Abstract: Electronic transaction receipts in remote non-networked sales equipment are sent through infrared or radio frequency means to portable electronic devices such as personal digital assistants (PDA's)/smart cellular telephones that are in the possession of the consumer. These portable devices are possessed by the consumer and are in very close proximity to the POS device transmitting the information. Security procedures also verify the receiving device to avoid inadvertent transmissions and to provide addition security for the transmission. The information and records received by these portable devices may be stored and uploaded into other electronic media at the discretion of the consumer.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system to alert the recipient of an electronic message of some action that is required from the recipient. The invention also provides a method to alert the sender of the electronic message of the completion of the action required in the original electronic mail message. In the method of the present invention, the originator or recipient of an electronic mail message can choose to designate the message as one that requires an action by the message recipient. The recipient will notice the ‘Action Required’ icon and will be alerted to the fact that an action is required with this message. At the completion of the action, the sender of the original message will receive a notification that the requested action has been taken by the recipient.

Abstract: A method, system, and program for automatically building a locally managed virtual node grouping to handle a grid job requiring a degree of resource parallelism for execution within a grid environment are provided. The grid environment includes multiple resource nodes which are identified by physical location as physically disparate groups each managed by a grid manager. The grid managers include a grid virtual node grouping subsystem that enables a particular grid manager receiving a grid job that requires a particular degree of resource parallelism for execution to build a virtual node grouping of resources from across the grid environment and locally manage the resources included in the virtual node grouping. In particular, the particular grid manager accesses, from the other grid managers, a current availability and workload of each of the physically disparate resource nodes. The particular grid manager selects a selection of resource nodes to build into a virtual node grouping for executing the grid job.

Abstract: The present invention provides for exchanging a gift card. Data associated with a first gift card is provided. The data associated with the first gift card is validated. Either a money rebate associated with the first gift card, or a second gift card is selected. The first gift card is exchanged for either a money rebate or the second gift card. An exchange fee is generated by both the vendor associated with the gift card and the company performing the exchange.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method to alert the recipient of an electronic message of some action that is required from the recipient. The invention also provides a method to alert the sender of the electronic message of the completion of the action required in the original electronic mail message. In the method of the present invention, the originator or recipient of an electronic mail message can choose to designate the message as one that requires an action by the message recipient. The recipient will notice the ‘Action Required’ icon and will be alerted to the fact that an action is required with this message. At the completion of the action, the sender of the original message will receive a notification that the requested action has been taken by the recipient.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system to alert the recipient of an electronic message of some action that is required from the recipient. The invention also provides a method to alert the sender of the electronic message of the completion of the action required in the original electronic mail message. In the method of the present invention, the originator or recipient of an electronic mail message can choose to designate the message as one that requires an action by the message recipient. The recipient will notice the ‘Action Required’ icon and will be alerted to the fact that an action is required with this message. At the completion of the action, the sender of the original message will receive a notification that the requested action has been taken by the recipient.

Abstract: The present invention provides for exchanging a gift card. Data associated with a first gift card is provided. The data associated with the first gift card is validated. With a money rebate associated with the first gift card, or a second gift card is selected. The first gift card is exchanged for either a money or the second gift card. An exchange fee is generated by both the vendor associated with the gift card and the company performing the exchange.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system to enable a caller to send additional information along with the Caller Identification to a telephone receiver at the same time the caller makes the call. This additional information better informs the recipient of the identity of the caller and the nature of the call. This information allows the receiver to decide whether or not to answer the telephone call.

Abstract: A data processing system and method for scheduling a sequential execution of multiple commands. The data processing system includes an environment which executes the commands concurrently. Execution of the plurality of commands is scheduled in the environment so that the commands execute sequentially in programming order. When the commands are scheduled, a first one of the commands in the order begins and completes executing prior to a second one of the commands in the order beginning executing. When scheduled, the commands execute in the environment sequentially in programming order. In order to execute the commands sequentially, a process is spawned within which to execute the command. The execution status of the process is checked periodically by checking a process table. When the process has completed executing, a new process is spawned within which to execute the next command in the sequential order.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer implemented instructions for preemptive downloading and highlighting of web pages with terms indirectly associated with user interest keywords. Associative terms are identified and weighted. The weighted associative terms are used to rate Web pages. The Web pages, which have a rating higher than the specified threshold, are selected and presented to the user. Also, Web pages that contain user interest keywords or subject matter keywords from the currently displayed Web page are selected and presented to the user.

Abstract: A data processing system and method are disclosed for automatically installing a device driver on a plurality of client computer systems which are each executing a different operating system. The data processing system includes a server computer system coupled to the client computer systems via a network. These client computer systems are the systems which are to receive and install the device driver. Different versions of the device driver are created and stored within the server computer system. One of the different versions is copied to one of the client computer systems. The version of the device driver that is copied is the version which is executable by this operating system being executed by the client. The server computer system then causes the client computer system to install this version of the device driver on the client.

