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U.S. Patents Awarded to Inventors in North Carolina (March 13)(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Targeted News Service Targeted News Service ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- The following federal patents were awarded to inventors in North Carolina. *** Altera Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Altera, San Jose, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,397,000) developed by 12 co-inventors for a "system core for transferring data between an external device and memory." The co-inventors are Gerald George Pechanek, Cary, N.C., David Strube, Raleigh, N.C., Edwin Franklin Barry, Vilas, N.C., Charles W. Kurak Jr., Durham, N.C., Carl Donald Busboom, Cary, N.C., Dale Edward Schneider, Durham, N.C., Nikos P. Pitsianis, Durham, N.C., Grayson Morris, Eindhoven, Nebraska, Edward A. Wolff, Stockton, Calif., Patrick R. Marchand, Apex, N.C., Ricardo E. Rodriguez, Raleigh, N.C., and Marco C. Jacobs, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Details of a highly cost effective and efficient implementation of a manifold array (ManArray) architecture and instruction syntax for use therewith are described herein. Various aspects of this approach include the regularity of the syntax, the relative ease with which the instruction set can be represented in database form, the ready ability with which tools can be created, the ready generation of self-checking codes and parameterized test cases. Parameterizations can be fairly easily mapped and system maintenance is significantly simplified." The patent application was filed on Sept. 12, 2012 (13/611,969). 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=8,397,000&OS=8,397,000&RS=8,397,000 Written by Arpi Sharma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Resource Planning and Data Interchange Functionality within a Cloud Computing Environment ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,396,989) developed by five co-inventors for a "resource planning and data interchange functionality within a cloud computing environment." The co-inventors are Vinatha Chaturvedi, Bangalore, India, Kavita Chavda, Roswell, Ga., Christopher J. Dawson, Arlington, Va., Wesley M. Devine, Apex, N.C., and Thirumal Nellutla, Schaumburg, Ill. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "The present invention provides technology neutral process integration (Cloud Resource Planning), and optimization methodology leveraging a business meta-schema format Cloud Data Interchange (CDI) to integrate, enable, and invoke Cloud services. One example is that the present invention provides a management layer at the process level. There can be multiple Cloud implementations/types within a govern enterprise--perhaps utilizing different infrastructure (e.g., hardware of one supplier versus that of another) or different areas of functionality (computing services, storage services, etc). This disclosure provides an abstraction or `resource planning` layer above these core services such that a customer does not have to have knowledge or choose different Cloud types and/or understand or choose each underlying service. As such, it provides a `one stop` portal." The patent application was filed on Dec. 11, 2009 (12/636,669). 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=8,396,989&OS=8,396,989&RS=8,396,989 Written by Arpi Sharma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** Napo Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Napo, Portsmouth, N.H., has been assigned a patent (8,396,951) developed by Hugh Svendsen, Chapel Hill, N.C., and Eugene M. Farrelly, Cary, N.C., for a "method and system for populating a content repository for an internet radio service based on a recommendation network." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A computer-implemented method and system are provided for populating the content repository of the media service based on real-time media recommendation network comprising a plurality of peer devices. Aspects of the method and system include receiving by a server a recommendation from one of the plurality of peer devices for a media item that is intended for a recipient; determining if the media item is present in the content repository; in response to determining that the media item is not present in the content repository, requesting that the peer device upload the media item; and in response to the media item being uploaded, storing the media item in the content repository." The patent application was filed on Dec. 20, 2007 (11/961,105). 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=8,396,951&OS=8,396,951&RS=8,396,951 Written by Arpi Sharma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** Rockstar Consortium US Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Rockstar Consortium US, Plano, Texas, has been assigned a patent (8,396,950) developed by five co-inventors for a "method and apparatus for the fast detection of connectivity loss between devices in a network." The co-inventors are Haldon Sandick, Durham, N.C., Matthew Squire, Raleigh, N.C., Bradley Cain, Cambridge, Mass., Ian Duncan, Ottawa, and Brian Haberman, Hillsborough, N.C. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method and apparatus for quickly determining the status of a network device in a network communicates status inquiry messages over the forwarding plane of one network device to at least one neighboring network device. The status inquiry messages indicate the connectivity status with at least one neighboring device. The status inquiry messages are transmitted periodically to the at least one neighboring device. In addition, the network device may communicate an advertisement message over the control plane to discover the at least one neighboring network device prior to the communication of the status inquiry messages over the forwarding plane. The network devices may negotiate communication parameters for the exchange of status inquiry messages with the at least one network device." The patent application was filed on Feb. 27, 2001 (09/794,317). 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=8,396,950&OS=8,396,950&RS=8,396,950 Written by Arpi Sharma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Suspicious Node Detection and Recovery in Mapreduce Computing ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,397,293) developed by Bryan E. Aupperle, Durham, N.C., and David L. Kaminsky, Durham, N.C., for a "suspicious node detection and recovery in mapreduce computing." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to distributed computing for large data sets on clusters of computers and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for detecting and correcting malicious nodes in a cloud computing environment (e.g., MapReduce computing). In one embodiment of the invention, a computer-implemented method for detecting and correcting malicious nodes in a cloud computing environment can include selecting a task to dispatch to a first worker node, setting a suspicion index threshold for the selected task, determining a suspicion index for the selected task, comparing the suspicion index to the suspicion index threshold and receiving a result from a first worker node. The method further can include applying a recovery action when the suspicion index exceeds the selected suspicion index threshold." The patent application was filed on Dec. 31, 2009 (12/651,100). 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=8,397,293&OS=8,397,293&RS=8,397,293 Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi. *** CommScope Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- CommScope, Hickory, N.C., has been assigned a patent (8,397,271) developed by Robert Ryan Riggsby, Hickory, N.C., for "power divider networks for cable television networks that include multimedia over coax bypass circuits and signal amplifiers that include such power divider networks." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "RF signal amplifiers for cable television networks are provided that include an RF input port. a power amplifier coupled to the RF input port and a power divider having an input that is coupled to an output of the power amplifier. The power divider includes a first directional coupler that is coupled to an output of the power amplifier. The directional coupler includes a first output branch and a second output branch. A first bypass circuit is coupled between the first and second output branches of the first directional coupler. A response of the power divider includes a null that substantially blocks signals received at the input of the power divider from passing to outputs of the power divider in a subset of frequencies within the range of 5 MHz to 1550 MHz. These RF signal amplifiers may provide improved performance, robustness and reliability when used in MOCA networks." The patent application was filed on July 28, 2009 (12/510,351). 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=8,397,271&OS=8,397,271&RS=8,397,271 Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi. *** Bank of America Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., has been assigned a patent (8,397,230) developed by four co-inventors for "software updates using delta patching." The co-inventors are Craig Leslie Ewington, Davidson, N.C., David Twigg, Charlotte, N.C., Daniel Farinella, Charlotte, N.C., and William Harrison McGraw IV, Charlotte, N.C. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Methods, apparatuses, and systems for software updates using delta patching are described. A first computer may compare a first image representative of a plurality of software stacks, and a second image representative of at least one and less than all of the plurality of software stacks to determine a difference between the second image and the first image. The first computer may generate a file representative of the difference between the second image and the first image. The file may include data of instructions for removing each software stack of the plurality of software stacks represented in the first image and not represented in the second image from a second computer. Data representative of the file representative of the difference between the second image and the first image may be recorded to a computer-readable storage medium." The patent application was filed on March 25, 2010 (12/731,622). 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=8,397,230&OS=8,397,230&RS=8,397,230 Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi. *** Cisco Technology Assigned Patent for Configuring Interfaces of a Switch Using Templates ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Cisco Technology, San Jose, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,397,278) developed by five co-inventors for "configuring interfaces of a switch using templates." The co-inventors are Jason R. Frazier, Raleigh, N.C., Ramesh V.N. Ponnapalli, Bangalore, India, Shyam Kaluve, Bangalore, India, Rajasekhar Manam, Bangalore, India, and Jacob F. Jensen, Mountain View, Calif. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Configuring an interface of a switch includes sending an authentication request requesting authentication for an endpoint from a switch to an authentication server. The switch comprises interfaces and is operable to access templates, where a template is operable to generate one or more interface commands for an interface. An instruction is received from the authentication server. The instruction instructs the switch to apply an identified template to an interface, where the identified template is identified by the authentication server as associated with the endpoint. The identified template is applied to configure the interface according to the instruction." The patent application was filed on Dec. 13, 2011 (13/323,885). 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=8,397,278&OS=8,397,278&RS=8,397,278 Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Compiler for a Declarative Event-driven Programming Model ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,397,216) developed by Joachim H. Frank, Greenwich, Conn., and Wilfred C. Jamison, Raleigh, N.C., for a "compiler for a declarative event-driven programming model." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A compiler generates code providing an execution sequence, from a declarative event-driven model, for execution by a computer. To assist in debugging the declarative event-driven model, the compiler also generates cross-references that relate steps in the generated code to elements of the declarative source code. The cross-references may be used as input to a debugger, along with the declarative source and the generated code, to assist a user who is stepping through the generated code (for example) in understanding which portion of the declarative source gave rise to the current step in the generated execution sequence." The patent application was filed on Feb. 29, 2008 (12/040,461). 