Patents Examined by A. Pulliam
  • Patent number: 8655893
    Abstract: A method for organizing images from multiple image capture devices includes allowing the determination of an offset between image capture times recorded in a first image capture device and image capture times recorded in a second image capture device, adjusting the image capture times recorded in the second image capture device by the offset to produce adjusted image capture times by a computer processor, and sequencing images taken by the first image capture device and the second image capture device in an chronological order. The sequencing is based on the image capture times for the images captured by the first image capture device and the adjusted image capture times for the images captured by the second image capture device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: Shutterfly, Inc.
    Inventors: Wiley H. Wang, Eugene Chen, Preeti Nathan, Trynne Anne Miller
  • Patent number: 8655903
    Abstract: A content management system detects a change to one part of a document, and to generate a corresponding change in a different part of the same document. Dynamic inclusion rules define conditions that, when satisfied, allow automatically changing a link in a document to a new link when corresponding data in the document is added or changed. If a change corresponds to a defined dynamic inclusion rule, a corresponding query in the rule is evaluated according to the changes in the document. When there is enough information to run the query, the query is automatically executed in a background process. If there is a single link that satisfies the query, the document may be updated with the new link. If multiple links satisfy the query, the top ranked query result may be automatically selected, or the user may select which link should be included in the document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Brian J. Cragun, John E. Petri
  • Patent number: 8650171
    Abstract: A process is disclosed for retrieving information in large heterogeneous data bases, wherein information retrieval through visual querying/browsing is supported by dynamic taxonomies; the process comprises the steps of: initially showing (F1) a complete taxonomy for the retrieval; refining (F2) the retrieval through a selection of subsets of interest, where the refining is performed by selecting concepts in the taxonomy and combining them through boolean operations; showing (F3) a reduced taxonomy for the selected set; and further refining (F4) the retrieval through an iterative execution of the refining and showing steps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: 21 Srl
    Inventor: Giovanni Sacco
  • Patent number: 8645333
    Abstract: The invention provides a method for reducing identification of chunk portions in data de-duplication. The method includes detecting sequences of stored identification of chunk portions of at least one data object, indexing the detected stored identification of chunk portions based on a sequence type, encoding first repeated sequences of the stored identifications with a first encoding, encoding second repeated sequences of the stored identifications with a second encoding, and avoiding repeated stored identifications of chunk portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Subashini Balachandran, Mihail Corneliu Constantinescu
  • Patent number: 8645325
    Abstract: A system and method for hosting entity-specific photo-sharing websites for entity-specific image capture devices provides software for the entity-specific image capture devices that causes the image capture devices to transmit entity ID information when the image capture devices transmit images over the Internet. The system and method further provide an online photosharing service capable of hosting the entity-specific photo-sharing websites for each of the entities, such that when the image capture devices connect to photo-sharing service, the photo-sharing service uses the entity ID received from the image capture devices to automatically associate the image with the photo-sharing websites of the identified entity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: KDL Scan Designs LLC
    Inventors: Eric C. Anderson, Robert Paul Morris, Lynn Erich Petersen
  • Patent number: 8645405
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus, including computer products, for generating a natural language expression in response to a query. A computer-implemented method of generating a natural language expression in response to a query, includes generating a text frame from the query, and processing the text frame in conjunction with a grammar and one or more logic configuration files applied recursively to the text frame to generate the natural language expression from the query, the logic configuration files including functions that can pass arguments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jane Wen Chang, Raymond Lau, Michael Kyle McCandless
  • Patent number: 8639734
    Abstract: An apparatus or method in which information external to a file is used to select a directory within a file system where the file is to be stored. In one embodiment of the method a first request is received to create a first file in a file system, wherein the first request comprises a first file system path. First information is also received that describes data contained in a first data object. A first redirect file system path component is selected from a plurality of redirect file system path components in response to receiving the first information. The first file system path is then modified by adding the first redirect file system path component to the first file system path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Operating Corporation
