Patents Examined by Chrystina E Zelaskiewicz
  • Patent number: 10796345
    Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for offline advertisement presentation. Media items and advertisements are stored on a client device. During playback of the media item, in absence of a network connection, a stored advertisement is presented to a user. This may be facilitated by a proxy advertising service implemented in the client device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Aneeb Naveed Qureshi
  • Patent number: 10733686
    Abstract: Methods, and apparatus, enabling an originating service provider to automatically obtain from a 3rd party service provider and run a software service online. Method comprising: originating service provider negotiating license with 3rd party service provider over certain software service run by 3rd party service provider; license stipulating life cycle information of software service, enabling originating service provider to automatically obtain software service; 3rd party provider delivering software service to originating service provider in response to agreements of license; and originating service provider automatically deploying software service in self-hosted environment according to stipulation of the license.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ying Li, Ying Chen, Zhong Tian
  • Patent number: 10725877
    Abstract: A system, method and computer program product for performing a data protection operation is provided. The method includes receiving a write instruction that is associated with a writable entity, the write instruction includes a writable entity identifier, and data protection metadata indicative of a relevancy of at least one data protection operation to be applied in relation to the write instruction, and participating in an execution of a relevant data protection operation, if such a relevant data protection operation exists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ran Fashchik, Eyal Gordon
  • Patent number: 10706429
    Abstract: A method and system for identifying users for advertising. Users and attributes are identified. First web sites provided by ISPs accessed by the users are identified. First data received from the ISPs include content of the first web sites and user time spent thereon. The first data is analyzed to determine first attribute values indicative of interest in each attribute by each user. Second data received from ISPs include content of second web sites and user time spent thereon. Second attribute values are derived from questionnaires completed by the users, which indicate interest in each attribute by each user. Third attribute values are determined by combining the first attribute values with the second attribute values for each user. The third attribute values are processed to identify users to which a product or service may be advertised. The identified users are communicated to a provider of the product or service.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Hulikunta Prahlad Raghunandan
  • Patent number: 10692104
    Abstract: A system, method, and computer-readable media are described for facilitating management of vendor offers. In one embodiment, a loyalty card, or portion thereof, is presented, the loyalty card having a plurality of loyalty portions associated with a vendor that indicate loyalty of a user based on interaction with the vendor. Subsequently, an indication to fulfill one of the loyalty portions provided on the loyalty card is received. Upon fulfilling one of the loyalty portions, an indication that one of the loyalty portions is completed is provided. In one embodiment, the vendor is a school or a non-profit organization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: YCS Group, LLC
    Inventors: Sid T. Shugart, Dawnua M. Dawson, Cecilio Webb
  • Patent number: 10621580
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to systems and methods which identify fraudulent situations during the transaction phase. In one embodiment, such detection is accomplished by monitoring for situations either outside the range of normal for the general population or outside the range of normal for this particular user. The normal range could be rule driven and, for example, could include size of a given purchase, frequency of purchases, identity the equipment being utilized for the current transaction, etc. The rule could be relaxed or tightened, at least in part, based on the length of time that the user has been a customer and the user's past payment history. In one embodiment, device ids are used to detect fraudulent users. These device (or software) ids could, for example, be a “fingerprint” of the user's equipment, or a “cookie” previously downloaded to the user that identifies the user to the fulfillment system. In situations where fraud is detected downloading the value to the user is interrupted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: Stamps.com Inc.
