Abstract: A method including generating a first and second One Time Password (OTP) token from a shared clock, receiving a third OTP token, and comparing the second and the third OTP tokens. A system including a number generator residing on a first server to generate first and second One Time Password (OTP) tokens from a shared clock, a transmitter residing on the first server to transmit the first and the second OTP tokens, a receiver residing on a second server to receive the first, the second, and a third OTP tokens, and a comparator residing on the second server to compare the second and the third OTP tokens to authenticate an identity of a party who generates the third OTP token.

Abstract: A system is illustrated as including a One-Time Password (OTP) device operatively coupled to a computer system to receive data, and a server operatively coupled to the computer system via a network connection. A method is illustrated as including initiating a transmission control protocol (TCP) and internet protocol (IP) connection, requesting a current time, receiving the current time, and updating a clock to reflect the current time. An apparatus including one or more processors to generate two or more clock values, pass these two or more clock values through a hashing function to generate two or more One Time Password (OTP) tokens, display these two or more OTP tokens on a screen, transmit data through a Universal Serial Bus (USB), and receive data through a Universal Serial Bus (USB).

Abstract: A method and a system to organize a data set into groups of data subsets in multiple passes using different parameters and to automatically name the groups is disclosed. For example, a data set is retrieved in accordance with a search query submitted by a user. The data set is organized into clusters based on a statistic(s) of the data set. The data set is then organized into groups of data subsets based on an attribute(s) indicated by the data set. Each of the groups are automatically named based on a property shared by data units of the group. The name(s) of a group may be mined from the data units of the group, retrieved from a structure that maps to attribute values indicated by the data units of the group, etc.

Abstract: A method and a system to automatically segment text based on header tokens is described. A relevance value and an irrelevance value are determined for each token in a description, assuming no tokens are left out of computations. The irrelevance value is based on occurrences of a token in a sample set of descriptions. The relevance value is an estimated probability of relevance based on the header of the description being segmented.

Abstract: Embodiments of a method and system for user payment account management in a networked system are disclosed. User information regarding a user, an account identifier, and a server location may be received from a merchant application. The account identifier may identify the user to the merchant application. An underwriting process may be initiated using the user information to determine whether to establish a user payment account for the user. The user payment account may enable the user to perform at least one of making a payment and receiving a payment in a networked system. The user payment account may be established for the user in response to a result of the underwriting process. Establishment information may be provided regarding the user payment account and the account identifier at the server location designated by the merchant application. The establishment information may include information regarding functionality available through use of the user payment account.

Abstract: A method and a system, wherein the system comprises a first server operatively coupled to a router, to receive a copy of network traffic processed by the router, a database operatively coupled to the first server, wherein the server records parsed network traffic information onto the database, and a device operatively coupled to the first server to receive alerts regarding possible denial-of-service attacks, the alerts based upon network traffic falling outside a standard deviation range. A method that comprises receiving a data packet from a network, parsing the data packet, storing data in the fields of the data packet into a database, comparing observed data set values with a historical data set values, sending an alert to a device based upon network traffic falling outside a standard deviation range, and updating the historical data set values by averaging the observed data set values with an old historical data set values.

Abstract: Illustrated is a system and method to record video mail using a peer to peer network. In some embodiments, a first computer system is operatively coupled to a second computer system, wherein the first and second computer systems are in a peer-to-peer configuration, a receiver resides on the second computer system to receive a video mail message, and a storage device resides on the second computer system to store the video mail message. In some embodiments, also illustrated is a method including configuring a first computer system and a second computer system into a peer-to-peer configuration, receiving a video mail message at the second computer system, and storing the video mail message on the second computer system. The method may further include receiving an audio signal on the first computer system, receiving a video signal on the first computer system, and transmitting the video signal using the first computer system.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for calculating the surface distance between two geographical locations are described. According to one aspect of the present invention, values are stored in a square look-up table for determining the square of a value. Also, values are stored in a linear to surface distance look-up table for determining the surface distance of a linear value. Cartesian co-ordinates of the two geographic locations and the square look-up table are then used to calculate the square of the linear distance between the two geographical locations and the linear to surface distance look-up table is used to convert the calculated square of the linear distance to a surface distance.

Abstract: Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to examine a quantity of language-based communication to determine a plurality of topics associated with the quantity, and to determine whether a number of the plurality of topics converge to a selected degree. Responsive to determining convergence to the selected degree, ranking selected topics in the plurality of topics according to relevance may occur. Additional apparatus, system, and methods are disclosed.

