SYSTEMS METHODS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR DIRECTING CONSUMER FROM DIGITAL RECEIPT TO SOURCE OF SPECIFIC ITEM FOR REPEAT ITEM PURCHASE
Granted: July 26, 2012
Application Number:
20120191565
Systems, computer-implemented methods and computer program products for directing a consumer to a source offering for sale a specific item previously purchased by the consumer. Electronic receipt data generated for a consumer purchase of a specifically identified item is generated by a merchant transaction processing device, and an electronic representation of a receipt is generated based on that data. The electronic representation identifies the specific item and includes an input…
METHODS SYSTEMS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR GENERATING FINANCIAL STATEMENT COMPLYING WITH ACCOUNTING STANDARD
Granted: July 26, 2012
Application Number:
20120191580
Requirements, principles or guidelines of an accounting standard such as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are transformed or codified into rules that specify how form, content and/or style of a certain portion of a financial statement, such as a header, should be configured while complying with the accounting standard. A rule engine compares attributes related to a financial statement and rules to determine which rule applies, and a selected rule specifies a header…
METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A PREDICTIVE ADVERTISING TOOL
Granted: July 26, 2012
Application Number:
20120191529
Systems, methods and articles of manufacture for a computerized advertising analysis tool for identifying and/or predicting the effect of future external events on the viewership and effectiveness of an advertising campaign. The system access and analyzes data regarding past events and viewership data to determine the past effect on viewership. The system then accesses analyzes future events to predict and estimate the effect of the future events on the advertising campaign based on the…
CUSTOMIZATION OF MOBILE-APPLICATION DELIVERY
Granted: July 12, 2012
Application Number:
20120180036
A technique for facilitating customization of a software application is described. During this customization technique, an indicator, which indicates that a software application for an electronic device has been discovered by a user, is provided to a publisher of the software application. In response to the indicator, the publisher provides a token to the user. This token identifies a customized application-delivery service for the software application and/or a user-specific…
APPLICATION USER INTERFACE FOR NETWORKED-COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS
Granted: June 7, 2012
Application Number:
20120144364
A technique for using an application user interface that executes on a system is described. During operation of the system, a user specifies a design topology and configuration of an application that executes in a networked-computing environment through the application user interface. Then, the system provisions the application by bringing up associated hardware and/or software based on the design specified through the application user interface. Moreover, the application user interface…
ON-LINE TAX PREPARATION APPLICATION SCREEN NAVIGATION USING URL BOOKMARKS
Granted: May 31, 2012
Application Number:
20120136764
Bookmarking interview screens of an electronic tax return prepared using an on-line tax preparation application. A widget or other element is executed by a user to request a URL bookmark of a screen. A bookmark program of or associated with the on-line tax preparation application dynamically generates a URL bookmark based at least in part upon context data of the screen identifying a path to the screen within hierarchical structure of screens. The URL bookmark is provided to the user and…
ESTABLISHING A SECURE PROXIMITY PAIRING BETWEEN ELECTRONIC DEVICES
Granted: May 24, 2012
Application Number:
20120128154
A technique for establishing a common encrypted link between a first electronic device and a second electronic device in physical proximity in a system is described. During operation of the system, a user of a first electronic device in the system provides a notification that initiates secure device pairing. In response to the notification, the first electronic device conducts a first key exchange in an audible audio spectrum to the second electronic device in the system using a first…
DYNAMIC APPLICATION IDENTIFIER FOR USE IN AN UPDATE WORKFLOW
Granted: May 3, 2012
Application Number:
20120110563
During an update technique, an update for the software application is received from a provider of the software application. Then, update information is either received from the provider or is generated. This update information specifies an update relationship between the update and at least a previous version of the software application. Next, inventory information associated with a portable electronic device is accessed (such as whether the previous version of the software application…
CHAINED DATA PROCESSING AND APPLICATION UTILIZATION
Granted: May 3, 2012
Application Number:
20120110565
The disclosed embodiments provide a system that facilitates application usage. During operation, the system obtains a user context associated with a first user, wherein the user context includes at least one of a location of the first user, profile data for the first user, device data associated with a computing device for the first user, and data types associated with existing applications on the computing device. Next, the system obtains a first set of new applications matching the…
UPDATE WORKFLOW IN A PORTABLE DEVICE BASED ON METADATA
Granted: May 3, 2012
Application Number:
20120110564
During an update technique, an update to a software application is received from a provider of a software application. Then, update information is either received from the provider or is generated. This update information, which is other than an application identifier and a version number associated with the update, specifies an update relationship between the update and at least a previous version of the software application. Subsequently, configuration information (such as whether the…
