Patents Issued in September 2, 2008
  • Patent number: 7421374
    Abstract: A method includes identifying a signal and a disturbance associated with a model. The signal and disturbance are identified using historical data associated with one or more process variables. The method also includes decomposing the signal and the disturbance at a plurality of resolution levels. The method further includes extracting a plurality of data segments from the signal using the decomposed signal and the decomposed disturbance. In addition, the method includes determining a quality of the model using the extracted data segments and at least a portion of the historical data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Charles Q. Zhan, Joseph Z. Lu
  • Patent number: 7421375
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device and a driving method thereof. The organic electroluminescent device according to the present invention comprises a plurality of scan lines in a first direction, a plurality of data lines in a second direction different from the first direction, a panel having a plurality of pixels formed on crossing areas of data lines and scan lines, and a data driving circuit which drives the pixels according to a display data and a brightness control data inputted from external apparatuses. The data driving circuit comprises a display data recognizing circuit which receives display data from a first external apparatus in the external apparatuses and a current generating circuit which receives brightness control data from a second external apparatus in the external apparatuses, and applies a data current according to the display data recognized in the display data recognizing circuit and the brightness control data to the data lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Byoung Ik Kwon
  • Patent number: 7421376
    Abstract: A characteristic thumbprint is extracted from a data signal, the thumbprint based on statistics relating to the data signal. The data signal can be compared indirectly by matching this thumbprint against one or more reference thumbprints. The data signal may be any type of signal, including streaming digitized audio or obtained from static files. A database for containing a number of such thumbprints and methods for searching the database are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Auditude, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey L. Caruso, William S. Yeager, Nicholas Seet
  • Patent number: 7421377
    Abstract: Present application provides a method for suppressing noise in a spectral Doppler system, comprising the steps of: obtaining a power spectrum of Doppler signals demodulated in the spectral Doppler system, by performing spectral analysis on the Doppler signals; estimating an average noise power of the spectral Doppler system; designing a noise suppression filter by determining its filter coefficients based on the power spectrum of the Doppler signals and the estimated average noise power; filtering the Doppler signals by using the designed noise suppression filter so as to reduce the noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yu Zhang
  • Patent number: 7421378
    Abstract: In a diagnosing method for an apparatus having movable mechanical components and a diagnosing device, an instantaneous total supply of power is measured and recorded as a function of time. A dynamic physical power-flow model of the driven apparatus is created. The model is described by means of parameters directly connected to mechanical and/or electromagnetic quantities of the individual components of the apparatus. The parameters are adapted to fit the power consumption calculated from the model to the recorded power signatures. A diagnosis is performed based on the adapted parameters. The diagnosing device has a power meter and a processor, the processor being arranged for: obtaining a power signal representing supplied power as a function of time; providing the dynamic power-flow model; and adapting values of model parameters of the dynamic physical power-flow model to fit signatures of said power signal and for diagnosing the apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: PSD Insight AB
    Inventor: Kjell Pernestål
  • Patent number: 7421379
    Abstract: A method for generating a linear piecewise representation of a driver output current signal includes segmenting the driver output current signal such that an integral of each segment matches an actual voltage change in corresponding portion of an associated output voltage signal (within a desired tolerance). The beginning and ending current/time values for each segment can then be compiled into the piecewise linear representation of the driver output current signal. A method for generating a model driver output current signal includes conformally mapping first and second sets of precharacterization output current data based on a weighted average of the indexing parameter (e.g., input slew or output capacitance) values for the model driver output signal and the first and second sets of precharacterization data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Synopsys, Inc.
