Abstract: A map-based interface can be used to enable a user to provide another person with funds that can be used at a particular location. In at least some embodiments, a user can select one or more buildings, locations, establishments, or other such locations and indicate an amount of money that another person is authorized to spend at that location. The funds can be provided by the user using any appropriate mechanism, such as a credit card or back account. The recipient of the funds can use information in a portable device of the user to authenticate the recipient to an establishment, which can use the dual-key information of the recipient identity and establishment location to obtain authorization to utilize the designated funds as at least partial payment for a transaction of the recipient at that establishment.

Abstract: Methods and systems for round-robin e-mail scheduling are disclosed. A plurality of e-mail addresses, comprising a first e-mail address and a second e-mail address, are acquired. A first e-mail is sent to the first e-mail address. It is automatically determined whether the first e-mail was successfully delivered to the first e-mail address. If the first e-mail was not successfully delivered to the first e-mail address, a second e-mail comprising the same message content is automatically sent to the second e-mail address.

Abstract: Embodiments for creating a unified catalog include systems and methods that import catalog data from one or more underlying catalog systems. The systems provide a user interface to a user for browsing items from the catalog data and receive a request for at least one selected item from the user. The systems also determine an item identifier for the at least one selected item and match the at least one selected item to at least one source catalog selected from the one or more underlying catalog systems based on the identifier.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile of a user, present the user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user during a communication exchange between the avatar and the user, identify from the one or more responses a need to engage in an e-commerce transaction, engage in a commercial exchange with a merchant system according to the e-commerce transaction, identify a commercial status of the e-commerce transaction from the commercial exchange with the merchant system, and present the user by way of the avatar the commercial status of the e-commerce transaction. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A method for coordinating a business transaction between a selling vendor and a shipping vendor including the steps of: presenting the shipping vendors selected by a transaction coordination hub to the selling vendor; approving at least one of the shipping vendors based on input of selling vendor; accepting an offer of the transaction based on the input of the shipping vendor; collecting payment, including commission from the selling vendor using a payment managing module; paying the shipping vendor using the payment management module; paying a shipping company and scheduling a time for product retrieval by the shipping company, using the payment management module and a shipping managing module; and tracking the product until delivery to a consumer.

Abstract: A mobile station is arranged to determine its location, which is searched against street addresses from a database, and at least one matching street address is retrieved. The street address is searched on the mobile station and/or over the network. The search engine conducts a search in the mobile station file system and/or the Internet and/or a file system over the network with the at least one query term,—at least one search result is arranged to be displayed to user on the screen of the mobile station. This facilitates on-demand effortless Mobile Internet Search that allows the users to access opportunities that they did not know about, or would not have had time to find out about with minimum effort as the software of the mobile phone is scanning the Internet and information pages for these opportunities and displaying the results dynamically on the mobile phone screen.

Abstract: Computationally implemented methods and systems include acquiring user information associated with one or more users for use in generating one or more customized food items that are customized specifically for the one or more users, the user information to be acquired including at least one or more user preferences related to integrity of one or more food ingredients to be included in the one or more customized food items; and directing generation of the one or more customized food items for the one or more users, the one or more customized food items having been customized to show one or more visual indicators that provide customized information that has been customized in accordance, at least in part, with the acquired user information. In addition to the foregoing, other aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text.

Abstract: Information is provided to a vehicle by receiving, from a data center, a set of travel related services that are specific to an individual, where the travel related services are received into a control and interconnection system of a vehicle. The control and interconnection system comprises a vehicle interface that interfaces with vehicle subsystems, an operator interface that interfaces with an operator of the vehicle, and a system controller that communicates with vehicle subsystems. The method includes loading the set of travel related services into the system controller of the control and interconnection system, utilizing the control and interconnection system to monitor operational characteristics of the vehicle based upon the loaded set of travel related services, and communicating operational characteristics to the data center.

Abstract: A current location of a portable computerized device can be determined within a retail store. A computer-implemented method to provide a directional aid for a consumer within the store includes receiving an item being sought within a retail store, monitoring, at the processing device, the current location of a portable computerized device, determining an in-store location of the item being sought; and displaying to the consumer a graphic describing a direction and a distance from the current location to the in-store location of the item being sought.

