered to the network address associated with the phone call. Determining that the phone call is a request for web-based information may include detecting a specified sequence that is appended to the phone number. An IP address associated with the telephone may be appended to the phone call either manually or automatically.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Indran Naick, Jeffrey Kenneth Wilson
  • Patent number: 7475353
    Abstract: An implementation for a user at a receiving Web station keeping track of logged on Web sites, and a convenient universal logoff interface button to logoff the logged on Web site. The combination of an implementation at a receiving display station generating a GUI including a universal logout button, means associated with said logout button for enabling a user to select a Web site for logout and means at said receiving station responsive to said selection of a Web site for logging said receiving station out of said Web site. The Web browser tracks the Web sites that the user is logged onto, and upon interactive request by the user a menu of logged on Web sites is provided in association with the displayed logoff button.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Frank A. Nuzzi
  • Patent number: 7401334
    Abstract: In one form, a method for managing message flow includes processing messages concurrently by processing nodes in a computer software application. The processing nodes include at least one set of lock acquisition, system resource access and lock release nodes interconnected in a flow path. In such a set, the nodes are interconnected in a flow path and process a respective one of the messages in a sequence defined by the flow path. The processing includes granting access to a system resource exclusively for the set's respective message responsive to the lock acquisition node processing its respective message. The system resource is accessed for the message responsive to the set's system resource node processing the message. The accessing of the resource for the message includes changing a certain system state. The exclusive accessing of the system resource is released responsive to the set's lock release node processing the message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: David K. Fussell
  • Patent number: 7360053
    Abstract: A method, system, and program for facilitating non-contiguous allocation of a chunked object within a Java heap without changing the manner in which a Java Virtual Manager allocates objects within the heap are provided. According to one embodiment, a chunking controller within a broker layer detects a large object, where a large object is one that the size of the allocation of the large object within a memory heap exceeds a maximum contiguous free space within the Java heap. The broker layer operates atop the Java Virtual Manager to facilitate communication and business processes between heterogeneous systems. The chunking controller describes the large object by an underlying array of the large object divided into multiple pieces of a size not exceeding the maximum contiguous free space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Phani Gopal V. Achanta, Robert Tod Dimpsey, Harshal Hemendra Shah
  • Patent number: 7246256
    Abstract: A method, system, and program for managing failover of J2EE compliant middleware in a high availability system are provided. A primary node and a secondary node each run the same J2EE compliant middleware stack comprising layers including a load balancer, a web server, a web application server, a message control server, a monitoring server, and a database control server. In the primary node, all layers are active. In the secondary node, part of the layers are active and part of the layers are in standby. A data replication partition shared between the primary node and the secondary node includes persistent resource data accessible to a selection of the layers of the primary node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Francisco De La Cruz, Michael A. Paolini, Douglas Scott Rothert, Radhakrishnan Sethuraman
  • Patent number: 7225309
    Abstract: A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product in a data processing system are presented for using hardware assistance for gathering performance information that significantly reduces the overhead in gathering such information. Performance indicators are associated with instructions or memory locations, and processing of the performance indicators enables counting of events associated with execution of those instructions or events associated with accesses to those memory locations. The performance information that has been dynamically gathered from the assisting hardware is available to the software application during runtime in order to autonomically affect the behavior of the software application, particularly to enhance its performance. For example, the counted events may be used to autonomically improve the performance of the execution of an application by relocating code segments and data areas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jimmie Earl DeWitt, Jr., Frank Eliot Levine, Christopher Michael Richardson, Robert John Urquhart
  • Patent number: 7216121
    Abstract: A system for generating and retrieving relevant electronic information required by a user initiating an electronic search on the system. The system comprise a user-interactive search engine and a knowledge database, which stores knowledge information that is formatted. Additionally, the system includes a plurality of functional software modules that enables a user to complete an interactive search and find a solution to a task based on entered context information and keywords. A list of keywords are displayed to the user and the user selects those keywords that are relevant to the solution desired. The search engine looks for the articles containing the identified keywords. If no article is found with the search terms, the search is expanded to the Internet. The user may then modify the information returned from the Internet, format the information and save the information as a new recipe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Robert Edward Bachman, Richard Dale Hoffman, Verlyn Mark Johnson, Douglas Warren McDavid, Dorothy Irene Mazina
  • Patent number: 7143346
