Patents Examined by Safet Metjahic
  • Patent number: 7664758
    Abstract: An integrated database system comprises a plurality of database systems connected to one another through a network, each of the plurality of database systems managing its own stored data independently of the other database systems and accessing the stored data in accordance with an access request, and an integrated database unit connected to the network. The integrated database unit includes a directory database which stores a correspondence between each of the data stored in the plurality of database systems and a database system in which each of the data is stored, a directory control unit which acquires, by using the directory database, directory information corresponding to target data of the accepted access request, a database identifying unit which identifies a database system, and a database control unit which issues, on the basis of the acquired directory information, an access request to the database system having the target data of the accepted access request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2010
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihiro Urano, Kenichi Yoshida, Shigeru Miyake, Toshiaki Hirata, Masaaki Oya, Atsushi Mitomi
  • Patent number: 7576544
    Abstract: An electric quantity indicator for an electromotive vehicle comprises an electric measuring wire parallel connected to a battery; a feedback circuit connected between a motor of the power supply load and the electric measuring wire; and a meter responsed to the quantity of electricity of the electric measuring wire. The meter is an electronic display panel, and the feedback circuit and the electric measuring wire are installed with analog to digital (A/D) converter for address dividing the value in a memory, in which this value is displayed in the aforesaid meter. Thereby, as a load is actuated and power is consumed, the feedback circuit will detect, and the electric measuring wire will conduct, a real value about the power stored in the battery is displayed on the meter so as to be viewed by a user. Therefore, the condition that due to an error of electric quantity, the user can not know the real the electric quantity and thus the car is stopped owing to exhaustion of electric power is avoided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2009
    Assignee: Index Electronic Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tsun-Tying Hsu
  • Patent number: 7215131
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a large area, multi-element contactor. A segmented contactor is provided for testing semiconductor devices on a wafer that comprises a plurality of contactor units mounted to a substrate. The contactor units are formed, tested, and assembled to a backing substrate. The contactor units may include leads extending laterally for connection to an external instrument such as a burn-in board. The contactor units include conductive areas such as pads that are placed into contact with conductive terminals on devices under test.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2007
    Assignee: Formfactor, Inc.
    Inventors: Mohammad Eslamy, David V. Pedersen, Harry D. Cobb
  • Patent number: 7181454
    Abstract: A method and system for locating assets is disclosed that provides the capability for the gathering of information about assets contained in data repositories and the capturing of the gathered information in a database which can be used for the conducting of subsequent searches. By integrating into the system a series of data analyzers that are specific to each type of data contained in the repositories (e.g., a Java analyzer, a C/C++ analyzer, a COBOL analyzer, an HTML analyzer, and/or an XML analyzer) the system can be used to search the repositories using conventional keyword-searching techniques, as well as by searching for particular attributes specific to a particular language, or by combining keyword-searching with attribute-specific searching.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth McClamroch, Avi Yaeli, Gobi Zodik
  • Patent number: 7173443
    Abstract: A mixed signal test system for testing a semiconductor device having both an analog function and a digital function achieves improved resolution and low cost. The test system is formed of a functional test unit for testing a digital function of a device under test (DUT), an analog test unit (ATU) for testing an analog function of the DUT, and a synchronous control unit for synchronizing operations between the functional test unit and the analog test unit. The analog test unit includes a digitizer for converting an analog output of the DUT into a digital signal, and an acquisition memory for storing the digital signal from the digitizer in specified addresses. The wave form of the analog output is repeated by a plurality of cycles and a sampling clock for the digitizer is phase shifted by a predetermined amount for each cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2007
    Assignee: Advantest Corp.