    Inventors: Akbar A. Thobhani, Kyle Huebner, Steve Spring
  • Patent number: 10565388
    Abstract: There is provided a method and system for allocating access to digital media content. In one embodiment, the system may comprise a media server accessible over a communications network, a processor of the media server being configured to encrypt the digital media content to produce a secondary license for the digital media content, and to provide a temporary license key allowing a user to access at least a first portion of the digital media content during an activation usage interval of the secondary license for that portion of the digital media content assigned to the user. The media server further comprises an assignment database configured to store an assignment status of the license. Such a system is configured to permit the user to access the assigned portion of the digital media content during the usage interval.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Schonfeld, Arnaud Robert
  • Patent number: 10554424
    Abstract: A method for controlling the release of an as-rendered configuration of a digital work, comprising the steps of presenting said digital work as a composite of a plurality of layers comprising at least a first layer and a second layer; providing a rendering protocol interface which is adapted for defining said as-rendered configuration of the digital work by specifying a first rendering status of said first layer and a second rendering status of said second layer; providing a rendering protocol facility adapted for storing and controlling the release of said first and second rendering status of said first and second layers respectively in accordance with said as-rendered configuration; restricting unauthorized access to the rendering protocol interface, thereby preventing unauthorized modification of said as-rendered configuration; and releasing said digital work with said as-rendered configuration. The method has application in selling books, movies, software, music and other information products.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: Nytell Software LLC
    Inventors: Ashish K Mithal, Amad Tayebi
  • Patent number: 10535044
    Abstract: A technique for conducting a transaction via a network is described. In this technique, in response to receiving transaction information associated with the transaction via the network from a network browser in a computer, a computer system provides an encrypted version of the received transaction information via the network to an application that executes in the computer, which facilitates a comparison of the received transaction information with original transaction information provided by a user to the computer. Note that this application is separate from the network browser, and the communication with the application via the network is independent of the network browser. Moreover, if the received transaction information matches the original transaction information, the computer system receives approval for the transaction from the computer via the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: INTUIT INC.
    Inventor: Marc Feldman
  • Patent number: 10528455
    Abstract: A service oriented architecture (SOA) infrastructure is provided for business process verification and systems integrated testing. The system includes one or more primary agents each dedicated to detecting a particular business process. The system further includes one or more action agents each configured to provide a verification function for the particular business process. Additionally, the system includes a service manager configured to provide context look-up services for the one or more primary agents to determine which action agent of the one or more action agents is responsible for a particular verification function of the particular business process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen M. Davis, Philip T. Ho, Rakesh K. Parimi
  • Patent number: 10503533
    Abstract: An app store can have a multiuser streaming app. A thin front end appears on the user devices and the rest of the app instances run in virtual machines in a data center of the app store. A web page at an URL Phi can contain a linket Theta. Phi is seen in a mobile browser. If Theta is picked, the mobile device sends Theta and Phi to the Registry. The Registry logs both. Future analysis of the log tells where (Phi) the linket appeared. A bidirectional capability. The app server for the linket can also get Phi, and use the pair for similar analysis. An ad server which made an ad containing Theta, which appeared in Phi, can analyse the log to measure the efficacy of posting the ad to Theta. Phi can also be an app.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Inventor: Wesley John Boudville
  • Patent number: 10452844
    Abstract: A circuit arrangement, method, and design structure for controlling access to master secret data disposed in at least a portion of at least one persistent region of an integrated circuit device is disclosed. The circuit arrangement includes a clock circuit responsive to an external clock signal, a security state machine configured to control a security state of the integrated circuit device, and a master secret circuit in communication with the security state machine and configured to control access to the master secret data. The security state machine and master secret circuit are isolated from the clock circuit, and the master secret circuit is responsive to the security state machine to selectively erase at least a portion of the master secret data. The master secret circuit may be configured to erase the portion of the master secret data in response to a null or triggered security state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: William E. Hall, Stefan P. Jackowski
  • Patent number: 10452817
    Abstract: Applications running in an API-proxy-based emulator are prevented from infecting a PC's hard disk when executing file I/O commands. Such commands are redirected to an I/O redirection engine instead of going directly to the PC's normal operating system where it can potentially harm files in on the hard disk. The redirection engine executes the file I/O command using a private storage area in the hard disk that is not accessible by the PC's normal operating system. If a file that is the subject of a file I/O command from an emulated application is not in the private storage area, a copy is made from the original that is presumed to exist in the public storage area. This copy is then acted on by the command and is stored in the private storage area, which can be described as a controlled, quarantined storage space on the hard disk. In this manner the PC's (or any computing device's) hard disk is defended from potential malware that may originate from applications running in emulated environments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: TREND MICRO INC
    Inventors: Sun Mingyan, Lo Chien Ping, Fan Chi-Huang
  • Patent number: 10430729
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for specifying a legality expression for use in a system for processing the legality expression. The system and method include providing a legality expression language, including at least one of a duty element specifying an obligation that a principal must perform an act, a ban element specifying a prohibition that a principal must not perform an act, an intent element specifying an intention that a principal wants to perform an act, and a claim element specifying an assertion that a principal does perform an act. The system and method further include interpreting by the system a legality expression specified using the legality expression language.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: CONTENTGUARD HOLDINGS, INC.
