Patents Assigned to Yahoo!
  • Patent number: 9619291
    Abstract: An improved system and method for a task management library to execute map-reduce applications is provided. A map-reduce application may be operably coupled to a task manager library and a map-reduce library on a client device. The task manager library may include a wrapper application programming interface that provides application programming interfaces invoked by a wrapper to parse data input values of the map-reduce application. The task manager library may also include a configurator that extracts data and parameters of the map-reduce application from a configuration file to configure the map-reduce application for execution, a scheduler that determines an execution plan based on input and output data dependencies of mappers and reducers, a launcher that iteratively launches the mappers and reducers according to the execution plan, and a task executor that requests the map-reduce library to invoke execution of mappers on mapper servers and reducers on reducer servers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: LluĂ­s Garcia Pueyo, Roelof van Zwol
  • Patent number: 9621622
    Abstract: An information providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention includes a receiving unit and a distribution unit. The receiving unit receives an access request for accessing first content from a terminal apparatus used by a first user. The distribution unit distributes, to the terminal apparatus, the first content including link information which is posted by a second user related to the first user in a predetermined communication service among pieces of link information to other content when the receiving unit receives the access request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: YAHOO JAPAN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yuji Ueda, Yusuke Fujiki, Hideki Eguchi, Yusuke Kondo, Kenichirou Yamaguchi, Mariko Fujita
  • Publication number: 20170098240
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a computer system configured establish and utilize a database for online ad realization prediction in an ad display platform associated with N parties, wherein N is a positive integral greater than 1. The computer system is configured obtain a party hierarchy for each of the N parties including a plurality of features of the party; select a target ad display event including N features, each of the N features corresponding to a node in a party hierarchy; obtain a prior probability reflecting an unconditional probability of ad realization occurrence at the target ad display event among all possible ad display events; for each of the N features: determine a marginal prior probability by decomposing components associated with the other N?1 features from the prior probability; determine a marginal posterior probability based on the marginal prior probability; and save the marginal posterior probability in the corresponding node of the party hierarchy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 2, 2015
    Publication date: April 6, 2017
    Applicant: YAHOO! INC.
    Inventors: Hongxia YANG, Robert ORMANDI, Han-Yun TSAO, Quan LU
  • Publication number: 20170098236
    Abstract: Described herein are example systems and operations for enhancing response prediction and bidding decision making. A feature recommendation controller may include a factorization machine that generates a set of combinations of contextual and advertiser features yielding high expected response rates. A bidding controller may implement a multi-arm bandit system that uses Thompson sampling to select an optimal one of the feature combinations that corresponds to a highest expected response rate. The bidding controller may compare the corresponding highest expected response rate with a threshold response rate associated with a pacing rate to determine whether to place a bid for a received ad request.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 2, 2015
    Publication date: April 6, 2017
    Applicant: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Kuang-chih Lee, Quan Lu, Giovanni Gardelli, Donglin Niu
  • Patent number: 9613033
    Abstract: Users may engage with content that may invoke various emotions. For example, a user may find an image as inspirational, a social network post as funny, etc. Accordingly, content may be labeled with user emotion labels, specified by users that engaged with the content, to create labeled content (e.g., the image may be labeled as inspirational). Emotional transition triggers may be defined for users (e.g., 30 minutes of a user writing a school report using a word processing application). Responsive to a triggering of an emotional transition trigger, labeled content may be provided to a user (e.g., the image may be provided to the user as an inspirational break from writing the school report). In this way, content may be labeled based upon emotions that the content invokes in users, and such labeled content may be provided to users in a contextually relevant manner (e.g., a study break).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: YAHOO!, INC.
    Inventors: Shirin Oskooi, Dan Pelleg, Yoelle Maarek, Samiksha Harish Kothari
  • Patent number: 9614801
    Abstract: A system and method for facilitating email messaging combines the convenience of an auto-fill of the recipient fields in a standard email message with a blank canvas for composing a new, quick reply message. By selecting the quick reply feature that can be provided with the message view screen of an email utility, the user is shown a second user interface with a blank compose screen. The email recipients are automatically filled in from the message view screen of the current message. The quick reply message can be transmitted as an email message through the email utility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Stephane Karoubi, Ashish Sharma
  • Patent number: 9607291
    Abstract: Sharing email content includes: receiving from a user a selection of an email to share; capturing the subject and content of the email; generating an identifier for the captured subject and content; storing the captured subject and content with the identifier; providing a window with the subject and content for user editing; and transmitting the edited subject and content to the user's social contacts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventor: Surjya Prasad Hazarika
  • Patent number: 9607309
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided that can include monitoring of activities of potential customer users, for example, on an e-commerce Web site. Based at least in part on the monitored activities, a notification or alert may be provided to a merchant or a merchant administrator, regarding a potential customer, such as by being sent to a mobile device of the merchant or merchant administrator. Real-time communications may be facilitated or initiated between the merchant or the merchant administrator and the potential customer, such as with regard to a potential purchase, which communications can include the use of mobile devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Amit Kumar, Rajat Mukherjee, Andrew Pariser, Kevin Patrick Thill
  • Patent number: 9607217
    Abstract: Briefly, embodiments of methods and/or systems of generating preference indices for contiguous portions of digital images are disclosed. For one embodiment, as an example, parameters of a neural network may be developed to generate object labels for digital images. The developed parameters may be transferred to a neural network utilized to generate signal sample value levels corresponding to preference indices for contiguous portions of digital images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Suleyman Cetintas, Kuang-chih Lee, Jia Li
  • Patent number: 9608943
    Abstract: Example methods, apparatuses, and/or articles of manufacture are disclosed that may be implemented, in whole or in part, using one or more computing devices to implement a queuing system with an adjustable scalability/reliability level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Ashutosh Singh, Varun Bhagwan, Jaikit Savla, Rahul Teotia
