Patents Examined by Patrick E Sweeney
  • Patent number: 7593944
    Abstract: System and method for creating, configuring, representing, and using variables in programs. A graphical user interface (GUI) may be displayed in response to user input requesting creation and/or configuration of a variable for use in or comprised in one or more programs, e.g., on various devices. User input is received to the GUI configuring attributes of the variable, including: name, data type, and/or scope (e.g., local, global, or network). The configured attributes are stored and optionally displayed, e.g., in a resource tree, and the variable in each of the programs updated in accordance with the configured attributes. When at least one of the programs is incompatible with the configured variable, an error condition may be indicated, e.g., by providing information relating to portions of the program that are incompatible with the configured variable. The program may be modified in response to user input for compatibility with the configured variable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2009
    Assignee: National Instruments Corporation
    Inventors: Steven W. Rogers, Ross E. Houston
  • Patent number: 7577650
    Abstract: A method and system for ranking objects of different object types based on their popularity is provided. A ranking system calculates the popularity of objects based on relationships between the objects. A relationship indicates how one object is related to another object. Thus, objects of one object type may have one or more relationships with objects of another object type. One goal of the ranking system is to rank the objects of the different object types based on their popularity. The objects and their relationships can be represented using a graph with nodes representing objects and links representing relationships between objects. The ranking system assigns a popularity propagation factor to each relationship to represent its contribution to the popularity of objects of that type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ji-Rong Wen, Wei-Ying Ma, Zaiqing Nie
  • Patent number: 7552115
    Abstract: Described is a method and system by which reports of storage usage in computer systems are generated in an efficient manner by consolidating multiple requests for reports into a minimal number of volume scans, including by intelligently selecting a scanning method (e.g., of file system metadata versus find-first/find-next) and by performing parallel scans on different volumes. Namespace consolidation scans namespaces together, so as to generate multiple reports from the same set of files, reducing the number of volumes scans required to collect the data. Each volume scan may be a find-first, find next directory-based scan, or a volume metadata database scan. Time consolidation groups independent storage report generations together, such as storage report requests received within an administrator-specified interval. Parallel scans of different volumes may be performed, subject to I/O and processing resource limitations, and so that volumes partitioned on the same spindle are not scanned in parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ran Kalach, James R. Benton, Paul Adrian Oltean, Georgi M. Matev
  • Patent number: 7543002
    Abstract: Mechanisms and methods for loading a first version of a class into a second version runtime environment running a second version of the class. The runtime environment may be comprised of a Java Virtual Machine (JYM). These mechanisms and methods make it possible for applications to retrieve and convert legacy data into current versions of the runtime environment. The conversion of data may be done automatically and/or transparently to a user or calling process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2009
    Assignee: BEA Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Satya Srinivas Ghattu, Franklin Fulton Simpson
  • Patent number: 7536416
    Abstract: A server stores facility information about a plurality of facilities to be searched for, in association with categories representing the facilities, and performs a search to determine whether or not each category contains any facility located within a predetermined area including the search point. A navigation system displays, based on search results from the server, the categories serving as search conditions in a manner such that whether or not there is any facility within each category is identifiable. For example, an image representing a category may be set not to be displayed when there is no facility within the category. Thus, based on the display status of each category, the user can identify whether or not there is any facility within each category at the time when categories to be searched are displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2009
    Assignee: Alpine Electronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Koichi Abe
  • Patent number: 7529744
    Abstract: A system, method, and computer-accessible medium for searching in a server management system are disclosed. One or more search terms are determined. A search is performed for object definitions which match the search terms, thereby determining one or more matching objects corresponding to the object definitions which match the one or more search terms. The matching objects are reported.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2009
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventors: Sharad Srivastava, Darshan B. Joshi
  • Patent number: 7512601
    Abstract: Systems and methods that provide search and/or query-relevant information and/or links thereto to a user as and/or with a search and/or query result. This information can be determined from summary information that can be included within a tag, header, body, meta-data, etc. of the data. A user can employ a local and/or web search utility along with a search word, phrase, sentence, etc. to search over a data repository to locate and retrieve data that satisfies the search criteria. The summary information of this data is obtained and matched against the results and/or search criteria to determine whether the data is relevant to the search and/or query. The summary information is utilized to determine a snippet that summarizes the data, based on the search and/or query, search criteria, etc. to provide the user with search and/or query-relevant results and/or one or more links thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Silviu-Petru Cucerzan, Matthew R. Richardson