Abstract: A method of propagating annotations of content items to a search query is disclosed. A strength of a correspondence between a search query and a title of a listing of an item on a network-based publication system is determined. The strength of the correspondence is based on an analysis of a set of actions by a set of users who submitted the search query. A set of annotations corresponding to the title is generated. The set of annotations is propagated to an additional search query such that the set of annotations and the strength of the correspondence are used by a search engine to enhance search results corresponding to the additional search query.

Abstract: According to one aspect, embodiments of the invention provide a router having a first I/O terminal and a second I/O terminal, wherein the first I/O terminal is configured to be in communication with at least one client via a first network, wherein the second I/O terminal is configured to be in communication with a plurality of remote servers via a second network, and wherein the router is configured to receive, at the first I/O terminal via the first network, a web services request from the at least one client, identify, based on the web services request from the at least one client, a group of the plurality of remote servers that are capable of fulfilling the web services request, and transmit, in parallel via the second I/O terminal and the second network, the received web services request to each one of the plurality of remote servers within the group.

Abstract: Systems and methods involving proximity, mapping, indexing, mobile, advertising, and location processing, among others, are disclosed. According to one illustrative implementation, a method of determining a mobile device location may comprise capturing product information from a product within a facility by a mobile device, retrieving a product location within the facility from a database based on the captured product information, and determining the mobile device location within the facility based on the product location and the product information.

Abstract: A computer system and set of routines with access to a map, a merchandizing plan, and a store catalog performs spatial matching of items to assign locations to the items; when spatial matching cannot be performed, group matching is attempted based on categories associated with the items. If group matching cannot be performed, the location of a department or of a store is assigned to the corresponding item. An error is also determined in relation to the assigned location. The assigned location and error are output, for example, to guide people to the items.

Abstract: A system and method includes a first device having an ordering interactive interface having available content. The first device forms a content selection corresponding to the on-demand content from the interactive interface and communicates the content selection to a content processing system. The content processing system communicates a control word to the user device. A user device receives the content corresponding to the selection in response to the control word. The content processing system or the user device generates an email indicative of a completion of storing the content in the user device.

Abstract: A cloud service brokerage system includes an electronic cloud service catalog containing cloud service defining information for a plurality of cloud services and a cloud service store coupled to the electronic cloud service catalog. The cloud service store includes cloud service publications each representing cloud service functionality corresponding to one or more of the cloud services. The cloud service store includes a user interface structure enabling generation of cloud service orders each including one or more of the cloud service publications.

Abstract: A solution is provided for a method for a user to shop online in a three dimensional (3D) virtual reality (VR) setting by receiving a request at a shopping server to view a shopping location, having at least one store, and displaying the shopping location to the user's computer in a 3D interactive simulation view via a web browser to emulate a real-life shopping experience for the user. The server then obtains a request to enter into one of the stores and displays the store website to the user in the same web browser. The store website has one or more enhanced VR features. The server then receives a request to view at least one product and the product is presented in a 3D interactive simulation view to emulate a real-life viewing of the product.

Abstract: An information handling system may include a first subsystem operable to receive data associated with computing resources from at least one computing resource provider. The system may further include a second subsystem in communication with the first subsystem, the second subsystem operable to provide the computing resources to at least one computing resource customer, wherein the at least one computing resource provider receives compensation paid by the at least one computing resource customer for completion of a workload. A method for managing a computing resource within an information handling system may include receiving data associated with the computing resource from at least one computing resource provider and providing the computing resources to at least one computing resource customer. The at least one computing resource provider may receive compensation paid by the at least one resource customer for completion of a workload.

Abstract: In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for managing consumer savings initiated from a payment card transaction is included. The payment card transaction involves a cardholder and a payment card of the cardholder. The method uses a computer device in communication with an issuing bank. The computer device includes a memory. The method includes receiving, by the computer device, transaction data associated with the payment card transaction. The transaction data separately identifies a payment amount and a savings amount. The savings amount is an amount the cardholder selects to save. The method also includes identifying, by the computer device, a savings account number associated with the cardholder. The method further includes transmitting the savings amount and the savings account number to the issuing bank for recording as a savings accrual for the cardholder. The issuing bank is the issuer of the payment card.

