Patents by Inventor Eric Lawrence Barsness

Eric Lawrence Barsness has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20080115171
    Abstract: In an embodiment, content is received between a scheduled start time and a scheduled stop time. A schedule specifies a planned transmission of a scheduled program between the scheduled start time and the scheduled stop time. The received content is recorded to a saved program. A determination is made that the received content includes an interruption of the scheduled program, and an interruption indicator is saved that specifies a location of the interruption within the saved program. In response to detecting the interruption indicator, a message is presented that indicates the saved program lacks a part of the scheduled program. In response to a playback option, the saved program is played starting at the location of the interruption. In various embodiments, interruptions may result if the saved program lacks a part of the scheduled program, a signal transmission was degraded or lost, or a power outage occurred.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2006
    Publication date: May 15, 2008
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Publication number: 20080109423
    Abstract: A database query partition elimination mechanism collects historical information when a sampling query is first run against a partitioned database table, then uses the historical information for subsequent executions of the same sampling query to perform partition elimination so the sample query is run on less than all of the partitions. By eliminating one or more of the table's partitions when executing the query, the performance of the query is improved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 8, 2006
    Publication date: May 8, 2008
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7363617
    Abstract: An apparatus and method define the concept of a “database breakpoint.” One or more conditions in the database are specified as a database breakpoint in a debug environment for debugging a computer program that accesses the database. When the database conditions exist, one or more debug functions may be performed with respect to the execution of the computer program. Examples of debug functions include halting execution of the computer program and halting operations to the database by other programs. With both the computer program and database halted, the user may then interrogate the database to determine its state, and may interrogate the program to determine its state. Database breakpoints greatly enhance the utility of a debugger by providing additional conditions for debugging a computer program that accesses a database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, Michael Brian Brutman, Richard Dean Dettinger, Mahdad Majd, Brian Edward Olson, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7356523
    Abstract: An apparatus, program product and method dynamically optimize prepared statements resident in a statement pool to permit subsequent reuses of such statements to utilize the optimized representations of such statements. The optimization of pooled statements may be performed responsive to the tracked usage of the statements in a statement pool, to direct the overhead associated with such optimization to those statements that are more likely to be utilized in the future. Among a multitude of possible optimizations, a pooled statement that requests data in a format other than that utilized by the database being accessed may be modified to request the data in the format used by the database, thereby decreasing the overhead in the database associated with format conversions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeremy Alan Arnold, Eric Lawrence Barsness, Richard Dean Dettinger, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7350704
    Abstract: A handheld electronic book reader, program product, and method incorporate enhanced annotation and/or usage tracking capabilities. Users may create “contexts” for defined terms in an electronic document. Moreover, annotation data such as contexts, comments and highlighting may be associated with various users, and displayed in connection with the display of an electronic document so as to indicate that different annotation data has been originated by different users. In addition, from the standpoint of usage tracking, usage statistics for an electronic document displayed in a handheld electronic reader may be generated on a page-by-page basis, and/or in association with term definitions. Moreover, usage statistics for multiple users may be combined and analyzed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7337210
    Abstract: An instant messaging application intelligently infers a user's unavailability from one or more indicia which include the user's electronic calendar. Preferably, the instant messaging application may report not only that a user is unavailable, but also give a reason for inferring unavailability, in order to provide other users with additional potentially useful information. Preferably, the user may specify which indicia and which parameters may be used to infer his unavailability in an editable profile. When another user requests status, this value is returned by the server. An intelligent instant messaging application as described herein provides other users with more accurate and complete availability information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Eric Lawrence Barsness
  • Patent number: 7305629
    Abstract: An apparatus, program product and method effectively merge computer documentation for multiple API sets together to facilitate user access to such computer documentation. Such merging of computer documentation may include, in part, the incorporation, into a navigation file, of a plurality of API set links associated with a plurality of API sets, as well as the incorporation, into an index file, of a plurality of index links to documentation files for at least two of the plurality of API sets. Furthermore, computer documentation may be displayed to a user by displaying selected information in a plurality of display regions of a computer display. In a first display region, at least a portion of a first navigation file may be displayed, with the first navigation file including a plurality of API set links associated with a plurality of API sets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, Richard Dean Dettinger, Brian Edward Olson, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7296013
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that in an embodiment replace an element in a query with a backup if the element is not available, but the backup is available. An element may also be removed from the query if the element is not required. In various embodiments, the element may be a table or a user-defined function. In this way, the query may still execute even if the element is not available.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, Randy William Ruhlow, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7254810
    Abstract: A code optimizer is used to optimize a computer program that references a database by determining the characteristics of the database and making suitable optimizations based on the characteristics of the database. By taking into account the characteristics of a database referenced in the computer program, the optimizer may make suitable optimizations to the computer program. Such optimizations include, without limitation, removing unnecessary calls to the database, removing unnecessary loops, removing unnecessary database operations, providing compile-time errors, and replacing dynamic calls with static data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, Richard Dean Dettinger, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7127463
    Abstract: An apparatus, program product and method utilize one or more usage statistics, which are reflective of what data is actually and/or likely to be used by a client when processing a database query, to reduce or eliminate the transfer of unnecessary data between a client and server in a client-server database management system. Information such as the columns that are or have been used and/or the number of rows that have been accessed, may be utilized to identify certain data that is likely to not be used during processing of the database query. Based upon the data that has been identified, a subset of the data that would otherwise be returned as a result of the database query may be identified and returned to a client, often substantially reducing the amount of data required to be retrieved by a client in connection with a database query.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeremy Alan Arnold, Eric Lawrence Barsness, Richard Dean Dettinger, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7110991