Abstract: A method and system to contact a provider are described. The system may include a communication module to detect a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) call to a seller; a suitable representative associated with the seller; a decision module to determine, utilizing the detected VoIP call to the seller; and a call routing module to route the VoIP call to the suitable representative.

Abstract: A method for facilitating sales of goods of independent sellers. The method involves receiving a standard identification code, such as a UPC or ISBN code, of readily identifiable goods. The standard identification code is transmitted by a seller to a third-party marketeer who adds the good to its virtual inventory of goods for sale. The marketeer then presents the independent sellers' goods for sale to buyers shopping in the marketeer's marketplace. The marketeer need not take actual possession of the goods, yet the marketeer may properly present the goods for sale because the characteristics of the good identified by the standard identification code are known. The marketeer may set a price for the goods, e.g. as a function of a competing vendor's price for a comparable good having the same standard identification code.

Abstract: A method for facilitating sales of goods by independent parties. An independent seller is presented with a menu including selectable options for deriving a sale price for the independent seller's good. Each of the options corresponds to a respective predetermined method for determining the sale price. The sale price for the independent seller's good is derived using the predetermined method corresponding to a seller-selected option. Goods in addition to those registered for sale at a website of the marketeer may be presented in an electronic marketplace. Information concerning such additional goods may be retrieved from a database accessible to the marketeer controller. If a buyer wishes to purchase a certain good from the electronic marketplace, and the certain good has not been registered for sale at the website of the marketeer, the marketeer may refer the buyer to a third party vendor.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for facilitating user registration in a network-based transaction facility are described. According to one embodiment, a user associated with a registration process in the network-based transaction facility is identified, and a verification rating is assigned to the user based on the accuracy of the registration information submitted by the user during the registration process. If the verification rating exceeds a predetermined threshold, the user is registered with the network-based transaction facility.

Abstract: A method for using a telephone to list a seller's good for sale on a website including the steps of receiving good-identifying information from a seller via a telephone and presenting the good for sale on a website. The good-identifying information may be received as a series of tones generated by depression of keys of a telephone. The tones may optionally be used to navigate through a voice prompt system or to provide information about the good, such as the good's UPC code, ISBN number and/or characteristics of the good. The seller's provision of a standard identification code allows the marketeer to retrieve information relating to the good from a database and to use such information to present the good for sale. Such information, and/or the characteristics provided by the seller that are specific to the good may optionally be used to set or recommend a price for the good.

Abstract: A method and system to efficiently allocate connections between computer systems in a network are provided. The method and system include determining the type of connections, namely static and dynamic, to be provided for a system. The method and system further include the capability of redirecting a network connection request to a backup resource in the event that the primary resource is unable to serve the request.

Abstract: A system, to locate at least two storage devices from among a plurality of storage devices, receives a request for the data item. The request includes a data identifier for the data item. Next, the system generates a start number and a step number based on the data identifier. The system locates a first storage device utilizing the start number and, if the first storage device is available, the system reads the data item from the first storage device. However, if the first storage device is unavailable, the system utilizes the step number and the start number to compute a backup number that is utilized to locate a second storage device. If the second storage device is available, the system reads the data item from the second storage device.

Abstract: According to a first aspect there is provided a system to automatically generate software for an object to relational mapping system. The system automatically generates a number of classes. The system automatically generates the each class by reading class information, reading meta-data based on the class information, and automatically generating the class based on the meta-data. The classes used in the object to relational mapping system to enable an application program to access data that is persistently stored in a database and accessed by the application program from an instance of a data object class that is included in the classes.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method of managing group finances via an electronic network. Transaction details are received from a member of group via an electronic network. The transaction details preferably include a shared expense containing an expense amount and at least one group member responsible for the expense. The transaction details are then assigned to the group and a payment specified by the transaction details is allocated among group members of the group. The method is repeated for a plurality of transactions. The finances of the group may also be balanced using accounting mathematics. Furthermore, an original expense value may be rounded up to a new expense value having a predefined number of decimal places, and a difference distributed between the new expense value and the original expense value to a third party.

Abstract: A method of allowing a seller in an auction facility to offer buyers the option of buying an offering at a pre-auction seller determined price or using a regular auction process. If a buyer is given the option to purchase at the seller determined price and decides to use the regular auction process by submitting a bid, the option to buy the offering at a pre-auction seller determined price is discontinued.

