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U.S. Patents Awarded to Inventors in California (Feb. 20)(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Targeted News Service Targeted News Service ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- The following federal patents were awarded to inventors in California. *** NEC Laboratories America Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- NEC Laboratories America, Princeton, N.J., has been assigned a patent (8,380,738) developed by six co-inventors for a "system and methods for database distribution and querying over key-based scalable storage." The co-inventors are Junichi Tatemura, Sunnyvale, Calif., Arsany Sawires, San Jose, Calif., Hyun Jin Moon, Newark, Calif., Oliver Po, San Jose, Calif., Wang Pin Hsiung, Santa Clara, Calif., and V. Hakan Hacigumus, San Jose, Calif. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system includes one or more application nodes sending SQL queries to one or more query execution nodes. Each query execution node translates the SQL queries into key-based requests to the storage engine, which comprises one or more storage nodes. The system provides an abstraction layer with an external schema and an internal schema, maps the external schema into the internal schema; and generates one or more microshards for the storage node." The patent application was filed on Dec. 20, 2009 (12/642,812). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,738.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,738&RS=PN/83,80,738 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Amazon Technologies Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Amazon Technologies, Reno, Nev., has been assigned a patent (8,380,728) developed by Udi Manber, Los Altos Hills, Calif., Hilliard B. Siegel, Seattle, and Charles Gordon, Seattle, for a "personalized searchable library with highlighting capabilities." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system and method for electronically searching a personalized library of content includes, in at least one embodiment, receiving one or more search terms and electronically searching a text searchable database to produce search results. After receiving a search result selection, a page image in a page image database corresponding to the search result selection is identified. A substitute image of the identified page image is prepared, wherein a portion of the content in the identified page image is suppressed in the substitute image. The substitute image is then provided for computer display, wherein the one or more search terms in the substitute image are highlighted when the substitute image is displayed. The substitute image appears substantially the same as the identified page image except for the portion that is suppressed. Information identifying the location of the search terms in the substitute image may be provided for highlighting." The patent application was filed on Jan. 14, 2009 (12/353,921). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,728.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,728&RS=PN/83,80,728 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Cisco Technology Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Cisco Technology, San Jose, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,733) developed by four co-inventors for "methods and apparatuses for dynamically displaying search suggestions." The co-inventors are Wilson Chu, San Lorenzo, Calif., Elena Vitorino, San Jose, Calif., Jimmy Huang, San Jose, Calif., and Richard Iijima, Fremont, Calif. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "In one embodiment, an original search input entered by a user is detected. An excluded term is deleted from the original search input to create a modified search input. The modified search input is matched against a plurality of stored terms. In response to there being a match between the modified search input and one or more of the plurality of stored terms, a suggestion of a search term to replace the original search input is displayed, based on the match between the modified search input and one or more stored terms. In response to there not being a match between the modified search input and one or more of the plurality of stored terms, a suggestion of a search term to replace the original search input is displayed, based on a match between the original search input and one or more of the plurality of stored terms." The patent application was filed on Oct. 19, 2010 (12/907,726). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,733.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,733&RS=PN/83,80,733 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** ReFrame-It Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- ReFrame-It, Stanford, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,732) developed by Robert Edward Fisher Fishkin, Stanford, Calif., and Benjamin Ethan Taitelbaum, Charlottesville, Va., for a "systematic process for creating large numbers of relevant, contextual marginal comments based on existing discussions of quotations and links." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system for searching digital works for comments includes search software capable of searching web pages for comments about a referenced work. In one embodiment, the software searches a web page for delimiters such as quotes that are in proximity to a link to another web page. The software stores any comments in proximity to the quoted content for use in a comment display system where it may be displayed as comment marginalia." The patent application was filed on April 13, 2011 (13/086,103). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,732.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,732&RS=PN/83,80,732 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Netseer Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Netseer, Santa Clara, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,721) developed by Behnam Attaran Rezaei, Los Angeles, and Alice Hwei-Yuan Meng Muntz, Pacific Palisades, Calif., for a "system and method for context-based knowledge search, tagging, collaboration, management, and advertisement." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Comprehensive methods and systems are described for creating, managing, searching, personalizing, and monetizing a knowledge system defined over a corpus of digital content. Systems and methods are described in which a user can initiate in-depth searches of subject matter and can browse, navigate, pinpoint, and select relevant contexts, concepts, and documents to gain knowledge. Systems and methods are described in which knowledge can be personalized through tagged, personalized context, and personalized context can be shared within social and professional networks, securely and confidentially and with the desired access control. Systems and methods are described in which products and services can be advertised in context and advertising can be selected through a bidding process. Systems and methods are described by which a user can navigate contexts and concepts to obtain relevant information, products and services." The patent application was filed on Jan. 18, 2007 (11/624,674). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,721.