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U.S. Patents Awarded to Inventors in North Carolina (May 15)(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Targeted News Service Targeted News Service ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- The following federal patents were awarded to inventors in North Carolina. *** Activision Publishing Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- Activision Publishing, Santa Monica, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,442,946) developed by six co-inventors for "controlling and using virtual universe wish lists." The co-inventors are Rick A. Hamilton II, Charlottesville, Va., James R. Kozloski, New Fairfield, Conn., Brian M. O'Connell, Cary, N.C., Clifford A. Pickover, Yorktown Heights, N.Y., James W. Seaman, Falls Church, Va., and Keith R. Walker, Austin, Texas. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Described herein are examples of a virtual universe wish list as well as its control and use. Some embodiments are directed to determining a selection of an object in a virtual universe that is a desired by a user, which user is represented by a first avatar. Some embodiments are further directed to designating the object as a desired item in a wish list for the first avatar. The wish list may be stored in the avatar's virtual universe inventory. Some embodiments are further directed to determining a second avatar in the virtual universe that possesses an instance of the virtual object. Some embodiments are further directed to generating an advertisement to obtain the instance of the virtual object from the second avatar on behalf of the first avatar." The patent application was filed on March 29, 2012 (13/433,593). 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=8,442,946&OS=8,442,946&RS=8,442,946 Written by Arpi Sharma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** Branch Banking and Trust Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- Branch Banking and Trust, Raleigh, N.C., has been assigned a patent (8,442,854) developed by Robert Russell Lawton, Madison, N.C., and Guenther Kurt Hartfeil, Cornelius, N.C., for a "system and method for estimating residual lifetime value of a customer base utilizing survival analysis." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "The present disclosure describes novel systems and methods that can be utilized to evaluate and/or direct an interaction with a consumer database and/or evaluate a consumer database, where the consumer database contains information about consumers and particular products and/or services held or used by the consumers. The interactions may be, for example, determining a strategy for sales, marketing, cross-selling, and/or retaining one or more of the consumers. The evaluations may include, for example, hierarchically ranking the consumers and/or determining a clustering of the consumers." The patent application was filed on Dec. 6, 2012 (13/706,512). 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=84,42,854.PN.&OS=PN/84,42,854&RS=PN/84,42,854 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,442,851) developed by Corinne M. Ryan, Westford, Mass., and Ruthie D. Lyle, Durham, N.C., for "providing feedback to a chairperson in an electronic meeting scheduling system in order to enable improved meeting resource management." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system for providing feedback to a chairperson in an electronic meeting scheduling system to enable improved meeting resource management, in which a chairperson can indicate the attendance modes that are permitted for specific invitees to a meeting. The meeting invitations indicate to the invitees the attendance modes they are permitted to use. Meeting invitees are presented with user interface options allowing them to select from potentially multiple attendance modes, determined in response to inputs from the chairperson, and/or in response to information describing resources. As meeting resources are allocated to accepting invitees, those resources become unavailable for selection by subsequently accepting invitees. Meeting acceptances are collected such that indications of how accepting attendees will attend the meeting are made available in a chairperson interface so that the chairperson can adjust resources allocated for the meeting to reflect how accepting attendees are planning to attend." The patent application was filed on July 20, 2007 (11/780,566). 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=84,42,851.PN.&OS=PN/84,42,851&RS=PN/84,42,851 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Bank of America Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., has been assigned a patent (8,442,894) developed by Jason Blackhurst, Charlotte, N.C., and Michael W. Upton, Charlotte, N.C., for a "guaranteed merchant payment in a card-not-present transaction." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Embodiments of the invention provide for systems, devices, apparatus, methods and computer program products for payment card-issuing entities to guarantee merchant payment in card-not-present-transactions and, more specifically, automatically guaranteeing merchant payment in card-not-present transactions based on the payment card-issuing entity authenticating the customer prior to the transactions. By guaranteeing merchant payment in card-not-present transactions, the merchant's risk associated with such transaction is greatly reduced." The patent application was filed on Jan. 25, 2011 (13/013,684). 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=84,42,894.PN.&OS=PN/84,42,894&RS=PN/84,42,894 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Cisco Technology Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- Cisco Technology, San Jose, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,443,262) developed by John A. Foley, Apex, N.C., for an "adaptive memory scrub rate." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "In one embodiment an example apparatus includes a memory with an error detection system (EDS) that detects an error event in the memory. The error event involves at least one bit in the memory changing state erroneously. The apparatus also includes a scrub logic to scrub the memory and correct memory errors (e.g., bit errors). The apparatus also includes a scrub rate adaptive logic to selectively control a memory scrub frequency associated with the scrub logic where the control is based, at least in part, on a number of error events detected by the EDS during an interval of time. A memory scrub frequency is the rate that a memory is periodically scrubbed to remove errors." The patent application was filed on July 17, 2012 (13/551,451). 