Abstract: A message database server receives a message request from an application program and returns a confirmation or error status to the application program after attempting to store the message information contained in the request to a data store. The data store may be maintained by the message database server or by a queuing system. A message server obtains the message information from the data store for transmission through either a pull or push methodology. In one aspect the message data store contains a set of personalization tags and an identifier for a message template that contains the text of the message to be sent. The message server creates the message by retrieving the message template specified by the identifier and filling in variables in the text in the template with the appropriate personalization tags.

Abstract: A method includes generating an authenticity indicator for an electronic communication based on a comparison of domain name data and purported sender data associated with the electronic communication, the authenticity indicator indicating a likelihood that the electronic communication was sent from a purported sender of the electronic communication. The authenticity indicator is presented to the recipient of the electronic communication.

Abstract: The present invention relates to various aspects for maintaining and utilizing login preference information of users of a network-based transaction facility. In one embodiment, user interface information is communicated to a client via a communications network. The user interface information includes information concerning a plurality of features within the network-based transaction facility. The user interface information also specifies a login interface that facilitates user input of login preference information pertaining to each of the plurality of features. Further, the login preference information is received from the client via the communications network and utilized to control user access to any of the plurality of features within the network-based transaction facility via the communications network.

Abstract: A system and method to sort search results based upon a desirability value is illustrated. This desirability value may be based upon the difference between a demand value and a supply value. Demand may be based upon user activity such as click-throughs, purchases, price, or location. Supply may be based upon a supply of keywords that may be the number of times a word is used in search or item title. The system and method may include receiving a search query, associating a first numerical value with a keyword that is a part of the search query, tracking user activity associated with the keyword, associating a second numerical value with the keyword based upon the user activity, finding a difference value between the first and second numerical values, associating this difference value with the keyword, sorting keywords based upon the difference values, and returning the search results of the sorting.

Abstract: A system receives context data associated with a context and a user. The system then associates the context data to a user identifier and retrieves data associated with the context. The system then filters the data according to the context data to create result data. In another embodiment, the system also receives context data from a plurality of users, where the context data pertains to one or more attributes of a context. The system then using the context data ranks the one or more attributes of the context to create ranked data and generates a user interface based on the ranked data. In yet another embodiment, the system communicates context data associated with a context and a user to a server, and receives result data created by the server filtering data retrieved based on the context data. The system then generates a user interface based on the result data.

Abstract: Providing prioritization of user online access to an online commerce site. Third party applications using API function calls to access an online commerce site are restricted to specific services by an access rule. An access rule defines which API server on the online commerce site a specific third party application may access when using a specific API function call. In this way, the operator of the online commerce site may prioritize server access per service level agreements based on a specific third party application and API function call.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a system and method for an Internet-based shopping facility. The shopping facility allows a seller to select shoppers that may bid on the seller's auction listing or offer to but the seller's fixed price listing. Only the shoppers that receive authorization from the seller may bid on or buy the item or service offered for sale by the seller.

Abstract: Embodiments of a method and system for utilizing user-designed applications are disclosed. A user-designed application that utilizes at least one high-level API available within a system may be received. The user-designed application may be deployed server-side within the system. A user request may be processed server-side for the user-designed application in the system.

Abstract: A method for using a telephone to list a seller's good for sale on a website including the steps of receiving good-identifying information from a seller via a telephone and presenting the good for sale on a website. The good-identifying information may be received as a series of tones generated by depression of keys of a telephone. The tones may optionally be used to navigate through a voice prompt system or to provide information about the good, such as the good's UPC code, ISBN number and/or characteristics of the good. The seller's provision of a standard identification code allows the marketeer to retrieve information relating to the good from a database and to use such information to present the good for sale. Such information, and/or the characteristics provided by the seller that are specific to the good may optionally be used to set or recommend a price for the good.

Abstract: A system and method for electronic message verification are described. One embodiment adds a unique code to electronic messages which a user can provide to a financial services company website. The code can be verified and a verification notice is provided to the user if the message was authentic. Authentication can be based upon both the code and the user's identification relative to the financial services company.

Abstract: A system and method uses seller and item filters to identify items listed on a network based transaction facility that are qualified for a network based elite transaction facility.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method and system for combining keywords into logical clusters that share a similar behavior with respect to a considered dimension are disclosed. Various embodiments are operable to order a list of keywords from high activity to low activity, partition the list into at least two sets, a head partition including keywords with an activity level above a predefined threshold, a tail partition including the remainder of the keywords in the list, model the keywords in the head partition based on a set of variables, score the keywords in the head partition based on the modeling, and cluster head partition keywords with tail partition keywords having at least one common variable into at least one keyword cluster.