    Inventor: Harold J. Levy
  • Patent number: 7421380
    Abstract: The subject invention leverages the conditional Gaussian (CG) nature of a continuous variable stochastic ARMAxp time series model to efficiently determine its parametric gradients. The determined gradients permit an easy means to construct a parametric structure for the time series model. This provides a gradient-based alternative to the expectation maximization (EM) process for learning parameters of the stochastic ARMAxp time series model. Thus, gradients for parameters can be computed and utilized with a gradient-based learning method for estimating the parameters. This allows values of continuous observations in a time series to be predicted utilizing the stochastic ARMAxp time series model, providing efficient and accurate predictions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Bo Thiesson, Christopher A. Meek
  • Patent number: 7421381
    Abstract: The present invention provides a design support method adapted to support a design of a conveying path by performing simulation of a behavior of a sheet-shaped flexible medium being conveyed in the conveying path and comprising a conveying condition setting step for setting a conveying condition of a conveying roller for conveying the flexible medium, a roller nip calculation step for preparing a finite element model of a conveying roller pair including the conveying roller and for calculating of deformation of the conveying roller in a nip portion of the conveying roller pair, and a motion calculating step for calculating the behavior of the flexible medium in a time-series manner on the basis of the deformation of the conveying roller calculated in the roller nip calculating step regarding a portion of the flexible medium conveyed by the conveying roller pair having the finite element model prepared in the roller nip calculating step and calculating the behavior of the flexible medium in a time-series manne
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kiyoshi Oyama
  • Patent number: 7421382
    Abstract: A method for data analysis of power modeling for a microprocessor has been developed. The method takes multiple values of power data from a power modeling simulator and generates summary data to characterize the power data behavior. Summary data views include results characterizing behavior in a single cycle and behavior across multiple cycles. Data is viewed both at an absolute level to characterize total power and relative to previous levels to characterize power derivatives. Summary data is derived from power generated every cycle when running specific benchmark programs on the power simulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventors: Miriam G. Blatt, David J. Greenhill, Claude R. Gauthier, Kathirgamar Aingaran
  • Patent number: 7421383
    Abstract: Semiconductor device junction simulation is carried out utilizing models that are developed with series resistance extractions that improve their fidelity particularly in the high current regions of device operation. The models may also be tailored to account for geometric considerations of the semiconductor devices thereby allowing for a more flexible model and simulation by providing for geometric scaling capabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co, Ltd
    Inventors: Cheng Hsiao, Ke-Wei Su, Jaw-Kang Her
  • Patent number: 7421384
    Abstract: During software development, a multichip module is used which encloses a target chip and a development chip in one package. A CPU of the development chip fetches instructions from a flash memory in the chip to execute them, and accesses RAM and peripheral circuits in the chip. For motor control circuits that exist only in the target chip, the CPU accesses them via serial communication. When the one-chip microcomputer operates alone, its CPU switches a switching circuit to a JTAG interface side to actuate a motor control circuit via internal serial communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenji Yamada, Hideaki Ishihara, Kyouichi Suzuki, Yoshinori Teshima, Toshihiko Matsuoka, Naoki Ito
  • Patent number: 7421385
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a system and method for processing semiconductor manufacturing data. In one example, a method for processing data includes processing one or more bytes of a data set as a block wherein the data set comprises Asian language characters; comparing the first byte of the one or more bytes with a value; and inserting an identifier after each byte of the one or more bytes, if the first byte is larger than the value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Shi-Shien Chen
  • Patent number: 7421386
    Abstract: A lexicon stored on a computer readable medium and used by language processing systems. The lexicon can store word information in a plurality of data fields associated with each entered word. The data fields can include information on spelling and grammar, parts of speech, steps that the entered word can be transformed into another word, a word description, and a segmentation for a compound word. Information that cannot be stored in the lexicon can be stored in an intermediate indexes table. Associated methods of constructing, updating and using the lexicon are introduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Kevin R. Powell, Andrea Jessee, Douglas W. Potter
  • Patent number: 7421387
