45th week of 2012 patent applcation highlights part 52 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20120284071 | RETAIL PRE-PACK OPTIMIZATION SYSTEM - A system for determining an optimized pre-pack solution receives demand data and constraints and initializes a current pre-pack configuration comprising a current pre-pack design that comprises a plurality of pre-pack types, each pre-pack type comprising one or more different products. The system optimizes a pre-pack allocation based on the current pre-pack configuration and determines an objective function value improvement comprising, for each product in each pre-pack type, changing a level of the product by one unit and determining if the objective function value has improved. If the objective function value has improved, the system generates a new pre-pack design based on the changed level of the product and assigns the new pre-pack design as the current pre-pack design and re-optimizes the allocation. The system repeats until the objective function value stops improving. The system then outputs an optimized pre-pack configuration and optimized pre-pack allocation. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284072 | RAM-IP: A COMPUTERIZED METHOD FOR PROCESS OPTIMIZATION, PROCESS CONTROL, AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT BASED ON A RISK MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK - Risk Analytics Management—Integrated Process (“RAM-IP”), a computerized method for project optimization, process control and performance management based on a risk management framework. A project comprises a plurality of risk sources, e.g., nine, that are managed from Day One by establishing a plurality of risk streams, e.g., | 2012-11-08 |
20120284073 | OPTIMIZED COLLABORATION BETWEEN DISTRIBUTED CENTERS OF GLOBAL SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEMS - A computer implemented method, system, and/or computer program product facilitate optimal collaboration between cells from different service centers for delivering a service to a customer. A cost of collaboration between two cells in different service centers is defined. Each of the two cells is a group of resources capable of executing a same task, and the cost is a 3-Tuple that consists of a monetary cost, a makespan cost, and a skill misalignment cost associated with the collaboration. After establishing acceptable cost ranges for the 3-Tuple based on constraints defined by an enterprise policy, a processor creates multiple collaboration matrices based on different permutations of the 3-Tuple. Once an optimal collaboration function derived from the multiple collaboration matrices is identified, the task is assigned to two optimal cells identified in the optimal collaboration function. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284074 | Method and Apparatus for Business Planning & Prediction Using Value Rank - Users of a subscription product or service are ranked according to the value they receive from the service (computed as the ratio between worth received and cost). Users with similar value ranks are identified as likely to experience similar relationship events. This identification is acted upon by scheduling a workflow (e.g., a sales call or special price offer) designed to encourage or discourage the similar relationship event from occurring with the identified users. Value-ranked users can also be used to understand the effectiveness of marketing and lead-development activities, and to help plan and allocate advertising budgets to achieve particular customer characteristics. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284075 | System and Method For the Automated Dispatch of Fueling Operations - An intelligent solution for monitoring, assigning, and accounting fueling operations. An automated dispatch fueling system comprises a fuel management server populated with airport profile and dispatcher configurations. Utilizing information stored in the database and received from external systems, the automated dispatch fueling system can automatically assign and monitor fueling operations. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284076 | OPTIMIZING SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEMS - A computer implemented method, system and/or computer program product optimizes a service delivery system. A processor receives a first set of inputs that describes a current state of a service delivery system and a second set of inputs that describes a cost overhead for the service delivery system. The processor then optimizes the service delivery system in order to derive an optimized service delivery system. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284077 | AUTOMATED WORK ORDER GENERATION FOR MAINTENANCE - A method for generating an electronic work order for plant maintenance includes detecting a fault of a machine in the plant, and communicating fault information to a system. The system has a server and a database for recording downtime of the machine. The method further includes generating the work order via the server in response to the fault, including recording, within in the work order, a plurality of values from the fault information. The work order is transmitted from the server to a computing device, and a confirmation signal is recorded by the computing device indicating completion of the repair. The method includes transmitting a completed work order from the computing device to the server and recording the completed work order in the database. A system is also disclosed for generating an electronic work order for maintenance in a plant. The system includes the database and server noted above. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284078 | TOOL FOR MANAGER ASSISTANCE - A computer implemented method, system, and/or computer program product generate an optimal training policy and an optimal promotion policy to accommodate an upcoming project. Required new job positions are identified for an upcoming project. A skillset matrix, which describes a current skill level of each worker in a work unit, and a promotion matrix, which describes historical evaluations of how well each worker achieved predefined goals of past projects, are generated. The skillset matrix is utilized to create an optimal training policy that identifies which workers are in need of additional training in order to qualify for one or more of the identified new job positions, and the promotion matrix is utilized create an optimal promotion policy that identifies which workers will be candidates for being promoted into one or more of the identified said new job positions. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284079 | RETAIL PRE-PACK OPTIMIZER - A system determines an optimized pre-pack configuration with an optimized pre-pack allocation and an optimized pre-pack design. The system receives demand data and constraints and initializes a current pre-pack allocation and a current pre-pack design. For the current pre-pack allocation, the system determines a new pre-pack design by solving a multi-choice integer knapsack problem, and then determines if the new pre-pack design is different than the current pre-pack design. When the new pre-pack design is different than the current pre-pack design, the system determines a new pre-pack allocation and assigns the new pre-pack allocation as the current pre-pack allocation and the new pre-pack design as the current pre-pack design and repeats the determining the new pre-pack design and the determining if the new pre-pack design is different than the current pre-pack design until the new pre-pack design is the same as the current pre-pack design. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284080 | CUSTOMER COGNITIVE STYLE PREDICTION MODEL BASED ON MOBILE BEHAVIORAL PROFILE - It comprises computing values of cognitive and personality indicators of users of a telecom operator by means of machine learning and data mining algorithms from information available in a telecom operator system extracted from Social Network Analysis metrics, Call Detailed Record information and commercial information of said users stored in an operator's Data Warehouse and Customer Relationship Management systems as well as information from previous surveys, or questionnaires, answered by a representative sample of users as an input of said machine learning and said data mining algorithms. The method involves building a complex computer model that infers the values of the psychological dimensions of said users by means of said machine learning and said data mining algorithms to obtain a multi-dimensional vector for each of the users. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284081 | Methods and Apparatus for Gathering Intelligence from Itemized Receipts - An intelligence-gathering system operates on a network-connected server having at least one processor and at least one coupled data repository, with software executing on the at least one processor from a non-transitory medium. The software provides a first function obtaining data from itemized receipts, a second function obtaining related data from one or more merchant sites, and a third function matching data sets obtained from the itemized receipts to data sets obtained from the one or more merchant sites. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284082 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING AN AVERAGE RETIREMENT AGE INDEX - Systems and methods for determining an average retirement age index, the index including a year and week. The method determines a wealth at death of an average couple for a first retirement age. If wealth at death is greater than zero, the retirement age is decreased by one and the wealth at death value is recalculated. This process continues until the wealth at death value is less than zero, at which point the year of the retirement age index is determined by adding one to the current year of the retirement age. The week of the retirement age index is determined by: dividing the opposite of a wealth at death value for the year prior to the year of the average retirement age index by a wealth delta and multiplying the result by fifty-two. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284083 | System and method for merchandise distribution - A lightweight merchandise distribution system for online group-buying is provided. The distribution system comprises a computer server, a plurality of small distribution centers, and a plurality of delivery entities. The computer server comprises a merchandise sales-prediction module and a distribution center-optimization module. Before a product is featured on a group-buying website, the number of small distribution centers is set up in a densely populated city based on the center-optimization result. The featured product is then pre-allocated to each distribution center based on the sales-prediction result. Each delivery entity comprises a delivery person, a wireless handheld device, and a delivery vehicle. The delivery person preloads the featured products onto the delivery vehicle before receiving any order. The delivery person delivers the ordered product by the delivery vehicle once the purchase order is received from the wireless handheld device. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284084 | SCALABLE REGRESSION FOR RETAIL PANEL DATA - Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with scalable regression for retail panel are described. In one embodiment, a method includes performing a regression that estimates elasticity of demand for a retail item, wherein the regression is performed on a transformation of a demand model that does not include variables associated with base demand or seasonality. In a subsequent processing step, the method includes estimating a base demand and seasonality for the retail item based, at least in part, on the estimated elasticity of demand. The method may be performed in a database that stores retail panel data for the retail item and other retail items. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284085 | Methods and Systems for Facilitating the Provision of Opinions to a Shopper from a Panel of Peers - In particular embodiments, requests for opinions are received from shoppers. Each request is associated with an image of the respective shopper's appearance. A modified image of the shopper's appearance is determined in relation to a product or service, showing how the shopper's appearance is changed by the product or changed after the service has been performed. The request for opinions and the image of the shopper's appearance is sent to one or more participants. One or more opinions responsive to the request are received. Market intelligence information is determined in relation to the product or service, based on information associated with the requests for opinions. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284086 | FUEL STORE PROFIT OPTIMIZATION - A computer-implemented method of generating fuel price data for a retail fuel site, the method being implemented in a computer comprising a memory in communication with a processor. The method comprises receiving, as input to the processor, data indicating a relationship between fuel sales and store sales at said retail fuel site and receiving, as input to the processor, data indicating a relationship between fuel price and fuel sales at said retail fuel site. The data indicating a relationship between fuel sales and store sales at said retail fuel site and said data indicating a relationship between fuel price and fuel sales at said retail fuel site are processed by the processor to generate said fuel price data. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284087 | System and Method for Providing Competitive Pricing for Automobiles - The invention includes a method and system to provide a competitive pricing tool so that automobile dealers can more efficiently and effectively price their used vehicles. The system achieves the optimal sales price by obtaining the relevant pricing and mileage of vehicles for sale that are similarly situated to the focus vehicle. Once the information is obtained, the system creates a value ranking for each of the vehicles for sale and for the focus vehicle. The user is then able to revise the focus vehicle pricing to determine the optimal sales price. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284088 | METHOD OF REDUCING MANAGEMENT COST IN LARGE-SCALE IT SYSTEM MANAGEMENT - An embodiment of this invention is a system that recommends a change of management jobs for a plurality of apparatuses separated into a plurality of groups. This system selects groups one by one from the plurality of groups. It determines a similarity degree among the management jobs set to the plurality of groups after changing the current management job to a different management job. It determines at least either one of a management cost of the current management job and a management cost of the different management job. It determines a recommendation degree of the change of the management job using the determined similarity degree and the determined management cost. It presents a pair for a recommended change of management jobs in accordance with the determined recommendation degrees. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284089 | Method and Tool for Systematizing Introduction of Process Modification - The present invention relates to a method and tool for systematizing introduction of a change to a process. The method and tool provide a virtual representation of the process, which includes at least one method having a plurality of steps. Then, the method and tool identify an input required, an output produced and corresponding control logic of at least one intervening resource involved in at least one of the steps. Finally, the method and tool evaluate, based on the input require, output produced and the control logic of the at least one intervening resource, impact of the change to the at least one intervening resource. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284090 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCUMULATION AND VERIFICATION OF TRUST FOR PARTICIPATING USERS IN A CROWD SOURCING ACTIVITY - The present invention is a computer network implemented system and method for verifying that individual participants complete one or more crowd sourcing activities in a manner that is accurate and/or correct, and granting incentives to participating users based on accurate and/or correctly completed activities. The one or more crowd sourcing activities may include a plurality of tasks, each task including optionally a plurality of sub-tasks. Accurately and/or correctly completing activities may cause participant users to accumulate trust and such trust may be tangibly represented as Trust Scores, Quality Scores, and incentives allotted to participant users. The present invention is operable to accumulate and verify trust for each of the participating users. The present invention may improve quality of the crowd sourcing activity by awarding Trust Scores to participating users, and awarding Quality Scores to tasks or sub-tasks completed by the various participating users. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284091 | INDICIA READER WITH FEEDBACK OF SCANNING THROUGHPUT - A method of operating an indicia reader including the steps of: consecutively reading a plurality of information bearing indicia (IBI) over a period of time; determining an operator of the indicia reader's performance based on the rate at which the plurality of IBIs are being read over the period of time; and, providing feedback to an operator of the result of the determining step. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284092 | COMPUTER METHODS AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS FOR VOTING - In one embodiment, a mobile electronic device at least having a processor programmed to acquire an access instruction to allow a voter to access vote issues; and execute the following code: to provide, to the voter, information identifying vote issues; to enable the mobile electronic device to transmit at least one vote of the voter, where the enabling is based on: a first software instruction that instructs the mobile electronic device to present a first vote issue, a second software instruction that instructs the mobile electronic device to receive a first vote from the voter, where the voter submits the first vote by a first single action performed immediately after the presentation of the first vote issue and without any intervening action, a third software instruction that instructs the mobile electronic device of the voter to transmit the received first vote from the voter to the computer system. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284093 | System and Method For Including Advertisements In Electronic Communications - Improved techniques for targeting advertisements are provided, which take into account the content of electronic communications delivered via text messaging and/or other forms of communications. The system may automatically select advertisements based on message content, and the selected advertisements may then be displayed alongside messages, and/or embedded in or included in messages, for presentation to the sender and/or recipient of the message. Overall conversational context, including content of past messages between the parties, can be taken into account in selecting advertisements. In at least one embodiment, the content of a displayed advertisement can change dynamically in response to changes in the subject of a text conversation. Senders of messages can be rewarded for allowing advertisements to be embedded and/or displayed in connection with their messages. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284094 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING A VISUAL SUMMARY OF PREVIOUSLY VIEWED MULTIMEDIA CONTENT | 2012-11-08 |
20120284095 | INTERNET-BASED METHOD OF CHARITABLE GIVING - An Internet-based method of charitable giving includes the steps of:
| 2012-11-08 |