Abstract: A host Web page includes an evolving interactive dialog box wherein an Internet user may enter user data to be processed. When the user completes entering user data in a first revolution of the interactive dialog box, the first revolution is replaced with a second revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box without disturbing or affecting any other part of the host Web page being displayed. Beneficially, the first and second revolutions may be communicated to a user computer together with and at a same time as the host Web page. Also, the second revolution may include a variety of data which is selected or customized to match the user data submitted in the first revolution. Each revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box may be comprised of any combination of general textual data entry fields, category (pull-down) menus, contact information data entry fields, and opt-in/opt-out buttons.

Abstract: A system and method to facilitate a transaction in a network-based commerce facility is provided. The method includes presenting a plurality of listings to a user, and monitoring selection of one of the plurality of listings by the user. Thereafter, the user is provided with an indication of an equivalent periodic payment of a plurality of periodic payments associated with an offer to purchase. In one embodiment, the user is provided with an option to conclude the transaction for the selected listing based on a plurality of periodic payments. In certain embodiments, the network-based commerce facility is a web-based auction facility where the offers are in the form of bids. Accordingly, in this embodiment, the periodic payment may be a monthly payment and the products are movable goods such as motor vehicle, motorcycles, watercraft, or the like.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for conducting an integrated auction that incorporates various features of traditional and online auctions. According to one aspect of the present invention, the integrated auction includes a live, in-person auction component and an online bidding environment component. Bidding information associated with an item in the online bidding environment is updated to reflect a current bid associated with the item in the live, in-person auction. During the live, in-person auction, a bid is accepted from an online bidder in the online environment that reflects a maximum price the online bidder is willing to pay for the item. Subsequently, the system bids on behalf of the online bidder against one or more live bidders that are participating in the live, in-person auction based upon the maximum price.

Abstract: A method of communicating information within a network-based auction facility includes facilitating creation of a note pertaining to a user or item available for auction via of an on-line auction facilitated by the network-based auction facility. The note is associated with the user or item of the on-line auction. Within an administrative environment, a note graphical icon is displayed to indicate an association of the note with the user or item of the on-line auction when displaying information concerning the user or item to an administrator of the on-line auction facility.

Abstract: A method of, and system for, monitoring interaction between a user and a computer is provided. The method includes generating an image including random reference data readable by the user, and communicating the image to the computer for display to the user. User input data is then received and a comparison between the random reference data and the user input data is performed to determine if the user is interacting with the computer.

Abstract: A system is disclosed for automatically updating the status of customers' orders and shipments via electronic mail without using a human attendant to create and send the electronic mail messages. Preferably implemented in software, the updating system allows a large set of customers to be periodically updated over a computer or communications network via electronic mail. The system includes a database for maintaining order and shipping status and other relevant information.

Abstract: A method and apparatus store multiple items across different categories in a database. A database includes an attribute value table that has item entries for items of different categories. Each item entry has attribute values for attributes of the items. The database also includes an attribute map table that has attribute map entries. The attribute map entries have attribute map values. Additionally, an attribute value is associated with an attribute map entry, such that the attribute values are translated based on the attribute map values of the associated attribute map entry. In one embodiment, the translating of an attribute value includes determining an attribute type associated with the attribute value.

Abstract: A method and system for providing order status information using a network address, by receiving a network address from a customer when the customer places an order with the merchant. An information system is interrogated via a network to determine a status of the order. A message indicating the status of the order is automatically composed and transmitted to the network address for the customer.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for a dual online registration contact information system, comprising receiving a request for contact information for a given user, searching a user contact information database comprising private contact information and public contact information to determine if the given user has associated public contact information, and displaying the given user's public contact information.