  • Patent number: 9607077
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided that may be utilized to recommend content to a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Li, Xianyu Zhao, Peng Liu
  • Publication number: 20170082440
    Abstract: An information processing system according to the present application comprises a user terminal and a server apparatus, the user terminal including a magnetic field measuring unit that measures magnetic fields, a movement measuring unit that measures manners of movement, and an output unit that outputs the measured magnetic fields and results of the measurement performed by the movement measuring unit while associating each of the measured magnetic fields and a corresponding one of the measurement results with each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2016
    Publication date: March 23, 2017
    Applicant: YAHOO JAPAN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuhiro NINOMIYA, Shinsuke SATO, Miyuki WATANABE
  • Publication number: 20170083933
    Abstract: An information processing device that performs navigation processing for searching a route to a destination and presenting a guide route in accordance with a search result includes an output control module that causes a voice output module to output, by voice, a voice advertisement or a questionnaire related to a voice advertisement based on a conversation with a user during the navigation processing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2016
    Publication date: March 23, 2017
    Applicant: YAHOO JAPAN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Humio SAKURAI, Yasuaki HYODO, Norikazu HIROSE, Shinichiro ODA
  • Patent number: 9600782
    Abstract: At a mobile information processing terminal, a close-range communication unit performs close-range communications with another mobile information processing terminal, a reception unit receives through the close-range communication unit a user identifier for uniquely identifying a user of an application for a social networking service (SNS) on the other mobile information processing terminal, a determination unit is configured to determine whether there is a match between the social networking service on the other mobile information processing terminal and an SNS used on the mobile information processing terminal, and when the determination unit determines that there is a match, the transmission unit transmits the received user identifier to a server of the SNS so as to register a user identified by the user identifier as a friend.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: YAHOO JAPAN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohito Takusari, Hiromoto One
  • Patent number: 9602956
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for improving interactions with and between computers in a communication system supported by or configured with personal computing devices, servers and/or platforms. The systems interact to identify and retrieve data across computers and platforms, which can be used to improve the quality of data used in processing interactions between or among processors in such systems. The disclosed systems and methods perform spatial sensing in order to locate adjacent devices via asymmetric Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) received signal strength indication (RSSI) distributions. Such spatial location between adjacent devices enables the devices to communicate, share, generate and/or consume digital information as a single, connected and/or localized logical unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Haojian Jin, Kent Lyons, Cheng Xu
  • Patent number: 9602856
    Abstract: Software authenticates a first user of a first mobile device and a second user of a second mobile device. Each user agrees or has previously agreed to share video data captured by the user with other authenticated users. The software determines whether the first mobile device is located proximate to the second mobile device. Then the software receives video data captured by the second mobile device and transmits the video data to the first mobile device for display along with an annotation, if the first mobile device is proximate to the second mobile device. The annotation indicates the location of the second mobile device relative to the first mobile device and includes data as to camera angle of the second mobile device received from the second mobile device. The software persistently stores the video data upon receipt of a command from the user of the first mobile device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc
    Inventors: Marco de Sa, David Ayman Shamma, Elizabeth Churchill
  • Patent number: 9600800
    Abstract: A social environment is provided by creating an object in response to recognition of an entity in a portion of web content, wherein the object represents the entity, the object is associated with a type selected from a set of types, and the type is associated with a schema selected from a set of schemas, where the social environment includes a set of objects including the object, wherein the objects are instances of corresponding types in a rich system of predefined types, the schemas are associated with the types, metadata is associated with the objects, and there is at least one relationship between at least two objects selected from the set of objects, where the set of objects and the metadata are extensible, such that extensions provided by a first user are available for use by a second user. In one example, metadata provided by a first user is only available to a second user having a relationship with the first user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew S. Tomkins, Raghu Ramakrishnan, Shanmugasundaram Ravikumar
  • Patent number: 9600919
    Abstract: Aspects of the present innovations relate to systems and/or methods involving multimedia modules, objects or animations. According to an illustrative implementation, one method may include accepting at least one input keyword relating to a subject for the animation and performing processing associated with templates. Further, templates may generates different types of output, and each template may include components for display time, screen location, and animation parameters. Other aspects of the innovations may involve providing search results, retrieving data from a plurality of web sites or data collections, assembling information into multimedia modules or animations, and/or providing module or animation for playback.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: YAHOO! INC.
    Inventors: Doug Imbruce, Owen Bossola, Louis Monier, Rasmus Knutsson, Christian Le Cocq
  • Patent number: 9600169
    Abstract: Users are enabled to define and modify mappings between (1) gestures and (2) actions performed by one or more computing devices in response to a device detecting performance of a gesture. A generalized gesture-to-action mapping framework allows users to intuitively define and modify such mappings. In response to a device detecting the performance of a particular gesture, one or more devices may cause the execution of one or more device actions based on a set of user-defined gesture-to-action mappings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Marco de Sa, Elizabeth F. Churchill, R. Preston McAfee, David Ayman Shamma
  • Patent number: 9600581
    Abstract: This disclosure describes systems and methods for selecting and/or ranking web-based content predicted to have the greatest interest to individual users. In particular, articles are ranked in terms of predicted interest for different users. This is done by optimizing an interest model and in particular through a method of bilinear regression and Bayesian optimization. The interest model is populated with data regarding users, the articles, and historical interest trends that types of users have expressed towards types of articles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: YAHOO! INC.
    Inventors: Wei Chu, Seung-Taek Park