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,721&RS=PN/83,80,721 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Google Assigned Patent for Social Network User Data Advertising ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,691) developed by Tomasz J. Tunguz-Zawislak, San Francisco, for "social network user data advertising." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Data is received from a social networking system, the data including user data and performance data associated with one or more user pages in the social networking system. A query is received specifying desired user data and performance data. A performance group is generated including user data and performance data of user pages responsive to the query." The patent application was filed on Jan. 4, 2008 (11/969,453). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,691.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,691&RS=PN/83,80,691 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** eBay Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- eBay, San Jose, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,698) developed by Venkat Sundaranatha, San Jose, Calif., for "methods and systems to generate rules to identify data items." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "There is provided a method and system generate rules and identify data items. The system receives an aspect that is used to describe a data item and a request for at least one candidate value to associate with the aspect. Next, the system identifies a string of text in a database based on the aspect, analyzes the string of text based on the aspect to identify at least one candidate value in the string of text and receives a selection identifying a candidate value. Next, the system generates a rule that includes the aspect-value pair that includes the aspect and the selected candidate value. Next, system associates the aspect-value pair to a first data item based on a publication of the rule. Next, the system receives a query, associates the aspect-value pair to the query, based on the rule, generates a second query that includes the aspect-value pair and identifies the first data item based on the aspect-value pair in the second query for an interface that includes the first data item." The patent application was filed on Feb. 7, 2007 (11/703,509). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,698.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,698&RS=PN/83,80,698 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Elance Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Elance, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,709) developed by Jonathan Paul Diller, Soquel, Calif., Sunny SunMin Song, Los Altos, Calif., and Harish Bal Kotbagi, Foster City, Calif., for a "method and system for ranking users." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method of and system for ranking users by reputation enables better searching for a service provider. Service providers are also forced to conform to reputation requirements since they are published. The reputation requirements include reviews, earnings, duration on a site, recent visits and other components that are able to establish a user's reputation. The components are also weighted so that more important factors count more towards a user's reputation. By combining a search score and a reputation score, a total score is determined which is used to generate a list of results ordered based on the total score." The patent application was filed on Oct. 14, 2008 (12/287,994). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,709.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,709&RS=PN/83,80,709 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Method and Apparatus for Data Compression ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,380,688) developed by Daniel F. Gruhl, San Jose, Calif., Jan H. Pieper, San Jose, Calif., and Mark A. Smith, Los Gatos, Calif., for a "method and apparatus for data compression." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method, system, and article for compressing an input stream of uncompressed data. The input stream is divided into one or more data segments. A hash is applied to a first data segment, and an offset and length are associated with this first segment. This hash, together with the offset and length data for the first segment, is stored in a hash table. Thereafter, a subsequent segment within the input stream is evaluated and compared with all other hash entries in the hash table, and a reference is written to a prior hash for an identified duplicate segment. The reference includes a new offset location for the subsequent segment. Similarly, a new hash is applied to an identified non-duplicate segment, with the new hash and its corresponding offset stored in the hash table. A compressed output stream of data is created from the hash table retained on storage media." The patent application was filed on Nov. 6, 2009 (12/613,597). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,688.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,688&RS=PN/83,80,688 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Google Assigned Patent for Method and System for Efficiently Replicating Data in Non-relational Databases ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,659) developed by Yonatan Zunger, Mountain View, Calif., for a "method and system for efficiently replicating data in non-relational databases." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method replicates data between instances of a distributed database. The method identifies at least two instances of the database at distinct geographic locations. The method tracks changes to the database by storing deltas. Each delta has a row identifier that identifies the piece of data modified, a sequence identifier that specifies the order in which the deltas are applied to the data, and an instance identifier that specifies where the delta was created. The method determines which deltas to send using an egress map that specifies which combinations of row identifier and sequence identifier have been acknowledged as received at other instances. The method builds a transmission matrix that identifies deltas that have not yet been acknowledged as received. The method then transmits deltas identified in the transmission matrix. After receiving acknowledgement that transmitted deltas have been incorporated into databases at other instances, the method updates the egress map." The patent application was filed on Feb. 9, 2010 (12/703,167). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,659.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,659&RS=PN/83,80,659 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** CitizenNet Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- CitizenNet, Beverly Hills, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,697) developed by Daniel Benyamin, Los Angeles, and Michael Aaron Hall, Valencia, Calif., for "search and retrieval methods and systems of short messages utilizing messaging context and keyword frequency." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Systems and methods of identifying and retrieving messages that satisfy a search query using the context of the message and term frequencies are provided. One embodiment includes identifying at least one category relevant to the search query, wherein a plurality of scored keywords are associated with each category, selecting at least one of the scored keywords that is relevant to an identified category, performing a plurality of searches of messages from a social networking messaging service to retrieve messages, where at least one search includes retrieving messages based on the original search query and one of the selected scored keywords, scoring the retrieved messages with respect to each of the at least one identified categories using at least the scored keywords relevant to each category, and returning at least the message with the highest score as the search result." The patent application was filed on Oct. 21, 2010 (12/909,576). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,697.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,697&RS=PN/83,80,697 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** eBay Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- eBay, San Jose, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,624) developed by Charles Dale Fletcher, San Jose, Calif., for "person-to-person payments: contextual spending." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A computerized method and a system for contextual spending in person-to-person payments are provided. In example embodiments, a payment system may receive a request from a first party for making a payment to a second party. The payment system may send a recommendation for utilization of the payment to the second party. The payment system may also request and receive from the first party an instruction related to charging a transaction fee associated with the payment." The patent application was filed on Dec. 19, 2007 (11/959,875). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,624.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,624&RS=PN/83,80,624 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Google Assigned Patent for Method and System for Aggregating Reviews and Searching within Reviews for a Product ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,694) developed by Jan Matthias Ruhl, Mountain View, Calif., and Mayur D. Datar, Santa Clara, Calif., for a "method and system for aggregating reviews and searching within reviews for a product." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "The embodiments disclosed herein include new, more efficient ways to collect product reviews from the Internet, aggregate reviews for the same product, and provide an aggregated review to end users in a searchable format. One aspect of the invention is a graphical user interface on a computer that includes a plurality of portions of reviews for a product and a search input area for entering search terms to search for reviews of the product that contain the search terms." The patent application was filed on Feb. 28, 2012 (13/407,650). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,694.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,694&RS=PN/83,80,694 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Harris Intellectual Property Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Harris Intellectual Property, Sonora, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,628) developed by David N. Harris, Sonora, Calif., for a "system and method for verifying commercial transactions." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system and method is disclosed for verifying a commercial transaction between a card-holder, a merchant, and a credit card company. The card-holder makes a purchase with the merchant using a full credit card number. The merchant submits a transaction approval request for approval with the credit card company. The credit card company executes conventional credit approval of the transaction approval request, as well as verifies the transaction approval request with the card-holder. An approval is sent to the merchant only after the transaction approval request is both conventionally approved by the credit card company and verified by the card-holder. The card-holder, or the credit card company, may initiate verification of the transaction approval request." The patent application was filed on July 17, 2000 (09/617,361). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,628.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,628&RS=PN/83,80,628 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Intercomputer Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Intercomputer, Fullerton, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,622) developed by five co-inventors for a "secure electronic payment messaging system with reconcilable finality." The co-inventors are Martin B. Bushman, Fullerton, Calif., Scott M. Volmar, Fullerton, Calif., Richard A. Lee, Alpharetta, Ga., Jean-Yves Gresser, Paris, and John D. R. Spain, Anniston, Ala. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A transfer network system for providing communications between commercial buyers and suppliers and their respective banks is provided. Client systems in communication with the transfer network system operate under a secure legal and technical regime in order to provide an architecture that supports the exchange of messages to conduct commerce. This commerce may include instructions related to the transfer of funds directly from an account of the buyer to the supplier. Because of the secure legal and technical framework, this financial transaction can be conducted in real-time and finalized in real-time without the need for delay or the use of clearinghouse to settle the transaction." The patent application was filed on Jan. 16, 2009 (12/355,695). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,622.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,622&RS=PN/83,80,622 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Hierarchical Ranking of Facial Attributes ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,380,711) developed by four co-inventors for "hierarchical ranking of facial attributes." The co-inventors are Ankur Datta, White Plains, N.Y., Rogerio S. Feris, White Plains, N.Y., Sharathchandra U. Pankanti, Darien, Conn., and Daniel A. Vaquero, Santa Barbara, Calif. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "In response to a query of discernible facial attributes, the locations of distinct and different facial regions are estimated from face image data, each relevant to different attributes. Different features are extracted from the estimated facial regions from database facial images, which are ranked in base layer rankings by matching feature vectors in a bipartite graph to a base layer ranking sequence as a function of edge weights parameterized by an associated base layer parameter vector. Second-layer rankings define second-layer attribute vectors as bilinear combinations of the base-layer feature vectors and associated base layer parameter vectors for common attributes, which are matched in a bipartite graph to a second-layer ranking sequence as a function of edge weights parameterized by associated second-layer parameter vectors. The images are thus ranked for relevance to the query as a function of fusing the second-layer rankings." The patent application was filed on March 10, 2011 (13/045,092). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,711.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,711&RS=PN/83,80,711 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Google Assigned Patent for Session-based Dynamic Search Snippets ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,707) developed by Ashutosh Garg, Sunnyvale, Calif., and Kedar Dhamdhere, Sunnyvale, Calif., for "session-based dynamic search snippets." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A first set of search results responsive to a first query during a search session is identified. A snippet is identified for each search result related to the first query. The snippet can be selected based on the location the search tokens from the query in the search result. A second set of search results responsive to a second query during a search session is identified. Repetitive search results can be identified. A second snippet for the repetitive search result is identified. The second snippet can be selected based on the location of the second search tokens in the repetitive search result and the content of the first snippet." The patent application was filed on July 11, 2011 (13/180,117). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,707.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,707&RS=PN/83,80,707 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Apple Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Apple, Cupertino, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,669) developed by Karl Martin Groethe, San Francisco, and Andrew Trevor Belk, Menlo Park, Calif., for "throttling to reduce synchronizations of excessively changing data." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Embodiments of the invention determine if a user preference or other piece of data is being synchronized too frequently. If the user preference is being synchronized too frequently, synchronization of the user preference is throttled to prevent it from synchronizing for some number of synchronization cycles. If the user preference rarely changes, the user preference is rewarded by throttling it less often." The patent application was filed on June 5, 2009 (12/479,663). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,669.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,669&RS=PN/83,80,669 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Hewlett-Packard Development Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Hewlett-Packard Development, Houston, has been assigned a patent (8,380,699) developed by Awny K. Al-Omari, Cedar Park, Texas, Hansjorg Zeller, Los Altos, Calif., and Tom C. Reyes, Austin, Texas, for a "system and method for optimizing queries." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "There is provided a computer-implemented method of optimizing a query. An exemplary method comprises determining a maximum cardinality for an operator. The query may comprise the operator. The exemplary method also comprises determining a plurality of potential implementations for the operator. The exemplary method additionally comprises generating a query plan for the query based on the maximum cardinality and the potential implementations." The patent application was filed on Sept. 4, 2009 (12/554,254). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,699.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,699&RS=PN/83,80,699 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Visa USA Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Visa USA, San Francisco, has been assigned a patent (8,380,629) developed by Mark Carlson, Half Moon Bay, Calif., and Patrick Faith, Pleasanton, Calif., for "seeding challenges for payment transactions." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Systems, methods, and apparatus are provided for authenticating a consumer using challenge questions. A response to a challenge question is verified via seeding the challenge question, receiving response, and deductively determining the answer. The verified response and challenge question may then be used to authenticate a consumer as part of an authorization process." The patent application was filed on June 16, 2008 (12/140,215). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,629.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,629&RS=PN/83,80,629 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Google Assigned Patent for Automatic Deletion of Temporary Files ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,676) developed by Paul C. Eastham, Mountain View, Calif., and Nahush Mahajan, Sunnyvale, Calif., for an "automatic deletion of temporary files." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products feature selecting a file in a distributed file system. The file is associated with a time to live derived from a path name for the file. The file is divided into a plurality of chunks that are distributed among a plurality of servers. Each chunk has a respective modification time indicating when the chunk was last modified. A latest respective modification time among the respective modification times of each of the plurality of chunks is selected. A determination is made as to whether an elapsed time based on the latest modification time is equal to or exceeds the time to live. Each of the chunks of the file is deleted responsive to the determination. Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products." The patent application was filed on May 27, 2009 (12/473,035). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,676.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,676&RS=PN/83,80,676 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Indexing and Searching of Electronic Message Transmission Thread Sets ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,380,682) developed by seven co-inventors for "indexing and searching of electronic message transmission thread sets." The co-inventors are Andrei Z. Broder, Bronx, N.Y., Nadav Eiron, San Jose, Calif., Marcus Fontoura, Los Gatos, Calif., Michael Herscovici, Haifa, Israel, Ronny Lempel, Haifa, Israel, John McPherson Jr., San Jose, Calif., and Eugene Shekita, San Jose, Calif. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method includes describing the thread configurations of a volume of well-ordered electronic message transmissions (EMT) and utilizing the thread configuration data to conduct selective searches of the EMT volume. An apparatus includes a thread processor and a query manager. The thread processor analyzes the EMT threads and records the thread configuration data. The query manager utilizes the thread configuration data to conduct selective searches of the EMT volume." The patent application was filed on June 14, 2009 (12/484,213). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,682.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,682&RS=PN/83,80,682 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Piecemeal List Prefetch ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,380,680) developed by Jeffrey Berger, San Jose, Calif., Terence P. Purcell, Springfield, Ill., and James Z. Teng, San Jose, Calif., for a piecemeal list prefetch. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Prefetching data using a piecemeal list prefetching method. This is achieved by various means, including building a plurality of data pages, sorting the plurality of data pages into sequential data pages and a list of non-sequential pages, prefetching the sequential data pages using a first prefetching technique, and prefetching the non-sequential list of data pages using a second prefetching technique." The patent application was filed on June 23, 2010 (12/821,801). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,680.