Software Patents

Interactive Internet Shopping and Data Integration Method and System
A method and system for interactively shopping for groceries, especially on an Internet web site, where the user may create a shopping list, shop for items from the list at a selected grocery store, arrange for pick up or delivery of the selected items, and provide payment. A user may also download a created shopping list to a handheld computing device (e.g., PDA) or print the list with reference to the layout of a particular grocery store. Users are required to register and provide specific demographic information (useful to manufacturers and stores) to be eligible to receive the benefits of use of the web site, such as menu creation, coupon downloads, menu planning, and recipe input. Shopping lists may be created from a single input screen using standard language text. Products may be automatically suggested to the user based on best regular price or retailer's specials. Recipes may be altered to meet numbers of servings or to comply with dietary requirements.

Sports Matchmaker Systems
The Sports Matchmaker System provides an improved method for arranging sporting events and non-sporting events between unacquainted people. It provides a system for matching persons publicly offering to participate in particular sporting or social events with other persons desiring to participate in similar sporting or social events. The system also provides various means for communicating between the offering party and the accepting party to complete the event. The system also provides methods for arranging event venues for sporting and social events.

Financial visualization and analysis systems
A method and system of financial analysis for use by trained and untrained users, which provides improved visualization, understanding, and analysis of companies’ financial performances. Particularly, it allows the end user to prepare a sophisticated financial analysis by creating an effective bridge between financial analysis and the underlying financial information. It uses interfaces similar to digital video editors to permit sequential analysis with annotation of financial data in the same manner as editing and compositing film or video materials. It presents the financial data and related non-financial data in a visual analog format for discussion and analysis by one or more users. The income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows are analyzed as a whole rather than separately as individualized statements. And it provides for direct interfaces with all underlying financial and related data. The analysis steps created by a user may be capture and recorded for later playback, communication and analysis. A recorded analysis may be modifiable allowing analysis, input and comment by other individuals to form a comparative analysis that is an analytical sum of all contributors.

Receipt Card Systems
The receipt card system provides a system and method for accumulating and storing transaction line-item detail on behalf of consumers. The system permits consumers to view stored transaction line-item detail in a variety of ways using a web browser interface. It also includes a means for consumers to download transaction line-item detail into a personal financial management system. Transaction line-item detail is captured at each participating merchant's location at the time of transaction associated with a consumer and essentially automatically transferred to a centralized database. The system and method are essentially voluntary for both merchants and consumers.

Buying Method For Retail Establishments
A system for improving and streamlining the evaluation and purchase of products from salespeople by buyers. In particular, methods for successfully managing interactions between buyers and sellers in high volume retail environments by implementing a standardized product offer proposal method and subsequent controls on the buying decision-making process. It utilizes existing tools and new software to improve buyer's efficiency by consolidating the software systems tools into a single standardized user interface and improves seller's efficiency by providing product offering proposal preparation and presentation tools as well as buyer appointment scheduling tools and generates revenue by buyers as an integral part of the buying process.

Database Management Function Provider Systems
A system for improving management and delivery of database management functions (also know as APIs) to customers. Additionally, the system encompasses methods for simplifying delivery and use of standardized database management functions by users while improving management and control of the standardized database management functions (API's) through unique methods of encryption, decryption and execution management.

Behavior Management Systems
A behavior modification system, for school and institutional settings, comprising Internet-enabled software adapted to receive reports of misbehavior and to automatically generate, schedule, and track consequences for the misbehavior. The system also has the capability to receive reports of serious misbehavior and automatically transmit those reports to school administrators, parents, etc. The system assists teachers and administrators to provide simple, consistent, and objective negative feedback for improper student behavior.

System for Creating and Maintaining a Database of Information Utilizing User Opinions
A system for automatically creating and maintaining a database of information utilizing user opinions about subjects, particularly exceptional experiences. Described is an Internet system assisting/motivating a population of users interested in information about certain categories of subjects to automatically maintain the database content and to improve the usefulness and quality of the database information without any substantial management by the website owner-manager. The user opinions are primarily in the form of both comments and ratings about which natural-language terms best describe a particular subject, enabling user searches of the subject database to be by way of preferred such descriptive natural-language terms, which terms are further preferred to be evaluative and approving.

Financial decision systems
The financial decision system provides for real-time calculation of buying pressure and selling pressure for any tradable instrument market. Additionally, it provides real-time visual simultaneous plots and charts of buying pressure and selling pressure. Further, the system automatically presents buy and sell indicators and expert commentary based on automatically detected market trend changes. The system automatically analyzes market trends and changes in multiple timeframes simultaneously to identify, in real time, multiple confirmations of suggested trading actions, such as buying or selling. The system also encompasses training materials and methods necessary for teaching concepts and methods of usage to improve the likelihood of success for new users.

System For Creating and Maintaining a Database of Information Utilizing User Opinions
A system for automatically creating and maintaining a database of information utilizing user opinions about subjects, particularly exceptional experiences. Described is an Internet system assisting/motivating a population of users interested in information about certain categories of subjects to automatically maintain the database content and to improve the usefulness and quality of the database information without any substantial management by the website owner-manager. The user opinions are primarily in the form of both comments and ratings about which natural-language terms best describe a particular subject, enabling user searches of the subject database to be by way of preferred such descriptive natural-language terms, which terms are further preferred to be evaluative and approving.

Check clearing systems
A system and process for more efficiently clearing checks by transmitting MICR line data together with a URL link to facilitate check clearing via electronic debits by an ACH. The URL link can be used at the option of the paying bank (or other entity) to access images of the check from a database.