Abstract: A payment processing system for mobile point-of-sale transactions from a mobile point-of-sale (POS) terminal including a payment card reader having a card interface configured to read data from a payment card, the payment processing system configured to process a request from a merchant to provide financing for a purchase by a buyer (e.g., a second merchant). The payment processing system is further configured to calculate financing terms including an approved purchase amount and repayment terms for the approved purchase amount, to transmit the financing terms to the merchant for presentation to the buyer via the mobile POS terminal, to receive an acceptance of the financing terms from the buyer, to transmit the approved purchase amount to the merchant, and to receive payment from the buyer according to the repayment terms.

Abstract: A system and method for displaying a plurality of profit and risk related indicators are described. A graphical interface displays and dynamically updates a plurality of profit/loss (P/L) indicators including a realized, net, and open indicator. The net and open indicators are based on a trader's net position and a current market level, while the realized indicator is based on trader's buys and sells associated with a tradeable object. In one embodiment, the plurality of indicators are displayed in relation to a plurality of money management regions defining a maximum order quantity and a maximum net position controlling the trader's trades, so that a trader can quickly determine his current as well as potential money management parameters.

Abstract: Systems, methods means and computer program code for administering comprehensive protection plans are provided which include a computer system to process an insurance claim, the system having a first policy database storing policy data associated with a first type of insurance, a second policy database storing policy data associated with a second type of insurance, a requestor device and a claims processing system for receiving an insurance claim associated with a customer, determining that the claim involves a single loss event and more than one type of property damage, retrieving from the first policy database, information associated with a first policy of the customer and at least a second policy of the customer, the information including a first deductible associated with the first policy and a second deductible associated with the second policy, determining which of the first and second deductible to apply to the claim, and updating the first and second policy databases based on the determined deductible

Abstract: Methods and apparatus provide for an automated system for analyzing damage to insured property. A server may receive images of a scene (e.g., a room, house, apartment, etc.) from a user at a mobile device. The server may analyze the images to create a holistic view of the scene. The server and/or mobile device may be able to generate dimensions of the scene and compare those dimensions to the dimensions of a damaged property at the scene to determine the extent of damage to the property. The server may also be able to detect gaps between images as it creates the holistic view of the scene.

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed herein for identifying assets which pose a physical danger to a property through identification of such assets using IP-addressable devices located at a property. The system includes a communications base station at the property which receives program instructions for controlling an exchange of data between the base station, IP-addressable devices connected to the base station via a LAN, and a user computer. Responsive to installation of the program instructions, the system receives registration data from IP-addressable devices connected to the base station, the registration data based upon XML format messages between the base station and the IP-addressable devices. Upon detection of an asset which poses a physical danger to a property, the system and method execute a notification procedure to generate a message to a user computer.

Abstract: An automated validation system validates whether a property of a policyholder receiving at least one insurance benefit is currently receiving remote monitoring services, as represented by the policyholder. The system includes an application server, a trusted third party server, and a management computer. The application server requests the trusted third party server to validate whether the property of the policyholder is presently receiving remote monitoring services from a service provider. A management computer can adjust the policyholder's insurance policy based on the received validation results.

Abstract: A method, system, and computer program product for enterprise accounting software applications. The computer implemented method commences upon receiving a single user-specified indication of a subject cost item. Then, responsive to the single user-specified indication, the method traverses from the subject cost item to at least one of a successor cost item or a predecessor cost item. Then, still responsive to the single user-specified indication of a subject cost item, the method proceeds to automatically retrieve information from the successor cost item or from the predecessor cost item. Then, still responsive to the single user-specified indication, the method invokes operations for displaying a representation of the subject cost item in a juxtaposition to the automatically traversed-to items. A user can configure traversing from a purchase requisition to a purchase order, and/or traversing from a purchase order to a payable invoice, and/or traversing from a payable invoice to a project expenditure.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system that updates files with updated financial data. The system of the present invention is configured to receive from a user one or more selections of files (e.g., datastores of financial data utilized and/or referenced by financial reporting application for purposes of generating up-to-date financial reports) to be updated with updated financial data. The user is further enabled by the system of the present invention to schedule importations of updated financial data into each selected file. The system of the present invention also is configured to generate a report of complete file updates so that the user may more effectively monitor and review the file-updating processes.