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=8,443,262.PN.&OS=PN/8,443,262&RS=PN/8,443,262 Written by Kusum Sangma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** Midtronics Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- Midtronics, Willowbrook, Ill., has been assigned a patent (8,442,877) developed by Kevin I. Bertness, Batavia, Ill., and John S. Philbrook, Cornelius, N.C., for a "simplification of inventory management." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A simplified inventory management method. The method employs a plurality of stock-keeping unit labels, with each of the plurality of stock-keeping unit labels having a same stock-keeping unit number. Individual ones of the plurality of stock-keeping unit labels are utilized to track individual items of a plurality of items. A sale price of individual ones a first set of the plurality of items is different from a sale price of individual ones of a second set of the plurality of items." The patent application was filed on April 1, 2009 (12/416,445). 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=84,42,877.PN.&OS=PN/84,42,877&RS=PN/84,42,877 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. *** Qualcomm Assigned Patent for Methods and Apparatus for Dynamically Managing Banked Memory ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- Qualcomm, San Diego, has been assigned a patent (8,443,162) developed by Thomas Philip Speier, Holly Springs, N.C., James Norris Dieffenderfer, Apex, N.C., and Ravi Rajagopalan, Cary, N.C., for "methods and apparatus for dynamically managing banked memory." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Techniques for controllably allocating a portion of a plurality of memory banks as cache memory are disclosed. To this end, a configuration tracker and a bank selector are employed. The configuration tracker configures whether each memory bank is to operate in a cache or not. The bank selector has a plurality of bank distributing functions. Upon receiving an incoming address, the bank selector determines the configuration of memory banks currently operating as the cache and applies an appropriate bank distributing function based on the configuration of memory banks. The applied bank distributing function utilizes bits in the incoming address to access one of the banks configured as being in the cache." The patent application was filed on Jan. 21, 2005 (11/040,600). 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=8,443,162.PN.&OS=PN/8,443,162&RS=PN/8,443,162 Written by Kusum Sangma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Automated Voltage Control for Scheduled Server Outage ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,443,220) developed by James C. Fletcher, Apex, N.C., and David L. Kaminsky, Chapel Hill, N.C., for an "automated voltage control for scheduled server outage in server cluster by determining future workload increase for remaining servers based upon service level objectives and determining associated voltage adjustments." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Information regarding a scheduled outage for a server associated with a cluster of servers is received at a voltage regulation system (VRS) for the cluster of servers. A work load increase is determined for each remaining server within the cluster of servers due to the scheduled outage for the server. A voltage adjustment is calculated for each remaining server based upon the determined work load increase for each remaining server. Voltage for each remaining server is automatically adjusted based upon the calculated voltage adjustment." The patent application was filed on Sept. 17, 2009 (12/561,524). 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=8,443,220.PN.&OS=PN/8,443,220&RS=PN/8,443,220 Written by Kusum Sangma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Power Management Module Enforcing Computer Power Capping By Reading Power Cap Information from Nameplate having Both Machine Readable Module and Human Readable Designation for Providing Such Information ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,443,210) developed by five co-inventors for a "power management module enforcing computer power capping by reading power cap information from nameplate having both machine readable module and human readable designation for providing such information." The co-inventors are Justin P. Bandholz, Cary, N.C., Thomas M. Brey, Cary, N.C., Nickolas J. Gruendler, Pflugerville, Texas, William G. Pagan, Durham, N.C., and William J. Piazza, Holly Springs, N.C. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A nameplate for power capping a computer including a mounting surface; a module integrated in the mounting surface for providing a machine-readable designation of a power cap for a particular computer; a human readable designation of a power cap for the particular computer integrated in the mounting surface; and a mount for attaching the mounting surface to a chassis of the particular computer such that the human readable designation of a power cap is exposed." The patent application was filed on Sept. 17, 2009 (12/561,591). 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=8,443,210.PN.&OS=PN/8,443,210&RS=PN/8,443,210 Written by Kusum Sangma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** EMC Assigned Patent ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 - EMC, Hopkinton, Mass., has been assigned a patent (8,443,163) developed by six co-inventors for "methods, systems, and computer readable medium for tier-based data storage resource allocation and data relocation in a data storage array." The co-inventors are Charles Christopher Bailey, Durham, N.C., Prabu Surendra, Vellore, India, Miles Aram de Forest, Bahama, N.C., David Haase, Fuquay Varina, N.C., Samuel Mullis, Raleigh, N.C., and Dean Herington, Hillsborough, N.C. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a method for tier-based slice allocation and data relocation in a data storage array. The method is performed at a data storage array including physical data storage capacity being logically divided into one or more logical units (LUs) and each of the one or more LUs being further subdivided into one or more slices, where the data storage array includes a resource pool being divided into a plurality of resource groupings, where each resource grouping includes one or more resources of a common type. The method includes receiving a slice allocation request for allocating a slice from the data storage array, where the slice allocation request includes at least one constraint. In response to receiving the slice allocation request, a slice that honors the at least one constraint is allocated." The patent application was filed on June 28, 2010 (12/824,816). 