Patents Examined by Daniel Stcyr
  • Patent number: 8191784
    Abstract: A binary code symbol for non-linear strain measurement designed specifically for perimeter-based deformation and strain analysis. The symbol is rectangular with a continuous outer perimeter, two data regions along adjacent sides of the rectangle and a utility region adjacent each side opposite the data regions. Each data region is made up of at least two rows, each of which is made up of a number of data cells, and each utility region is made up of at least two rows, each of which is made up of utility cells with alternating appearance. There are at least two distinct finder cells on opposite corners of the rectangle, which can be used to orient the symbol. A non-linear strain gage for measuring the strain on an object under load in accordance includes a target, a sensor, and a computer, wherein the target is a binary code symbol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: Direct Measurements, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory Hovis, William Ranson, Reginald Vachon
  • Patent number: 8181850
    Abstract: A method of authenticating a first document (270) including content (271) and a barcode (272). The barcode (272) comprising barcode elements each having a predetermined form. A plurality of the barcode elements of the barcode are detected in a representation of the first document (270). A visual difference between each of the detected barcode elements and the predetermined form of the barcode element is determined. The barcode (272) is decoded to determine a second document. The first document (270) and the second document are compared based on the determined visual difference, in order to authenticate the first document (270).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Roger David Butler, Alan Gordon Doubleday, Matthew Christian Duggan
  • Patent number: 8172135
    Abstract: The present disclosure facilitates gesture-based interaction with a computer-system. The method may comprise pairing a transaction account with a likeness, receiving the likeness and a transaction request based upon the location of a marker in three dimensional space, retrieving the transaction account paired with the likeness, and approving the transaction request at least partially based upon the transaction account and the likeness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.
    Inventors: Dilip Aidasani, Kimberly Alderfer, Kate T. King, Lisa M. Knight, Stuart Rolison
  • Patent number: 8136724
    Abstract: The present disclosure facilitates gesture-based interaction with a computer-system. The method may comprise pairing a transaction account with a likeness, receiving the likeness and a transaction request based upon the location of a marker in three dimensional space, retrieving the transaction account paired with the likeness, and approving the transaction request at least partially based upon the transaction account and the likeness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2012
    Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.
    Inventors: Dilip Aidasani, Kimberly Alderfer, Kate T. Long, Lisa M. Knight, Stuart Rolison
  • Patent number: 7850070
    Abstract: A method for improving credit of a cardholder of a prepaid card. The method may include establishing an account associated with the prepaid card. A load may be applied to the account to create an available balance for the cardholder. A credit instrument associated with the cardholder and the prepaid card may be established. An initial credit balance to the credit instrument may also be established. Payment from the cardholder may be collected, and, in response to collecting the payment from the cardholder, at least a portion of the collected payment may be applied to the credit instrument associated with the cardholder and the prepaid card. A credit history of the cardholder may be updated and reported to at least one credit bureau.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2010
    Assignee: Eufora, LLC
    Inventor: Tommy Constantine
  • Patent number: 7841519
    Abstract: The present invention generally relates to a system and method for distributing an open transaction instrument. The system includes the steps of: accessibly offering for sale, in a retail environment, the open transaction instrument; selling a selected open transaction instrument; and enabling the use of the open transaction instrument. The transaction instrument may be, for example, an open pre-paid card. Furthermore, accessibly offering the open pre-paid card for sale, in one exemplary embodiment, is performed by hanging the pre-paid card on a rack. The distribution of the open transaction instrument may also comprise the step of sending a message, in substantially real time, causing the pre-paid open transaction instrument to be funded but not activated. Also, in accordance with further exemplary embodiments of the present invention, an issuer system is suitably configured to leverage existing infrastructure for inventory and related processes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2010
    Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.
