Patents by Inventor Holger H. Hoos

Holger H. Hoos 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).

  • Patent number: 7835980
    Abstract: In a computer-implemented method for finding a high quality allocation of one or more bids in a combinatorial auction, a number of bids is electronically received. Each bid includes a number of sub bids and a Boolean operator logically connecting each pair of sub bids. Each sub bid is either (1) a good and an associated price or (2) one of the Boolean operators associated with a price and at least two other sub bids. From a number of allocations of goods to sub bids, wherein each allocation of the goods is to a different set of sub bids, an allocation is output that has the greatest value. The value of each allocation includes of a sum of prices of bids that have at least one satisfied sub bid. The price of each bid includes a sum of the prices associated with each satisfied sub bid of the bid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2010
    Assignee: CombineNet, Inc.
    Inventors: Craig E. Boutilier, Holger H. Hoos
  • Publication number: 20090094153
    Abstract: In a computer-implemented method for finding a high quality allocation of one or more bids in a combinatorial auction, a number of bids is electronically received. Each bid includes a number of sub bids and a Boolean operator logically connecting each pair of sub bids. Each sub bid is either (1) a good and an associated price or (2) one of the Boolean operators associated with a price and at least two other sub bids. From a number of allocations of goods to sub bids, wherein each allocation of the goods is to a different set of sub bids, an allocation is output that has the greatest value. The value of each allocation includes of a sum of prices of bids that have at least one satisfied sub bid. The price of each bid includes a sum of the prices associated with each satisfied sub bid of the bid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2008
    Publication date: April 9, 2009
    Inventors: Craig E. Boutilier, Holger H. Hoos
  • Patent number: 7475035
    Abstract: In a combinatorial auction, a plurality of bids is received each having a plurality of sub bids and Boolean operators logically connecting each pair of sub bids. A current allocation is determined by allocating goods to at least one of the bids and a best allocation is initialized with the current allocation. A neighboring allocation is constructed by reallocating within the current allocation at least one good from at least one bid to another bid. The best allocation is updated with the neighboring allocation when the value of the neighboring allocation is greater than the current value of the best allocation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2009
    Assignee: CombineNet, Inc.
    Inventors: Craig E. Boutilier, Holger H. Hoos
  • Publication number: 20080189330
    Abstract: Systems and methods for selecting media tracks for playback from among a network of accessible media tracks involve providing a probabilistic network of accessible media tracks and a current track from among the tracks in the network. The network comprises, for each individual track, a corresponding plurality of potentially subsequent tracks and a corresponding plurality of selection probabilities, each of the corresponding plurality of selection probabilities indicating a probability that an associated one of the corresponding plurality of potentially subsequent tracks is selected as a subsequent track when the individual track is the current track. The method also involves selecting a first subsequent track from among the plurality of potentially subsequent tracks corresponding to the current track in accordance with the plurality of selection probabilities corresponding to the current track.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2005
    Publication date: August 7, 2008
    Inventors: Holger H. Hoos, Juergen Kilian, Ronald A. Rensink
  • Publication number: 20080140655
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for organizing a plurality of information objects in a dynamic network. The method involves a network comprising: a plurality of nodes wherein each node represents a corresponding one of the information objects and each node has an associated node strength; and a plurality of links wherein each link represents a connection between a corresponding pair of nodes. The method involves: selecting a first node from among the plurality of nodes to be the currently selected node; and in response to selection of the first node as the currently selected node, increasing the node strength of the first node.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2005
    Publication date: June 12, 2008
    Inventors: Holger H. Hoos, Juergen Kilian, Ronald A. Rensink
  • Patent number: 7010505
    Abstract: A method of selecting a winning allocation of bids in a combinatorial auction includes receiving a plurality of bids and designating a subset of the received bids as a current allocation having no overlap in the items of its bids. For each bid not part of the current allocation, a neighboring allocation is determined by combining the bid with the current allocation and deleting from such combination any bid of the current allocation having an item that overlaps an item of the bid combined with the current allocation. A heuristic is determined for each neighboring allocation and one of the neighboring allocations is selected stochastically or based on its heuristic. If this one neighboring allocation is greater than the value of the best allocation, the current allocation is substituted for the best allocation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2006
    Assignee: CombineNet, Inc.
    Inventors: Craig E. Boutilier, Holger H. Hoos
  • Publication number: 20030028475
    Abstract: In a combinatorial auction, a plurality of bids is received each having a plurality of sub bids and Boolean operators logically connecting each pair of sub bids. A current allocation is determined by allocating goods to at least one of the bids and a best allocation is initialized with the current allocation. A neighboring allocation is constructed by reallocating within the current allocation at least one good from at least one bid to another bid. The best allocation is updated with the neighboring allocation when the value of the neighboring allocation is greater than the current value of the best allocation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2002
    Publication date: February 6, 2003
    Applicant: CombineNet, Inc.
    Inventors: Craig E. Boutilier, Holger H. Hoos
  • Publication number: 20020052829
    Abstract: A method of selecting a winning allocation of bids in a combinatorial auction includes receiving a plurality of bids and designating a subset of the received bids as a current allocation having no overlap in the items of its bids. For each bid not part of the current allocation, a neighboring allocation is determined by combining the bid with the current allocation and deleting from such combination any bid of the current allocation having an item that overlaps an item of the bid combined with the current allocation. A heuristic is determined for each neighboring allocation and one of the neighboring allocations is selected stochastically or based on its heuristic. If this one neighboring allocation is greater than the value of the best allocation, the current allocation is substituted for the best allocation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2001
    Publication date: May 2, 2002
    Inventors: Craig E. Boutilier, Holger H. Hoos