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus of providing programming assistance for an integrated development environment. In one embodiment, a code portion is received. An attempt to retrieve a structured query language (SQL) statement that corresponds with the line code is then made. A recommendation based on the code portion for restructuring the corresponding SQL statement is then generated. The recommendation may include a modified SQL statement, referred to as a recommended SQL statement or a textual spoken language recommendation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeremy Alan Arnold, Eric Lawrence Barsness, Richard Dean Dettinger, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7103848
    Abstract: A handheld electronic book reader, program product, and method incorporate enhanced annotation and/or usage tracking capabilities. Support is provided for user creation of “contexts” for defined terms in an electronic document. Moreover, annotation data such as contexts, comments and highlighting may be associated with various users, and displayed in connection with the display of an electronic document so as to indicate that different annotation data has been originated by different users. In addition, from the standpoint of usage tracking, usage statistics for an electronic document displayed in a handheld electronic reader may be generated on a page-by-page basis, and/or in association with term definitions. Moreover, usage statistics for multiple users may be combined and analyzed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7089228
    Abstract: A query processor caches data retrieved from executing prepared statements, and uses the cached data for subsequent accesses to the data, if certain conditions for using the cached data are met. The preferred embodiments also include a data staleness handler that takes care of issues that arise from data that may have changed in the database but is not reflected in the cache. One way to handle data staleness in the cache is to specifically enable or disable caching in a query. If caching is disabled, the query processor will access the data in the database. Another way to handle data staleness in the cache is to provide a timer that causes the cache to be invalidated when the timer times out. Yet another way to handle data staleness in the cache is to provide specified conditions that must be met for caching to occur, such as time or date limitations. Still another way to handle data staleness in the cache is to provide an update trigger for the data in the database that corresponds to the cached data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeremy Alan Arnold, Eric Lawrence Barsness, Richard Dean Dettinger, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7089260
    Abstract: A database optimizer collects statistics regarding which types of applications are accessing the database, and makes one or more changes to the database schema to optimize performance according to the collected statistics. In a first embodiment, the optimizer detects when a certain type of application accesses the database a percentage of time that exceeds a predefined threshold level, and if the data in the database is stored in a less-than-optimal format for the application, the data type of one or more columns in the database is changed to a more optimal format for the application. This means that the database optimizer must recognize when a different type of application requests data from any changed column, and must potentially perform a conversion from the new data type to the old data type before returning the requested data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeremy Alan Arnold, Eric Lawrence Barsness, Richard Dean Dettinger, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7086046
    Abstract: A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for displaying compiler optimized source code. Initially, an optimized source code is generated for an original source code. The optimized source code is displayed on an output device to visually indicate a change performed to the original source code in accordance to a compiler optimization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 7065756
    Abstract: An apparatus, program product and method optimize the interaction between a client and server via an active document through the modification of server-side program code that generates the active document to effectively shift the performance of portable operations, e.g., data formatting and data validation operations, from the server to the client.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, Richard Dean Dettinger, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Publication number: 20060100992
    Abstract: Optimized query execution for queries that return data sorted by a derived column. The query optimizer is used to determine if the data is already sorted or if existing database metadata can be utilized to provide the sort. The optimizer will examine the query field being derived and attempt to determine if there are existing index structures that can be used to sort the data. The optimizer can also look at the values of the data in the column to determine what existing structures can be used to sort the data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 21, 2004
    Publication date: May 11, 2006
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 6965990
    Abstract: Embodiments provide a method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for providing programming assistance in integrated development environments. In one embodiment, a list of internal and/or external variables associated with a particular method is generated. In another embodiment, a list of internal and/or external variables is ranked in order of probability for usage within a selected method call.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Lawrence Barsness, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 6930707
    Abstract: A digital camera contains biometric capability to identify a photographer, which is preferably provided by the camera's own optical sensors. The biometric feature is preferably the iris of a photographer's eye, which is recognized as unique for each individual. The camera captures an image of an iris, abstracts a set of distinguishing features, and matches this set to an on-board database. The iris image is preferably captured when the photographer brings his eye in the vicinity of the camera's viewing window, through a combination of mirrors, lenses, prisms, and the like. This capability may be used to record the identity of a photographer with the image, as an anti-theft or privacy device, or to personalize the camera settings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Cary Lee Bates, Eric Lawrence Barsness, John Matthew Santosuosso
  • Patent number: 6829582
    Abstract: An apparatus, program product, and method restrict access to objectionable audio content in an audio or audio/video transmission using sound recognition. Sound recognition may be performed, for example, to detect and control access to objectionable non-spoken audio content, e.g., by detecting violent sounds such as screams, explosions, gun shots, sirens, punches, kicks and/or other non-spoken content such as sexually-suggestive sounds. In addition, occurrences of objectionable audio content detected in an audio transmission may be tracked so that access to the audio transmission may be controlled responsive to the identification of multiple occurrences of objectionable audio content. Furthermore, access control over detected objectionable audio content in an audio transmission may result in inhibition of access to a program associated with the audio transmission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2004
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Eric Lawrence Barsness