    Inventors: Randall G. Beck, Gennye Feldman, Rachel Riley Heitz, John Steven Imada, Paula S. Martinez, Sven Miller, Clyde Page, Steven J. Keiser
  • Patent number: 7819307
    Abstract: Aspects of the present invention feature a method of managing a monetary value stored in an electronic wallet of a mobile device. These management operations include receiving an indication that the mobile device from a mobile device account of a mobile device carrier cannot be located and is either lost or stolen. Subsequently, a determination is made to see if the mobile device has an associated electronic wallet capable of storing a monetary value. Generally, the use of mobile device and access to electronic wallet is blocked in response to determination that mobile device has an associated electronic wallet. In addition, the electronic wallet can be flagged such that the electronic wallet associated with mobile device will be drained of monetary value as well as being blocked.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2010
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Robert E. Lyons, Rama Chandra D. S. Murthy
  • Patent number: 7810733
    Abstract: The invention provides for an optical sensing arrangement for use in a mobile telephone. The sensing arrangement allows the telephone to decode tags of coded data printed on media present in internal and external pathways of the telephone. The sensing arrangement includes a beam splitter configured to deflect incoming light onto an image sensor of the telephone. The arrangement also includes a first infrared LED operatively directing light onto media present in the external pathway, with a filter and lens arrangement configured to receive and direct light reflected from the external media onto the beam splitter. Also included is a second infrared LED operatively directing light onto media present in the internal pathway, with a mirror arrangement configured to direct light reflected from the internal media into the beam splitter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Kia Silverbrook, Simon Robert Walmsley
  • Patent number: 7775445
    Abstract: Reference equipment including a reference card and a reference reader is provided for testing electronic payment devices such as cards and card readers. The reference equipment is designed to simulate the external behavior of a variety of payment devices that are currently or expected to be deployed in electronic payment systems. Further, the reference equipment is configured to subject devices under test to extreme behaviors which are expected in field use or which are representative of a large class of payment devices. The external behaviors may relate to functional parameters, for example, power consumption, resonance frequency, Q-factor, modulation depth, noise, and timing. Exemplary reference devices are configured to exhibit representative external behavior, which is an empirically determined average behavior of the product devices in the field. Use of the reference equipment for product specification compliance testing will enhance the interoperability of product payment devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2010
    Assignee: MasterCard International Incorporated
    Inventors: Patrick Smets, Eddy Lodewijk Hortensia Van De Velde, Duncan Garrett
  • Patent number: 7748624
    Abstract: Provided is a print engine controller for a printer having a pagewidth printhead. The controller includes a serial interface, a JPEG decoder, a fax decoder, a halftoner/compositor unit, a tag encoder, a line loader/formatter unit, and an interface to the pagewidth printhead. These components together define a print control pipeline.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Kia Silverbrook, Paul Lapstun, Simon Robert Walmsley
  • Patent number: 7726571
    Abstract: Described is a system and method for bar code decoding. The system comprises first and second digitizers and a processor. The first digitizer outputs a first digitized representation of a bar code. The second digitizer outputs a second digitized representation of the bar code. The processor compares the first and second digitized representations to yield a set of parameters. The processor selects one of the first and second digitized representations to be decoded as a function of the set of parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Dariusz Madej
  • Patent number: 7673792
    Abstract: A system for performing a money transfer receive transaction includes a receive transaction staging device which provides a recipient with access to a financial services institution in order to receive transaction details from the recipient. The system also includes a data base for storing transaction details and a receive control code, wherein the transaction details include a receive amount, and wherein the receive control code corresponds to the transaction details stored on the data base. The system further includes a receive transaction fulfillment device in communication with the data base to retrieve the receive control code and the transaction details from the data base based on the receive control code. The data base verifies the receive control code and authorizes the receive transaction fulfillment device to issue cash or another negotiable instrument corresponding to at least a portion of the receive amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2010
    Assignee: The Western Union Company
    Inventors: Earney E. Stoutenburg, Dean A. Seifert
  • Patent number: 7461775
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to methods and apparatus for processing check data, such as data stored using magnetic indicia. In one embodiment, a check transaction processing system receives an indication that a first check transaction from a first payor failed to clear because at least a portion of first MICR or other account data associated with the first check transaction is incorrect. The check transaction processing system reads a personal identifier associated with the first payor, wherein the personal identifier was provided in association with the first check transaction. MICR data or other account data associated with a previously processed check transaction associated with the personal identifier is located.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2008
