Abstract: A representation of nested electronic data archives permitting archived resources to be efficiently accessed during use is disclosed. A method and system is disclosed which selectively expands and efficiently stores the contents of an archive during use. In a preferred embodiment, the system comprises a nested associative data structure to store compressed and uncompressed portions of a nested archive.

Abstract: A data transforming method and apparatus of a database management system for transforming data within a disk storage device between database data formats, thereby reducing the system load, when converting data formats between database management systems. The invention includes a skeleton program for instructing data transformation and a communication program being provided on a host computer, and a data transformation program for transforming data formats and a communication program being provided on a disk storage. A request sent from the skeleton program via the communication programs to the data transformation program, causes the data format transformation to occur within the disk storage.

Abstract: A method for providing a search result list. The method includes receiving a search request from a searcher. In a database of search listings in which each search listing is associated with an advertiser and includes at least one search term and a bid amount by the advertiser, search listings generating a match with the search request are identified. A predetermined number of identified search listings are selected according to bid amount for display to the searcher. The identified search listings are arranged for display in a random order as the search result list. The search result list is then communicated to the searcher.

Abstract: A method for grouping computer subscribers by common preferences to establish non-intimate relationships. The method of the present invention provides a subscriber access to a computerized database having stored non-intimate profile information from fellow subscribers. The user registers and stores non-intimate profile information into a database. The present invention groups the user with at least two of the fellow subscribers to form at least one group based on similarities between the subscriber's profile information and the fellow subscriber's profile information. The present invention utilizes an algorithm to determine a level of similarity between the subscriber's profile information and the fellow subscribers' profile information, wherein preferences are assigned integer values concatenated to form a lookup key and used to access an entry in a table containing the corresponding similarity value between two preferences.

Abstract: The current invention provides method and apparatus for managing a professional practice application over the Internet or other wide area network (WAN) or local area network (LAN). The application includes a range of integrated features: for tracking clients/customers/patients and their matters/cases/histories; for time keeping and billing; for docketing/calendaring of key events; and for accounting. The application is accessible to individual or group users, with each group able to customize the application views that are presented to each user of a group depending on the role assigned to each individual user by a manager within each group.

Abstract: A locator system and method for locating at least one of persons and objects within a facility comprises a plurality of badges, each badge having a badge transmitter that wirelessly transmits a signal including unique identification code, and a plurality of transceivers spatially dispersed within the facility, each of the transceivers having a transceiver receiver that receives signals including the unique identification code transmitted by a badge and a transceiver transmitter that wirelessly forwards the signals received from the badge to a central processor via a receiver.

Abstract: Device information is extracted from a graphical object's data file to dynamically generate a profile suitable for processing by a color management system. In one embodiment, the graphical object is an image and the graphical object's data file is generated by a digital camera.

Abstract: A data structure includes variable-size data objects [“VSDOs”] and enables selective and efficient retrieval of data in particular VSDOs. The data structure includes multiple packets. Each packet includes a reference count field, a references field, and an objects field. The references field stores references to VSDOs within the data structure. The reference count field indicates the number of references stored in the references field. The objects field stores the-actual VSDOs. To access a particular VSDO, an accessing unit traverses the reference count fields of the multiple packets until the accessing unit finds a packet that includes the reference to the particular VSDO. The accessing unit accesses the particular VSDO based upon the reference. To further improve the efficiency of an access operation, packets form metapackets. A metapacket header sums the reference count fields of the packets within the metapacket.

Abstract: To provide a web page searching device for a portable telephone, the device to search data and transmit search results as a web page to the terminal device of a user wishing to acquire such data using the web display function in a portable telephone. A web page searching device for a portable telephone comprises at least a web server and a mail server for providing data via the Internet. The web page searching device further comprises a web publisher database for creating a web page and a web publication database. The web server comprises a function for transmitting web pages to user terminal devices, the web pages including a region part, a category search part, a keyword search part, the results of these searches, and a portable telephone display part replicating the web page to be displayed in a portable telephone; and a function for transmitting the search results as a web page to the portable telephone of the user.

Abstract: A customer feedback acquisition and processing system is disclosed. Customer feedback, which may optionally include voice signals, is captured and stored in a database. The database can be searched to develop a subset of records pertaining to an area of interest. A data mining tool can then be used on the subset to identify trend(s) in the customer feedback records. The database tool assigns relevance scores to each word (“concept”) in one or more fields of the records in the subset. It then combines the concepts and develops new relevance scores for the combined concepts to identify trend(s) in the customer feedback records.