20120284096 | Resource Usage Reduction via Incentives - Conservation of a utility resource is incentivized by a method in which a utility customer records utility meter readings with a smart phone and submits the readings to a server for processing. The server processes the meter readings and awards the customer with credit awards contingent upon customer compliance with behavior that is being incentivized by the system, e.g., reduced resource use during peak hours, resource use below a target level set by the server, resource use below a goal set by the customer, frequent and accurate resource meter submissions, or verification of resource submissions of other customers. Cumulative awarded credits may be redeemed by a customer in exchange for participation in a micro-raffle or other game of chance. Preferably, a consumer awarded more credits has a greater chance of winning a prize, and a greater chance of winning a larger prize, than a user awarded fewer credits. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284097 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROMOTION AND MARKETING THROUGH A NETWORKED MULTI-LEVEL REFERRAL FEE PROGRAM - This invention relates to payments of referral compensation. Specifically, this invention relates to payment of compensation, in the form of referral fees in multi-levels, for the marketing and promotion of goods and services that can be purchased and/or tracked via the Internet or other interactive networks via one or more computing devices. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284098 | PROCESSING CROSS-LINE CONVERSIONS - Techniques are described herein for processing cross-line conversions. A cross-line conversion occurs when a user performs an offline acceptance of an offer that is associated with an online advertisement. An offline acceptance is an acceptance that is made in-person by the user at a physical location of a seller. Examples of such a physical location include but are not limited to a retail store (e.g., a department store or a boutique store), a fixed or mobile retail stand, a booth at a conference (e.g., a business conference or an academic conference), a kiosk, a sporting arena, a ball park, etc. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284099 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING HAIR STYLIST REFERRALS - A web based system method of managing hair stylist referrals, based on a web server that provides a searchable directory of hair stylists. The system provides a simple method to generate gift certificates that are customized to each individual stylist, and a simple method to allow the hair stylists' customers to refer their friends by electronically transmitting these customized gift certificates to their friends. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284100 | METHODS FOR FACILITATING ADVERTISING AND COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS - Methods of communicating for advertising and for facilitating commercial transactions between businesses and consumers. Said methods are enabled by a software application that allows a consumer to dispatch an offer request to a service provider, wherein the offer request specifies an amount of money that the consumer intends to spend on a particular product category and a geographic area in which the consumer intends to make a purchase. The service provider then communicates the offer request to a plurality of businesses that offer the specified product category and that are located within the specified geographic area. If the offer request satisfies certain criteria established by one or more of the businesses, those businesses will issue offers that advertise special deals and discounts to the consumer. Such offers are generated using a software application. The consumer can then accept and redeem any of the offers that the consumer finds attractive. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284101 | MOBILE TRANSACTION SERVICES - A method may include receiving identification information associated with a user, where the identification information is used to store electronic receipts for the user. The method also includes receiving, from a point-of-sale device, transaction information for a transaction involving the user and generating an electronic receipt for the transaction. The method further includes storing the electronic receipt. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284102 | COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING DISCOUNT OFFERS - A method for providing discount offers to a remotely located electronic device of a user includes, at a server computer system, receiving user parameters for a good or service discount from the remotely located electronic device. The method further includes, at the server computer system, receiving an indication from the remotely located electronic device of which of the received user parameters are locked. The method yet further includes, at the server computer system, preparing a list of good or service discounts matching the locked parameters and randomly or pseudo randomly relating to user parameters that were not indicated as locked. The method also includes, at the computer system, completing a purchase of one of the list of good or service discounts in response to user purchase feedback received from the remotely located electronic device. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284103 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR NETWORK TRANSACTION - A network transaction method is for consumers and users to trade a product via the internet. The network transaction method provides a must-buy or first-to-buy transaction mode and comprises the steps of exhibiting product information to allow one of the consumers to select the product; generating a transaction page and a sign-in page according to the selected product to trade, and the sign-in page being provided for the users to sign in directly or push a post to recommend other users to sign in; using the sign-in action to change a transaction price of the product, such that the consumer can end the sign-in action according to the current transaction price or product information provided by the system automatically, and finally allow the consumer to close the transaction and make a payment for the product to be traded. In addition, a network transaction system is also introduced. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284104 | USER CUSTOMIZABLE REAL-TIME ONLINE MERCHANT EVENT PLATFORM UTILIZING PRICE VARIATIONS AND ASSOCIATED METHOD FOR INCREASING WEB SITE VISIBILITY - A user customizable, real-time, online merchant event platform utilizes price variations through at least one sales event for increasing website visibility. The platform includes a user interface configured to input: sale item identification, sale event duration for each sale item, a sale item price range, and a frequency distribution identifying the relationship of the price range and the associated sale items and the duration of the associated sales event. The merchant event platform generates a frequency distribution database utilizing the frequency distribution to identify the price of each sale item during the sales event. The merchant event platform includes at least one online web page displaying select sale item indicia, a price range for the sales items, a current price for an associated sale item, purchasing indicia for a sale item configured to facilitate consumer purchase of the associated sale item, and user related advertising indicia. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284105 | APPARATUSES, METHODS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS ENABLING ASSOCIATION OF RELATED PRODUCT DATA AND EXECUTION OF TRANSACTION - Upon receiving a request for an object of interest, a client device can automatically: (a) display the combination of a retailer, the selection of a payment account, any qualifying offers, and any qualifying rewards which can yield the lowest net price; and/or (b) execute a purchase of the object of interest using the selected payment account and redeeming the qualifying offers and/or rewards. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284106 | Systems and Methods for Enhanced Information Visualization - In accordance with the present invention, an information management application that provides users with the ability to create and customize matrix displays of information relating to a particular product or service for navigation by other users is provided. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284107 | DIGITAL COUPON CLEARINGHOUSE - A coupon distributor receives, from coupon provider(s), data describing coupon offer(s). The coupon distributor operates a server that causes approved source(s) to generate coupons for the offer(s). The server receives, over a network, from a retailer, coupon redemption data indicating that the retailer accepted a particular coupon. In response, the server determines whether the particular coupon was generated by an approved source and that the particular coupon was accepted in a manner consistent with the offer amount and terms. The server further determines whether the server has previously caused any retailer to be compensated for accepting the particular coupon. In response to positive determinations, the server marks the particular coupon as redeemed and further causes the retailer to be credited for the particular coupon. In an embodiment, a retail server causes a digital coupon to be generated for an offer during the same transaction in which the coupon is used. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284108 | LOYALTY PROGRAM SYSTEMS AND METHODS - A method and system manage loyalty program data and rewards. In some embodiments, the method accesses data associated with a social network and identifies an activity associated with the social network performed by a user. The method determines that the identified activity is associated with a loyalty program reward offered by a loyalty program. A reward is associated with the user based on the identified activity being associated with the loyalty program reward. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284109 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONIC EXCHANGE OF REWARD POINTS - A system and method for operating a reward points accumulation and redemption program wherein a user earns rewards from a plurality of independent reward issuing entities, with each tracking the user's earned rewards. A trading server accumulates some or all of the user's earned rewards from the reward servers and credits the accumulated points rewards into a single reward exchange account associated with the user. The user may then select an item for purchase with the accumulated rewards. The item is provided to the user in exchange for a subset or all of the rewards. Reward points may also be redeemed in exchange for services, such as the playing of a video game or Internet access. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284110 | METHOD AND COMPUTER MEDIUM FOR FACILITATING A BUYER-INITIATED FEATURE WITHIN A BUSINESS TRANSACTION - A system and method for conducting electronic business between buyers and sellers is provided. The system and method disclose a means for at least one buyer to request and receive online bids from one or more sellers of a particular product according to a price curve or price schedule. A price schedule or curve for a product defining a product's unit price as a function of the volume of product ordered. Upon receipt of a plurality of bids from sellers, a buyer can then select a seller-supplier based at least in part on the price schedule. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284111 | MULTI-METRIC TRENDING STORYBOARD - A graphical user interface for displaying internet advertising metrics and comparisons of internet advertising metrics is provided. The graphical user interface comprises a trending display area that displays a plurality of trending graphs in the same viewable area. Each trending graph displays a different internet advertising metric and is configured to display a plurality of internet advertising trending comparisons. As well, a detail display area displays a detail view of at least one of the trending graphs. The detail view is in the same viewable area as the plurality of trending graphs. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284112 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SOCIAL NETWORK AND LOCATION BASED ADVOCACY WITH NEUROLOGICAL FEEDBACK - Example methods, systems and tangible machine readable instructions for social network and location based advocacy with neurological feedback are disclosed. An example the method includes detecting a location of a consumer and identifying an advocate in a social network of the consumer. The advocate being a person connected with the consumer in the social network. The example method also includes selecting advocacy material based on the location and the advocate. In addition, the example method includes obtaining neuro-response data from the consumer while or after the consumer is exposed to the advocacy material and determining an effectiveness of the advocacy material based on the neuro-response data. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284113 | System and Method for Providing Competitive Pricing for Automobiles - The invention provides information to the potential customer about the vehicle for sale, including information relating to other similar vehicles for sale in a particular geographical area that can be accessed at the point of sale, or by the customer at a later time and place. The party offering the product for sale is informed each time the customer accesses the information, thereby indicating the level of interest by the customer. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284114 | OPTIMIZED DISPLAY OF AD LANDING PAGE - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including a computer program product for optimizing the display of landing pages in restrictive display environments are provided. A determined area or region of the landing page is identified. Upon receiving a request for content items to be presented on a device, a plurality of content items are identified for presentation on the device, each of the content items having an associated landing page destination address. If the requesting device is a restricted display device, a hash tag is appended to each of the associated destination addresses, each hash tag corresponding to a predefined section of an associated landing page. The plurality of identified content items are transmitted to the requesting device for presentation. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284115 | System and Method for Transferring Funds to Recipients of Electronic Messages - Funds are transferred via electronic messaging systems and methods, including a mobile electronic device (MED). Exemplary applications include: delivering a targeted advertisement to a MED based on location or proximity, charging receipt charges for telephone calls, using a MED to pay for goods at a retail outlet, and security techniques for preventing unauthorized financial transactions from a MED. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284116 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INCENTIVIZED NETWORK ADVERTISING AND DATA AGGREGATION - The embodiments of the present invention generally relate to systems, methods, and computer program products for incentivized network advertising and data aggregation. One embodiment, for example, provides a network advertising program that rewards consumer participation. In one aspect, the consumer can select topics for the advertisements that are provided to—and that generate rewards for—the consumer. Another embodiment provides methods for aggregating transactional data associated with consumer products, wherein rewards are provided based on advertisements presented to the consumer in view of provided sales transaction data. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284117 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ADVERTISING - A method, system, computer program product, server processing system and advertising processing system for providing an advertising service. In one aspect the method includes including, in a server processing system, steps of: publishing an advertisement, the advertisement being generated based upon advertising information received, by the server processing system, from an advertiser; forwarding, to the advertiser, a plurality of responses from a respective plurality of responders; receiving from the advertiser, shortlist data indicative of a portion of the responders which the advertiser shortlisted; and awarding the responders who have been shortlisted. In other aspects, there is provided a method, server processing system, system and computer readable medium for enabling a searching party to conduct a search and shortlist advertising parties returned in search results, wherein the shortlisted advertising parties are rewarded accordingly. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284118 | USING COLLECTIVE DATA FOR TARGETING OF ADVERTISEMENTS - A method, system, and medium are provided for targeting advertisements to users of a search engine based on collective data and the geographic location of the user. Collective data comprising any non-user-specific data, such as public and/or private statistical data for a population of users and for a geographic area is employed to identify geographic areas to which to provide advertisements. Advertisers select target criteria that indicate characteristics of a population of users or of a geographic area that are desirable for provision of the advertisement. A geographic granularity or geographic subdivision is specified. Geographic areas of the specified granularity are identified that are associated with collective data that meets the target criteria. As such, the advertisement is provided for presentation to a user that executes a search query from an identified geographic area. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284119 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTING WEB PAGES ON WHICH TO PLACE DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENTS - A system and method is described herein that assists a user with selecting a Web page on which to place a display advertisement. The user, such as an advertiser, is provided with user interface elements that allow the user to selectively obtain statistical information on Web page categories as well as on Web pages in selected Web page categories. The user can also select perform key word searches to search for content of Web pages in the selected Web page categories. As a result, the user is provided with user interface elements that give him or her control over selection of Web pages where the display ads are placed. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284120 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TARGETING TRANSACTION ACCOUNT PRODUCT HOLDERS TO RECEIVE UPGRADED TRANSACTION ACCOUNT PRODUCTS - Utilization of information in a closed loop data system further augments modeling while at the same time enabling customization of offers based on spend patterns. Data mining techniques are leveraged to identify rules to determine higher response rate populations. These rules are referred to herein as “triggers,” in that the presence of particular attributes will trigger a cardholder as being more likely to respond to a particular offer. The benefit yielded by this approach is a greater acceptance rate to an offer provided by a transactional account company. To identify the triggers, records of cardmembers who already utilize a given product are analyzed to determine their spend patterns. The spend histories of customers who are eligible to use the product are analyzed according to the identified triggers. Customers whose spend patterns most closely correspond to the triggers are then targeted with offers for the given product. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284121 | Credit Card with E-paper Display for Advertisement and with Purchase History Stored on Card - A novel credit or charging card is disclosed. According to one implementation, the card comprises an e-paper type of display on at least one of two surfaces of the card. An advertising message may be displayed. The advertising message may be replaced by a new one when the card is connected to a card reader. The advertising message may be selected based upon a data file stored in a storage unit of the card. The data file includes a purchase history of the user using the card. According to one embodiment of the invention, the card and the reader are coupled through an optical power transfer module and an optical communication module. Operations of the card are powered by optical energy transmitted from the card reader. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284122 | Smartphone-Based Methods and Systems - Arrangements involving portable devices (e.g., smartphones and tablet computers) are disclosed. One arrangement enables a content creator to select software with which that creator's content should be rendered—assuring continuity between artistic intention and delivery. Another utilizes a device camera to identify nearby subjects, and take actions based thereon. Others rely on near field chip (RFID) identification of objects, or on identification of audio streams (e.g., music, voice). Some technologies concern improvements to the user interfaces associated with such devices. Others involve use of these devices in connection with shopping, text entry, sign language interpretation, and vision-based discovery. Still other improvements are architectural in nature, e.g., relating to evidence-based state machines, and blackboard systems. Yet other technologies concern use of linked data in portable devices—some of which exploit GPU capabilities. Still other technologies concern computational photography. A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284123 | Method of Producing and Distributing Copyrighted Content - The present disclosure teaches methods for producing and distributing content through a network in a way that is practicable and economical for both the owners of the content and the delivery service providers. The present disclosure teaches methods of using content to drive multiple revenue streams from a website that distributes such content. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284124 | BUILDING ENERGY PERFORMANCE/IMPROVEMENTS - A building energy improvement system and method for electronically collecting building energy profile data and auditing the building energy profile data to identify at least one building improvement to enhance building energy performance. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284125 | INTEGRATED QUALIFICATION AND MONITORING FOR CUSTOMER PROMOTIONS - A device receives, from a user device, a request for qualified offers for a particular customer, and retrieves, based on the request, profile information associated with the particular customer. The device generates a call to a backend database based on the profile information, and receives, from the backend database, offer qualification indicators based on the call. The device determines qualified offers based on the offer qualification indicators, and provides the qualified offers to the user device for display. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284126 | SYSTEM FOR SELECTIVELY COMMUNICATING PROMOTIONAL INFORMATION TO A PERSON - A system for selectively communicating promotional information to a person, includes a sensing system, a storage device, a controller, and a projection device. The sensing system measures a detectable feature associated with the person sensed by the sensing system and the storage device stores a plurality of promotional segments. The controller uses the measured detectable feature associated with the person for selecting one of the stored promotional segments and causing the projection device to project to the person at the predetermined location the selected promotional segment. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284127 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TARGETED CONTENT PLACEMENT - A system for delivering targeted content to a device includes a database and a processor. The database stores anonymous identifications for a plurality of customers of at least one financial institution. Each anonymous identification is associated with financial information for a respective customer of the at least one financial institution. The processor includes software that is configured to classify consumers, create a targeted list of content viewers, and deliver a targeted advertisement over a network to a device used by a content viewer on the targeted list. The classifications can be based on the financial information associated with each anonymous identification. The target list of content viewers can be based on at least one selected classification. The advertisement can be delivered to a device used by a content viewer on the targeted list after the device has been used to log onto an application offered by the at least one financial institution. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284128 | ORDER-INDEPENDENT APPROXIMATION FOR ORDER-DEPENDENT LOGIC IN DISPLAY ADVERTISING - Methods, systems, and apparatuses for forecasting pricing for an advertisement campaign that covers a set of impressions. A dynamic cost per mille (dCPM) value is defined for the campaign. An effective bid price is determined for each of the impressions to generate a plurality of effective bid prices. A parametric distribution is determined based on the plurality of effective bid prices. A mean and a variance are determined for the determined parametric distribution. Bids for the impressions are determined based on the effective bid prices and a participation probability function. The bids are determined in a manner that is independent of an order in which the bids are processed. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284129 | SYSTEM AND METHOD TO ENABLE A CUSTOMER TO SELECT A WINE BASED UPON AVAILABLE INVENTORY - A method is disclosed for providing services to a patron of an establishment by providing to the patron a handheld device upon entering the establishment. The patron is identified such that the patron is associated with the handheld device provided thereto and the operation thereof. The patron is presented with available services of the establishment and, in association with the available services, parameterized information from a database is presented to the patron relating to prior actual experiences with at least one of the services as rated by the patron, which rating defines how the patron viewed the services at the time of such providing. The patron selects from the provided information one or more of the available services. As part of the parameterized information, prior selected and not yet rated services are also presented. The patron rates the prior selected and not yet rated services and the database is updated. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284130 | BARCODE CHECKOUT AT POINT OF SALE - A consumer at a merchant store can scan, with a user mobile device, a barcode generated by the merchant to make a payment. The information contained in the barcode include a merchant identifier, a total amount, and information about the items purchased. A payment provider processes the information received from the user device and notifies the merchant if the payment is approved. A digital receipt may be generated and stored for future use. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284131 | MOBILE COMMERCE SYSTEM - A mobile commerce system including a multiplicity of Mobile Device—Point of Sale Communication (MPC)-equipped mobile devices, a plurality of MPC-enabled Point-of-Sale (POS) devices, at least one POS configuration server for configuring the plurality of MPC-enabled POS devices, at least one MPC-equipped mobile device configuration server for configuring the plurality of MPC-equipped mobile devices and at least one mobile marketing platform server operative to introduce Transaction Value Certificate (TVC)-related functions and to communicate both with the at least one POS configuration server and the at least one MPC-equipped mobile device configuration server to coordinate operation thereof so that the MPC-enabled POS devices will be “tap-ready” for carrying out the TVC-related functions. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284132 | DISPLAY DEVICE ATTACHABLE TO SHOPPING CARTS, SHOPPING CART, AND DIGITAL SIGNAGE DISPLAY - A display device attachable to a shopping cart, and including a communication module configured to receive information on a specific product from a digital device displaying at least one or more products; a code reader configured to read code information attached to a random product selected from the at least one or more products; a display module; and a controller configured to compare the code information of a product recognized by the code reader with the received information on the specific product, and to control the display module to either display a guide message that the compared code information and the received information are identical or a guide message indicating the compared code information and the received information are not identical. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284133 | System and Method for Generating Enhanced Receipts - A system that generates, and a method for generating, a receipt containing print indicative of transaction information, and also marketing or graphical information that is generated independently of the system software and the transaction data. The marketing or graphical information may be generated in a number of different ways including sequentially, randomly, statistically or manually, one of which is set as the processing mode. A printer driver includes functional components for processing the transaction data, generating a command for printing one or more coupons within a set according to the set processing mode, and sending the command along with associated print data for printing the coupon(s). | 2012-11-08 |
