Patents Examined by Ann J Chempakaseril
  • Patent number: 7877417
    Abstract: A data exchange system for communicating with a database having a plurality of data tables includes a plurality of internal classes adapted to represent data from the data tables in a business entity format, a plurality of query structures corresponding to the plurality of data tables and a plurality of document classes referencing one or more of the plurality of query structures. The data exchange system allows an application to communicate with the database without having to know the structure of the database. Moreover the data exchange system allows the database to communicate with a document without having to know any business logic governing the creation, retrieval, update, deletion, etc., of the document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Arthur R. Greef, Arne Kroka, Niels E. Møller, Per Baarsøe Jorgensen, Søren V. Andersen
  • Patent number: 7870098
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention relate to creating a new change pointer to indicate a change to be made to data on a database. For a receiver of the data, it may be determined whether the receiver requires historical data, and if so, an image of the data may be created before changing it. The historical data, in the form of an image or images, may be subsequently “pulled” (requested and received) by the receiver, or “pushed” (sent without being requested) to the receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2011
    Assignee: SAP AG
    Inventors: Werner H. Laber, Klaus Akemann, Daniel J. Goldmann, Michael Frauenkron
  • Patent number: 7801844
    Abstract: The subject disclosure pertains to databases as well as generation and utilization of keys. A desired or default number of values can be requested from a domain and allocated for use. These values can be utilized to generate surrogate keys. Subsequently or concurrently, the keys can be employed with respect to operations such as single pass loading of databases and/or data warehouses. Any unused keys can be returned and made available for use by other users or processes. Furthermore, the key generation functionality can be provided outside a database thereby relieving a database system of this burden.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Donald M. Farmer
  • Patent number: 7774350
    Abstract: The present invention is a system for and method to collect, calculate, and display user feedback ratings in an online transaction processing (OLTP) environment. The invention utilizes a client, a network, a Web site host system, and rule-based decision making, to 1) enable users and other systems to submit transaction performance information for a buyer or seller; 2) enable users to view transaction performance information; and 3) enable users to view detailed transaction performance measures for buyers or sellers within specific performance categories. Rating the transaction performance of users of an OLTP environment can serve to improve users' trust in the OLTP environment, improve the reputation of online trading venues, and increase the value of these venues.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2010
    Assignee: eBay Inc.
    Inventors: Surjatini Widjojo, Nathan Sacco
  • Patent number: 7769707
    Abstract: Privacy of data can be preserved while utility of the output is maximized by selecting from an appropriately calculated distribution of noise values to add to an output. A distribution that includes a high likelihood of large noise values may lead to less useful output data. Conversely, a distribution that includes very low likelihood of large noise values may lead to less privacy. A distribution should be calculated to provide an appropriate level of output utility and privacy based on the query that is performed and the desired privacy level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Cynthia Dwork, Frank D. McSherry
  • Patent number: 7743054
    Abstract: An information retrieval system has a search history storage for storing information of the relation between a search condition entered by the user and selected paper data. In the search history storage, information of the relation between the search condition and a detailed search condition is also stored. The selected paper information and the detailed search information is updated on the basis of a screen transition instruction. The selected paper information is used for a searching process in a search engine and a screen generating process in an HTML document generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2010
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc.
    Inventor: Kosuke Sasai
  • Patent number: 7725459
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention enables manipulation of data on a remote server and ensures uniqueness of data identifiers in a multi-tier environment, where a database client communicates through one or more intermediate servers to reach the target server containing the remote database. In particular, a client system transmits a query to the target server via a gateway system and receives a handle or data reference and a query identification for subsequent manipulation of data residing on that target server. A new query identification is generated by the gateway system and mapped with the query identification of the intended target server. When the client system transmits a query with the gateway query identification, the gateway system performs a lookup operation to identify the corresponding target server and subsequently forwards the query and target server query identification to the identified target server for processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Shivram Ganduri, James W. Pickel
  • Patent number: 7653638
    Abstract: A user input is received. The user input creates or alters an association that links at least two elements within a system of data. A user is provided with, based at least in part on the association, an indication of relevant data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Forney
  • Patent number: 7630996
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method of compressing data entries in a database, including the steps of: (a) inputting a plurality of uncompressed data entries; (b) dividing a particular uncompressed data entry, in a pre-determined manner, into at least two sections of significant bits, the two sections including both a common section and a differentiating section with respect to other the uncompressed data entries; (c) determining, by comparison of the particular data entry with a monotonically-adjacent entry, if a match exists in the common section; and (d) providing a particular compressed entry for the particular data entry, the compressed entry including compressed data corresponding to the particular data entry, wherein if, in step (c), the match exists in the common section, the compressed data includes at least a portion of the differentiating section of the particular data entry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2009
    Assignee: Hywire Ltd.