    Abstract: A method for reducing recognition errors. The method includes receiving an N-best list associated with an input of a computer based recognition system. The N-best list includes one or more hypotheses and associated confidence values. The input is classified in response to the N-best list, resulting in a classification. A re-scoring algorithm that is tuned for the classification is selected. The re-scoring algorithm is applied to the N-best list to create a re-scored N-best list. A hypothesis for the value of the input is selected based on the re-scored N-best list.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventor: Kurt S. Godden
  • Patent number: 7421388
    Abstract: The system and method of the present invention comprises a compressed domain voice activity detector that detects the presence or absence of voice activity in a digital input signal. The method includes converting a digital input signal into parametric data. The parametric data is subsequently analyzed, and then compared against a background noise threshold to determine if voice activity is present.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Richard Louis Zinser, Steven Robert Koch
  • Patent number: 7421389
    Abstract: A system and method for remote speech recognition includes one or more customer premise equipment, a speech engine, and a communication engine. The customer premise equipment interfaces with a host from which the customer premise equipment is remotely located. The speech engine, remotely located from the host, recognizes a plurality of speech spoken by a user of the customer premise equipment and translates the speech into the language of the host. The speech engine further converts the recognized speech into one or more text data packets where the text data packets include the recognized speech as data instead of voice. The communication engine encrypts the text data packets and transmits the text data packets to the host. Transmitting data instead of voice to the host reduces the computational demands on the host. Additionally, the communication engine receives a plurality of information from the host.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
    Inventors: Douglas F. Reynolds, Benjamin Anthony Knott, Robert Randal Bushey
  • Patent number: 7421390
    Abstract: In one embodiment of the present invention, a voice control application transmits data to a voice server about a first execution state of an application program resident in the memory of an electronic device having a first graphical display. The voice control application also transmits an audio waveform encoding of a voice command defining a second execution state of the application program. The voice server performs a speech recognition process upon the audio waveform encoding and transmits a reply to the electronic device for causing the second execution state of the application program. The voice control program, in response to the response, automatically causes the second execution state of the application program having a second graphical display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventor: Nigel D. Simpson
  • Patent number: 7421391
    Abstract: A system and method for searching and selecting a specific read of a talent. A reel can be separated or marked to indicate individual reads. The reads are defined using read profiles. A producer and/or agent can perform searches and auditions on the search system on a read level by using the unique read profiles. The search for reads can be performed using sample voices or voices provided by a user. The auditions can be executed in real-time and can be integrated with telephony technology. Agent branded technology are included to provide a vehicle for the agent to be a part of the producer-talent relationship. A Uniform Resource Locator with a pathname containing an alias suffix is provided to direct the business contacts to a Webpage containing biographical and contact information and sample reads of the talent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: ZamTech LLC
    Inventor: Robert C. Merkel
  • Patent number: 7421392
    Abstract: The present invention provides a diagnostic device that presents, to a patient, a Noise-Vocoded Speech Sound signal that is obtained by dividing at least one portion of a sound signal into a single or a plurality of frequency band signals and subjecting the frequency band signals to noise, and analyzing the content of a response recognized by the patient and the presented stimulus to diagnose a disease of the patient based on the analysis results, so that diagnosis including determining the disease of the patient and estimating a damaged site can be performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: RION Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Rikimaru
  • Patent number: 7421393
    Abstract: A dialog manager and spoken dialog service having a dialog manager generated according to a method comprising selecting a top level flow controller based on application type, selecting available reusable subdialogs for each application part, developing a subdialog for each application part not having an available subdialog and testing and deploying the spoken dialog service using the selected top level flow controller, selected reusable subdialogs and developed subdialogs. The dialog manager capable of handling context shifts in a spoken dialog with a user. Application dependencies are established in the top level flow controller thus enabling the subdialogs to be reusable and to be capable of managing context shifts and mixed initiative dialogs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: AT&T Corp.