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=8,397,216&OS=8,397,216&RS=8,397,216 Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi. *** Cadence Design Systems Assigned Patent for Layout Versus Schematic Error System and Method ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Cadence Design Systems, San Jose, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,397,194) developed by Prasanti Uppaluri, Cary, N.C., and Doug Den Dulk, Apex, N.C., for a "layout versus schematic error system and method." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "According to various embodiments of the invention, systems and methods for presenting Layout Versus Schematic (LVS) errors within a layout using a visual circuit representation of the design and highlighting is provided. One embodiment includes overlaying the layout circuit representation on the schematic circuit representation with highlighting that indicates the LVS errors. The method of such an embodiment compares a layout netlist against a schematic netlist in order to identify the layout-versus-schematic errors, generates a graphical representation of the layout netlist and a graphical representation of the schematic netlist, displays an overlay of the graphical representation of the layout netlist with the graphical representation of the schematic netlist and then, highlights the identified layout-versus-schematic errors that are present." The patent application was filed on May 14, 2012 (13/471,304). 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=8,397,194&OS=8,397,194&RS=8,397,194 Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi. *** Broadcom Assigned Patent for Video Transmission System with Timing Based on a Global Clock and Methods for Use Therewith ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Broadcom, Irvine, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,397,268) developed by six co-inventors for "video transmission system with timing based on a global clock and methods for use therewith." The co-inventors are Stephen E. Gordon, Lexington, Mass., Jeyhan Karaoguz, Irvine, Calif., Sherman (Xuemin) Chen, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., Michael Dove, Los Gatos, Calif., David Rosmann, Irvine, Calif., and Thomas J. Quigley, Franklin, N.C. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A network module receives network global positioning system (GPS) signals and that transmits a video signal to a remote device that includes time stamps that are based on the network GPS signals. The network module receives a device parameter from the remote device that indicates that local GPS signals are available to the remote device. The network module reduces a frequency of the time stamps when the device parameter indicates that local GPS signals are available to the remote device." The patent application was filed on April 19, 2011 (13/089,776). 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=8,397,268&OS=8,397,268&RS=8,397,268 Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,396,869) developed by four co-inventors for a "method and system for analyzing capabilities of an entity." The co-inventors are Matthew J. Callery, Shrub Oak, N.Y., Robert D. Dill, Raleigh, N.C., Lauretta Jones, Purdys, N.Y., and Daniel Oppenheim, Croton on Hudson, N.Y. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method and system for analyzing capabilities of an entity includes inputting data regarding an entity's capabilities, and using a capability model to detect a capability pattern among the capabilities and generate an action plan based on the capability pattern." The patent application was filed on Jan. 4, 2008 (11/969,347). 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=83,96,869.PN.&OS=PN/83,96,869&RS=PN/83,96,869 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Bank of America Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., has been assigned a patent (8,396,847) developed by five co-inventors for a "system and method to retrieve and analyze data for decision making." The co-inventors are Chandramohan Subramanian, Charlotte, N.C., Michael P. Galloway, Charlotte, N.C., Jeffrey J. Potts, Charlotte, N.C., Brian Stump, Huntersville, N.C., and James Krell, Roanoke, Va. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system to retrieve and analyze data may include at least one data collection engine to operate on a processor and to retrieve selected data related to an inquiry from at least one data source. The system may also include at least one rules engine to operate on the processor or another processor to apply predetermined functions to the selected data to respond to the inquiry." The patent application was filed on June 17, 2003 (10/463,073). 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=83,96,847.PN.&OS=PN/83,96,847&RS=PN/83,96,847 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Red Hat Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Red Hat, Raleigh, N.C., has been assigned a patent (8,396,850) developed by James Paul Schneider, Raleigh, N.C., for "discriminating search results by phrase analysis." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A statistical analysis parses documents for phrases in the documents. Each document is analyzed with a phrase analysis engine to determine a key phrase that frequently occur throughout each document. One or more documents are grouped together based a corresponding statistically improbable phrase." The patent application was filed on Feb. 27, 2009 (12/395,507). 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=83,96,850.PN.&OS=PN/83,96,850&RS=PN/83,96,850 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Synopsys Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Synopsys, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,397,186) developed by Jeffrey T. Brubaker, Carrboro, N.C., for a "technique for replaying operations using replay look-ahead instructions." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A technique for reliably replaying operations in electronic-design-automation (EDA) software is described. In this technique, the EDA software stores operations performed by a user during a design session, as well as any replay look-ahead instructions, in a log file. When repeating the first operation, the replay look-ahead instruction ensures that the same state is obtained in the EDA environment as was previously obtained. For example, if an interrupt occurred when the first operation was previously performed, the replay look-ahead instruction may specify when the interrupt occurred during the performance of the operation so that the effect of the interrupt may be simulated when replaying the first operation. Alternatively, if a blocking user-interface request occurred when the first operation was previously performed (such as a mandatory query), the replay look-ahead instruction may include one or more events associated with the user answer to the blocking user-interface request so that the same user answer may be provided when replaying the first operation." The patent application was filed on Oct. 30, 2009 (12/610,233). 