Abstract: A computer-implemented program for profiling medical claims to assist health care managers in determining the cost-efficiency and service quality of health care providers. The software program allows an objective means for measuring and quantifying health, care services. An episode treatment group (ETG) is a patient classification system with groups that are clinically homogenous (similar cause of illness and treatment) and statistically stable. ETG grouper software uses service or segment-level claim data as input data and assigns each service to the appropriate episode. The program identifies concurrent and recurrent episodes, flags records, creates new groupings, shifts groupings for changed conditions, selects the most recent claims, resets windows, makes a determination if the provider is an independent lab and continues to collect information until an absence of treatment is detected.

Abstract: A system for automatically distributing discount coupons or certificates in a retail store, conditioned on a preselected combination of present and past shopping behavior of a customer whose order is being processed at a checkout stand. Generation of a printable discount coupon can be based on any desired combination of customer-supplied data, obtained from a customer identification data base, past shopping activity, derived from data gathered during previous customer visits to the store, and present shopping activity, as evidenced by items identified in the current customer order. Collection of data pertaining to past behavior of customers is facilitated by filtering all sales transaction data at the point of sale. If all of the preselected conditions for generation of a coupon are satisfied, the coupon is generated and printed at the checkout stand.

Abstract: A computer system and a method for determining a travel scheme minimizing travel costs for an organization, where the organization expects to purchase travel trips for a plurality of travelers for a plurality of travel links. Each travel link comprises a travel origin and a travel destination, and is served by at least one of the carriers. The system comprises a data input device for receiving travel information relating to the carriers and the links, a data storage device for storing the travel information received by the data input device, a processor, and a data output device. From the travel information, the system constructs an objective function representing a travel cost to the organization to purchase travel trips for the plurality of travelers for the plurality of predetermined links, and a set of constraints comprising restrictions relating to the objective function.

Abstract: The present invention features a computerized, electronic cooking encyclopedia running on Sun SPARC stations. The computerized system and method provide a search tool for accessing information about a worldwide variety of foods and beverages. The program of the invention allows for searching recipes by culture, menu category, preparation method and ingredients. Information is provided about the degree of complexity, necessary equipment, cooking tips, any caveats proffered and restaurants that actually serve a given dish (along with their menus). The software includes accessing an extensive database having color illustrations. When a CD ROM video or audio library is accessed, animation and/or audio viewing and listening are made possible.

Abstract: Single stroke text entry via a telephone keypad is subject to ambiguities resulting from the overloading of three letters on one key. After text is entered the three letter per position code block represented by the key strokes for a word position is hashed to all matches in a stored dictionary type word list. The resulting word group of alternative word choices for that word position is subjected to probability analysis. Probabilities of usage of specific words are evaluated based on frequency of usage in the selected language, such as English. Syntax type probabilities of word sequencing are evaluated through (i) rules based on transitional probability of use of two particular words in sequence in English usage and (ii) rules based on probability of relative positioning of words of particular word categories (e.g., nouns and adjectives) in a sentence structure in English usage. A word trellis or lattice represents choice paths for alternative sentence structures.

Abstract: A system for indexing displayed elements that is useful for accessing and understanding new or difficult materials, in which a user highlights unknown words or characters or other displayed elements encountered while viewing displayed materials. In a language learning application, the system displays the meaning of a word in context; and the user may include the word in a personal vocabulary to build a database of words and phrases. In a Japanese language application, one or more Japanese language books are read on an electronic display. Readings (`yomi`) for all words are readily viewable for any selected word or phrase, as well as an English reference to the selected word or phrase. Extensive notes are provided for difficult phrases and words not normally found in a dictionary. A unique indexing scheme allows word-by-word access to any of several external multi-media references.

Abstract: A method and system for modifying a project model in response to an update. The project model including a plurality of activities, wherein each activities includes an early start date and a late finish date. A number of activities are initially added from the project model to a list in response to an update. Each activity added to the list is directly affected by the update. For early dates, an activity with an early start date that precedes all other early start dates with respect to other activities within the list is removed. Then, the early start date for the removed activity is redetermined in response to the update. Activities which succeed the removed activity and which are related to the activity to the list are added to the list if absence of a match between the redetermined early start date and the early start date associated with the removed activity exists.

Abstract: A system, method, and product determines the incremental impact of any number of candidate trades on the value at risk (VaR) measure of a trading portfolio within a trading interval, without requiring that the VaR measure be redetermined individually with respect to each candidate trade. The method includes determining the VaR measure for the trading portfolio, and determining a derivative vector quantity for the VaR measure. For each candidate trade, the impact of the candidate trade on the VaR measure is determined as the vector product of the derivative vector and the mapped cashflows of the candidate trade. A negative sign indicates a desirable reduction in the VaR measure. This determination may be made for any number of candidate trades without having to re-determine the VaR measure. The software product employs this method in a financial analysis application in an optimized implementation. The system includes the software product along with databases storing the trading portfolio(s).

Abstract: An image statements preparation process and system uses a profile management facility for assigning system management profiles including statement group cycle profiles to group multiple statements according to cycles for preparation and processing, and to allow statements preparation work to be performed concurrently upon successive and overlapping statement cycles. A statements interactive session workstation and host are provided to allow profile-managed operator selection of statements by statement cycles on which data, including image data, reconciliation work is required. A statements interactive session workstation display presents account information including missing image items along with a list of unassigned image items so that image reconciliation can be performed by a statements interactive session operator. Missing image items can be scanned into memory at the statements interactive session workstation.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system for coding data. An example implementation is disclosed whereby the coding system is a computer program especially suited to analysing text input to the computer by for example a keyboard, optical character recognition or voice recognition. The data to be coded may, for example, comprise information relating to an event, item or operation. In the preferred form of the invention, the input data is text describing a medical diagnosis and operation which would be dictated or recorded by a surgeon subsequent to an operation being performed on a patient. The coding system of the present invention analyses each word or term of the medical information in conjunction with specialised and generalised dictionaries of words and terms, along with the relationships between individual words or terms.

