Abstract: A system can report an occurrence of an offline conversion with respect to an electronic commerce system. The system can then correlate information of the offline conversion with information comprised in one or more communication records to determine whether the offline conversion occurred as a result of a communication feature of the electronic commerce system, such as a click-to-call communication feature or a click-to-chat communication feature. The system can then report the offline conversion, and report that the offline conversion occurred as a result of the communication feature.

Abstract: A computer platform provides a method and system for establishing scenarios for interactions between users (both individually and as a group) and a web site or other software application over a network. The interactions are described in terms of events, actions, and conditions, where a single mechanism may be used to describe events, actions, and conditions for both individuals and a group. One portion of a scenario may apply to the group, while another portion applies to individuals. Time elements and branches also can be employed to describe the scenario. The scenario may describe a non-deterministic process, but be modeled as a deterministic state machine for execution.

Abstract: In an emergency backup telephone system, members of an enterprise use their personal computers to log into an emergency communications web page. Upon logging in, software that enables the personal computer to act as a webphone is automatically downloaded. This software allows a person to initiate a call from personal computer to a conventional PSTN number destination using a PSTN gateway, or to another party's computer at a specified URL using VoIP telephony. Upon logging in, an authoritative index of employees reachable via the backup system updated to include information such as a phone number and/or IP address where the member can be reached in order to allow calls originating from the PSTN to be routed to the member's computer. The index is made available to other members of the enterprise via the enterprise's intranet, and, in some embodiments, to the public via a web page on the internet and/or email.

Abstract: A method and system for placing a call back from a call center to an end user viewing a website includes sending a request for the call back from an end user computer to a call server, the request including the PSTN number at which the end user wishes to be called; placing calls to the end user and the call center, the call center call including the ANI/callerID of the number at which the end user is called; requesting by the call center data concerning the end user from the call server; receiving by the call server data from the end user computer; and transmitting the data from the call server to the call center. The data from the end user computer may be an identification of the web page being viewed, data entered on the web page, an end user identifier and/or co-browsing data.

Abstract: A system and method for automatically mapping of hypertext input fields to software components. The system includes a hypertext preprocessor, a name-space manager, a data handler, and a component manager. The hypertext preprocessor examines the hypertext input field names and uses the name-space manager and component manager to determine the mapping between input field names and software component properties. When the hypertext page is rendered, the name-space manager registers the mapping between each submitted input field and the corresponding component property. When the input data is submitted, the data handler uses the name-space manager to find the component property for each submitted input field and uses the component manager to convert the data to the correct type before calling the appropriate component method to set the property value.

Abstract: An order processing system includes an order structure in which an order includes multiple objects representing items being purchased, shipping methods, payment parameters, and other parts of an order. The order can include one or more of each of the types of objects. Items in the order can be divided among shipping methods and payment mechanisms using a relationship model to describe the relationships between the different types of objects. Shipping methods and payment mechanisms also can be related. The order may be represented as an order object, which represents the order and can be related to particular shipping methods and payment mechanisms. Relationship objects describe the relationships between objects. Relationship objects can use different relationship types to characterize the extent of the specified relationship.

Abstract: The present invention provides a language, method and system to formulate and evaluate relational Bayesian networks in an e-commerce environment. The present invention employs a specific language for constructing synthetic variables used to predict events in the Bayesian networks. The present system and language allow for efficient and accurate representation, inference, and discovery of the synthetic variables used to model web visitor behavior.

Abstract: A streaming media application attempting to establish a streaming media connection first attempts to establish the connection directly using a format such as UDP. If no direct connection can be established, the media application attempts to establish a connection through a proxy server using proxy server information obtained from installed software components such as browsers that manage Internet connections. If necessary, an auto configuration web page is utilized to obtain the proxy server address. The invention also includes methods for blocking streaming media connections.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for extracting information from a web page on a standard end user browser without plug-ins, includes the steps of dynamically creating an element on a web page being viewed by an end user, copying at least a portion of the contents of the web page or form field values, and uploading the data to a target domain, wherein the target domain may be different from the domain of the web page. In co-browsing applications, the data uploaded is used to create a copy of the website for display to a third party.

Abstract: The present invention provides a language, method and system to formulate and evaluate relational Bayesian networks in an c-commerce environment. The present invention employs a specific language for constructing synthetic variables used to predict events in the Bayesian networks. The present system and language allow for efficient and accurate representation, inference, and discovery of the synthetic variables used to model web visitor behavior.