    Inventors: Giuseppe Di Fabbrizio, Charles Alfred Lewis
  • Patent number: 7421394
    Abstract: This invention has as its object to save labor time required for correction and adjustments when an error has occurred during either the recognition of input data or the process of the recognition result of an information processing apparatus which recognizes input data and outputs the recognition result. The information processing method described in this embodiment includes a recording step of recording input data (step S708), a recognition step of recognizing the input data (step S707), a determination step of determining whether or not the input data can be recognized in the recognition step (step S709), and an output step of outputting, when it is determined in the determination step that the input data can be recognized, data generated based on a recognition result in the recognition step (step S713), and outputting, when it is determined in the determination step that the input data cannot be recognized, output data generated based on the input data which is recorded in the recording step (step S710).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiromi Omi, Tsuyoshi Yagisawa, Makoto Hirota
  • Patent number: 7421395
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for producing one or more unique account names in response to a user request, or in response to a user attempting to adopt another name that is unavailable. When performed in response to a user request, the method includes the steps of combining a randomly selected word element, such as an affix or adjective, and a randomly selected stem, such as a noun, to produce a random account name, and comparing the name with a list of existing account names to determine if it is unique. If so, the unique name is provided to the user for acceptance. Additional unique names can be produced by the same or a different method so that the user is presented with a plurality of unique names for consideration. For example, if the user attempts to adopt a name that is unavailable, a unique modified account name can be produced that is based on the name entered by the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Craig A. Link, Nicholas Berry, Dean M. Pachosa
  • Patent number: 7421396
    Abstract: A travel information distribution system includes a distribution center and a wireless terminal of a user who can readily obtaining necessary travel information in traveling places using the wireless terminal such a portable telephone or a portable personal computer. The user visits a travel agency to apply a travel, has a travel schedule table prepared and registers a telephone number of the wireless terminal in a database. The travel agency sends the data of the user to the distribution center, and distribution center receives travel information from information providers. After the departure of the travel, the distribution center transmits necessary travel information to the user at a proper time in a proper place. The user can obtain the necessary updated information in the necessary place and can be free from a heavy weight travel guidebooks. The distribution center can obtain advertisement incomes from travel agencies and advertisement firms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Yushi Niwa
  • Patent number: 7421397
    Abstract: A method and system for computing the price of a railway transportation service for the shipping goods is provided. A computer delivers first information to a user prompting the user to enter information about a rail transportation service including an origin and a destination for the shipment of goods. In response to the origin and the destination information, the computer is caused to deliver a series of routes between the origin of the shipment of goods and the destination of the shipment of goods. The user is prompted to select at least one route from the series of routes. A price for the rail transportation service for shipment of goods is then computed at least in part on the basis of the at least one route selected by the user and is provided to the user as a quote for the rail transportation service.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Canadian National Railway Company
    Inventors: Leonard John Podgurny, Anita Ernesaks
  • Patent number: 7421398
    Abstract: A method of discouraging healthcare fraud in conjunction with providing a health care service to a patient in which the patient provides a biometric signature. An event record is created where the event record creates an association between the biometric signature, a patient identifier, and location information indicating a location at which the biometric signature is obtained. The event record is stored in a central data store and can be later retrieved to verify the patient was present at the location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Inventor: Scott T. Kimmel
  • Patent number: 7421399
    Abstract: A method of discouraging healthcare fraud in conjunction with providing a health care service to a patient in which the patient provides a biometric signature. An event record is created where the event record creates an association between the biometric signature, a patient identifier, and location information indicating a location at which the biometric signature is obtained. The event record is stored in a central data store and can be later retrieved to verify the patient was present at the location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Inventor: Scott T. Kimmel
  • Patent number: 7421400
    Abstract: The present invention provides apparatus, systems and methods for determining for each of a plurality of users upon each user's input of a particular origin postal code and a particular destination postal code an origin rating zone identifier corresponding to the identifier corresponding to the particular destination postal code for each of the plurality of carriers. Each user accesses the present invention over a global communications network using a client computer device, and each user client computer device has an individual electronic connection to the global communications network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignees: Stamps.com Inc., iShip Inc.
    Inventors: Paul Bilibin, Jinyue Liu, William W. Smith, III
  • Patent number: 7421401
    Abstract: A method of scheduling meetings within a calendaring system can include receiving a meeting request specifying a meeting time, at least one participant, and a supplemental meeting service to be scheduled concurrently with the meeting. A determination can be made that a supplemental meeting system is not available. Accordingly, participants can be notified of the meeting time and that supplemental meeting service information has not been determined. The method also can include attempting to obtain the supplemental meeting service information from the supplemental meeting system until a predetermined time prior to the meeting time. If the supplemental meeting service information is obtained before the predetermined time prior to the meeting time, the participants can be notified of the supplemental meeting service information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Scott H. Demsky, Robert M. Szabo
  • Patent number: 7421402
    Abstract: A system for allocating resources which are anticipated to be available in an on-demand computing at some time in the future, wherein a producer trending agent (PTA) lists resources according to a trend prediction of resource availability in the past, a consumer trending agent (CTA) places bids for listed resources according to previous resource usage trends, and an arbitration system (REAS) matches the bids with the listings to determine if a match exists. If so, a binding contract for consumption of the matched listed resources is established. The PTA also produce tier-based dynamic incentive (TDI) schema which divides potential bidders into tiers, and offers additional resource incentives according to the tiers. Both PTA and CTA dynamically update their available/usage trends, listings and bids, over time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corp.
