Patents by Inventor Owen McMillan

Owen McMillan 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).

  • Automatic local listing owner authentication system
    Patent number: 8353018
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for verifying that a user is the owner of a public listing is provided. The user selects an option to claim ownership of the public listing offered by an online service provider. The online service provider uses information regarding the user and the public listing to generate a verification code. The online service provider delivers the verification code to the owner of the public listing via the contact information provided by the public listing. If the user owns the public listing, the user receives the verification code via contact information associated with the public listing. The user verifies ownership by inputting a code to the online service provider. If the inputted code matches the verification code, then the online service provider identifies the user as the owner of the listing. Once verified, the user modifies the listing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Owen McMillan, Ambles Kwok
  • AUTOMATIC LOCAL LISTING OWNER AUTHENTICATION SYSTEM
    Publication number: 20100122330
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for verifying that a user is the owner of a public listing is provided. The user selects an option to claim ownership of the public listing offered by an online service provider. The online service provider uses information regarding the user and the public listing to generate a verification code. The online service provider delivers the verification code to the owner of the public listing via the contact information provided by the public listing. If the user owns the public listing, the user receives the verification code via contact information associated with the public listing. The user verifies ownership by inputting a code to the online service provider. If the inputted code matches the verification code, then the online service provider identifies the user as the owner of the listing. Once verified, the user modifies the listing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2008
    Publication date: May 13, 2010
    Inventors: OWEN McMILLAN, Ambles Kwok