    Assignee: First Data Corporation
    Inventors: Amy Swift, Waisum Mok
  • Patent number: 7438225
    Abstract: The invention may be embodied as an identity authentication system or method. A system according to the invention may have a biometric sensor capable of providing static biometric indications, an adhesive capable of positioning the sensor on an organism, and a computer in communication with the sensor. The computer may have software running on the computer in order to (a) cause the computer to determine whether there is a match between a subsequent static biometric indication and an initial static biometric indication, and (b) cause the computer to send a signal indicating whether a match was determined in order to authenticate the identity of the organism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2008
    Assignee: Ultra-Scan Corporation
    Inventors: John K. Schneider, James T. Baker, Fred W. Kiefer
  • Patent number: 7437029
    Abstract: A monolithic photonic integrated circuit (PIC) chip where the active waveguide cores of the modulated sources of the PIC are multiple quantum wells (MQWs) and the passive waveguide cores of an optical combiner are a bulk layer or material. The cores of the waveguide cores may be a quaternary such as InGaAsP or InAlGaAs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2008
    Assignee: Infinera Corporation
    Inventors: Charles H. Joyner, Fred A. Kish, Jr., Frank H. Peters, Atul Mathur, David F. Welch, Andrew G. Dentai, Damien Lambert, Richard P. Schneider, Mark J. Missey
  • Patent number: 7428982
    Abstract: Systems and methods for performing financial transfers. In some instances, the methods include providing a staged transaction system that includes at least two stages. Quotes are accessed for the first and for the second stage of the transaction. One quote associated with a stage of the transaction is selected and used to consummate the financial transfer. Other methods include marketing financial transfer transactions. Such marketing can include providing a flexible rate fixing mechanism; monitoring a financial transaction market; and fixing a rate based at least in part on monitoring the financial transaction market where the flexible rate fixing mechanism provides access to the fixed rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2008
    Assignee: The Western Union Company
    Inventors: Earney E. Stoutenburg, Dean A. Seifert
  • Patent number: 7407101
    Abstract: A card embodying the invention includes marks which are randomly formed within a dedicated region of the surface of the card. The randomly formed marks may, for example, include; (a) partial-holes extending a short distance from a surface of the card; (b) through-holes extending between the top and bottom surfaces of the card; (c) burn marks, or (d) ink marks. The marks are of a size and nature such that they are not readily visible to the naked eye. The invention includes illumination apparatus for illuminating the card to reliably sense the optical pattern of the randomly formed marks. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a reader/writer includes apparatus for generating an array of light to uniformly illuminate the back surface of the card so as to pass light through the through-holes or through the partial holes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2008
    Inventors: Wenyu Han, Victor Zazzu
  • Patent number: 7389923
    Abstract: Methods, computer readable medium, and apparatus for tracking the direction of a moving item by laser bar code scanners are disclosed. In particular, the method includes the following steps at a first sample in time. Those steps include sensing video transitions reflected off packaging graphics of the moving item by a pair of scan planes, counting the number of video transitions sensed by each scan plane of the pair of scan planes, and determining if the moving item intersects each of the scan planes by comparing the counted number of video transitions for each scan plane of the pair with a predetermined threshold at the first sample. At a second sample in time, the above steps are repeated and the method includes the additional step of evaluating the direction of movement of the moving item from changes observed from the first sample and the second sample.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2008
    Assignee: NCR Corporation
    Inventor: Denis M. Blanford
  • Patent number: 7383982
    Abstract: A novel card recognition system includes a computer having a card controller for exchanging data with a standard card that is compliant with a standard and a non-standard card that is not compliant with the standard, and a card adapter for connecting the non-standard card to the computer so that the non-standard card is recognized. The computer or card adapter includes a data converter having an input/output controller for the non-standard card and converting data of the non-standard card into data for the standard card, and an interface having an input/output controller for the standard card and connected to the data converter via a dedicated transmission path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hitoshi Yamamoto, Hiromasa Kusakabe
  • Patent number: 7380718
    Abstract: To provide a method for reading out symbol information and a device for reading out symbol information which are able to prevent a decline in decoding reliability by reducing noise caused by a quantized error, localized contaminations or the like. The method for reading out symbol information may comprise a process in which the image data, obtained by imaging the symbol information such as bar codes and the like, are converted to corrected image data having zero angle of inclination; a smoothing process in which the corrected image data are smoothed; and a column specifying process in which breakpoints of said symbol information column are specified by computing the total sum in the row direction on the smoothed corrected image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2008
    Assignee: Nidec Sankyo Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroshi Nakamura