    Inventors: Kyusun Chang, Jagadish Dasari, John Anthony Falkl, Alfredo V. Mendoza
  • Patent number: 7421403
    Abstract: A computerized information storage, filtering and presentation system configured to facilitate the function of intermediary broker agents in the purchasing and sale of consumable and perishable products, such as dairy goods. The computerized system provides agents of the intermediary broker with filtered information via a communications network identifying the sellers of particular goods, current market purchase prices, and transportation costs for various regions. The computerized system further provides the agents with additional filtered information via the communications network identifying buyers for particular goods and current market selling prices, enabling the agents to efficiently match goods purchased from a seller to a buyer's demand while achieving a desired profit margin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: T.C. Jacoby & Company, Inc.
    Inventor: Theodore C. Jacoby, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7421404
    Abstract: A clearing system holds positions that are affected by trades executed during trading cycles. The positions are updated by those trades in clearing cycles. A first trade is executed and includes first trade information regarding how the trade should affect a position, e.g., bought or sold, open or close, number of contracts, etc.). The first trade can be received by the clearing system at a time when a first clearing cycle for the first trade and a second clearing cycle for a subsequent second trade are both open. A trade which belongs to the first clearing cycle updates a first variable for a position for that first clearing cycle using the first trade information. Second trade information for the second trade belonging to the second clearing cycle which is also open updates the second variable for the position for that second clearing cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: OMX Technology AB
    Inventor: Magnus Josefsson
  • Patent number: 7421405
    Abstract: A method for determining weightings of an investment portfolio selected from a plurality of domestic and international financial investments is provided. The method divides domestic and international financial investments into a plurality of industry groups, selecting one of the industry groups, and determining a reguired industry weighting as well as an available domestic weighting for the selected industry group. A mixture of investments can then be determined based on the reguired industry weighting and the available domestic weighting, and the process is repeated for all available industry groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Constellation Capital Management Limited
    Inventors: Douglas James Little, Peter Geoffrey Vann
  • Patent number: 7421406
    Abstract: The system and method of the present invention removes barriers that undermine efficient risk-management. The invention prioritizes consumers by predicting their unmet demand for risk protection. Once deemed eligible, consumers are enrolled and funds are allocated to the payment of a premium for income insurance, contribution to a financial vehicle such as a savings or investment product, and payment of a premium for savings loss insurance. Active participants are eligible for income protection in case of job loss, systematic savings and ownership of public equities, principal protection and incentives based on utilization. The system and method of the present invention is calibrated on an ongoing basis to the behaviors of target consumers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Inventors: Delores A. Dixon, legal representative, Deborah A. Dixon
  • Patent number: 7421407
    Abstract: Process and system for investing in private portfolio includes determining relative risk, excess return and correlation of a private investment portfolio to a public market.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Alignment Capital Group
    Inventors: Austin M. Long, III, Craig J. Nickels
  • Patent number: 7421408
    Abstract: The invention is directed to a personal financial management system and method for personal financial management. A user interface attached to a computer may interact with the user and/or financial institutions to acquire information regarding fiscal behavior and asset allocations and performance. These may be compared with budgetary guidelines. The budgetary guidelines may be determined from a personal finance code. The personal finance code may be a set of desired source and use of funds allocations, asset allocations, and future fiscal events. A comparison of the budgetary guidelines and the fiscal behavior may be projected and compared to the personal finance code to determine a state of personal finances.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Inventor: Lee Ryder
  • Patent number: 7421409
    Abstract: Initially the amount of data is checked to determine whether a sufficient history is present for the method. Credit card accounts are classified as new, relatively new, and old cards, i.e. opened within six months, within twelve months, and over twelve months ago. The balances for each of the three categories are calculated for each month. The average balance percentages of cards opened within six months and twelve months for the last twenty-four months is calculated and teaser surfers are defined as either having average percentages within the last twenty-four months for all credit cards opened within six and twelve months are greater than predefined percentages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: James Richard Kraemer, Shiping Liu, Edgar Leroy Murphy, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7421410
    Abstract: The present invention provides methods and systems for promoting banking services to non-customers at an automated teller machine (ATM) through an incentive system. Non-customers who enroll in the incentive system are awarded points based on ATM use, viewing of advertisements at an ATM, and other factors. When a pre-determined number of points is accumulated by the non-customer, the non-customer is provided with an award (e.g., a convenience fee for use of the ATM is forgiven). In addition, use of networked ATMs by the non-customer is tracked in order to provide tailored awards and advertisements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Citicorp Development Center, Inc.
