Patents Examined by Alexander Kalinowski
  • Patent number: 8438077
    Abstract: A system for providing supplementary product sales is provided in which a central controller, which may be operated by a credit card issuer, receives a purchase from a card authorization terminal. The purchase includes at least one purchase parameter, such as a customer account identifier, product identifiers for specifying items purchased or product price. The central controller determines a supplementary product to offer that is based on the at least one purchase parameter. A product identifier for specifying the supplementary product is transmitted to the card authorization terminal, where the customer chooses whether to accept the offered supplementary product. The card authorization terminal generates and transmits to the central controller a selection signal indicative of whether the supplementary product is accepted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2013
    Assignee: Ebay, Inc.
    Inventors: Jay S. Walker, Andrew S. Vanluchene, Daniel E. Tedesco
  • Patent number: 8433637
    Abstract: Market depth information pertaining to the hedging side is utilized to intelligently break a non-hedging order into multiple orders, such that the orders rest at cascading price levels. This way, the trader can benefit from sweeps in the book and still properly account for the market depth on the hedging side. Further, there is a greater probability of receiving “partials” on the spread order. In addition, hedge orders may be sent at multiple price levels, or sent to the market in pieces over time. By applying a more intelligent process to hedge orders (as opposed to “fire and forget”) an alternative beyond limit orders that can be logged or market orders is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Trading Technologies International, Inc.
    Inventors: Fred Monroe, Michael J. Burns, Scott F. Singer
  • Patent number: 8429030
    Abstract: A system for providing supplementary product sales is provided in which a central controller receives a purchase from a card authorization terminal. The purchase includes at least one purchase parameter, such as a customer account identifier, product identifiers for specifying items purchased or product price. The central controller determines a supplementary product to offer that is based on the at least one purchase parameter. A product identifier for specifying the supplementary product is transmitted to the card authorization terminal, where the customer chooses whether to accept the offered supplementary product. The card authorization terminal generates and transmits to the central controller a selection signal indicative of whether the supplementary product is accepted. If the selection signal indicates that the supplementary product is accepted, the central controller adjusts a balance of a financial account in dependence on an adjustment value associated with the supplementary product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Ebay, Inc.
    Inventors: Jay S. Walker, Andrew S. Vanluchene, Daniel E. Tedesco
  • Patent number: 8429031
    Abstract: A system for providing supplementary product sales is provided in which a central controller receives a purchase from a card authorization terminal. The purchase includes at least one purchase parameter, such as a customer account identifier, product identifiers for specifying items purchased or product price. The central controller determines a supplementary product to offer that is based on the at least one purchase parameter. A product identifier for specifying the supplementary product is transmitted to the card authorization terminal, where the customer chooses whether to accept the offered supplementary product. The card authorization terminal generates and transmits to the central controller a selection signal indicative of whether the supplementary product is accepted. If the selection signal indicates that the supplementary product is accepted, the central controller adjusts a balance of a financial account in dependence on an adjustment value associated with the supplementary product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Ebay Inc.
    Inventors: Jay S. Walker, Andrew S. Vanluchene, Daniel E. Tedesco
  • Patent number: 8428974
    Abstract: In a drawdown strategy for an investor's retirement fund, assets from the fund are allocated between a drawdown account and an option annuity. The drawdown account contains assets that are invested in the markets, and the option annuity contains annuities that begin to pay at the end of a deferral period. In a first phase of investor's retirement, funds are drawn down from the drawdown account and paid to the investor, and the value of the option annuity grows as proceeds from the option annuity are accumulated by the option annuity. At some point the drawdown account is depleted, which corresponds to the end of the deferral period for the option annuity. At this time, a second phase of the retirement begins wherein the investor receives payments from the option annuity, and this continues for the remainder of the investor's life.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Blackrock Institutional Trust Company, N.A.
    Inventor: Trevor T. S. Oliver
  • Patent number: 8429029
    Abstract: A system for providing supplementary product sales is provided in which a central controller receives a purchase from a card authorization terminal. The purchase includes at least one purchase parameter, such as a customer account identifier, product identifiers for specifying items purchased or product price. The central controller determines a supplementary product to offer that is based on the at least one purchase parameter. A product identifier for specifying the supplementary product is transmitted to the card authorization terminal, where the customer chooses whether to accept the offered supplementary product. The card authorization terminal generates and transmits to the central controller a selection signal indicative of whether the supplementary product is accepted. If the selection signal indicates that the supplementary product is accepted, the central controller adjusts a balance of a financial account in dependence on an adjustment value associated with the supplementary product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Ebay Inc.