Abstract: Systems and methods for dynamically generating a schema representing multiple hierarchies of inter-object relationships are described. In one aspect, a polyarchical query language data structure includes first, second, and third data fields. The first data field is used to specify a particular schema for presenting or managing a plurality of objects in a data polyarchy based on values of attributes in the objects. The second data field is to indicate an attribute of interest. The third data field indicates how one or more objects that include the attribute of interest are to be presented or managed with respect to one or more participating dimensions of inter-object relationships based on the schema.

Abstract: A litigation-related document repository for management and exchange of documents independent of courts or other tribunals. Users can upload litigation-related documents for on-line case folders in order to exchange documents with other parties to a dispute or other users. The repository maintains the documents in a common format in a structured database and can convert the documents for uploading to the database or downloading to user machines. It can also provide various services such as searching for documents and managing case folders. Users can select various fee-based approaches for access to the repository, including paying time-based fees, session-based fees, or agreeing to receive on-line advertisements in exchange for access.

Abstract: A system includes a client which can communicate through a network and a database layer with any of several databases. The client communicates with the database layer using a public network communication protocol, in a manner independent of respective protocols specific to each of the databases. The database layer handles communication with each database according to the respective protocol of that database.

Abstract: Multi-media (MM) information are flexibly reproduced, edited, processed and re-transmitted in conformity with users' needs. A plurality of elements of MM information are distributed, stored and used via a control terminal (4) for distributing and controlling information between a transmission terminal (1) and a reception terminal (2). MM information are stored in a package and distributed. MM information has container information for identifying MM information as one unit, content information constituted of media information itself, and behavior information for manipulating content information. MM information are accumulated and distributed after being compressed, and used after being developed (decompressed).

Abstract: In a file system in which data is distributively stored on a plurality of volumes in compliance with file storage requests from business applications, the present invention calculates reliability requirements or performance requirements which represent storage requirements for the storage of individual files requested for storage, selects an actual file storage destination volume in accordance with the reliability characteristics or performance characteristics of each volume, and storage file data on the selected storage destination volume. Since the storage requirements are calculated to select a storage destination volume for each file, data storage destination optimization can be achieved on an individual file basis.

Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to display the amount of storage subsystem use by a specified computer or file system in accordance with the information acquired from computers and storage subsystems. An information collection engine provided for each computer acquires file system configurations from computers and volume configurations from storage subsystems. Further, a special computer is provided with a polling engine that gathers the data acquired by each information collection engine and stores it in an internal database, and with a data display engine that acquires the information about the amount of storage subsystem use by a specified computer or file system from said internal database and displays it on screen.

Abstract: A virtual file system and method. The system architecture enables a plurality of underlying file systems running on various file servers to be “virtualized” into one or more “virtual volumes” that appear as a local file system to clients that access the virtual volumes. The system also enables the storage spaces of the underlying file systems to be aggregated into a single virtual storage space, which can be dynamically scaled by adding or removing file servers without taking any of the file systems offline and in a manner transparent to the clients. This functionality is enabled through a software “virtualization” filter on the client that intercepts file system requests and a virtual file system driver on each file server. The system also provides for load balancing file accesses by distributing files across the various file servers in the system, through migration of data files between servers.

Abstract: A system and method for expanding recurring calendar events such that the retrieval of recurring calendar appointments is expedited. A recurring appointment is saved as a data structure including a recurrence pattern. When a recurring appointment is saved by a client that has sufficient processing and memory resources to perform the computations necessary to expand recurring appointments (i.e., a thick client), a background thread is notified. The background thread increases its priority to normal when idle processing capacity is available and calls a routine requesting calendar information for a defined time period. The routine causes the expansion of the data structure into the individual instances of the recurring appointment for a defined time period, and the individual instances are saved for later retrieval. A later query from a client without sufficient processing and memory resources to perform the calculations necessary to expand recurring appointments (i.e.

Abstract: A digital data searching apparatus is provided with a data storage for storing digital data and first and second attribute data representing conditions on which the respective digital data were created; a first classifying device for classifying the digital data into i sets based on the first attribute data; a second classifying device for classifying the digital data into j sets based on the second attribute data; a first selecting device for selecting one set from the i sets upon receiving an input from outside; a second selecting device for selecting one set from the j sets upon receiving an input from outside; an extracting device for calculating a product set of the set selected by the first selecting device and the set selected by the second selecting device, and a display controller for displaying the digital data included in the product set on a display device. Digital data satisfying a specified condition can be efficiently searched from a plurality of digital data.

Abstract: A method of comparing two multimedia documents includes a three-step registration process. Each document is analyzed to extract concrete or abstract single medium or multimedia elements (meta-segments) from the document. The meta-segments are categorized to identify categories of information in the document. Then, a meta-identifier is produced for the document from the information that identifies the contents of the meta-segments. After registration, traces of the multimedia documents can be compared, without requiring the entire contents of the multimedia documents to be compared.