    Inventors: Howard A. Schechtman, Peter Paradiso
  • Patent number: 7421411
    Abstract: A method, system, and computer program product for enabling a wireless device in a mobile communication environment to obtain rights to protected content of a digital asset. The digital asset is downloaded to the wireless device from any one of a plurality of content servers or other wireless devices. The digital asset comprising a content ID, content encrypted with a content key, and information on obtaining rights to the content being expressed in a voucher generated by a voucher server in the network. The method, system, and computer program product also creates the digital asset for downloading to a wireless device from one of a plurality of content servers in a network and generates a voucher at the voucher server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventors: Markku Kontio, Juha-Pekka Sipponen, Tapio Ylitalo
  • Patent number: 7421412
    Abstract: A method and system are provided for monitoring use of a licensed digital good, such as software, digital audio or video, text, and web pages. Each licensed digital good is associated with a shared resource, such as a record in a remote database in a license server. The shared resource is updated with data, such as a sequence or periodic transmission, from each instance of the licensed digital good when each instance is used. By detecting if the data in the shared resource has experienced a race condition, the use of multiple instances of the licensed digital good is detected. The method and system can also be used to determine a number of unlicensed uses of the digital good for purposes of automatically selling additional licenses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Inventor: Kumaresan Ramanathan
  • Patent number: 7421413
    Abstract: A pay-per-use or metered-use computer uses a balance manager to monitor usage and update a value balance according to a first usage schedule when the computer is in active use. When the activity level of the computer is reduced below a threshold, the balance manager may update the value balance according to a second usage schedule. Activity level of the computer is determined by monitoring the activity level of a one or more components of the computer including input devices, communication controllers, and the processing unit. Rules can be applied to determine when to switch between usage schedules and if credits to the value balance should be made.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Alexander Frank, Thomas G. Phillips, George V. Reilly
  • Patent number: 7421414
    Abstract: Split machine learning systems can be used to generate an output for an input. When the input is received, a determination is made as to whether the input is within a first, second, or third range of values. If the input is within the first range, the output is generated using a first machine learning system. If the input is within the second range, the output is generated using a second machine learning system. If the input is within the third range, the output is generated using the first and second machine learning systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Timbre Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Liu, Junwei Bao
  • Patent number: 7421415
    Abstract: In a method of 3D object detection, a learning procedure is used for feature selection from a feature set based on an annotated image-volume database, generating a set of selected features. A classifier is built using a classification scheme to distinguish between an object location and a non-object location and using the set of selected features. The classifier is applied at a candidate volume to determine whether the candidate volume contains an object of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research, Inc.