    Inventor: Koji Asami
  • Patent number: 7113957
    Abstract: A method, computer system, and computer program are claimed for selecting rows from first and second tables each having rows containing values in columns. In at least the first table, the rows are divided into partitions at least one of which is populated by one or more rows. The method, computer system, and computer program include creating a plurality of partition contexts, each partition context corresponding to a populated partition and storing at least a first value associated with a row. The lowest first value stored by the partition context is determined. Rows with a particular first value are identified by reading the partition contexts, creating a temporary file context corresponding to one of the partition contexts, the temporary file context including location data for a data block of rows in memory, and reading rows in memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2006
    Assignee: NCR Corporation
    Inventors: Steven B. Cohen, Paul L. Sinclair
  • Patent number: 7113944
    Abstract: An implementation of a technology, described herein, for relevance-feedback, content-based facilitating accurate and efficient image retrieval minimizes the number of iterations for user feedback regarding the semantic relevance of exemplary images while maximizing the resulting relevance of each iteration. One technique for accomplishing this is to use a Bayesian classifier to treat positive and negative feedback examples with different strategies. In addition, query refinement techniques are applied to pinpoint the users' intended queries with respect to their feedbacks. These techniques further enhance the accuracy and usability of relevance feedback. This abstract itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. The scope of the present invention is pointed out in the appending claims.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Hong-Jiang Zhang, Zhong Su, Xingquan Zhu
  • Patent number: 7099884
    Abstract: A data compressor is provided which performs substitution-based data encoding. The compressor identifies repetitive data of an input file and writes meta-data representative of the repetitive data to a first buffer using a triple structure. The triple structure includes information of a length of non-repetitive data preceding repetitive data, an offset between like groups of repetitive data, and a length of the repetitive data. Non-repetitive data is written to a second buffer. The compressor concatenates the first and second buffers along with information of the length of the input file and the length of the first buffer to form a compressed file. A corresponding decompressor parses the compressed file and quickly computes the original file using a pre-allocated memory area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2006
    Assignee: InnoPath Software
    Inventor: Jinsheng Gu
  • Patent number: 7092952
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2006
    Inventor: Peter Wilens
  • Patent number: 7085757
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and article of manufacture provide a user interface allowing user selection and arrangement of result fields selected, in one embodiment, from a logical model. In one embodiment, the user interface is a graphical user interface and comprises input cells for user-selected logical result fields. The cells are arranged to define a geometric relationship between logical result fields which dictates the combinatorial statement type by which the logical result fields in the cells are related in a query.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Richard D. Dettinger, Cale T. Rath, Richard J. Stevens
  • Patent number: 7076492
    Abstract: A system and method for generating a report by a reporting tool of the Systems Applications and Products (SAP) online financial software. An SAP-readable Aspect file is generated and transmitted to the SAP system where the Aspect file may be queried for generating the report. The Aspect file may be generated by a non-SAP bridge program that utilizes a dataset which may be in a SAP or a non-SAP format. Processing the dataset to generate the Aspect file may include data filtration based on selection rules, and may additionally include rolling up the data of the dataset. Two or more of such datasets may be collectively used to form corresponding Aspect files for generating a report based on a query that relates to the corresponding Aspect files. The Aspect file may include procurement data such as purchase order data and invoice data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Michelle D. Campbell, James W. Nugent, Debra A. Parmeter, Scotty J. Reynolds, Jeffrey G. Willets
  • Patent number: 7065515
    Abstract: A system and method for electronically managing composite documents including a repository of electronically stored individual documents, where a subset of the individual documents are associated with other individual documents to form composite documents. A search tool is also provided for locating a selected individual document, where the selected individual document is associated with a selected composite document. A selection tool for selecting a function to be applied to the selected individual document includes an option to apply the function to other individual documents within the selected composite document. This allows the selected individual document to be operated on individually or with the other individual documents within the selected composite document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2006
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Barbara L. Ciaramitaro, Michael A. Gruskin, Edward C. Wolfe
  • Patent number: 7062509
    Abstract: A computer system is provided for generating standardized product data. The computer system includes a database which maintains data for a plurality of known products, each known product associated with a respective standardized product code. A processing facility, coupled to the database, receives raw data for an unidentified product from a plurality of diverse data sources, each of which has its own separate identifier for the unidentified product. The processing facility compares the raw data for the unidentified product against the data for the plurality of known products. If there is a match between the raw data for the unidentified product and the data for one of the plurality of known products, the processing facility assigns the respective standardized product code of the matching known product to the unidentified product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2006
    Assignee: Instill Corporation