Collaborative marketing mangement systems
Collaborative marketing systems for creating and streamlining effective and privacy-protected partner marketing opportunities for companies. They permit companies to become members of a partnership network of companies to gain exposure to customers of some of the other members companies' customers, yet keep their own customer database private. Each member agrees to introduce other member companies to their customers and can request to be introduced to the customers of other members as part of a defined event awareness initiative which may be implemented through email, direct mail or any other communication method. Provided are systems to promote rapid and continued growth of the partnership network and therefore marketing opportunities for members including cost sharing, event awareness initiative scheduling, planning and execution, and results tracking. The systems simplify, automate, standardize and leverage marketing partnership processes and are also intended to create and manage multiple networks of participating companies.

Machine computational-processing systems for simulated-humanoid autonomous decision systems
Disclosed are computer systems with intelligent or autonomous decision systems which include means for determining relevancy, i.e., the threats to and opportunities of the autonomous decision system. Also disclosed are such autonomous decision systems constructed and arranged to interact sociably with humans, including the use of natural languages and bonding. The desired "whether concrete is included in abstract" computation system is enhanced by a system of categorizing natural objects using as primitives a set of self tendencies suitable, when hierarchically assigned to objects, to do incremental simulation of "future" situations (including such objects) from a presented situation. Using such primitives and computation system, planning, learning, languaging, etc., are efficiently accomplished.

Personal competition logbook system
A personal competition logbook system with information, fields and formatting which remind and prompt a user to record the relevant and appropriate data and allows a user to conveniently track and archive results from judged competitions, such as Taekwondo, throughout a competitive season.

System for creating and maintaining a database of information utilizing user opinions
A system for automatically creating and maintaining a database of information utilizing user opinions about subjects, particularly exceptional experiences. Described is an Internet system assisting/motivating a population of users interested in information about certain categories of subjects to automatically maintain the database content and to improve the usefulness and quality of the database information without any substantial management by the website owner-manager. The user opinions are primarily in the form of both comments and ratings about which natural-language terms best describe a particular subject, enabling user searches of the subject database to be by way of preferred such descriptive natural-language terms, which terms are further preferred to be evaluative and approving. Also, a system for automatically creating and maintaining a database of information utilizing user knowledge about sales related subjects. Described is an Internet-based system for assisting/motivating a population of users interested in information about certain categories of sales related subjects to automatically maintain the database content and to improve the usefulness and quality of the database information without any substantial management by the website owner-manager. The user opinions are primarily in the form of both comments and ratings of which sales related subjects best provide assistance in completing a sale.

System for creating and maintaining a database of information utilizing user opinions
A system for automatically creating and maintaining a database (1-24) of information utilizing user opinions about subjects, particularly exceptional experiences. Described is an Internet system (1-12) assisting/motivating a population of users (1-n) interested in information about certain categories of subjects to automatically maintain the database content and to improve the usefulness and quality of the database information without any substantial management by the website (1-26) owner-manager. The user opinions are primarily in the form of both comments and ratings about which natural-language terms best describe a particular subject, enabling user searches of the subject database to be by way of preferred such descriptive natural--language terms, which terms are further preferred to be evaluative and approving. Also, a system for automatically creating and maintaining a database of information utilizing user knowledge about sales related subjects. Described is an Internet-based system for assisting/motivating a population of users interested in information about certain categories of sales related subjects to automatically maintain the database content and to improve the usefulness and quality of the database information without any substantial management by the website owner-manager. The user opinions are primarily in the form of both comments and ratings of which sales related subjects best provide assistance in completing a sale (FIG. 1-B).

Natural-language processing system using a large corpus
A computer-parsing system based upon using vectors (lists) to represent natural-language elements, providing a robust, distributed way to score grammaticality of an input string by using as a source material a large corpus of natural-language text. The system uses recombining of asymetric associations of syntactically similar strings to form an the vectors. The system uses equivalence lists for your the organization subparts of the string to build equivalence lists for our the province longer strings in an order controlled by the potential these/parse to be scored. The power of recombination of Entries from: vector elements in building longer strings provides a means of representing collocational complexity. Grammaticality scoring is based upon the number and similarity of the vector elements.

Escrow management system
A method and system (software) is described with features for sharing proceeds, from sales of mutually owned assets by auction services, held in escrow for multiple parties entitled to the proceeds. Further, other areas addressed by a preferred embodiment of the present invention include relating multiple independent escrows with a single case, control and management of the case (including all escrows, completion of the sale of assets through auction services and delivery of the assets to the buyer) by legal representatives representing the entitled parties, and permitting variable percentage sharing with different escrows for a case. Additional areas addressed by a preferred embodiment of the present invention include integrating closely with auction services to facilitate a smooth and efficient sale of assets, operating as an Internet-based service integrated with Internet-based auction services, and delivery of particular assets by selected brokers such as jewelry stores with public locations nationally.

System for one-touch bible book selection and viewing
A hand-held system for user selection and display of electronically stored Biblical information. More specifically, a portable electronic bible system having a Bible book selection keypad with dedicated Bible book keys to provide one-touch Bible book selection and viewing. The system comprises additional keys for selection of a desired chapter and verse. Biblical and menu information is viewed on an LCD display. The system is battery powered with an optional A/C adapter. A data transfer port allows supplemental Biblical information to be transferred and stored in the memory of the system. System components are contained in a two-part hinged housing. A method of use and methods of acquiring supplemental Biblical information are also described.

Business card system
A business card which includes both a printed business card as well as associated labels removably attached to the business card. The business card, a laminate of card stock with label stock, contains removable labels with adhesive backing and a perforated tear-off end tab. The business card information on a card portion of the card stock is similar to the information on the associated labels/tab. The removable labels/tab are sized such that they accommodate use as file folder labels, index card file labels, address labels, or other such business information transfer applications.