    Inventors: Anlei Dong, Xiang Sean Zhou, Dorin Comaniciu, Christian P. Schultz
  • Patent number: 7421416
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method and system for managing web sites registered in a search engine that provides information about web sites on the Internet, wherein information about the web sites registered in the search engine is analyzed to prevent the provision of search results different from essential contents contained in the web sites. In the method, information of the registered web site is received and recorded in a database after being classified by predetermined fields. A search robot is controlled to read a source file constituting a web page of the registered web site, and the read source file is then analyzed. It is determined based on a predetermined basis whether or not the registered web site is a deceptive site. Predetermined processing is performed on the registered web site if the web site is determined to be a deceptive site. The source file is preferably an HTML document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: NHN Corporation
    Inventors: Sun Kyoon Na, Hyun Jung Lee, Ki Jeong Choi
  • Patent number: 7421417
    Abstract: A feature selection technique for support vector machine (SVM) classification makes use of fast Newton method that suppresses input space features for a linear programming formulation of a linear SVM classifier, or suppresses kernel functions for a linear programming formulation of a nonlinear SVM classifier. The techniques may be implemented with a linear equation solver, without the need for specialized linear programming packages. The feature selection technique may be applicable to linear or nonlinear SVM classifiers. The technique may involve defining a linear programming formulation of a SVM classifier, solving an exterior penalty function of a dual of the linear programming formulation to produce a solution to the SVM classifier using a Newton method, and selecting an input set for the SVM classifier based on the solution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Olvi L. Mangasarian, Glenn M. Fung
  • Patent number: 7421418
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for fundamental operations on token sequences: computing similarity, extracting term values, and searching efficiently have been disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Nahava Inc.
    Inventor: Russell Toshio Nakano
  • Patent number: 7421419
    Abstract: A methodology, a system, and an apparatus is defined for performing evidence-based decision-making about matching a given entity against one or more of a set of known or reference entities. A satisfactory decision is achieved as a function of both potentiality and plausibility, where plausibility refers to the full set of values garnered by the evidence accumulation process in the process of generating belief/disbelief/uncertainty/conflict masses. Potentiality is a mechanism to set the various match threshold values, where the thresholds define acceptable confidence levels for decision-making. Evidence is computed on the basis of partial matching of feature vector elements, where separate and distinct feature vectors are associated with both the given entity and each of the reference entities. Following evidence-combination methods, evidence is accrued for both the positive and negative decisions regarding a potential match.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Viziant Corporation
    Inventor: Alianna J. Maren
  • Patent number: 7421420
    Abstract: Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for device selection. A command is generated in a host, wherein the command is for a library manager not directly connected to the host. A device is selected from a subsystem in a storage library based on a preference order, wherein the storage library is coupled to the host and the library manager. The command is sent from the host to the selected device for communicating with the library manager.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Robert Douglas Burchfield
  • Patent number: 7421421
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for enabling a user to search for documents that the user has previously viewed on its local machine. The system includes three main components: the desktop integration module, the index module, and the graphical user interface module. The desktop integration module is an application which monitors documents with which the user interacts for predetermined events, and obtains content data and metadata from the monitored documents. The index module indexes the content data and metadata received from the desktop integration module. The graphical user interface module then permits a user to utilize the desktop integration module and index module by allowing a user to search for a document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: David L. Newbold, Tolga Oral, Andrew L. Schirmer, Martin M. Wattenberg, Michael Bolin
  • Patent number: 7421422
    Abstract: Methods and systems for providing random access, interactive presentations of geographic and temporal information for a region of interest. The system includes a database that receives and stores geographically registered data, an input system that receives parameter inputs, a data processor, and a visualization system that generates graphical representations of the geographically registered data for visual display. As parameters are interactively received via the input subsystem, a query of the geographically registered data is created, and the results of the query are returned to the visualization system such that the graphical representations are displayed in substantially real-time in accordance with the results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: WSI Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas G. Dempster, Jeffrey Isaacs, William R. Dow, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7421423
    Abstract: A system and method for implementing a conditional payload server are provided. A request for a payload corresponding to a subset of client attributes is obtained. Additionally, one or more payload(s) is obtained in which each payload defines criteria for delivering the payload. The criteria for delivering each payload are then embodied into an expression tree that is scored and optimized for traversal. The expression tree is converted into an evaluation tree data structure in which the conjunctive and disjunctive operators are the tree nodes and attribute evaluator value expressions are the leaf nodes. The expression tree is merged into a catalog data structure having a master attribute list, an evaluator list, a value list, a payload list, and a conjunction list. The catalog is then evaluated according to the subset of client attributes corresponding to the payload request and a payload is delivered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: R Donald Thompson