CHECK FRAUD PROTECTION SYSTEMS AND METHODS
Granted: May 3, 2012
Application Number:
20120109854
Check fraud protection method in which a customer is automatically enrolled in a check fraud protection service without separately subscribing to the service. In the event of fraudulent activity, the customer requests reimbursement from the financial institution and retains the exclusive right of recovery from a financial institution. The check fraud service provider serves as an advisor to the customer who retains exclusive right of recovery at all times. If customer is not fully…
INSTANT TAX RETURN PREPARATION
Granted: May 3, 2012
Application Number:
20120109792
A method involves generating a partially completed tax return based on basic user information without needing to obtain other user inputs through an extensive user interview. A list of simple and concise interview questions are generated or selected from an interview question collection based on the partially completed tax return to finalize the tax return. The method further involves using an inference engine to allow data collection at any time and in any order via specific,…
CHECK FRAUD PROTECTION SYSTEMS AND METHODS
Granted: May 3, 2012
Application Number:
20120109691
Check fraud protection method in which customer is automatically enrolled in check fraud protection service without separately subscribing to the service. In the event of fraudulent activity, customer requests compensation from financial institution and retains the exclusive right of recovery from financial institution. If customer is not fully compensated by financial institution, the difference is paid to customer by service provider or an insurer thereof, and new checks for a new…
RECOGNIZING A FEATURE OF AN IMAGE INDEPENDENTLY OF THE ORIENTATION OR SCALE OF THE IMAGE
Granted: April 5, 2012
Application Number:
20120082377
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for recognizing a feature of an image independently of the orientation or scale of the image. During operation, the system receives an image. Next, the system identifies a feature within the image. The system then performs a principal component analysis (PCA) operation on the feature to determine an orientation of a primary component of the feature and a secondary component of the feature, wherein the PCA operation is performed…
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EXCESS INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
Granted: April 5, 2012
Application Number:
20120084119
A method for managing excess inventory includes receiving a physical shipment of goods and submitting a description and expiration date of each inventory item in the physical shipment of goods to an inventory management application. The inventory management application tracks number of units of each inventory item at the merchant. The method further includes, at a predefined timeframe prior to the expiration date, receiving a notification when a forecast of the number of unit of an…
THIRD PARTY INFORMATION TRANSFER
Granted: March 1, 2012
Application Number:
20120053965
A method allowing a professional service provider to access client data stored in an online account without storing confidential account information by the professional service provider. In particular, the service provider may register the relationship with the client in a third party information transfer framework where the client approves such registration and download the data from the online account using the confidential account information in a temporary manner. The client data may…
SCALABILITY BREAKPOINT CALCULATOR FOR A SOFTWARE PRODUCT
Granted: February 23, 2012
Application Number:
20120047250
During a technique for estimating a scalability breakpoint of a software product, performance load tests of the software product are performed with different numbers of simulated concurrent users. For a given number of simulated concurrent users, a performance load test may include an associated set of transactions that are executed by the software product. Furthermore, during the performance load tests performance metrics for the transactions in the associated sets of transactions are…
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING A STATEFUL EXPERIENCE WHILE ACCESSING CONTENT USING A GLOBAL TEXTSITE PLATFORM
Granted: February 16, 2012
Application Number:
20120042021
A method for providing access to content using a global textsite platform (GTP), including receiving, from a user device associated with a device identifier, a first user message including a first navigation state identifier of a sequential plurality of navigation state identifiers, identifying a first text page of the textsite associated with the first navigation state identifier, and identifying a second text page associated with a first navigating keyword, where the second text page…
TECHNIQUE FOR COLLECTING INCOME-TAX INFORMATION
Granted: February 2, 2012
Application Number:
20120027246
A technique for collecting income-tax information is described. This collection technique allows a user (such as a taxpayer) to provide income-tax information by submitting an image of a document, such as an income-tax summary or form. After receiving the image, the income-tax information is extracted from the document, and a subset of the income-tax information that is relevant to the user is determined. This subset of the income-tax information is then provided to the user for…
USING LINGUISTICALLY-AWARE VARIABLES IN COMPUTER-GENERATED TEXT
Granted: February 2, 2012
Application Number:
20120029919
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for placing linguistically-aware variables in computer-generated text. During operation, the system receives a sentence at a computer system, wherein the sentence comprises two or more words. Next, the system analyzes the sentence to identify a first variable, wherein the first variable is a place-holder for a first word. The system then receives the first word. After that, the system automatically determines a gender of the first…