Abstract: The present invention includes relation-Bayesian-network-based tracking methods. Various, distinct embodiments of the present invention include tracking methods for: real-time relational tracking of e-commerce segmentation and personalization, in-residence tracking of elderly and disabled people, real-time relational tracking for ground target tracking and real-time relational tracking of satellites and satellite constellations.

Abstract: In one method and apparatus for blocking unwanted calls in a callback system, parameters associated with a callback request (e.g., the user device to which the call is to be directed, the IP address from which the request originated or an identifier of the source computer from which the callback request originated, the party from whom the call is requested) are tracked for each call. A decision to automatically block the requested callback is made based on one or more criteria based on a combination of these parameters, which may be a total over a period of time. In a second method, one or both of the parties to the callback is queried as to whether the callback is unwanted and, if so, one or more parameters associated with the request are blacklisted.

Abstract: An electronic message processing system includes a classification module for classifying electronic messages, such as e-mails and SMS messages, into one or more categories according to their content. In a preferred embodiment, a text analyzer is used to apply a sequence of one or more rule sets to the content of each message. The rule sets to be applied and their order in the sequence is determined by a hierarchical structure. The use of the hierarchical structure reduces the number of rules which must be applied to a given message. Arranging the rules in sets facilitates administration and maintenance of the rules. A further aspect of the invention involves the instantiation of multiple instances of the text analyzer, one instance for each rule set. This allows an appropriate lexical analysis tool, such as a dictionary in an appropriate language, to be used in conjunction with each rule set.

Abstract: In an emergency backup telephone system, members of an enterprise use their personal computers to log into an emergency communications web page. Upon logging in, software that enables the personal computer to act as a webphone is automatically downloaded. This software allows a person to initiate a call from personal computer to a conventional PSTN number destination using a PSTN gateway, or to another party's computer at a specified URL using VoIP telephony. Upon logging in, an authoritative index of employees reachable via the backup system updated to include information such as a phone number and/or IP address where the member can be reached in order to allow calls originating from the PSTN to be routed to the member's computer. The index is made available to other members of the enterprise via the enterprise's intranet, and, in some embodiments, to the public via a web page on the internet and/or email.

Abstract: A system and method for automatically mapping of hypertext input fields to software components. The system includes a hypertext preprocessor, a name-space manager, a data handler, and a component manager. The hypertext preprocessor examines the hypertext input field names and uses the name-space manager and component manager to determine the mapping between input field names and software component properties. When the hypertext page is rendered, the name-space manager registers the mapping between each submitted input field and the corresponding component property. When the input data is submitted, the data handler uses the name-space manager to find the component property for each submitted input field and uses the component manager to convert the data to the correct type before calling the appropriate component method to set the property value.

Abstract: A streaming media application attempting to establish a streaming media connection first attempts to establish the connection directly using a format such as UDP. If no direct connection can be established, the media application attempts to establish a connection through a proxy server using proxy server information obtained from installed software components such as browsers that manage Internet connections. If necessary, an auto configuration web page is utilized to obtain the proxy server address. The invention also includes methods for blocking streaming media connections.

Abstract: An order processing system includes an order structure in which an order includes multiple objects representing items being purchased, shipping methods, payment parameters, and other parts of an order. The order can include one or more of each of the types of objects. Items in the order can be divided among shipping methods and payment mechanisms using a relationship model to describe the relationships between the different types of objects. Shipping methods and payment mechanisms also can be related. The order may be represented as an order object, which represents the order and can be related to particular shipping methods and payment mechanisms. Relationship objects describe the relationships between objects. Relationship objects can use different relationship types to characterize the extent of the specified relationship.

Abstract: In one method and apparatus for blocking unwanted calls in a callback system, parameters associated with a callback request (e.g., the user device to which the call is to be directed, the IP address from which the request originated or an identifier of the source computer from which the callback request originated, the party from whom the call is requested) are tracked for each call. A decision to automatically block the requested callback is made based on one or more criteria based on a combination of these parameters, which may be a total over a period of time. In a second method, one or both of the parties to the callback is queried as to whether the callback is unwanted and, if so, one or more parameters associated with the request are blacklisted.

Abstract: A computer system and method for dynamic pricing is described. The system includes at least one dynamic calculator, which performs calculations based upon conditional rules.

Abstract: A computer systems includes a rule engine, one or more repository interfaces, and corresponding repositories. The repositories typically contain content or profile information about users. The rule engine provides rules in a uniform format which can be translated, through use of the repository interfaces, into queries specific for the corresponding repositories. Before translating the rules, context objects referenced in the rules are resolved and the corresponding attribute values are inserted into the rules. The resulting rule is simplified where possible because of the attribute values, so that only those queries that need to be made to a repository are made.