Abstract: Dynamic payment cards and related dynamic payment card management systems and associated methods are disclosed that allow for the efficient management of corporate purchasing needs. The dynamic payment cards can be traditional payment cards with card control settings that are dynamically managed. In addition, a dynamic card management system can automatically interface with card processor systems to dynamically modify these card control settings, and a purchasing management system or other request and approval workflow engine can provide an interface between a company and the dynamic card management system. More generally, an advantageous solution for purchasing management is disclosed that utilizes dynamically or actively managed approval parameters to help control transaction authorization determinations associated with purchasing mechanisms.

Abstract: A system and process that provides an on-line, interactive, and fully integrated benefit-driven value exchange and settlement program that monitors, evaluates, and manages economic and personal benefits and executes functions to produce and acquire the maximum or preferred benefit items for users by guiding and automating appropriate payment and settlement actions. The present invention finds useful patterns in data; produces conclusions based on rules and experience; responds to environmental changes with or without human intervention; and, may evolve through selecting the best results from random mutations all of which are intended to maximise user value.

Abstract: The invention is a computer-implemented system and method, and a computer-readable medium for use with computer means, that enables portfolio managers to price, on a risk-adjusted basis, any traded or under written risk vehicle in finance and insurance that has a historically-known or computer-generated probability distribution. More importantly, the invention provides a universal approach to pricing assets and liabilities traded on an exchange or over-the-counter market, or underwritten for direct risk-transfer, even if those assets and liabilities are grouped or segregated, or whose prospective outcomes may alternate between positive or negative values.

Abstract: Members vote on which investments within an agreed upon list of investments they believe should be bought and sold. Members can be general members or experts. Records of each member's voting history are retained and compared against market data showing actual gains and losses associated with each investment. Members whose votes are consistent with actual performance (they made good selections) are given higher weights; members whose votes are inconsistent with actual performance (they made bad selections) are given lower weight. Investment assets are bought and sold based on the collective vote of the members. Members are rewarded for a good voting record by receiving an additional share of the incremental profit of the collective investment.

Abstract: In the context of computer-based auctions, innovations in proxy bids and auction formats are disclosed. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, a bidder can program a data processing system to enter one or more bids by proxy. The capabilities offered by the data processing system include: determining one or more bid variables based, at least in part, on the identity of one or more bidders in an auction, or determining one or more bid variables based, at least in part, on the absence of one or more bidders from an auction, or determining one or more bid variables based, at least in part, on the bid variables in one or more other bids, or determining one or more bid variables based, at least in part, on the results of another auction, or determining one or more bid variables based, at least in part, on default values, or waiting a specific or random amount of time before entering a bid in behalf of a bidder, or any combination of these.

Abstract: A wireless telecommunications carrier operates a commerce platform in a trusted domain, which may store sensitive information associated with a consumer. During a credit card based transaction, a merchant's POS terminal sends transaction information to an acquirer. The acquirer recognizes the transaction type and responds by routing the transaction information to the commerce platform. The commerce platform validates the transaction by verifying the identity of the user. When the transaction is validated, the commerce platform notifies the acquirer, which initiates a clearing process. When the transaction clears, the acquirer notifies the commerce platform and signals the merchant's POS terminal to output a paper receipt. The commerce platform stores a digital receipt of the transaction and signals the wireless device to output a confirmation message to the consumer. The consumer's credit card number and other sensitive information may be restricted to the trusted domain, which excludes the merchant.

Abstract: A method of simulating future cash flow for a given asset allocation under a variety of economic conditions, measuring the frequency of failure of the cash flow to avoid one or more predefined risks. Assigning user-selected weights to avoidance of specified risks and alternative user-selected weights to maximization of rate of return, the invention utilizes the cash flow simulation to produce a performance index. By methodological testing through asset allocation adjustments, the optimum performance index is determined, thereby identifying the optimum asset allocation.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided to facilitate use of agreement information via an agreement modeling system. According to one embodiment, transaction information is evaluated based on agreement information stored in the agreement modeling system. According to another embodiment, an applicability of an agreement term may be determined based on agreement information, such as an expiration date associated with the agreement term. According to another embodiment, a user's access to agreement information is controlled by security information, such as a security class or attribute. According to another embodiment, multiple users may access agreement information in accordance with a concurrency management process.

Abstract: A method and data processing apparatus for performing automated trust negotiations between first and second parties connected over a network can include providing each party with a set of credentials. The method also can include classifying one or more credentials in the set of credentials for the first party as sensitive, such that they can only be disclosed to another party subject to certain predetermined criteria. The method further can include establishing negotiations over the network between the first and second parties in order to complete a desired transaction, wherein the transaction is only authorized to proceed if at least one of the parties receives certain predetermined credentials from the other party.

Abstract: A method and system performs an analysis to compare and evaluate the performance of an investment portfolio The method and system includes processes performed on the financial data for each stock in the investment portfolio followed by a fundamental financial analysis. The fundamental financial analysis includes a negative base number inclusion process relating to stocks in the investment portfolio and uses financial data for the stocks that is selected from comparable time periods for each of the stocks, thereby generating a more accurate evaluation of the investment portfolio.

Abstract: A distributed auction system allows remote bidders to interactively participate by computer in live auctions conducted on-site by an auctioneer. The system includes a console program that runs on a computer at a site of the auction. A human proxy that attends the live auction enters auction state information into an interface of the console program for real time dissemination to the remote bidders. The human proxy also receives via the interface information about valid bids placed by the remote bidders, and communicates such bids to the auctioneer. The auction state information is disseminated to the remote bidders via a set of nodes that are hierarchically connected such that different nodes are assigned to different sets of remote bidders. These nodes also filter out invalid bids received from the remote bidders, based on stored auction state information, to prevent such bids from unnecessarily being communicated to the human proxy.

Abstract: An electronic settlement system with extremely high security based on the use of a mobile terminal with an electronic camera therein. Display units for commodity information provided at a place for payment with cash, a sales control server for managing the display units, a server for controlling the mobile terminals, and an authentication server authorizing the mobile terminals are connected to each other through the Internet, and the authentication server and the sales control server are connected to each other through a dedicated communication line.

Abstract: A self-service terminal (SST), such as an ATM includes apparatus for producing images containing instructions for users of the terminal, and an arrangement for projecting the images onto a screen forming part of a terminal user interface.