    Inventor: Randall R. Cook
  • Patent number: 8635215
    Abstract: A method for brokering of know-how in various formats between users on an electronic Web service platform includes: allowing users access to the electronic Web service platform, requesting registration data from a user on the platform, managing interest area categories, receiving user offers for know-how in at least one interest area category, enabling searches of users for know-how in at least one interest area category, calculating and displaying a rating in respect of offers in at least one interest area category, approving to a selected offer an agreed exchange of know-how and a corresponding transfer of credit points, conveying selected know-how from the provider to the consumer and booking a corresponding transfer of credit points, and accepting and storing a rating given to the provider by the consumer in respect of the transferred know-how, wherein the rating is assigned to the interest area category of the transferred know-how.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Cyrill Osterwalder, Roger Caspar
  • Patent number: 8626877
    Abstract: A Global Information Bus (GIB) architecture is an infrastructure for deploying and managing individual services on a global scale. The GIB is a series of services that may change from one execution to another, finding and collaborating with other services dynamically. This series of collaborating services may start to resemble an ecosystem, and GIB architecture may maintain the interconnectedness and stability of this ecosystem as it continually changes. To that end, the GIB includes an enterprise repository service for storing related information related to services running in the enterprise where the enterprise consists of a group of network domains.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Verizon Business Global LLC
    Inventors: William S. Greene, James A. Robertson
  • Patent number: 8612411
    Abstract: Systems and methods for clustering documents, such as for scientific documents, taking into account the citation patterns of the documents are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes locating citations to other documents, e.g., search result documents, comparing each pair of documents to be clustered for overlapping citations in a first, a more specific second, and an even more specific optional third citation generality, and determining clusters of related documents based on the comparisons. The levels of generalities may be, for example, document-, paragraph-, and/or citation-level generalities. The locating may locate only citations to the other documents to be clustered. The clusters may be determined based on a weighted score of the amount of overlapping citations in the various generalities and/or by performing factor analysis using the comparison results. The clusters may be ranked to determine the dominant clusters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Vibhu O. Mittal
  • Patent number: 8612421
    Abstract: Predicate abduction involves identifying, from a database statement, predicates on attributes of dimensional data, and applying those predicates to corresponding measure data so that only measure values are fetched and returned for dimension values that satisfy the predicate. In contrast to processing joins of relational data, the subset of the measure data is determined without needing to join a fact table with a dimension table and, therefore, without processing every fact record to determine which measure values are associated with records that satisfy the condition. Buffer reuse involves storing in buffers the “domains” of queries executing on multidimensional data. Responsive to detecting that execution of a database statement requires multiple iterations of extracting the same multidimensional data, the data is extracted during the first iteration and stored in a buffer so that, for each subsequent iteration, the buffer-stored data is accessed rather than re-extracting the data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Oracle International Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew Dombroski, Caleb Welton, Ekrem Soylemez, Albert A. Hopeman, IV
  • Patent number: 8583637
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for visualizing results from a text search engine are described. A query term is first received. A first set of results is generated based on the query term using a database storing documents, and an index of documents, each document having at least one structural element. Structural elements associated with the first set of results are retrieved. A second set of results is generated based a predefined relationship between the structure elements and the query term. A visualization of the second set of results is displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kathrin Berkner, Charlie K. Dagli
  • Patent number: 8577926
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a technique for changing a parent model based on changes made to a referenced model. The technique may include receiving one or more changes for the referenced model. The referenced model may be changed based on the received one or more changes. Change information about the one or more changes to the referenced model is maintained. A reference to the referenced model from the parent model is processed. Processing may include changing the parent model based on the maintained change information for the referenced model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: The Mathworks, Inc.