    Inventors: Moshe Hershkovich, Moshe Stark
  • Patent number: 7552122
    Abstract: Multiple computers in a cluster maintain respective sets of identifiers of neighbor computers in the cluster for each of multiple named resource. A combination of the respective sets of identifiers define a respective tree formed by the respective sets of identifiers for a respective named resource in the set of named resources. Upon origination and detection of a request at a given computer in the cluster, a given computer forwards the request from the given computer over a network to successive computers in the hierarchical tree leading to the computers relevant in handling the request based on use of identifiers of neighbor computers. Thus, a combination of identifiers of neighbor computers identify potential paths to related computers in the tree.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2009
    Assignee: Sanbolic, Inc.
    Inventor: Ivan I. Georgiev
  • Patent number: 7536366
    Abstract: Systems and methods that enhance estimate(s) of features (e.g., word associations), via employing a sampling component (e.g., sketches) that facilitates computations of sample contingency tables, and designates occurrences (or absence) of features in data (e.g., words in document lists). The sampling component can further include a contingency table generator and an estimation that employs a likelihood argument (e.g., partial likelihood, maximum likelihood, and the like) to estimate features/word pair(s) associations in the contingency tables.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth Ward Church, Ping Li
  • Patent number: 7512609
    Abstract: An authoring tool (or process) to facilitate the performance of an annotation function and an indexing function. The annotation function may generate informational annotations and word annotations to a database design schema (e.g., an entity-relationship diagram or “ERD”). The indexing function may analyze the words of the annotations by classifying the words in accordance with a concordance and dictionary, and assign a normalized weight to each word of each of the annotations based on the classification(s) of the word(s) of the annotation. A query translator (or query translation process) to (i) accept a natural language query from a user interface process, (ii) convert the natural language query to a formal command query (e.g., an SQL query) using the indexed annotations generated by the authoring tool and the database design schema, and (iii) present the formal command query to a database management process for interrogating the relational database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Christopher Clayton McConnell
  • Patent number: 7370022
    Abstract: A system and a method are disclosed that provide plans for autonomous machines such as humanoid robots to perform indoor task. Human subjects contribute plans to a knowledge database. Information in the knowledge database is pre-processed to identify task steps and characterize them as action-object pairs, from which a plan database is created. A discriminative technique uses hierarchical agglomerative clustering to select an existing plan from the plan database. A generative technique formulates new plans from the plan database using first-order Markov chains, and may take into account information about the operational environment. Experimentation and evaluation by human subjects confirm the efficacy of both techniques.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2008
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co.
    Inventors: Rakesh Gupta, Chirag Shah
  • Patent number: 7346595
    Abstract: A learning apparatus for learning time series data in a link model including a plurality of input time series pattern storage networks and a plurality of output time series pattern storage networks with nodes of the input time series pattern storage networks linked to nodes of the output time series pattern storage networks, includes a learning unit for updating in a self-organizing manner each of the plurality of input time series pattern storage networks and updating in a self-organizing manner each of the plurality of output time series pattern storage networks and a link relationship updating unit for updating a link relationship between each node of the output time series pattern storage network and an input winner node, and updating a link relationship between each node of the input time series pattern storage network and an output winner node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Kazumi Aoyama, Katsuki Minamino, Hideki Shimomura
  • Patent number: 7296005
    Abstract: A learning apparatus for learning time series data, includes a learning unit for updating, in a self-organizing manner based on an observed value of the time series data, a time series pattern storage network including a plurality of nodes, each node having a time series pattern model representing a time series pattern of the time series data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2007
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Katsuki Minamino, Kazumi Aoyama, Hideki Shimomura
  • Patent number: 7269599
    Abstract: A method and system for predicting a user activity level associated with an application. An activity level is a number of transactions performed by users utilizing the application per time period or a number of users utilizing the application per time period. Measurements of activity levels are assigned to a user activity metric (UAM) variable, and associated values are assigned to a set of factors. At least one correlation coefficient between each factor and the UAM is calculated. In response to a maximum correlation coefficient associated with a factor being less than a pre-defined threshold, the factor is excluded from the set of factors to facilitate forming a subset of factors associated with correlation coefficients whose absolute values are greater than or equal to the pre-defined threshold. A regression model utilizing the subset is generated to predict an activity level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Dmitry Andreev, Paul Gregory Greenstein, Galina Grunin, Gregory Vilshansky