Abstract: Methods and systems are described for employee time entry using an automation and security system. An apparatus for employee time entry includes a processor, a memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory which are executable by a processor to request employee login at a control panel of an automation and security system at initiation of the employee's work shift, request employee logout at the control panel at completion of the employee's work shift, and collect data related to at least one of employee work hours, shift frequency, and employee cost.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a system, method, and program product to measure problems from a social media discussion. In exemplary embodiments, a computer extracts one or more problems from the social media discussion. The computer extracts one or more severity indicators and one or more complexity indicators from the social media discussion. The computer clusters the one or more problems into one or more sets of unique problems in a manner that related problems are clustered together into the one or more unique problems. The computer determines an overall severity and an overall complexity of the sets of unique problems.

Abstract: A method and system for providing a social media ecosystem cooperative marketplace. To participate in the social media ecosystem cooperative marketplace, a sharing discount percentage is requested from participating social media merchants. The sharing discount percentage is used to provide lower purchase prices for plural goods and services provided to social media purchasers in the social media ecosystem cooperative marketplace and to support the social media ecosystem cooperative marketplace itself on a global scale for social media purchasers and social media merchants. Social media purchasers are searched for with social media index values and with social commerce connections. Social media purchasers are paid to view advertising or complete surveys for the social media merchants. The social media ecosystem cooperative marketplace is provided on a cloud communications network for mobile and non-mobile devices.

Abstract: Technologies are provided for data dependent socialization for life scientists and organizations. Data dependent socialization may be based on statistical correlations between experimental life science data. A service may provide individuals with an interface for providing experimental data, and the service may generate a visual connection report representing potential connections for collaboration.

Abstract: Facilitating discussion group formation and interaction is described. In one example, a server sends an eBook to a client device. The server determines whether the eBook is associated with at least one book club in response to sending the eBook to the client device. The server sends book club identifiers to the client device when the eBook is associated with at least one book club. The book club identifiers specify one or more book clubs associated with the eBook.

Abstract: A social networking system generates one or more metrics describing user interactions with objects to describe the popularity of the objects among users. Data describing actions performed by social networking system users on objects stored by the social networking system to identify an action, the user performing the action and the object on which the action was performed. Stored actions performed on a selected object are retrieved and a subset of the actions is generated by sampling the stored actions at a sampling rate. A number of unique users included in the subset is determined and used along with the sampling rate to determine the number of unique users included in the retrieved actions, which is used to derive a metric describing user interaction with the selected object.

Abstract: Disclosed is an updated browser having an API for communicating payment data between the browser and a site for processing payments of purchases and to reduce the number of user interactions needed for a purchasing process. The method includes receiving, via the user interface, an interaction by a user with an object associated with a site, the interaction indicating a user intent to make a purchase, receiving, based on the interaction and via an application programming interface, a request from the site for payment data in connection with the purchase and transmitting, to the site and via the application programming interface, the payment data, wherein the payment data confirms the purchase or can be used to process or deliver a product associated with the purchase.

Abstract: According to an embodiment, energy management system includes client and server. Server includes acquisition unit, estimation unit, calculator and controller. Acquisition unit acquires data concerning electrical equipment in a building including a storage battery from client. Estimation unit estimates energy demand and energy generation amount in building based on the data. Calculator calculates, based on the energy demand and the energy generation amount, operation schedule of the electrical equipment to optimize energy balance in building under a constraint that minimizes dump power to be discarded after storage battery is fully charged. Controller creates control information to control electrical equipment based on operation schedule.