    Inventors: Dejan N. Nenov, Yongwon Lee, Todd J Gettelfinger, Shermann L. Min, Dawn T. Ohlendorf, Donna B. Tobias, John R. Gilmer, II
  • Patent number: 7058666
    Abstract: A system for automatically monitoring database jobs in simple or complex networking environments to ensure that they run successfully. Failed database jobs are examined, corrected if possible, and re-executed. Database administrators are immediately notified of reoccurring database job failures by e-mail, pager notifications, or other alert methods. The amount of manual intervention is greatly reduced as most database jobs are simply corrected and restarted. The risk of data damage or loss due to subsequent jobs running on databases that are not current is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2006
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yun-Jen Li, Cheng Hsi Wen, Jui Pin Chiou, Jui Fa Huang, Robert Chen
  • Patent number: 7058661
    Abstract: A system and method for electronically managing discovery pleading information in which a user having an instant discovery request can search a repository to access prior discovery requests and corresponding responses to aid in formulating a response to the instant discovery request. The corresponding prior discovery responses include the documentary and other information previously produced in response to the prior discovery request, and may also include the text of the response itself. In this way the inventive system and method promotes efficiency and consistency in responding to discovery requests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2006
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Barbara L. Ciaramitaro, Michael A. Gruskin, Edward C. Wolfe
  • Patent number: 7054853
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for performing efficient association traversal operations in a Common Information Model (CIM) implemented environment. A CIM Object Manager creates and defines instance objects and corresponding association objects in a repository. The CIM Object Manager creates wrappers for each object that include reverse links that show the relationship from an object to any corresponding association objects. When a relationship request for a selected object is received by the CIM Object Manager, it performs an association traversal operation using the reverse links stored in the repository. The CIM Object Manager locates the target object's wrapper in the repository, and collects relationship information from the reverse links included within the wrapper. The collected relationship information is then passed to the entity that initiated the request. Accordingly, efficient association traversals may be performed, without having to traverse each instance of defined association objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2006
    Assignee: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas V. Johnson, Zane Zheng Yan Pan, Charles C. Ting
  • Patent number: 7047236
    Abstract: Accordingly, the invention is a method for automatic deduction of rules for matching document content to a category within a strange taxonomy, which allows the document to be automatically classified into a proper category for storage in that strange taxonomy. The method includes the steps of spidering the taxonomy to determine its structure and contents, extracting keywords from documents within the strange taxonomy, formulating rules for determining the category from the extracted keywords, and applying the rules to classify a new document whose keywords have been extracted. The taxonomy is strange because the user has no knowledge of its internal structure and needs no such knowledge. The taxonomy may be flat or may be hierarchal, the later having rules formulated at each level for proceeding to the next level. Variations for creating new and refurbishing old document management systems are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: William F. Conroy, Desiree D. G. Gosby
  • Patent number: 7047247
    Abstract: In methods for encoding and decoding objects with reference to a traffic route network, wherein the encoded information can also be decoded with the aid of databases that differ from a database used in the encoding, the objects are provided with relationships to at least one relational object which is present in databases that are used for the decoding, and the relationships do not primarily result from the traffic route network. A position indication can also be provided with a position type designator, which for instance indicates whether the transmitted position is an exact or navigable position or is the location of a search space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2006
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Bernd Petzold, Bernd Hessing, Cornelius Hahlweg, Gerd Draeger, Ulrich Kersken, Peter Kreft, Jan Martin
  • Patent number: 7043473
    Abstract: A method for identifying a media file transmitted over a network includes creating a plurality of known media file identifiers, each for a respective one of a plurality of known media files, using an identifier generating algorithm, storing the known media file identifiers in a database, creating a media file identifier for an unknown media file with the identifier generating algorithm and comparing the media file identifier for the unknown media file with known media file identifiers in order to produce an identification of the unknown media file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2006
    Assignee: Widevine Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Reza Rassool, William P. Worzel, Brian Baker
  • Patent number: 7043506
    Abstract: A system and associated methodology is provided that is adapted to infer what to do with an item, and more particularly whether to archive and/or keep active an item in a more active, easy-to-access store based upon a cost-benefit analysis. The cost-benefit analysis determines the overhead associated with keeping the item active (e.g., not archiving it) versus the gains in connection with having quick and easy access to the item. The cost of maintaining an item in an active state is measured in terms of the size of the item which, in turn, affects the amount of space needed to store it. The benefit of keeping the item active is measured in terms of a probabilistic determination describing how a user will access the item in the future, which is a reflection of the utility of the item in an accessible state. The invention leverages notions of temporal sensitivity of the likelihood that an item will be needed in the future such that determined values and inferences can be dynamically updated over time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Eric J. Horvitz