  • Patent number: 7509320
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided to facilitate a user's access to data objects. According to some embodiments, information associated with use of data objects is automatically collected. The collected information may be analyzed to determine relevance evidence between data objects, and the relevance evidence may be stored. A first data object of interest is determined, and, based on the stored relevance evidence, a second data object associated with the first data object is selected. An indication of the second data object may then be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2009
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Christopher K. Hess, Michael Wynblatt
  • Patent number: 7472119
    Abstract: A method prioritizes search results provided to a client according to client satisfaction with previous search results. The method tracks client activity with respect to the previous search results, determines individual client satisfaction for each item according to the tracked client activity, and provides one or more of the items determined to have a high client satisfaction. A user interface provides prioritized search results to a client according to client satisfaction with a previous search similar to the current search. The user interface comprises an item display of at least one item determined to have a high client satisfaction level and at least one item not determined to have a high client satisfaction level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: James Dai, Ramez Naam, Saleel Sathe
  • Patent number: 7454432
    Abstract: A system and a method are provided for specifying arbitrary nodes and identifying a section between them on a system diagram of a distribution system. It comprises a system diagram information management portion for managing information on each of nodes and spans constituting the system diagram and ID information given to each of the nodes, an input portion for receiving an input specifying the nodes, a search portion for creating a search condition using the ID information based on the node specification and searching the span between the specified nodes so as to identify the section constituted by the searched span, and an output portion for display-outputting the system diagram visually indicating the section identified by the search portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Mitsuhiro Akiyama
  • Patent number: 7454429
    Abstract: Declarative dispatch is a computer-implemented method for processing a database represented by a collection of declarations. Computational services responsive to notification of declarations are provided. Each declaration includes a subject entity, a relation, and, optionally, an object entity. The relation is associated with one or more of the provided computational services. Upon receiving a declaration, a notification of the received declaration is dispatched to each computational service associated with the received declaration's relation. The notified computational service may process the subject entity, relation, and optional object entity in response to the dispatched notification. Received declarations may be cached, and dispatch of a received declaration may be suppressed upon retrieval of the received declaration from the cache.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2008
    Inventor: Alan S Rojer
  • Patent number: 7451162
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided to monitor usage of software applications and services. According to some embodiments, it may be determined that an application event has occurred. At least a portion of a file name may be accessed and compared to one or more actual file identifiers. An actual file identifier may then be selected based on the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2008
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Christopher K. Hess
  • Patent number: 7433870
    Abstract: Method for providing controlled access to an XML document includes defining at least one access control policy for a user of the XML document, deriving a security view of the XML document for the user based upon said access control policy and schema level processing of the XML document and translating a user query based on the security view of the XML document to an equivalent query based on the XML document. An apparatus for same includes means for defining an access control policy for a user of the XML document and means for deriving a security view of the XML document for the user based on said access control policy and schema level processing of the XML document. Also included are means for translating a user query based on the security view of the XML document to an equivalent query based on the XML document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2008
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Chee-Yong Chan, Wenfei Fan, Minos N. Garofalakis
  • Patent number: 7334005
    Abstract: The risk of inadvertent introduction of software bugs to a large number of users during a software update is minimized by controlling updates using a uniform mechanism of sending updates to seed users. A value-generating module generates a value for a computer, the value falling within a population range of values. A sampling range-generating module generates a sampling range of values as a proper subset of the population range, the probability of the random value falling within the sampling range being predetermined. An eligibility determination module determines whether the computer is eligible to receive a software update, the computer being determined eligible when the random value for the computer falls within the sampling range, and an update module provides the software update to the computer based on the eligibility determination. In some embodiments, a problem review module determines whether the update has caused a problem for computers receiving the update.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventor: William E. Sobel