    Inventor: Xin Wang
  • Patent number: 10430604
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for providing data security. Credit-related data provided by a credit database can be received. The credit-related data can include records. Each record can include a social security number and a name associated with the social security number. Each record can be transformed to generate transformed data using a hashing algorithm. An electronic communication comprising content can be received. Transformed content can be generated by transforming the content. The transformed content can be compared to the transformed data. The transformed content can be determined to match at least one of the transformed records. The electronic communication can be prevented from being transmitted to a network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: EQUIFAX INC.
    Inventors: Tony Spinelli, David Hannigan, Nick Nedostup
  • Patent number: 10380239
    Abstract: Approaches, techniques, and mechanisms are disclosed for automatically inserting supplemental items into documents. According to an embodiment, a first request is received, comprising document information that identifies a particular document. A target repeated structure type, to which a group of items in the particular document conform, is identified within the particular document. Based on the target repeated structure type, a template is generated. A new content item is generated by applying descriptive metadata that describes the new content item to the template. The new content item conforms to the target repeated structure type. The new content item is inserted in the particular document at an insertion point before or after a particular content item that conforms to the target repeated structure type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Sharethrough Inc.
    Inventors: Ryan Weald, Michael Jensen
  • Patent number: 10332151
    Abstract: Method for influencing content delivery to a mobile device used by a user includes: receiving a request for content delivery from the mobile device, over a computer network; obtaining a location of the mobile device; identifying one or more media points in proximity to the obtained location of the mobile device; obtaining type, location and display size of the identified one or more media points, from one or more databases; determining a strength of an exposure of the user to said identified one or more media points, based on the type, location and display size of the identified one or more media points and the location of the mobile device; selecting a relevant supplemental content for delivery to the mobile device, based on said determined strength of an exposure of the user to said identified one or more media points; and delivering said selected relevant supplemental content and the requested content to the mobile device over the computer network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Inventor: Blake F. Megdal
  • Patent number: 10318988
    Abstract: A method, information handling system and/or computer program product provides a cookie to a user. The method comprises: analyzing data in a consolidated set of the user's internet activities; generating a server side cookie for a website based on the analyzed data; in response to the user visiting the website with a first client, providing the server side cookie to the first client; merging the server side cookie with a client side cookie at the first client; and using the merged cookie to provide personalized recommendations to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Trevor J. Bodz, Jennifer E. Grucza, Kathy P. Mitchell, Dennis D. Osentoski, Randall A. Stark, Matthew Whitbourne
  • Patent number: 10318987
    Abstract: A method, information handling system and/or computer program product provides a cookie to a user. The method comprises: analyzing data in a consolidated set of the user's internet activities; generating a server side cookie for a website based on the analyzed data; in response to the user visiting the website with a first client, providing the server side cookie to the first client; merging the server side cookie with a client side cookie at the first client; and using the merged cookie to provide personalized recommendations to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Trevor J. Bodz, Jennifer E. Grucza, Kathy P. Mitchell, Dennis D. Osentoski, Randall A. Stark, Matthew Whitbourne
  • Patent number: 10311449
    Abstract: Systems and methods for targeted advertising are described. The systems and methods identify a series of events that may be related to a transaction for goods and services. The systems and methods may select at least one future event from the series of events. The systems and methods may generate an account with information about goods and services, and parties to the transaction. The systems and methods may use the information contained in the account about the goods and services and at least one future event as a selection criteria and trigger for sending targeted advertisements to a customer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: NEXTLEVEL ASSOCIATION SOLUTIONS, INC.
    Inventors: W. J. Butler, Gregory A. Pater