Patents Examined by Mark A Fleischer
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Patent number: 8326664Abstract: A carry-in ready period calculation part calculates a candidate of a carry-in ready period which is a period during which a carry-in operation can be conducted and outputs the candidate in an output part so as to make entire construction works efficient. The calculation is performed based on a site arrival time schedule which is a time schedule showing when a carry-in target equipment arrives at a site, a temporary placement time schedule which is a time schedule showing when the equipment arrived is temporarily placed, and a construction time schedule of a building in which the equipment is carried.Type: GrantFiled: June 2, 2011Date of Patent: December 4, 2012Assignee: Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd.Inventors: Yoshibumi Fukuda, Takeshi Yokota, Kenichirou Yamane, Kenji Akagi, Kensuke Morita
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Patent number: 8315894Abstract: A method for resource management includes associating respective variables with resource consumers, and identifying resources as values applicable to the variables. A group of the variables are identified as preferred variables. An assignment of the values to the variables that satisfies constraints applying to the allocation of the resources is found by repeatedly performing the steps of choosing a variable from the group, instantiating the chosen variable with a value, removing the chosen variable from the group, and pruning the domains of the other variables by propagation of the constraints. The resources are assigned to the resource consumers responsively to the assignment of the values to the variables.Type: GrantFiled: August 26, 2008Date of Patent: November 20, 2012Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Yehuda Naveh, Yossi Richter
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Patent number: 8311886Abstract: An advertisement impression distribution system includes a data processing system operable to generate an allocation plan for serving advertisement impressions. The allocation plan allocates a first portion of advertisement impressions to satisfy guaranteed demand and a second portion of advertisement impressions to satisfy non-guaranteed demand. The data processing system includes an optimizer, the optimizer to establish a relationship between the first portion of advertisement impressions and the second portion of advertisement impressions. The relationship defines a range of possible proportions of allocation of the first portion of advertisement impressions and the second portion of advertisement impressions. The optimizer generates a solution in accordance with an uncertain supply of advertisement impressions, in which a projected supply of advertisement impressions is determined with a model from the uncertain supply of advertisement impressions.Type: GrantFiled: January 15, 2010Date of Patent: November 13, 2012Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.Inventors: Bharadwaj Vijay, John Tomlin
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Patent number: 8311860Abstract: A method of determining a future market scenario for an industry that includes obtaining subjective data from experts in an industry, combining the subjective data and determining from the combined subjective data which market scenario will apply to the industry in the future.Type: GrantFiled: June 7, 2006Date of Patent: November 13, 2012Assignee: Accenture Global Services LimitedInventors: Markus Karras, Nikolaus Mohr, Karsten Kammer
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Patent number: 8311884Abstract: An advertisement impression distribution system includes a data processing system operable to generate an allocation plan for serving advertisement impressions. The allocation plan allocates a first portion of advertisement impressions to satisfy guaranteed demand and a second portion of advertisement impressions to satisfy non-guaranteed demand. The data processing system includes an optimizer to establish a relationship between the first portion and the second portion. The relationship defines a range of possible proportions of allocation of the first portion and the second portion. The optimizer generates indicia in accordance with maximizing guaranteed demand fairness or representativeness, maximizing non-guaranteed revenue, and minimizing under-delivery penalties, where the indicia indentifies a determined proportion of the first portion to serve and a determined proportion of the second portion to serve.Type: GrantFiled: October 30, 2009Date of Patent: November 13, 2012Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.Inventor: Jian Yang
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Patent number: 8311862Abstract: A method for facilitating in assessing transitional costs in business transformations using a computer-aided organizational design system is provided. The method comprises creating a first organization design model representative of the current organizational design state of an organization using a graphical tool. The method further comprises changing the first organization design model into a second organization design model representative of the organizational design state of the organization after the business transformation. The method further comprises generating a report identifying the transition cost factors and the transition cost of moving from the first organization design model to the second organization design model, wherein the transition cost is determined based on predetermined calculation algorithms or heuristics.Type: GrantFiled: August 29, 2007Date of Patent: November 13, 2012Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Jinchao Hunag, John W. Sweitzer, Yi-Hsiu Wei, Kamorudeen Larry Yusuf
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Patent number: 8311885Abstract: An advertisement impression distribution system includes a data processing system operable to generate an allocation plan for serving advertisement impressions. The allocation plan allocates a first portion of advertisement impressions to satisfy guaranteed demand and a second portion of advertisement impressions to satisfy nonguaranteed demand. The data processing system includes an optimizer configured to establish a relationship between the first portion of advertisement impressions and the second portion of advertisement impressions. The relationship defines a range of proportions of allocation of the first portion and the second portion. The optimizer generates a solution maximizing guaranteed demand fairness, non-guaranteed demand revenue, and click value. The solution identifies a determined proportion of the first portion of advertisement impressions to serve and a determined proportion of the second portion of advertisement impressions to serve.Type: GrantFiled: October 30, 2009Date of Patent: November 13, 2012Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.Inventors: Oliver Kennedy, Tasos Anastasakos, Jianchang Mao, Erik Vee, Jayavel Shanmugasundaram, Sergei Vassilvitskii, Jian Yang, John Tomlin