    Inventor: Jamieson M. Cobleigh
  • Patent number: 8577838
    Abstract: A computer-readable recording medium storing a data processing program that causes a computer of a group of mutually communicable computers to execute, an acquisition procedure configured, when a processing request for an arbitrary data is inputted, to acquire the number of replicas set in the arbitrary data, a selection procedure configured to select computers, which serve as arrangement destinations of the arbitrary data and are as many as the number of replicas, from the computers of the computer group by using a predetermined algorithm, a transmission procedure of the number of replicas, configured to transmit the number of replicas of the arbitrary data, which number is acquired by the acquisition procedure, to all the computers of the computer group, and a processing request transmission procedure configured to transmit the processing request to each the computers that are selected by the selection procedure and as many as the number of replicas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Miho Murata
  • Patent number: 8566303
    Abstract: Determining and using word information entropies includes: determining one or more categories that correspond to a plurality of queries; sorting the plurality of queries into one or more groups based at least in part on the determined categories of the plurality of queries; segmenting queries that correspond to each of the one or more groups into a first plurality of phrases, wherein each phrase includes one or more words; determining occurrence probabilities for the plurality of phrases; and determining word information entropies for the plurality of phrases based at least in part on the determined occurrence probabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Limited
    Inventor: Kaimin Jin
  • Patent number: 8566334
    Abstract: In one general aspect, the application discloses a data visualization method that includes accessing data tables and receiving an axis binding definition for a particular visualization that relates values in a first of the tables to sets of fields in a second of the tables. A marking indication can then be received that selects one of the values in the first of the tables, and a set of fields in the second table is accessed based on the marking indication and the axis binding definition. This accessed set of fields is presented in the particular visualization for which the axis binding definition was received.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Spotfire AB
    Inventors: Tobias Lehtipalo, Johan Thoresson, Tommy Fortes, Daniel Vulcan, Mattias Wallerstedt
  • Patent number: 8566338
    Abstract: A content management system provides a way to detect a change to one part of a document, and to generate a corresponding change in a different part of the same document. Dynamic inclusion rules define conditions that, when satisfied, allow automatically changing a link in a document to a new link when corresponding data in the document is added or changed. If a change corresponds to a defined dynamic inclusion rule, a corresponding query in the rule is evaluated according to the changes in the document. When there is enough information to run the query, the query is automatically executed in a background process. If there is a single link that satisfies the query, the document may be updated with the new link. If multiple links satisfy the query, the top ranked query result may be automatically selected, or the user may select which link should be included in the document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Brian John Cragun, John Edward Petri
  • Patent number: 8548958
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a service mediator provides a service that is a composite of atomic services and executes a recovery pattern in the event that a service is not available. More particularly, in an initial phase of operation, the service mediator determines one or more recovery patterns for each atomic service offered in the composite service and stores in a database an identity of each such recovery pattern for each atomic service. In subsequent operation, the service mediator monitors the availability of each atomic service. When a user inquires of a composite service, the service mediator determines if any of its atomic services is unavailable. If an atomic service is unavailable, the service mediator selects a recovery pattern and executes it.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Ravi Shankar Arunachalam
  • Patent number: 8548984
    Abstract: Disclosed are an apparatus, method, and program product which each provide an enhanced database engine. Access to precise values is provided while permitting unfettered access to those who are not interested in precise values. This is accomplished via an enhanced database index and indexing method. The entries of the database index are normalized to exclude precision. Individuals interested in precision can then specify precision as part of their query through use of a PRECISE keyword. Results are then filtered to account for the specified precision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Gary Ross Ricard, William Jon Schmidt
  • Patent number: 8538992
    Abstract: The methods, systems, and data structures are taught for federating disparate calendaring systems into composite calendaring systems and composite calendars. First and second calendaring systems are bridged to a composite calendaring system using a bridging communication. The composite calendaring system tracks and presents selective information within a composite calendar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: Novell, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel C. Lawyer, Jeffrey Todd Hawkins, Scott Alan Isaacson, Matthew Richard French, James D. Nyland, Stephen R Carter