20120284134 | DIGITAL CONTENT HUB - There are provided methods and systems to retrieve search result information and digital content. The system receives input information identifying a plurality of data sources from which to retrieve digital content. Next the system retrieves search result information, over the network, from the plurality of data sources based on the input information. Next the system retrieves the digital content, over the network, from at least one of the data sources based on the search result information. Finally, the system communicates digital content to a client machine. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284135 | PROXIMITY BASED ONLINE MARKETPLACE - A online marketplace that can connect nearby buyers and sellers in a time-sensitive and efficient manner. The system can enable users who want something to connect with nearby users who can provide that something by utilizing automatically detected location data from the users' computing devices. The system can allow both buyers and sellers to post listings, and can also allow listings to define multiple quantities of an item or service and allow multiple offers to be made and accepted on such listings via an auction mechanism. The system can improve the efficiency with which buyers and sellers can quickly find each other by not allowing users to submit offers on listings with price changes that degrade the listing. The system can also improve the efficiency with which buyers and sellers complete their transaction by facilitating a peer-to-peer payment process with dispute resolution controls. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284136 | Bidding on a Plurality of Products or Services with Contingencies - Bidding on a plurality of items with contingencies. Input may be received from a buyer over a wide area network. The input may specify a plurality of offers for purchase of a respective plurality of items and the offers may be included in a collection of offers. One or more contingencies may be associated with the collection of offers, e.g., in response to user input. The one or more contingencies may specify cancellation of one or more of the plurality of offers within the collection of offers. Input may be received from a seller over the wide area network, specifying an acceptance of a first offer of the plurality of offers in the collection of offers. At least one of the plurality of offers within the collection of offers may be automatically canceled based on the one or more contingencies and possibly the acceptance of the first offer. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284137 | Method and System for Reducing Short-Term Participation in Auctions - An online auction system comprises a host system. The host system comprises at least one processor capable of executing processor executable code, at least one non-transient memory capable of communicating with the at least one processor and storing processor executable code comprising a first rank associated with a first user and a second rank associated with a second user. The processor executable code when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to access the first rank and second rank, schedule a first auction having a first rank range and a second auction having a second rank range, and present the first auction having the first rank range to the first user and the second auction having the second rank range to the second user. The first rank of the first user falls within the first rank range and the second rank of the second user falls within the second rank range. A method for scheduling online auctions comprises accessing, by a host system comprising at least one processor, processor executable code stored on a non-transient memory. The processor executable code comprises a first rank associated with a first user and a second rank associated with a second user. The host system schedules, by the at least one processor, a first auction having a first rank range and a second auction having a second rank range. The host system presents the first auction having the first rank range to the first user and the second auction having the second rank range to the second user. The first rank of the first user is identified by the first rank range and the second rank of the second user is identified by the second rank range. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284138 | COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING DISCOUNT OFFERS - A computer system includes a communications interface configured to communicate with a plurality of users via remotely located user devices. The computer system further includes processing electronics coupled to the communications interface and configured collect bids for at least one of a good, service, and discount from the plurality of user devices. The processing electronics include a bidding module configured to determine winning bids and losing bids by comparing the bids to a floor price. The bidding module is configured to determine whether the losing bids quality for re-bidding by comparing the losing bids to a first merchant-established threshold difference from the floor price. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284139 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A HOMOGENEOUS DISCRIMINATORY PRICE AUCTION WITH SECRET RESERVE - Method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium are provided for facilitating an auction of at least one item. In one example, the method includes obtaining one or more bids for the at least one item being auctioned, determining which of the one or more bids meet a secret reserve price associated with the at least one item, selecting at least one winning bid from among the one or more bids meeting the secret reserve price, and maintaining the secret reserve price and the at least one winning bid in confidence following expiration of the auction. Related apparatus and computer-readable medium are also provided. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284140 | Method for Drop Auction of an Entity, Electronic System and Computer Program Product - A method for drop auction of an entity comprises providing an electronic system for auction of an entity, and allowing a selling party to enter a definition of the entity to be auctioned and a maximum asking price into the electronic system. An asking price which drops stepwise from the maximum asking price to a minimum asking price is determined. The entity is electronically offered by informing potential buyers about the current asking price. The number, the size and/or the duration of the steps by which the asking price drops is predetermined by a manager of the electronic system. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284141 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A HYBRID CLOCK AND PROXY AUCTION - This invention defines a computer system for conducting an auction of a plurality of items including receiving bids and determining an allocation of at least one of the items, the auction including a dynamic auction phase followed by a later phase. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284142 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF AUCTIONING A DEFAULTED LOAN - A method and system for conducting an online property auction whereby the system allows for identifying an owner of property willing to sell his property by an online auction, entering into a contract with the owner obligating him to complete the sales of his property conducted pursuant to terms of the contract; pre-arranging a minimum auction price for his property that accounts for the owner's interest, plus costs and fees, conducting the on-line auction with a plurality of bidders for his property whereby at the on-line auction's conclusion there is a winning bidder and ensuring the transfer of the winning bidder's funds to the escrow holder. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284143 | PROXIMITY BASED ONLINE MARKETPLACE - A online marketplace that can connect nearby buyers and sellers in a time-sensitive and efficient manner. The system can enable users who want something to connect with nearby users who can provide that something by utilizing automatically detected location data from the users' computing devices. The system can allow both buyers and sellers to post listings, and can also allow listings to define multiple quantities of an item or service and allow multiple offers to be made and accepted on such listings via an auction mechanism. The system can improve the efficiency with which buyers and sellers can quickly find each other by not allowing users to submit offers on listings with price changes that degrade the listing. The system can also improve the efficiency with which buyers and sellers complete their transaction by facilitating a peer-to-peer payment process with dispute resolution controls. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284144 | System and Method for Evaluating Computerized Product Customization Tool and Associated Database(s) - A computer-implemented method for assessing fidelity of a product customization tool for an electronic catalog including electronic records representing a plurality of customizable products, the customizable products including a plurality of configurable option selections is described. The method includes identifying a plurality of test case grouping including one or more customizable products having defined ranges of the configurable option selection that do not affect a key output parameter for the grouping and identifying a set of test cases selected from the test case groupings, the test cases having selections associated with the configurable option selection. The method further includes evaluating the set of test cases relative to identify instances of products in the electronic catalog conforming to the selections associated with the configurable option selection and generating a report providing differences between what was expected with the number of rules and actual results of the evaluating act. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284145 | ITEM DISCOVERY TOOLS AND METHODS FOR SHOPPING IN AN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE ENVIRONMENT - A computer-implemented method includes prompting a first user to select one or more images representing merchandise items, receiving one or more image selections from the first user through the user interface, and determining a shopping preference of the first user based, at least in part, on the image selections. The shopping preference of the first user includes information about the merchandise items represented by the image selections. The method further includes identifying a second user having a shopping preference that is substantially similar to the shopping preference of the first user. The shopping preference of the second user includes information about one or more preferred merchandise items of the second user. The method further includes generating at least one shopping recommendation based on the shopping preference of the second user, and presenting the shopping recommendation to the first user. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284146 | ON-STREET PARKING METER SYSTEM SUPPORTING MULTIPLE PAYMENT TOOLS AND SIGNAL TRANSMISSION METHOD THEREOF - In an on-street parking meter system supporting multiple payment tools and signal transmission method thereof, parking meters spaced along streets are divided into multiple groups, each of which includes a main parking meter and multiple secondary parking meters, all of which are equipped with an all-in-one contactless card reader unit compatible with prepaid card, Visa Wave card and MasterCard PayPass card, and a remotely controllable pay-by-phone unit allowing a user to pay by phone. In each group, the main parking meter is provided with both long-range and short-range wireless communication units for bidirectional communication with a back-end parking charge management system and the secondary parking meters, respectively; while the secondary parking meters each are provided with only a short-ranged wireless communication unit for bidirectional communication with the main parking meter. Therefore, the parking meters have small size and reduced power consumption to enable reduced labor cost for replacing batteries thereof. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284147 | Online Payment Method and Device - In a commerce transaction between a buyer and seller that involves transfer of an item, payment is made through an independent online payment system. A seller sends a threshold amount and a payment amount to a payment server for the transaction involving the item. The payment server creates an intermediate account based on the threshold amount and the payment amount. To proceed with the transaction, a buyer transfers a fund amount to the payment server. The payment server determines whether the fund amount is not less than the threshold amount, and if so, the payment server designates the fund amount as an account balance associated with the buyer in the intermediate account. The payment server then transfers funds corresponding to the payment amount from the intermediate account to an account designated by the seller after receiving a payment request indicating the buyer's receipt of the item. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284148 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF FACILITATING ON LINE PURCHASE OF CLOTHING - A mannequin ( | 2012-11-08 |
20120284149 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR IDENTIFYING, PROVIDING NOTICE OF AND PURCHASING A GIFT IN AN ONLINE OR ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT - System and Methods are disclosed relating to the online purchase of a gift or other item. A gift recipient may purchase one or more gifts or items and receive such one or more gifts or items immediately. Thereafter, others who would seek to purchase a gift or item for the gift recipient from an online retailer or web service provider may choose to contribute to the cost of the already received gift or item and the gift recipient is reimbursed his cost for purchasing of such immediately received gift or item as the purchasers make such contributions towards the received gift or item. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284150 | INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method of inventory management includes receiving an image comprising one or more items. Next, one or more tags for the image items is received, wherein each tag corresponds with an image item. Item data corresponding to each tagged image item may then be received. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284151 | DYNAMIC PRICING ADJUSTMENT - A method for dynamically adjusting a price of an item offered for sale on a web page may be executed on at least one processor. The method may include setting a starting price as the price for the item and decrementing the price of the item by a downtick for each visit to the web page by a unique visitor until end of sales for the item. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284152 | PRODUCT PURCHASE SUPPORT APPARATUS, PRODUCT PURCHASE SUPPORT METHOD, PRODUCT PURCHASE SUPPORT PROGRAM, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM RECORDING PRODUCT PURCHASE SUPPORT PROGRAM THEREIN - There is provided a product purchase support apparatus capable of reducing a possibility that a user misses a benefit which he/she can enjoy if he/she purchases further products. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284153 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VEHICLE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT - A computerized system for vehicle management includes a database comprising information regarding vehicles in a set of vehicles and customer accounts. The information regarding the vehicles includes configuration of respective vehicles. The information regarding customer accounts includes links to vehicles in the set of vehicles owned by respective customers and status of customer accounts. The system may also include a server coupled to the database that serves user interface pages; a protected system login mechanism; logic implementing rules regarding a relationship between system users on the one hand and information regarding vehicles and customer accounts on the other hand; a search mechanism and a search results interface; and logic that serves a customer account interface, the customer account interface displaying information regarding customer accounts to the extent allowed by rules regarding the relationship between system users and information regarding vehicles and customer accounts. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284154 | Articles Of Manufacture, Education Billing Management Methods, Education Billing Management Systems, Education Enrollment Systems, And Education Enrollment Methods - Articles of manufacture, education billing management methods, education billing management systems, education enrollment systems, and education enrollment methods are described. According to one aspect, an article of manufacture includes media comprising programming which causes processing circuitry to perform processing comprising accessing expense information regarding education expenses owed to a plurality of learning providers as a result of the learning providers providing education services to a plurality of employees of a plurality of employers, for each of the employers, using the expense information, generating billing information regarding the education expenses incurred by the employees of the respective employer, communicating respective billing information to respective ones of the employers, wherein the billing information communicated to one of the employers includes the education expenses owed to at least one of the learning providers as a result of the at least one learning provider providing education services to one or more employees of the one of the employers, and determining disbursement amounts to be paid to respective ones of the learning providers, wherein one of the disbursement amounts to be paid to one of the learning providers corresponds to the education services provided by the one of the learning providers to at least one of the employees. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284155 | DATA ANALYSIS SYSTEM - A data analysis system ( | 2012-11-08 |
20120284156 | Method And System For Financing Acquisition of Vehicles - In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for financing acquisition of a vehicle is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a future interest in a vehicle in consideration for a future interest price upon transfer of a legal title in the vehicle in consideration for a legal title price. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284157 | Continuing disclosure notification system - A method and system for managing information related to fixed income securities and characteristics of investor-sought securities by users of a management and information system employing a computer system and a computer communication network. The method including the steps of entering into the computer system characteristics of a users fixed income security portfolio. CUSIP information for securities included, in the user entered fixed income security portfolio are identified. Disclosure material from EMMA using identified CUSIP information for securities included in the user entered fixed income security portfolio are retrieved and notification is provided to the user containing the retrieved disclosure material. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284158 | ZERO-LATENCY RISK-MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A zero-latency risk-management system and method useful in, for example, sponsored market access or in-house trades. The zero-latency risk-management system comprises an out-of-band risk monitor computer and a kill-switch. The kill-switch is in-line between order receipt and trade placement, but the out-of-band risk monitor computer operates in parallel with the order processing, thus eliminating latency in the trade. The out-of-band risk computer monitors orders as they flow through the system and updates any risk metrics based on those orders. Kill-switch threshold levels may be set in the risk computer to be, for example, the desired level of risk, minus the maximum amount of risk that a subsequent new order could incur. If the risk computer determines that an order has breached this kill-switch threshold, it activates the kill-switch to prevent additional order entry that could breach the actual threshold. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284159 | FINANCIAL TRADING SYSTEM AND METHOD UTILIZING HOTKEY SUBSCRIPTIONS - A system for managing hotkey subscriptions includes one or more controllers adapted to run two or more software applications, including a trading software application, wherein the trading software application includes one or more functions associated with a respective one or more hotkeys and further wherein the one or more controllers are configured to inform the trading software application when any of the hotkeys are triggered anytime the trading software application is running. A method for managing hotkey subscriptions includes the steps of: concurrently running two or more software applications, including a first trading software application including one or more functions associated with a respective one or more hotkeys; and informing the first trading software application when any of the hotkeys are triggered, anytime the trading software application is running. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284160 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING VOLUME-WEIGHTED AVERAGE PRICE AUCTION TRADING - Systems and methods for providing traders with an opportunity to trade on the VWAP price are provided. After a trader enters a VWAP auction session, the trader has a predetermined about of time (i.e., the length of the VWAP auction period) to place bids and/or offers on an item. When the VWAP auction period ends, the electronic trading application matches the VWAP orders. The VWAP orders that are not matched are cancelled. The electronic trading application collects trading information (e.g., price, size, etc.) corresponding to the received orders. The collected information is processed to determine the VWAP price. The VWAP price is presented to the trader and the matched VWAP orders are filled based on the determined VWAP price. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284161 | Fuel Offering and Purchase Management System - The present disclosure is directed to facilitating pricing, sales and delivery of a commodity. In one embodiment, a Fuel Offer Generator facilitates the purchase and management of fuel offerings. The Fuel Offer Generator allows Customers interested in securing fuel to obtain an offer for fuel at lock-in prices for various tenors. Fuel Customers may later exercise the fuel offers so their fuel costs are locked-in at desired levels. The Fuel Offer Generator may generate hedges to counteract fuel related risks stemming from fuel offer purchases. Ultimately, a customer that purchases a fuel offering can exercise their fuel offering order at a specified price and redeem any difference between the market price for their purchased fuel and the price specified in their fuel offering order. The Fuel Offer Generator employs a redemption condition based on a retail fuel pump price metric to establish the pricing of fuel offerings. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284162 | Fuel Offering and Purchase Management System - The present disclosure is directed towards apparatuses, systems and methods to facilitate the pricing, sales and delivery of a commodity fuel to a Customer. In one embodiment, the disclosure teaches a Fuel Offer Generator that facilitates the purchase and management of fuel offerings. The Fuel Offer Generator allows Customers interested in securing fuel to obtain an offer for fuel at lock-in prices for various tenors. Fuel Customers can buy these fuel offers such that they may later exercise the fuel offers so their fuel costs are locked-in at desired levels (e.g., they may be set to strike prices). The Fuel Offer Generator also can establish a Premium Price that will be part of the fuel offer. The Fuel Offer Generator may generate hedges to counteract fuel related risks stemming from fuel offer purchases. Ultimately, a customer that purchases a fuel offering can exercise their fuel offering order at a specified price and redeem any difference between the market price for their purchased fuel and the price specified in their fuel offering order. The Fuel Offer Generator employs a geographical fuel pump location metric as well as consumer purchasing behavior to establish the pricing of fuel offerings. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284163 | CUSTOMIZABLE TRADING DISPLAY OF MARKET DATA - A method for providing a customizable trading display of market instrument data includes selecting a subset from a plurality of quadrants, each quadrant associated with one benchmark instrument and at least one non-benchmark instrument, each non-benchmark instrument associated with the benchmark instrument. Market data is automatically retrieved for the instruments associated with each selected quadrant. The customizable trading display is then generated with the display comprising the subset of quadrants and each quadrant including the associated market data. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284164 | Method of buying or selling items and a user interface to facilitate the same - The method includes the steps of, under control of a client system, displaying information identifying at least one item and a bid and/or ask price for the item in the market; and specifying transaction conditions based on a user directed position of a moveable icon, where the transaction conditions are related to the buying or selling of the identified item in the active market. Then, in response to an action of the user sending a user transaction request at the transaction conditions displayed at the time of said action, facilitating financial transactions for the user in accordance with the transaction conditions to complete the transaction. In this manner, the item may be bought or sold by the user at the transaction conditions specified. A user interface to facilitate this method is also disclosed. A quantity recommendation system to facilitate the quantity decision of a financial transaction is further disclosed. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284165 | METHOD FOR REMOVING CARBON DIOXIDE FROM OCEAN WATER AND QUANTIFYING THE CARBON DIOXIDE SO REMOVED - Disclosed herein are methods and systems for removing carbon dioxide (CO | 2012-11-08 |
20120284166 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ENABLING TRADING OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS - A method of trading a foreign currency option on an electronic trading system may include executing a trade of the foreign currency option between a buyer and a setter, locking the trading system with respect to the traded foreign currency option, querying the buyer whether the buyer desires to buy or sell additional volume of the option, querying the seller whether the seller desires to sell or hay additional volume of the option, and authorizing additional participants to join the trade and querying the additional participants whether each of the additional participants desires to buy or sell a volume of the option. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284167 | Performance Testing Tool for Financial Applications - The present invention provides a n-tier architecture for a performance based testing tool and an associated method for trading and financial applications. The performance benchmarking tool of the present invention is configured to create multiple load generating clients, monitor and control it through a single agent process. The invention determines latencies of individual subsystems by subscribing to ticker plants and allows for online monitoring of latencies and controlling of multiple clients based on predefined message types. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284168 | Implied Order Quality - Certain embodiments of the present inventions provide implied order quality. The quality may be viewed as an indication of how much an implied order and/or an aggregate quality for implied orders may be relied upon. Certain embodiments utilize various techniques for determining a quality for an implied order. Certain embodiments utilize various techniques for determining an aggregate quality for implied orders. Certain embodiments provide an indicator of the quality for an implied order and/or of the aggregate quality for implied orders. Certain embodiments filter an implied order based on a determined quality value and/or determined aggregate quality. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284169 | Foreign Currency Index - Systems and methods are provided for trading and calculating the composition of foreign currencies indexed financial instruments. The compositions of the financial instruments are determined by calculating a geometric average of the exchange rates of foreign currencies with corresponding competitive weights. The competitive weights for each of the foreign currencies reflects competition between the goods of the United States and a country corresponding to the foreign currency in the markets of third countries. | 2012-11-08 |
20120284170 | System And Method For Aggressively Trading A Strategy In An Electronic Trading Environment - System and method for aggressively trading a spread trading strategy in an electronic environment are provided herein. According to the example embodiments, a trader may configure the automated trading tool to trade as aggressively as possible by leaning on a price without an associated quantity. This allows a trader to possibly obtain a more profitable price as well as get filled faster. Traders submit an order for a spread and the automated trading tool calculates the quote order price based on a defined level of aggressiveness, the leaned on price, and the desired spread price. Based on the level of defined aggressiveness and the gap in the market, the automated trading tool may lean on a mildly, moderately, or extremely aggressive price. | 2012-11-08 |