Abstract: A data processing system and method for administering a plan for funding investments in education is provided. The education investment plan includes a unit investment trust for financing the educations of a predetermined number of students pursuing careers in preselected fields of study. The data processing system selects students for participation in the plan by comparing their application responses in various categories, weighted according to a predetermined weighting scheme, to stored weighted criteria for the same categories. The education of accepted students is paid for by funds invested in the plan by investors. The students agree to assign a percentage of their future income for a limited time period to the plan, generating a return for the investors. Students are monitored throughout their education and employment until their obligations are discharged, with the results of the monitoring used to adjust, as necessary, the acceptance criteria.

Abstract: A text editing method updates one or a plurality of historical files which store text data by historical data of edited results. The text editing method includes the steps of (a) developing, at a start of an editing, text data of a specified historical level in a text file format based on a specified historical file, (b) recording, at a time of text editing, historical information indicating correction contents of corrected text data for each record or each line of the text, and (c) extracting, at an end of the editing, the record or text in which the historical information is set, and reflecting the extracted record or text in the historical file.

Abstract: A customer incentive system involving a plurality of service or merchandise providers comprises a customer-carried, portable device (74), a provider device (76), and a base device (72). To earn incentive credits, the customer enters into a transaction with one of the providers participating in the incentive system (70). A transaction amount is derived from the transaction and, based on this amount, an incentive credit amount is computed. The base device (72) performs this computation by deriving an incentive code and cross-referencing this incentive code with all customer incentive codes stored on the customer-carried device (74) and incentive program codes stored on the provider device (76) to derive an incentive rate. This incentive rate is applied to the transaction amount to derive the incentive amount. The incentive amount is stored on the customer-carried device (74).

Abstract: A computer-based information network for managing credit exposure between counterparties to a plurality of credit support agreements. The network comprises information storage and processing systems. The systems store various types of information including information representative of assets of counterparties to a plurality of credit support agreements for use in covering credit exposures therebetween over a specified time period, and the plurality of credit support agreements. The systems process the information representative of the assets in order to effectively reflect a movement of certain of the assets to cover the credit exposures over the specified time period. An asset movement optimization process is used for determining an optimal movement of certain of said assets to cover credit exposures over the specified time period.

Abstract: A computer system, and a method for using the system, for computing financial data, the computer system including a digital computer connected to receive information representing a description of a taxable trust and a description of life insurance contracts from data input means, to output computed data to a data presentation means, and to save said output data to a means for electronically storing output data; and means for automatically controlling the computer to compute the data from the information, the data representing a financial projection of a prefunding program for Other Postretirement Employee Benefits under FASB Statement 106.

Abstract: A communications network in which user equipment is provided with a selecting device which communicates with a pricing device in service provider equipment. When communications or other services are required, the selection circuit polls a plurality of service providers, and the pricing circuit of each service provider generates a price signal indicating the level of price for its services. The selection circuit then selects a service provider, based on price (and also other factors such as quality of service).

Abstract: A method involving computer-mediated linguistic analysis of online technical documentation to extract and catalog from the documentation knowledge essential to, for example, creating a online help database useful in providing online assistance to users in performing a task. The method comprises stripping markup tags from the documentation, linguistically analyzing and annotating the text, including the steps of morphologically and lexically analyzing the text, disambiguating between possible parts-of-speech for each word, and syntactically analyzing and labeling each word.

Abstract: In a grammar checking system in which a sentence is first tagged as to pa of speech, the probability of the sequence of the parts of speech being correct is utilized to correct improper use of troublesome words, especially those identical sounding words which are spelled differently. The system corrects word usage based not on the probability of the entire sentence being correct but rather on the probability of the sequence of the parts of speech being correct. As part of the subject invention, the parts of speech sequence probability is utilized in part of speech sequence verification, underlying spelling recovery, auxiliary verb correction, determiner correction, and in a context-sensitive dictionary lookup.

Abstract: An automated activity-based management system and method (10) for making thereof are provided. A business organization has costs associated with its employees, facilities, equipment, and overhead to produce products or provide services. Such a business organization typically generates traditional general ledger accounting information (152) and human resources information (150). This traditional accounting information (150, 152, 154) is used along with information directed to activities, equipment usage and facilities utilization to generate costs associated with activities performed by the organization. A computer workstation (40) with a graphical user interface (42) is used to accept entries of activity information (74). The activity information and traditional accounting information are fed to a relational database (12). The information is processed and costs associated with the employee, facilities, equipment, and overhead components (20, 22, 24, 26) of activities are computed.

Abstract: A method for establishing certifiable patient informed consent for a medical procedure, where, in one embodiment, the patient interacts with a video training system until mastery of all required information is successfully achieved. Training techniques which permit elicitation of measurable behaviors from a patient as a guide to discerning the level of knowledge of the patient are utilized. Certification is only granted when the measurable behavior approximately coincide with the legal and medical standards for establishing informed consent. The system is capable of adapting to various medical procedures, as well as various patient attitudes and knowledge bases, while still maintaining a level of consistency throughout. In one embodiment, a minimum probability of understanding may be preset, and the training procedure will continue until the actual statistical probability of understanding is at least equal to the preset minimum.