    Inventors: Jay S. Walker, Andrew S. Vanluchene, Daniel E. Tedesco
  • Patent number: 8423479
    Abstract: A method for tracking sales leads, including a lead clearing house logging receipt in a log of one or more encrypted leads received from a participant of the lead clearing house, the one or more leads including personal lead information having been encrypted with a one-way hash algorithm; comparing the received one or more encrypted leads with stored encrypted leads to find any matches; updating the log related to the one or more encrypted leads with unencrypted log information associated with the matching one or more encrypted leads; and communicating a status to the participant based on the log relating to the one or more leads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Soren Riise, Devesh Patel, David Anthony Burgess
  • Patent number: 8423451
    Abstract: A computer-implemented data processing system for managing processing of mortgage loan applications comprises task manager logic configured to generate a first list representing a first plurality of tasks to be performed in connection with a mortgage loan application. The task manager logic is also configured to generate a second list representing a second plurality of tasks to be performed in connection with the mortgage loan application. The second list is generated after work has been performed in connection with processing the first list. The task manager logic comprises reconciliation logic configured to reconcile the first and second lists so that the work performed during processing of the first list is reflected in the second list.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Assignee: Fannie Mai
    Inventors: David R. Flaxman, Minerva L. Tantoco-Hobbs, Anne M. Murphy Kobus, Michael W. Koch, Daniel Packer, Peter G. Plofchan, Richard C. Pomeroy
  • Patent number: 8386354
    Abstract: In certain embodiments, a method for deterministic pricing management of a portfolio of one or more applications comprises, for each of the one or more applications: (1) receiving information associated with the application for a plurality of pricing drivers comprising one or more business pricing drivers and one or more maintainability pricing drivers, each pricing driver associated with a corresponding set of categories; (2) determining, for each business pricing driver and based on the received information, a particular category from the corresponding set of categories for the business pricing driver; (3) generating a business index based on the determined particular categories for the business drivers; (4) generating a maintainability index based on the received information; and (5) generating a composite index based on the generated business and maintainability indices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Alejandro R. Zanlongo
  • Patent number: 8386359
    Abstract: System, method, and program products offer flexibility to the rather rigid way of trading in an electronic trading system. Orders for a tradeable object may typically get matched according to set terms and/or conditions at an electronic exchange. A trader may log onto the electronic exchange to trade the tradeable object, and may choose to display and trade the tradeable object according to a different set of terms and/or conditions. As such, the market data sent to the trader from the exchange is converted to a format according to the trader's selection, so that it may be presented to the trader in this format. Transaction messages sent to the exchange from the trader are converted to the format readable by the matching process, so that it can process the messages. Other features and advantages are described herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Trading Technologies International, Inc.
    Inventors: Farley Owens, Robert J. Kline, Diane Saucier, Nidhi Singh, Bharat Mittal
  • Patent number: 8311941
    Abstract: Systems and techniques for receiving transaction information at an authentication system. The transaction information may be processed using different rule sets, based on the financial instrument used for the transaction (for example, a particular credit card, debit card, bank account, brokerage account, and the like). One or more alerts may be generated and communicated to the user. The alerts may be formatted based on user device configuration information, such as a cell phone type, email type, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: The Toronto-Dominion Bank
    Inventor: David S. Grant
  • Patent number: 8306900
    Abstract: An auto-trading strategy for executing an order to buy or sell a specified quantity of a certain item. The strategy utilizes urgency scores rather than time bins. In one embodiment, an urgency score is determined at a certain point in time. The urgency score is a function of a trading target associated with the point in time and the actual number of items that have been traded as of the certain point in time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: ITG Software Solutions, Inc.
    Inventors: Tomas Bok, David Cushing
  • Patent number: 8301541
    Abstract: Market depth information pertaining to the hedging side is utilized to intelligently break a non-hedging order into multiple orders, such that the orders rest at cascading price levels. This way, the trader can benefit from sweeps in the book and still properly account for the market depth on the hedging side. Further, there is a greater probability of receiving “partials” on the spread order. In addition, hedge orders may be sent at multiple price levels, or sent to the market in pieces over time. By applying a more intelligent process to hedge orders (as opposed to “fire and forget”) an alternative beyond limit orders that can be leged or market orders is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: Trading Technologies International Inc.