Abstract: A restaurant service system for assessing the accuracy of estimated delivery time provided by a restaurant includes an order server, a restaurant server, a service server and an assessment server. Each of the servers includes a server software application. The order server software application collects a set of orders from a set of diner devices. The restaurant server software application retrieves an estimated delivery time for each order in the set. The service server software application determines an order actual delivery time for at least one order in the set. The assessment server software application determines an accuracy measure of estimated delivery time for the restaurant.

Abstract: Methods, computer systems, and computer-storage media for presenting third-party clinical information on a mobile device are provided. A request for clinical information is received from a user of the mobile device. After the user is authenticated, a number of plug-in applications are determined for the user. The request for clinical information is communicated to the plug-in applications. The clinical information is received from the plug-in applications in the form of one or more generic hierarchical structures populated with the clinical information. The populated hierarchical structures are rendered for display on the mobile device.

Abstract: In position-only shading, two geometry pipes exist, a trimmed down version called the Cull Pipe and a full version called the Replay Pipe. Thus, the Cull Pipe executes the position shaders in parallel with the main application, but typically generates the critical results much faster as it fetches and shades only the position attribute of the vertices and avoids the rasterization as well as the rendering of pixels for the frame buffer. Furthermore, the Cull Pipe uses these critical results to compute visibility information for all the triangles whether they are culled or not. On the other hand, the Replay Pipe consumes the visibility information to skip the culled triangles and shades only the visible triangles that are finally passed to the rasterization phase. Together the two pipes can hide the long cull runs of discarded triangles and can complete the work faster in some embodiments.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus relating to sort-free threading model for a multi-threaded graphics pipeline are described. In an embodiment, draw requests, corresponding to one or more primitives in an image, are stored in entries of a queue (e.g., in the order received). Each entry remains locked until both a front-end and a back-end of a graphics pipeline have completed one or more operations associated with the draw request. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.

Abstract: Techniques to dispatch threads of a graphics kernel for execution to increase the interval between dependent threads and the associated are disclosed. The dispatch interval may be increased by dispatching associated threads, followed by threads without any dependencies, followed by threads dependent on the earlier dispatched associated threads. As such, the interval between dependent threads and their associated threads can be increased, leading to increased parallelism.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus for processing image data by a plurality of pipeline-connected processing modules is provided. The apparatus includes a first pipeline processing unit configured to include a plurality of processing modules including a processing module which processes image data for every first size; and a second pipeline processing unit configured to be branched from the first pipeline processing unit and include a plurality of processing modules including a processing module which processes image data for every second size different from the first size. The second pipeline processing unit includes, at a start, a change unit configured to acquire partial image data of the first size from the first pipeline processing unit and change the partial image data of the first size into partial image data of the second size.

Abstract: An image signal processor including a CPU is provided. The CPU receives image data and positional information of phase detection pixels from an imaging device, extracts first phase detection pixel data and second phase detection pixel data from the image data using the positional information of phase detection pixels, computes first phase graphs from the first phase detection pixel data based upon moving a first window, computes second phase graphs from the second phase detection pixel data based upon moving a second window, computes disparities of the phase detection pixels using the first phase graphs and the second phase graphs, and generates a depth map using the disparities.

Abstract: A first code module is loaded into a secure runtime environment that prevents the first code module from accessing a graphics-processor unit (GPU). Rendering commands are generated using the code module based on a scene representation, and transmitted from the first code module within the secure runtime environment to a second code module outside the secure runtime environment. The second code module is configured to communicate with the GPU to provide graphics hardware acceleration, and a rendered image is rendered using the second code module and the GPU based on execution of the rendering commands outside the secure runtime environment.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for executing, by a processor including a read-only cache, a program having a plurality of variables including a first variable and a second variable. Each variable is for executing a respective read operation or a respective write operation for an object. The method includes providing a first code that uses the read-only cache and a second code that does not use the read-only cache. The method further includes determining, by the processor, whether a first object designated by the first variable is aliased or not aliased with a second object designated by the second variable. The method also includes executing, by the processor, the first code when the first object is not aliased with the second object, and the second code when the first object is aliased with the second object.