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Patent number: 8296161Abstract: In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for wealth management. These mechanisms and methods for wealth management can enable embodiments to provide a multi-tenant database that stores information about clients of the tenants. In a multi-tenant database, a system for managing financial accounts is established, which may be useful for a tenant that is a financial analyst or that employs financial analysts. The multi-tenant database may include a calendar application that automatically includes the team members associated with the event being scheduled in a list of invitees, and the multi-tenant database may also includes relationship groups, such that information about related individuals (whom may have separate accounts) are automatically associated with one another. The ability of embodiments that provide relationship groups and teams can enable efficiently gathering information about related parties and efficiently inviting that interested parties to an event.Type: GrantFiled: September 5, 2008Date of Patent: October 23, 2012Assignee: salesforce.com, inc.Inventors: Michael Peter Polcari, Rowland W. Yerkes, Ryan Choi, Ronald Vance Hess
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Patent number: 8296169Abstract: Computer method and apparatus managing engineering product revisions. A repository holds one or more assets. For each asset, the repository holds respective revisions of the asset. A revision manager tracks changes of state of assets of the repository. Each change of state of a given asset results in a respective revision of the given asset. The revision manager provides a project view illustrating changes of state of assets and including performance indicators corresponding to respective changes of state of assets held in the repository. The performance indicators may be color coded and may be based on a changeable metric. The revision manager provides in the project view an indication of each change in metric. Plural performance indicators for a set of assets may be presented in the project view as a graphical series.Type: GrantFiled: October 22, 2007Date of Patent: October 23, 2012Assignee: Oculus Technologies CorporationInventors: Matthew B. Wall, Timothy R. Wall
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Patent number: 8280754Abstract: A system for generating a model for tracking a changing dimension feature of data in a business model includes a memory for storing the business model and a computer readable code for modeling the changes in the changing dimension feature and a processor for executing the computer readable code to perform method steps including capturing the changing dimension feature of the business model, transforming the changing dimension feature into a data warehouse model corresponding the business model, identifying changing dimensions and attributes in the changing dimension feature according to the data warehouse model, and generating a run-time deployable component for tracking the changing dimension feature based on the identified changing dimensions and attributes.Type: GrantFiled: June 26, 2007Date of Patent: October 2, 2012Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Pawan Raghunath Chowdhary, Hung-Yang Chang, David W. Harrison
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Patent number: 8260647Abstract: The present invention provides a system for managing information related to a delivery service provider and systems of using such a system. The system and systems provided herein allow a delivery service provider to coordinate with efficiency the volume of mail or packages to be delivered with the carrier resources available to deliver them. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the delivery operation information system tracks quantities of articles, schedules their distribution, and schedules and tracks the work force that distributes the articles.Type: GrantFiled: August 19, 2005Date of Patent: September 4, 2012Assignee: United States Postal ServiceInventors: Gale R. Scott, Charles V. Fisher
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Patent number: 8255251Abstract: The reliability of a composite service having service components is determined, where the composite service can fail only where underlying resources fail. The composite service is represented as a plurality of continuous-time Markov chains (CTMC's). Each CTMC corresponds to a resource. A product of the CTMC's is constructed. The product encompasses composite service states. Steady-state probabilities for the product are determined. Each steady-state probability corresponds to a likelihood that a corresponding state will be a steady state. For each state of the composite service, a reward structure is determined. The reward structure corresponds to a likelihood that the state will successfully use the resources without failure. The reward structure is determined for a given state based on the given state's steady-state probability and based on discrete-time Markov chains (DTMC's) corresponding to the service components.Type: GrantFiled: October 31, 2007Date of Patent: August 28, 2012Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Naoto Sato, Hiroaki Nakamura
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Patent number: 8244566Abstract: Computer-based system and computer-implemented methods for providing an automated computer network-based, or online, appointment scheduling service through which registered customers are individually capable of scheduling an appointment with a plurality of businesses that are also registered with the online appointment scheduling service. The application describes an optimization algorithm for controlling the start times presented to a customer when selecting an appointment time that seeks to cluster the new appointment to existing appointments for the business in order to reduce time gaps during the day for the business/service provider that are of insufficient duration to schedule other appointments for other customers of the business.Type: GrantFiled: March 16, 2012Date of Patent: August 14, 2012Assignee: Schedulicity Inc.Inventors: Chad T. Coley, Kevin S. Nessland, Tim F. Leonhardt, Colin J. Barry, Michael F. Wilson, Anthony N. Nettuno