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=8,397,186.PN.&OS=PN/8,397,186&RS=PN/8,397,186 Written by Kusum Sangma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Software Memory Leak Analysis Using Memory Isolation ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,397,111) developed by Matt R. Hogstrom, Cary, N.C., and Robbie J. Minshall, Chapel Hill, N.C., for a "software memory leak analysis using memory isolation." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Detecting leaky memory during the execution of an application in a data processing system. A memory controller identifies a leaky section of memory and delegates to an allocation component to allocate more memory. An isolator component isolates the memory section and further divides the memory section into subsections. Each section and each subsection are tested to determine if memory resources are strained to identify an application or its component causing the strain. Each section and subsection are further divided and isolated until the leaky portion of memory is identified, and as a result, the software component causing the leak can also be identified." The patent application was filed on Dec. 23, 2010 (12/977,779). 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=8,397,111.PN.&OS=PN/8,397,111&RS=PN/8,397,111 Written by Kusum Sangma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** Bank of America Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., has been assigned a patent (8,397,108) developed by Timothy B. Vannatter, Charlotte, N.C., Richard L. Fitzgerald, Davidson, N.C., and Stephen R. Crowley, Huntersville, N.C., for a "self-service terminal configuration management." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Apparatus and methods for monitoring a self-service device network. The network may include an electronic payment platform and self-service devices that electronically exchange payment information and are in electronic communication with a transaction authorization channel. The apparatus and methods may involve a receiver module and a web server module. The receiver module may receive fault-related event information from the electronic self-service devices. The receiver module may receive a transaction authorization channel error notification corresponding to the transaction authorization channel. The web server module may provide reporting information based on the fault-related events and the transaction authorization channel error notification to a user." The patent application was filed on June 15, 2009 (12/484,495). 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=8,397,108.PN.&OS=PN/8,397,108&RS=PN/8,397,108 Written by Kusum Sangma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** Bank of America Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., has been assigned a patent (8,396,789) developed by five co-inventors for credit-approval decision models. The co-inventors are Agus Sudjianto, Matthews, N.C., Peter B. Vechnak, Charlotte, N.C., Michelle Warholic, Cherry Hill, N.J., Meghan Alita Steach, Charlotte, N.C., and Jie Chen, Chappaqua, N.Y. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Embodiments of the present invention evaluate consumer spending and borrowing patterns and, based thereon, forecast changes in consumer failure to repay rates. Embodiments of the present invention then develop macroeconomic variables that reflect the forecasted changes in consumer failure to repay rates and implement those macroeconomic variables into credit-approval decision models. The implemented macroeconomic variables adjust the decision models' credit-approval thresholds to account for the forecasted changes in consumer failure to repay rates. For example, if forecasts indicate decreasing credit failure to repay rates, then macroeconomic variables are developed and implemented in decision models to reduce credit-approval thresholds, thereby reducing qualifying creditworthiness scores and making it easier to get credit. On the other hand, for example, if forecasts indicate increasing credit failure to repay rates, then macroeconomic variables are developed and implemented in decision models to increase credit-approval thresholds, thereby restricting access to credit and reducing future losses from consumer failures to repay." The patent application was filed on Jan. 4, 2010 (12/651,666). 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=8,396,789&OS=8,396,789&RS=8,396,789 Written by Neha Bharti; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Williams, Gadenne Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 -- James B. Williams, Sherborn, Mass., and Franncois G. Gadenne, Sherborn, Mass., have been assigned a patent (8,396,770) developed by Bret L. Benham, Weddington, N.C., James Benjamin Williams, Sherborn, Mass., and Francois G. Gadenne, Marblehead, Mass., for a "system for creating, issuing, managing and redeeming annuity-based retirement funding instruments." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method for administering an annuity-based retirement funding in which an investor's funds or current income is used to make incremental purchases of immediate annuity benefits at market rates, with the annuity payments received from previous purchases being applied purchase additional annuity benefits. The investor allocates a first allocated portion of each received benefit into an account and the reinvested funds are thereafter available in combination with new investment payments from the investor for the purchase of additional immediate annuity benefits. At the direction of the investor, typically after retirement, all or part of the received annuity payments can be received for the use of the investor." The patent application was filed on July 20, 2010 (12/804,329). 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=8,396,770&OS=8,396,770&RS=8,396,770 Written by Neha Bharti; edited by Jaya Anand. 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. -1117472 (c) 2013 Targeted News Service |