    Inventors: Fred Monroe, Michael J. Burns, Scott F. Singer
  • Patent number: 8265962
    Abstract: A system for administration of an insurance annuity account has a processor and a memory. The processor receives a net asset value of the account at a commencement of a first period and a charge applicable to the account based on a fraction of the net asset value of the account; on a basis of a second period, shorter than the first period, throughout the first period: the processor calculates a fractional charge based on the net asset value of the account, and updates the net asset value by decrementing the net asset value in the amount of the fractional charge. At the end of the first period, the processor compares a charge for the first period based on the net asset value of the account on one day during the first period to a sum of the fractional charges for the first period, and increases the net asset value by the difference if the first period charge is less than the sum of the fractional charges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company
    Inventors: Philip W. Michalowski, Keith E. Golembiewski, Joseph M. Weiss
  • Patent number: 8266034
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method for managing variable rate debt in the form of at least one credit issued by a borrower, comprising: budgeting for interest owed on the variable rate debt by the borrower during a time period when an interest rate on the variable rate debt is below a first predetermined low interest rate level; applying at least a portion of any existing current budgetary excess by the borrower to reduce future interest rate risk by performing at least one of i) the early retirement of principal associated with the variable rate debt and ii) the funding of a sinking fund; and applying at least a portion of any accumulated budgetary excess by the borrower during a time period when the interest rate is above a first predetermined high interest rate level to reduce an amount of debt service. A corresponding software program and system are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Assignee: Goldman, Sachs & Co.
    Inventor: George H. Butcher, III
  • Patent number: 8234202
    Abstract: Market depth information pertaining to the hedging side is utilized to intelligently break a non-hedging order into multiple orders, such that the orders rest at cascading price levels. This way, the trader can benefit from sweeps in the book and still properly account for the market depth on the hedging side. Further, there is a greater probability of receiving “partials” on the spread order. In addition, hedge orders may be sent at multiple price levels, or sent to the market in pieces over time. By applying a more intelligent process to hedge orders (as opposed to “fire and forget”) an alternative beyond limit orders that can be leged or market orders is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2012
    Assignee: Trading Technologies International Inc.
    Inventors: Fred Monroe, Michael J. Burns, Scott F. Singer
  • Patent number: 8229831
    Abstract: The present invention is systems and methods for trading. In accordance with these systems and methods, a plurality of trader work stations that are connected to a central server may be provided. Through the work stations and central server, the systems and methods may perform participant qualification, instrument creation, bid/offer entry and response, when hit and take, workup, price retention, price improvement, request for market, bid/off restoration, price generation, position conversion, marking to market, and delivery functions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: BGC Partners, Inc.
    Inventors: Stuart A Fraser, Andrew C Gilbert, Philip M Ginsberg, Glenn D Kirwin, Howard W Lutnick, Michael E Williams
  • Patent number: 8224673
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for administering an annuity product includes storing by a processor in memory an amount of an initial funding payment, an interest rate formula and a term for an accumulation annuity, and storing terms including a deferral term for a guaranteed income annuity. If the processor determines that the current time is during the term, the processor calculates an amount of interest earned on the fixed rate annuity and storing in memory a credit of the calculated interest amount to a guaranteed income annuity. After the accumulation period, the processor provides an output signal indicative of instructions to provide a notice of expiration. After the deferral period, the processor calculates an income annuity payment amount from the guaranteed income annuity; and provides an output signal indicative of instructions for a payment to be made to an annuitant based on the income annuity payment amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2012
    Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company
    Inventors: Philip W. Michalowski, Keith E. Golembiewski, Joseph M. Weiss
  • Patent number: 8204812
    Abstract: A system and method of electronically funding a financial account is disclosed. The method includes the acts of providing an electronic funding application, electronically transmitting the electronic funding application to a customer-operated client, and entering financial data into the funding application of the customer-operated client. The financial data includes a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) line, a currency amount, and an account identifier. The method further includes the acts of electronically transmitting the financial data to a server (30), validating that at least a portion of the entered financial data corresponds to the demand deposit account, converting the MICR line to an item compatible with the Automated Clearing House network, submitting the item and the currency to this network and electronically transfering the currency from the demand deposit account to the financial account.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: EFunds Corporation
    Inventors: Whitney Hilton Stewart, Robert Lawrence Hill, Connie Koep
  • Patent number: 8195545
    Abstract: A system and method are provided to visually represent and configure trading strategies used in electronic trading. The system and method may be used to visually represent, among other things, an acceptable range of prices for a trading strategy in relation to a graphical user interface. The acceptable range of prices may be input by a trader to limit when one or more orders are moved from one price to another. The acceptable range of prices can be displayed on a graphical user interface using visual indicators. Using the visual indicators, the acceptable range of prices can also be configured and modified by a trader based on the trader's preferences. Other features and advantages are described herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: Trading Technologies International Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas R. Zagara, Michael J. Burns, Scott F. Singer