Abstract: Graphical user interface for filtering a population of items. The graphical user interface may be implemented as a method on a system comprising a computer server or other computing device. The system defines a library of available criteria to be used in filtering a population of items to identify items of interest. Each criterion has a graphical representation. The system receives an indication of at least one of the criterion to be applied to the population as a filter and also accepts an indication of a tier of the filter to which the selected criterion is to be associated. The system identifies a list of items of interest satisfying a current set of criteria defining the filter. A graphical representation of the filter is displayed by the system while it is being constructed by the user. In one embodiment, the items are securities such as stocks.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for authenticating an electronic message are provided. The method includes investigating data in a header of the electronic message, and generating an authenticity indicator in response to the investigation. The authenticity indicator may provide an indication of the likelihood that the electronic message was sent from a purported sender visible to a recipient of the electronic message. In certain embodiments, the method includes presenting the authenticity indicator to the recipient of the electronic message. Investigating data in the header may include parsing the header to obtain purported sender data in a from field populated at a mail client and to obtain actual originator data, comparing the purported sender data and actual originator data, and generating the authenticity indicator in response to the comparison. The from field may be the “FROM: . . . ” field of an email message provided to identify a sender of the email message.

Abstract: A method for promoting resale of goods. The method includes solicitation of agreement to offer a good for resale from a buyer of the good near the time of the sale, near the time of confirmation of a desire to purchase a good and/or subsequent to the time of the sale. The buyer may agree to offer the good for resale at a specified future time or upon occurrence of a trigger event. Alternatively, the buyer may agree to be solicited at a future time. Additionally, a relisting agent may solicit the buyer subsequent to the time of sale upon occurrence of a trigger event. A seller, a marketeer, etc. may act as the relisting agent. In electronic commerce applications, a software-implemented relisting controller is used to solicit agreement from buyers to offer the good for resale. An apparatus for performing a computer-implemented version of the inventive method is provided.

Abstract: A method and a system to correlate location and content. For example hyperlinked content can be received from a user including current geographical position data. The current geographical position data can be extracted from the hyperlinked content. Location or geographically-based content can be selected based on the current geographical position data. The geographical based content can be returned to the user.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for information presentation and management in an online trading environment are provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, person-to-person commerce over the Internet is facilitated by providing prospective buyers the ability to quickly preview items for sale. Images are harvested from a plurality of sites based upon user-supplied information. The user-supplied information includes descriptions of items for sale and locations from which images that are to be associated with the items can be retrieved. Thumbnail images are created corresponding to the harvested images and are aggregated onto a web page for presentation at a remote site. According to another aspect of the present invention, a user may submit a query to preview items for sale. After receiving the query, thumbnail images corresponding to items that satisfy the user query are displayed, each of the thumbnail images previously having been created based upon a user-specified image.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for securely displaying and communicating trusted and untrusted internet content via a web browser is described. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is an electronic marketplace system in which auction-related content is displayed in one window of a customer's web browser while item-related content is displayed in a second window of the customer's web browser, such that the auction-related content and the item-related content are substantially prevented from substantially interacting. The invention further provides a method and apparatus for communicating predetermined information between multiple documents opened in multiple web browser windows, where the documents are served from multiple domains.

Abstract: A “push” based publication model in which messages are sent automatically to communicate event related data to other system applications when an event occurs that causes a change to a persistent data store. A shadow table stores records relating to information stored in the main table. Each record is assigned a sequentially ordered identification code. A high water mark table stores the identification number of the last message published for a group of messages, and thus points to where publication last stopped. By using sequentially ordered codes, it is readily apparent from a gap in the sequence codes whether a record/message is missing. The shadow table may be configured as an Index Ordered Table to eliminate a query “hop” from the index table to the shadow table. The persistent store is queried to identify changes in persistent store structure, and the message structure is modified automatically to reflect any changes.

Abstract: A method of filtering out item data in a report in network-based auction facilities. Data concerning multiple items is received in a database of a network-based auction facility. A price-based value is associated with at least one item. Irregular data concerning an irregular item having a price-based value greater than a predetermined price-based value is removed from a representation of the data.

Abstract: A method and system for providing order status information using an update status flag to receive status information pertaining to an order placed by a customer with a merchant. It is determined whether the received status information is new relative to further status information pertaining to the order stored within a status record. The status record is updated to include the received status information if the received status information is new. The updated message indicating the received status information is then composed and sent to the customer.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide a method and apparatus for storing multiple items across different categories in a database. One embodiment of the present invention provides a database that includes an attribute value table that has item entries for items of different categories. Each item entry has attribute values for attributes of the items. The database also includes an attribute map table that has attribute map entries. The attribute map entries have attribute map values. Additionally, an attribute value is associated with an attribute map entry, such that the attribute values are translated based on the attribute map values of the associated attribute map entry. In one embodiment, the translating of an attribute value includes determining an attribute type associated with the attribute value.