    Abstract: Within the scope of existing XML Schema specifications, an approach is provided to embed simple types within a complex type so an XML stream can have instances of the embedded simple types, even without the presence of XML elements. Because the approach is within the scope of existing XML Schema specifications, the approach is transparent to known XML parsers. With the approach, an XML schema will have a complex type with a mixed flag set to true and an element set to be a dummy element. The dummy element has a simple type and one of (i) a name of the dummy element and (ii) a name of the simple type is one of a predetermined set of names. This XML schema is for use with a parser which, on parsing the schema, will interpret the dummy element as one of an embedded simple type and an inherited simple type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Sean Dunne, Stephen Michael Hanson, Suman Kumar Kalia, Matthew Colin Lovett, David Adiel Spriet
  • Patent number: 7058645
    Abstract: Mapping of a first native data type instance to a second native data type instance is performed in three stages: the first native data type instance is converted into a first programming language and platform independent representation conforming to a first schema capable of defining base and derived data types; the first programming language and platform independent representation is transformed into a second programming language and platform independent representation conforming to a second schema capable of defining base and derived data types; and the second programming language and platform independent representation is converted into the second native data type instance. The programming language and platform independent representations may be event-based extensible Markup Language (XML) representations implemented according to the Simple API for XML (SAX). The transformation may be governed by an extensible Stylesheet Language Transform (XSLT) stylesheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Norman K. W. Seto, Piotr Przybylski, Michael Beisiegel, Ilene Ruth Seelemann, Harold Jeffrey Gartner
  • Patent number: 7002956
    Abstract: An addressing method and a system for assigning network addresses such that access to a network resource remains local. This is accomplished by allocating a local network address in favor of a remote network address. A process executing on a processor makes a request for a network address. A local network address is located in memory of the processor executing the process. The local network address is assigned, if available. Otherwise, a remote network address located in the memory of another processor is assigned. Preferably, the network address request contains information about on which processor the requesting process is running. Using this information, the present invention is able to select a network address that resides in the local memory of that processor. The network address allocation system of the present invention includes a network address allocator that uses the method of the present invention as outlined above.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Dwip N. Banerjee, Vasu Vallabhaneni
  • Patent number: 6996502
    Abstract: A method, system, and program for remote enterprise management of high availability systems are provided. Multiple high availability systems are networked in an enterprise and managed overall by a remote enterprise server. Within each high availability system, a cluster management controller monitors a status of a particular component of the high availability system and reacting to adjust the high availability system when the status indicates an error. In addition, with each high availability system, a monitoring controller detects when the cluster management controller reacts to the status of the particular component and detects a condition of a multiple components of the high availability system. The monitoring controller then reports the error and the condition of the components to the remote enterprise server. The remote enterprise server is enabled to manage each high availability system based on the reports received from each of the multiple high availability systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Francisco De La Cruz, Michael A. Paolini, Douglas Scott Rothert, Radhakrishnan Sethuraman
  • Patent number: 6980947
    Abstract: An evaluation system and method for computer products that uses a unified diagnostics platform having a switching multiplexor to generate a plurality of computer systems and computer environments. The evaluation system of the present invention includes a unified diagnostics platform that facilitates a variety of different computer systems by connecting computer peripherals, processors and operating systems. The switching multiplexor may be a plurality of switches allowing multiple combinations and configurations of devices connected to the unified diagnostics platform. The switching multiplexor is controlled using a controller that may be a hardware or a software selector. The evaluation method of the present invention includes a method for evaluating a computer product on a plurality of computer systems using the unified diagnostics platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Rafael G. Cabezas, Daniel J. Knabenbauer
  • Patent number: 6973580
    Abstract: The present invention is embodied in a system and method for monitoring and alerting remote client users of digital intrusions of their computers by host servers. In general, the present invention monitors actions taken by host servers relating to information about the remote client and displays graphical alerts when a digital intrusion or a breach of security occurs during a network connection, such as a connection to the Internet, with the host server. Specifically, the present invention monitors certain aspects of the remote client user s interaction with host servers. Based on certain interaction, such as an attempt by the host server to retrieve non-related information about the remote client, the remote client user can be provided with a graphical alert. This allows the remote client user to make an informed decision whether or not to allow certain host server sites to retrieve the client user s personal information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Scott Allen Carroll, William Alton Fiveash, Gerald Francis McBrearty, Shawn Patrick Mullen, Johnny Meng-Han Shieh
  • Patent number: 6948166
    Abstract: The present invention is embodied in a system and method for managing software packages that are to be installed on a computer by automatically de-installing previously installed software based on user defined preferences to prevent trial, demo or unwanted software and its components from being unnecessarily kept on the user's computer. The present invention includes a de-install module that is associated with the process of installing software on the computer. The de-install module includes a time module that allows the user to choose the time period to keep the software package on the computer before the software is uninstalled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Janel G. Barfield, Matthew S. Cronk, Kevin L. Fought, Johnny M. Shieh