Abstract: A data collection program collects data from a user's workstation and captures the user environment data, including user settings and program application data. The user environment data is stored on a removable nonvolatile storage media for duplication processing. The stored user environment data is processed by a duplication process to duplicate the user environment data from the old workstation onto a new workstation or for recovery from a catastrophic system failure. A variety of user environment settings, not traditionally captured and restored by traditional backup software, are captured and restored. For example, licensing information and application personality data is identified, stored, and recovered along with other user-specific information such as hostnames, IP addresses, and the like.

Abstract: A web browser predictively and automatically searches for web documents linked to a currently displayed web page which contain terms of interest to a web browser user. Linked documents containing terms of interest are automatically retrieved and stored while the user views the current document such that if the user selects the link to stored document, it will be displayed without waiting for it to download. To further assist the user in finding the documents containing the user's interest terms, links in the current page leading to the documents of interest are highlighted, and special fast links to those pages may be created and displayed for even greater noticeability and usability by the user.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for the development and maintenance of a single configuration file for a storage area network combined with an “intelligent” script which places server configuration files into the appropriate directories for servers which are part of the storage area network. On a server by server basis, each server is configured in accordance with the particular operating system the server itself is using. Once this is accomplished, each server added or removed from the storage area network will be processed in a similar way without the need for reconfiguration of the storage area network as a whole.

Abstract: A system and method for automatically backing up logical entity data. Filesystems within the computer system are identified and data pertaining to the filesystem is recorded to backup storage. Recorded data includes the filesystem name, size, mount points, logical volumes, and logical volume groups. The logical entity backup process records the logical volume group names, the disk identification data associated with the logical volumes, the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that have been set for the computer system, gateway address information for accessing a gateway computer, and netmask information. The backup process backs the logical entity data to nonvolatile storage either in a removable media or to a computer network storage device that is connected to the computer system through a computer network.

Abstract: A method for monitoring incoming data from an external computer network is provided. The invention comprises polling all active port connections in a data processing system at regular intervals and comparing these connections to a table of authorized ports and IP addresses. Any unauthorized connections are logged and a network administrator is notified. The present invention can be implemented on clients within a computer network.

Abstract: An optimizing tool optimizes a computer system's page space by basing the page size on the amount of real memory in the computer system. The optimization tool determines the amount of real memory in the computer system. The amount of memory is multiplied by a multiplier to determine an optimal amount of page space to allocate. In one embodiment the multiplier used is two (2) so that the amount of page space is double the amount of real memory. The optimal page space is compared with the amount of page space currently allocated in the computer system. If more page space is needed, the optimization tool determines where on the computer system's disk space the additional page space should be added. In a UNIX embodiment, the optimization tool determines whether a non-root volume group exists on the system. A non-root group without a paging space is examined for a new paging space addition. If a non-root group is found, the paging space needed is added to the non-root group.

Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed for generating and presenting relevant pages to the user at the desktop. A service such as the Internet Service Provider (ISP) receives updates of each web page requested by the user. The ISP provides an Interest Links Program (ILP) that scans the current page for terms contained in a term dictionary, defines interest items when matches are made between terms in the term dictionary and terms in the current page, and scans a content encyclopedia for matches with interest items. When a match is found, the ILP identifies an interest link and sends fast links to the desktop. On the desktop, a program lists and refreshes relevant links to the current page being considered by the user at any given time.

Abstract: A method and implementing computer system are provided for enabling a user to control the flow of data from the user computer system. Data scheduled for transmission from the user system are monitored and when a scheduled outbound flow of data is detected, a data control window or screen is presented to the user. The data control screen may be activated upon any detection of scheduled outbound data or only upon the detection of a predetermined string or sequences of data. The data control screen enables a user to review outbound data before it is transmitted and to selectively take various control actions relative to the data. In one embodiment, the data screen appears whenever a scheduled outbound data transfer request is detected. In another embodiment, the user is enabled to define predetermined specific data strings in a database, and the data screen does not appear unless one or more of the predetermined data strings has been detected in a scheduled outbound data transfer.

Abstract: A data collection program collects data from a user's workstation and captures the user environment data, including user settings and program application data. The user environment data is stored for duplication processing on a new workstation. One embodiment provides for a workstation list that is read by the data collection program for collecting data from one or more workstations. The stored user environment data is then processed by a duplication process to duplicate the user environment data from the old workstation onto a new workstation. One embodiment includes saving the user environment data to a data storage area connected to a server and then read from the data storage area to duplicate the user environment data to a new workstation also connected to the server. Another embodiment includes saving the user environment data to a nonvolatile computer operable medium for duplicating user environment data to a new workstation.