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Patent number: 8214228Abstract: A substance abuse surveillance system comprising a source of respondent responses to a self-administered virtual interview and a data collector coupled to receive from the source multiple respondent responses and analyzing the same in near real-time to form current substance abuse data, the data collector allowing access to the current substance abuse data by third parties. The data collector is coupled to the source in a manner enabling delay-free, continuous feed of the respondent responses.Type: GrantFiled: December 27, 2006Date of Patent: July 3, 2012Assignee: Inflexxion, Inc.Inventors: Stephen F. Butler, Simon H. Budman, Nathaniel Paul Katz, Albert J. Villapiano
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Patent number: 8209201Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention relate to a system for correlating configurations, comprising a model layer having a generic model library, a control layer having generic control logic implemented in terms of the generic model library, and a view layer having reusable views and common tools that operate upon generic interfaces and constructs defined by the generic model library, wherein the generic model library, generic control logic, and reusable views and commons tools are defined to support a general functionality.Type: GrantFiled: December 8, 2005Date of Patent: June 26, 2012Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.Inventors: Kel Yuasa, Bernard Burg, Kannan Govindarajan, Harumi Anne Kuno, Kevin Lee Smathers
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Patent number: 8209215Abstract: When deciding whether to fund a project, such as a movie, investors consider information such as what is often referred to as the “bankability” of people or entities attached to the project, such as the top-billed actors, the director, the producer, and/or the screenwriter. A system can collect information about people or entities and prior projects associated with those people or entities and use that information to calculate the bankability of those people or entities. Project developers can use the calculated bankability of the people or entities when deciding which people or entities to attach to in-development projects to increase the chance that the project will attract funding.Type: GrantFiled: June 24, 2010Date of Patent: June 26, 2012Assignee: IMDb.com, Inc.Inventor: Matthew Syrett
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Patent number: 8209206Abstract: A centralized web-based system and method for managing appointments having a user interface that interacts with one or more users to display one or more items based on user input, a management module connected to the user interface and configured to receive data related to scheduling an appointment, determine one or more possible appointments based on the data, present the one or more possible appointments, receive a user selection from the one or more possible appointments, and schedule the appointment based on the user selection, and one or more databases configured to store appointment information, wherein the one or more databases are connected to the management module and wherein the data comprises a date and time slot and at least one of a facility, a service, and a servicer.Type: GrantFiled: April 14, 2010Date of Patent: June 26, 2012Assignee: Gramercyone Technology Corp.Inventors: Peter Ellis, Daniel Lizio-Katzen
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Patent number: 8204776Abstract: A method, apparatus and system of polling in a geo-spatial environment are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes generating a community network of user profiles, each user profile associated with a specific geographic location, determining a geographic region associated with a neighborhood, determining a first group of user profiles, the specific geographic location of each user profile associated with the geographic region, generating a first play view to include a three-dimensional map view embodied by the community network and the first group of the user profiles represented at locations in the three-dimensional map view associated with the specific geographic location of each user profile, generating a poll associated with the first group of user profiles and receiving poll results associated with the poll via a communication mode. The method may also include automatically tabulating the poll results and publishing, via the communication mode, the poll results.Type: GrantFiled: August 28, 2007Date of Patent: June 19, 2012Assignee: Google Inc.Inventor: Raj Vasant Abhyanker
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Patent number: 8204774Abstract: The spend capacity of a consumer typically increases as the number of consumers in the household increases, since the consumer can draw on the spending power of other consumers in the household. The size of wallet of the household is thus a better indicator of the consumer's spend capacity than an individual size of wallet. All consumers in a given household can be aggregated based on, for example, their address of record. Duplicate tradelines within each household are removed from consideration in a size of wallet estimate. A spend capacity is then estimated for each tradeline using calculations derived from a consumer behavior model. The spend capacities for all tradelines in the household are combined to determine a household size of wallet. Each consumer in the household is then tagged with the household size of wallet, rather than their individual size of wallet.Type: GrantFiled: December 15, 2006Date of Patent: June 19, 2012Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.Inventors: Jeffrey A. Chwast, Kathleen Haggerty, Jing J. Wang, Di W. Xu, Chao M. Yuan
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Patent number: 8204773Abstract: A method and system for forecasting demand for order configurations are provided. The method and system, in one aspect, expresses attach rates within a family of n options as a set of n positive numbers that sum to 1. By applying suitable transformations to the attach rates, they are modeled as a random vector in (n?1)-dimensional Euclidean space. The distribution of the transformed attach rates are modeled as a distribution family specified by a location vector and a dispersion matrix. The dispersion matrix is simplified, for example, using historical data or expert judgment or both to identify option families that have dependent demand. Simplifying may also include expressing dependence between options by a simple model that involves few parameters. Location vector is estimated by computing point forecasts of transformed attach rates. The parameters of the dispersion matrix are estimated by calibration on historical data, using the dispersion of the errors in historical point forecasts.Type: GrantFiled: December 4, 2007Date of Patent: June 19, 2012Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventor: Jonathan R. Hosking