Abstract: An image scaling service includes determining an image as a candidate for a scaling process, scanning the image for an initial text value, and scaling the image to a next lower resolution. The image scaling service also includes iteratively performing the scaling process until a threshold value of a readability metric is reached, the scaling process includes scanning the scaled image for a scaled text value, comparing a difference between the initial text value and the scaled text value, the difference indicative of the readability metric, and scaling the scaled image to a next lower resolution. In response to reaching the threshold value of the readability metric, the image scaling service further includes selecting from scaled images an image having a lowest resolution resulting from the scaling process before the threshold value of the readability metric was reached.

Abstract: Illustrative embodiments of methods, machine-readable media, and computing devices that provide content-aware image resizing using superpixels are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method may include segmenting a machine-readable image file into a plurality of superpixels, where each of the plurality of superpixels corresponds to a plurality of pixels of the machine-readable image file. The method may also include selecting a target region in the machine-readable image file, where the target region includes the pixels corresponding to a seam of superpixels extending across a dimension of the machine-readable image file. The method may further include selecting a seam of pixels in the target region, where the seam of pixels extends across the dimension of the machine-readable image file, and resizing the machine-readable image file by removing or augmenting the seam of pixels.

Abstract: A method for combining a plurality of images into a synthesis image and an electronic device implementing the same are provided. The image synthesis method of the present disclosure includes acquiring coordinates of an object in a source image; extracting a target image from the source image based on the coordinates such that the target image contains the object; and displaying the target image in a section of a frame mapped to the source image.

Abstract: A data visualization technique rapidly loads images to decrease data transfer time and associated bandwidth cost for animation effects in displays of data, and includes initially loading raster imagery at a coarser zoom level than a current view on the display, and then manipulating the imagery using general-purpose image manipulation algorithms to interpolate data points as a user adjusts the zoom level. In this manner, the data visualization technique intentionally displays a coarser view than that selected, rather than transferring entirely new imagery or datasets, and manipulates the imagery as necessary to avoid loading more data from a remote server to the local client each time the user adjusts the view.

Abstract: Embodiments of the disclosure provide an image amplifying method, an image amplifying device, and a display apparatus, and relate to field of image processing technique, the method comprises: obtaining, by an image amplifying device, high-frequency and low-frequency components of a source image; performing, by the image amplifying device, pixel interpolation on the low-frequency components of the source image through a first interpolation algorithm, to obtain a low-frequency sub-image; performing, by the image amplifying device, pixel interpolation on the high-frequency components of the source image through a second interpolation algorithm, to obtain a high-frequency sub-image; and merging, by the image amplifying device, the low-frequency and high-frequency sub-images, to obtain a merged image; wherein the first interpolation algorithm and the second interpolation algorithm adopt different algorithms, so that it can ensure image quality of the amplified image while reducing the operation amount.

Abstract: An image quality enhancing apparatus, an image display apparatus, an image quality enhancing method, and a computer readable storage medium which make a learning-type image quality enhancing method utilizing a sparse expression practical are provided. The image quality enhancing apparatus calculates, from the feature quantity of an image, coefficients of low-image-quality base vectors expressing a feature quantity with a linear sum and generates the image with the enhanced image quality by calculating a linear sum of high-image-quality base vectors using the calculated coefficient. When calculating the coefficient, T base vectors highly influential on the feature quantity are selected from among a plurality of base vectors and an analytic solution making L2 norm of a coefficient matrix ? as small as possible is calculated. A sparse solution of the coefficients can be obtained without using the iteration method and a practical image quality enhancing apparatus can be realized.

Abstract: Reduced latency video stabilization methods and tools generate truncated filters for use in the temporal smoothing of global motion transforms representing jittery motion in captured video. The truncated filters comprise future and past tap counts that can be different from each other and are typically less than those of a baseline filter providing a baseline of video stabilization quality. The truncated filter future tap count can be determined experimentally by comparing a smoothed global motion transform set generated by applying a baseline filter to a video segment to those generated by multiple test filter with varying future tap counts, then settings the truncated filter future tap count based on an inflection point on an error-future tap count curve. A similar approach can be used to determine the truncated filter past tap count.