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,680&RS=PN/83,80,680 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Oracle International Assigned Patent for Application Workload Capture and Replay System ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Oracle International, Redwood Shores, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,665) developed by twelve co-inventors for an "application workload capture and replay system." The co-inventors are Efstratios Papadomanolakis, San Francisco, Zhongtang Cai, Redwood Shores, Calif., Romain Colle, San Francisco, Benoit Dageville, Truckee, Calif., Karl Dias, Foster City, Calif., Leonidas Galanis, San Jose, Calif., Rodney Graham, San Francisco, Bo Gong, Foster City, Calif., Qinghui H. Altmar, Cupertino, Calif., Jae Young Yoon, San Mateo, Calif., Mehmet Fidanboylu, Palo Alto, Calif., and Tom Hsu, Foster City, Calif. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "An application workload capture and replay system with a transactionally consistent application workload replay feature is provided. More particularly, the feature includes capture-phase components for capturing and recording a real application workload submitted to a production web application system and includes replay-phase components for replaying the captured application workload against a test web application system in a transactionally consistent manner. The feature provides guarantees about the order of database transactions that are caused when the workload is replayed such that there is a consistency between the replay-phase order of the database transactions and the order of those transactions that occurred when the workload was captured. These consistency guarantees facilitate a faithful reproduction of database changes observed in the production web application system in the test web application system using a captured real application workload. Significantly, this faithful reproduction may be accomplished without having to create a synthetic application workload that approximates or emulates the transactional behavior of the real application workload. Instead, a real application workload may be used as or substantially as it is captured." The patent application was filed on March 30, 2011 (13/076,313). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,665.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,665&RS=PN/83,80,665 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Google Assigned Patent for Coordinating Different Search Queries Using a Translated Query Cursor ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,704) developed by Alfred R. K. Fuller, Menlo Park, Calif., for "coordinating different search queries using a translated query cursor." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A search server system having one or more processors and memory receives, from a client, a current search query including a query cursor corresponding to a prior search query. The query cursor corresponds to a location in a first set of index portions used to perform the prior search query. In response to the current search query, the server decomposes the query cursor into a plurality of components and generates a translated query cursor corresponding to the received search query using one or more of the components. The server subsequently identifies a location in a second set of index portions to start performing the current search query based the translated query cursor. The server generates a set of search results corresponding to the current search query by searching in the second set of index portions starting at the identified location and sends search results to the client." The patent application was filed on May 27, 2011 (13/118,284). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,704.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,704&RS=PN/83,80,704 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Oracle International Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Oracle International, Redwood Shores, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,702) developed by Thomas Baby, Maple Valley, Wash., Ali Maleki Tabar, Stanford, Calif., and Sivasankaran Chandrasekar, Menlo Park, Calif., for "loading an index with minimal effect on availability of applications using the corresponding table." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A database server provides a partitioned table with a corresponding locally partitioned index. When a request is made to load data into the table by an application, a table partition, along with a corresponding index partition, is created for the application. The corresponding index partition in marked as asynchronously maintained, allowing other index partitions to be used by the query optimizer in formulating query plans for other table partitions. Once the loading of data is complete, a synchronization operation is called with the result of conforming the data in the asynchronously maintained index partition with its corresponding table in which the data was loaded. Once the data in the corresponding table partition and the data in the asynchronously maintained index partition are synchronized, the asynchronously maintained index partition is marked as synchronously maintained." The patent application was filed on March 10, 2009 (12/401,397). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,702.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,702&RS=PN/83,80,702 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Oracle International Assigned Patent for Technique for Fast Power Estimation Using Probabilistic Analysis of Combinational Logic ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Oracle International, Redwood Shores, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,656) developed by four co-inventors for a "technique for fast power estimation using probabilistic analysis of combinational logic." The co-inventors are Krishnan Sundaresan, Sunnyvale, Calif., Wei-Lun Hung, Santa Clara, Calif., Jaewon Oh, Cupertino, Calif., and Robert E. Mains, Morgan Hill, Calif. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method for computing power consumption includes querying a software database for a key node and a gate comprising an input port, connected to the key node, and an output port. The software database is created from a net list associated with a design. The method includes calculating a probability of activity level at the output port based on a predetermined activity level at the key node, and querying the software database for next gate comprising a next input port, connected to the previous output port, and a next output port. The method includes calculating a probability of activity level at the next output port based on the probability of activity level at the previous output port. The method includes computing a sub-circuit gate power by sum of power of all the gates based on the probability of activity level at output ports of the gates." The patent application was filed on Oct. 30, 2009 (12/610,194). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,656.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,656&RS=PN/83,80,656 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Google Assigned Patent for Ordering of Ranked Documents ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,710) developed by Chrix Finne, San Francisco, Benjamin Darnell, Palo Alto, Calif., and Gaurav Jain, San Francisco, for "ordering of ranked documents." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for distributing and presenting of electronic content. One method provides an enhanced ordering of ranked documents, in which one or more lists of documents that have been published in a web feed, a time that each document was published in the web feed, and a content-based ranking of a ranked subset of the documents are obtained, the documents collectively including ranked documents which are members of the ranked subset of the documents, and unranked documents which are not members of the ranked subset of the documents. Furthermore, a user interface is provided which displays links to a plurality of the ranked documents, ordered according to the content-based ranking, and which simultaneously displays links to a plurality of the unranked documents, ordered chronologically based on the time that each respective document was published in the web feed." The patent application was filed on Jan. 15, 2010 (12/688,204). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,710.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,710&RS=PN/83,80,710 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Oracle International Assigned Patent for Transactionally Consistent Replay of Application Workloads ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Oracle International, Redwood Shores, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,664) developed by twelve co-inventors for a "transactionally consistent replay of application workloads." The co-inventors are Efstratios Papadomanolakis, San Francisco, Zhongtang Cai, Redwood Shores, Calif., Romain Colle, San Francisco, Benoit Dageville, Truckee, Calif., Karl Dias, Foster City, Calif., Leonidas Galanis, San Jose, Calif., Rodney Graham, San Francisco, Bo Gong, Foster City, Calif., Qinghui H. Altmar, Cupertino, Calif., Jae Young Yoon, San Mateo, Calif., Mehmet Fidanboylu, Palo Alto, Calif., and Tom Hsu, Foster City, Calif. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A database system providing transactionally consistent replay of application workloads. In a database system, a method providing transactionally consistent replay of application workloads comprises the steps of: during a replay phase in which a plurality of application requests that were previously submitted to an application server system during a capture phase are being replayed, receiving, at a database server, a database request to execute a database command against a database. The database request specifies an application request identifier that identifies a particular application request of the plurality of application requests. The particular application request caused the database command to be executed previously during the capture phase. In response to receiving the database request, determining, based on the application request identifier in the database request, whether to delay execution of the database command at least until a particular replay-phase database transaction has been committed." The patent application was filed on Feb. 24, 2011 (13/034,526). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,664.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,664&RS=PN/83,80,664 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** HSBC Finance Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- HSBC Finance, Mettawa, Ill., has been assigned a patent (8,380,619) developed by twelve co-inventors for "methods and systems for proactive loan modification." The co-inventors are Grant F. Miles, Salinas, Calif., Shelley C. Turner, Elmhurst, Ill., Richard M. Bair, Lisle, Ill., Roy M. Witt, Charlotte, N.C., Peter A. Sesterhenn, Libertyville, Ill., Manping Wang, Portland, Ore., Jin Peng, San Jose, Calif., Yew-Young Loo, Chicago, Ozgen Sayginsoy, Lisle, Ill., Michael A. Beene, Rolling Meadows, Ill., Nikhil N. Mehra, Chicago, and Ian J. Rehmert, Oak Park, Ill. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Embodiments of the invention include a computer implemented method for automatically modifying the terms of a plurality of mortgages within a portfolio of mortgages, such that, monthly payments for the plurality of mortgages are reduced. The method includes calculating a current net present value for each of the mortgages in the portfolio of mortgages. The method also includes calculating a plurality of future net present values for each of the mortgages in the portfolio, each future net present value corresponding to one set of modified loan terms. The method also includes selecting the largest calculated future net present value. The method also includes automatically modifying the loan terms of each of the plurality of mortgages where the largest future net present value is greater than the current net present value. Loan terms are modified to correspond to the modified loan terms resulting in the largest net present value." The patent application was filed on Feb. 17, 2010 (12/707,067). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,619.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,619&RS=PN/83,80,619 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Google Assigned Patent for Methods and Systems for Autonomous Robotic Decision Making ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,652) developed by Anthony G. Francis Jr., San Jose, Calif., for "methods and systems for autonomous robotic decision making." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Methods and systems for robotic determination of a response to conflicting commands are provided. The robot may evaluate scenarios using variables related to the contextual/situational data for event outcomes from which the robot can determine which of two or more actions to take, as by prioritizing the actions in order of importance." The patent application was filed on May 4, 2012 (13/464,693). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,652.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,652&RS=PN/83,80,652 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Yahoo! Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Yahoo!, Sunnyvale, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,706) developed by Kavel Patel, Sunnyvale, Calif., for a "sponsored search coverage expansion." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "An embodiment is provided wherein a search query is received from a user. It may then be determined if the search query would ordinarily result in a results page having no sponsored search advertising. If the search would ordinarily result in a results page having no sponsored search advertising, then advertising that would ordinarily be displayed in response to each of two or more search terms making up the search query individually may be aggregated. Then one or more advertisements may be selected from the aggregated advertising. Then the selected advertisements may be displayed on a results page responsive to the search query." The patent application was filed on Dec. 5, 2006 (11/567,099). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,706.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,706&RS=PN/83,80,706 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Google Assigned Patent for System and Method for Automatically Identifying Classified Websites ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,693) developed by Cheng Xu, Sunnyvale, Calif., Gang Feng, Beijing, and Xin Li, Beijing, for a "system and method for automatically identifying classified websites." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Systems, methods, and computer readable storage mediums are provided to automatically identifying a classified website. A website is determined to be a candidate site based on a set of heuristics. From among pages constituting the candidate site one or more pages are determined to be listing page candidates and one or more pages are determined to be detail page candidates. Then a listing page score is determined using a listing page classifier. Similarly, a detail page score is determined using a detail page classifier. The listing page and detail page scores each indicate the likelihood that the pages are part of a classified website. A candidate site score is determined based in part on a combination of the listing page score and the detail page scores. Then when the candidate site score is above a threshold the candidate site is determined to be a classified website." The patent application was filed on Sept. 8, 2011 (13/228,337). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,693.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,693&RS=PN/83,80,693 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Oracle International Assigned Patent for Techniques for Performing ETL over a WAN ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Oracle International, Redwood Shores, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,657) developed by Sadiq Shaik, San Mateo, Calif., and Saurabh Verma, Cupertino, Calif., for "techniques for performing ETL over a WAN." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Techniques that enable data extraction, transfer, and load (ETL) operations to be performed asynchronously over communication networks including a Wide Area Network (WAN)." The patent application was filed on Sept. 18, 2009 (12/562,326). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,657.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,657&RS=PN/83,80,657 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Google Assigned Patent for Methods and Systems for Improving a Search Ranking Using Related Queries ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,705) developed by Simon Tong, Mountain View, Calif., Mark Pearson, Berkeley, Calif., and Sergey Brin, Palo Alto, Calif., for "methods and systems for improving a search ranking using related queries." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Systems and methods that improve search rankings for a search query by using data associated with queries related to the search query are described. In one aspect, a search query is received, a related query related to the search query is determined, an article (such as a web page) associated with the search query is determined, and a ranking score for the article based at least in part on data associated with the related query is determined. Several algorithms and types of data associated with related queries useful in carrying out such systems and methods are described." The patent application was filed on Aug. 18, 2011 (13/212,726). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=83,80,705.PN.&OS=PN/83,80,705&RS=PN/83,80,705 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Research Affiliates Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Research Affiliates, Newport Beach, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,604) developed by Robert D. Arnott, Newport Beach, Calif., and Paul Christopher Wood, Waltham, United Kingdom, for a "system, method and computer program product for using a non-price accounting data based index to determine financial objects to purchase or to sell." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system, method and computer program product creates an index based on accounting based data, as well as a portfolio of financial objects based on the index where the portfolio is weighted according to accounting based data. A passive investment system may be based on indices created from various metrics. The indexes may be built with metrics other than market capitalization weighting, price weighting or equal weighting. Non-financial metrics may also be used to build indexes to create passive investment systems. Additionally, a combination of financial non-market capitalization metrics may be used along with non-financial metrics to create passive investment systems. Once the index is built, it may be used as a basis to purchase securities for a portfolio. Specifically excluded are widely-used capitalization-weighted indexes and price-weighted indexes, in which the price of a security contributes in a substantial way to the calculation of the weight of that security in the index or the portfolio, and equal weighting weighted indexes. Valuation indifferent indexes avoid overexposure to overvalued securities and underexposure to undervalued securities, as compared with conventional capitalization-weighted and price-weighted." The patent application was filed on June 19, 2010 (12/819,199). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=8,380,604&OS=8,380,604&RS=8,380,604 Written by Neha Bharti; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Spigit Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Spigit, Pleasanton, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,595) developed by Matthew John Fogarty, Palo Alto, Calif., for a "prediction market roll up." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Various problems currently exist in the operation of using prediction markets for corporate forecasting. One of these problems we address is the problem related to the "consistency and consolidation of metrics". We hierarchically structure and link sets of markets traded using an automated market maker and dynamically balance markets." The patent application was filed on July 11, 2008 (12/172,140). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=8,380,595&OS=8,380,595&RS=8,380,595 Written by Neha Bharti; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Intuit Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Intuit, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,590) developed by Marko Rukonic, San Jose, Calif., James Robert Del Favero, Mountain View, Calif., and Nicholas Augustine Mooney, San Jose, Calif., for a "method and system for detecting recurring income from financial transaction data." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method and system for detecting and categorizing recurring income whereby financial transaction data associated with a given user is obtained from one or more sources. One or more income identification parameters are defined. The given user identifies one or more deposit transactions included in the financial transaction data as an income transaction. The one or more income identification parameter values associated with one or more unidentified deposit transactions are then compared with the income identification parameter values associated with the user identified income transactions. Any of one or more unidentified deposit transactions having income identification parameter values the same as, or sufficiently similar to, the income identification parameter values associated with the user identified income transactions are then categorized as identified income transactions of the same type, and/or as being from the same given payor/income source, as the user identified income transactions." The patent application was filed on March 31, 2009 (12/414,847). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=8,380,590&OS=8,380,590&RS=8,380,590 Written by Neha Bharti; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Oracle International Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Oracle International, Redwood Shores, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,588) developed by Anurag Batra, Union City, Calif., and Qiufeng Zhao, Suzhou, China, for a "side-by-side comparison of associations for multi-level bills of material." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method includes receiving first parameters and second parameters for a comparison of a first multilevel bill of material and a second multilevel bill of material. Internal items based on the first parameters are compared to determine differences between the internal items in the first multilevel bill of material and the second multilevel bill of material. If an internal item matches in the first multilevel bill of material and the second multilevel bill of material, associations for the matched internal item are compared based on the second parameters to determine differences between the associations in the first multilevel bill of material and the second multilevel bill of material. A report is generated showing a result of the comparing of the internal items and the comparing of the associations, wherein the report shows unmatched internal items and unmatched associations for matched first items. The report can then be displayed." The patent application was filed on Jan. 14, 2010 (12/687,871). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=8,380,588&OS=8,380,588&RS=8,380,588 Written by Neha Bharti; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Bank of America Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., has been assigned a patent (8,380,596) developed by nine co-inventors for a flat fee mortgage. The co-inventors are Charlotte F. Baker, Lexington, S.C., Gregory Carl Ogden, Charlotte, N.C., Michael J. Kelly, Minneapolis, Nicholas Koutouras, Studio City, Calif., Courtnie R. Kingsley, Augusta, Kan., Dwight Guerry Wimberly, Athens, Ga., Andrew H. Burk, Penryn, Calif., Loren B. Carpenter, Grapevine, Texas, and Shanna L. Austin, Chester, Va. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Described herein are various apparatuses, methods, and computer program products for providing a mortgage environment that determines a flat fee for a mortgage that includes all lender and third-party fees associated with the mortgage. By providing a mortgage with a flat fee, the process of a borrower obtaining a mortgage from a lender can be easier because the borrower's worries about multiple fees, charges, and other costs can be combined into a single, flat fee. Some embodiments of the invention determine the flat fee based at least partially on analysis of various loan characteristics." The patent application was filed on April 5, 2010 (12/754,554). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=8,380,596&OS=8,380,596&RS=8,380,596 Written by Neha Bharti; edited by Jaya Anand. *** National Semiconductor Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- National Semiconductor, Santa Clara, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,905) developed by five co-inventors for an "isolated communication bus and related protocol." The co-inventors are Ali Djabbari, Saratoga, Calif., Rajaram Subramoniam, Cupertino, Calif., Gerard Socci, Palo Alto, Calif., Kosha Mahmodieh, Hayward, Calif., and Ali Kiaei, San Jose, Calif. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system includes a master device and multiple slave devices. The system also includes multiple bus interfaces forming a communication bus that couples the master and slave devices. Each bus interface includes a primary interface unit configured to communicate over first and second buses, where the first and second buses form a portion of the communication bus. Each bus interface also includes a secondary interface unit configured to communicate with the primary interface unit and to communicate with one of the slave devices over a third bus. Each bus interface further includes an isolator configured to electrically isolate the primary interface unit and the secondary interface unit. The primary interface unit is configured to receive multiple commands over the first bus, execute a first subset of commands, transmit a second subset of commands over the second bus, and transmit a third subset of commands over the third bus." The patent application was filed on May 21, 2010 (12/800,770). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=8,380,905&OS=8,380,905&RS=8,380,905 Written by Arpi Sharma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** Virident Systems Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Virident Systems, Milpitas, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,380,898) developed by four co-inventors for "methods for main memory with non-volatile type memory modules." The co-inventors are Vijay Karamcheti, Los Altos, Calif., Kumar Ganapathy, Los Altos, Calif., Kenneth Alan Okin, Saratoga, Calif., and Rajesh Parekh, Los Altos, Calif. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A computing system is disclosed that includes a memory controller in a processor socket normally reserved for a processor. A plurality of non-volatile memory modules may be plugged into memory sockets normally reserved for DRAM memory modules. The non-volatile memory modules may be accessed using a data communication protocol to access the non-volatile memory modules. The memory controller controls read and write accesses to the non-volatile memory modules. The memory sockets are coupled to the processor socket by printed circuit board traces. The data communication protocol to access the non-volatile memory modules is communicated over the printed circuit board traces and through the sockets normally used to access DRAM type memory modules." The patent application was filed on July 8, 2010 (12/832,409). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=8,380,898&OS=8,380,898&RS=8,380,898 Written by Arpi Sharma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** Voxer IP Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 20 -- Voxer IP, San Francisco, has been assigned a patent (8,380,874) developed by four co-inventors for a "telecommunication and multimedia management method and apparatus." The co-inventors are Thomas E. Katis, Jackson, Wyo., James T. Panttaja, Healdsburg, Calif., Mary G. Panttaja, Healdsburg, Calif., and Matthew J. Ranney, Oakland, Calif. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "An apparatus for transferring a complete copy of media designated as time sensitive over a network. The apparatus includes a sending node including a network ascertaining element configured to ascertain if conditions on the network are adequate to transmit a full bit rate representation of media designated as time-sensitive at a first bit rate and a first packetization interval between the sending node and a receiving node over the network, where the full bit rate representation being derived from when the time-sensitive media was originally encoded. If the network conditions are ascertained as being inadequate, then a transmitter at the sending node generates and For more information about Targeted News Service products and services, please contact: Myron Struck, editor, Targeted News Service LLC, Springfield, Va., 703/304-1897; [email protected]; http://targetednews.com. -1114956 (c) 2013 Targeted News Service |