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=8,443,163.PN.&OS=PN/8,443,163&RS=PN/8,443,163 Written by Kusum Sangma; edited by Anand Kumar. *** Red Hat Assigned Patent for Systems and Methods for Tracking a History of Changes Associated with Software Packages in a Computing System ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- Red Hat, Raleigh, N.C., has been assigned a patent (8,443,361) developed by four co-inventors for "systems and methods for tracking a history of changes associated with software packages in a computing system." The co-inventors are Seth Kelby Vidal, Raleigh, N.C., Adrian Karstan Likins, Raleigh, N.C., Michael Paul DeHaan, Morrisville, N.C., and James Antill, Bristol, Conn. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "In order to track actions performed by a package manager, a computing system can be configured to include a tagging tool. The tagging tool can be configured to cooperate with the package manager in order to determine and generate a history of the actions performed by the package manager. The history can include a description of the actions, the reasons why the actions were performed, and a list and description of the software programs, files, and software libraries that are affected by the actions." The patent application was filed on Aug. 31, 2009 (12/551,475). 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=8,443,361&OS=8,443,361&RS=8,443,361 Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Session Life-cycle Quality-of-experience Orchestration for VOD Flows in Wireless Broadband Networks ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,443,404) developed by five co-inventors for a "session life-cycle quality-of-experience orchestration for VOD flows in wireless broadband networks." The co-inventors are Malolan Chetlur, Domlur, India, Umamaheswari C. Devi, Domlur, India, Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, Bangalore, India, Sumedh W. Sathaye, Research Triangle Park, N.C., and John Michael Tracey, Hawthorne, N.Y. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A network system includes a connectivity services network (CSN), a plurality of access service network gateways, a plurality of base stations, an orchestration device, executing a lifecycle quality-of-experience model for video-on-demand flows, receiving content from the CSN, and a plurality of subscriber stations in communication with the orchestration device through a base station and/or gateway, wherein the orchestration device continuously tracks past service and usage for each of the subscriber stations and predicts future channel conditions and load to determine, periodically or when triggered by critical events, many-to-one assignments from subscriber stations to base stations and allocation of base station resources to subscriber stations assigned to it." The patent application was filed on May 3, 2010 (12/772,560). 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=8,443,404&OS=8,443,404&RS=8,443,404 Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Method and Apparatus for Repositioning a Horizontally or Vertically Maximized Display Window ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,443,298) developed by Robert S. Hoblit, Raleigh, N.C., for a "method and apparatus for repositioning a horizontally or vertically maximized display window." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method, apparatus, and computer usable program to reposition a display window that has been adjusted along a dimension. The method includes displaying a display window on a desktop, the display window having a first boundary, a second boundary opposite the first boundary, a third boundary about perpendicular to the first boundary, and a fourth boundary opposite the third boundary. The method further includes receiving a resize command and, responsive to receiving the resize command, moving the first boundary with respect to a first window limit and moving the second boundary with respect to a second window limit. The method includes receiving a reposition command and, responsive to receiving the reposition command, moving the third and fourth boundaries of the resized display window while maintaining the fixed distance between the third and fourth boundaries and maintaining the position of the first and second boundaries with respect to the first and second window limits." The patent application was filed on Oct. 2, 2007 (11/866,156). 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=8,443,298&OS=8,443,298&RS=8,443,298 Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi. *** EMC Assigned Patent for Method and System for Dynamically Selecting a Best Resource from Each Resource Collection Based on Resources Dependencies, Prior Selections and Statistics to Implement an Allocation Policy ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- EMC, Hopkinton, Mass., has been assigned a patent (8,443,369) developed by six co-inventors for a "method and system for dynamically selecting a best resource from each resource collection based on resources dependencies, prior selections and statistics to implement an allocation policy." The co-inventors are Charles Christopher Bailey, Durham, N.C., Miles Aram de Forest, Bahama, N.C., Michael Burriss, Raleigh, N.C., David Haase, Fuquay Varina, N.C., Dipak Prasad, Raleigh, N.C., and Brandon Myers, Cary, N.C. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Systems, methods, and computer readable medium for optimizing storage allocations based on system resources are disclosed. According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a method for dynamic, policy-based allocation of system resources. The method includes specifying a plurality of system resource collections for representing sets of like system resources and their dependencies. An order in which the collections are to be evaluated during selection of a resource is also specified. A policy for determining the best resource within each collection is also specified. Statistics about the system resources in the collections are maintained. A request for a resource is received. In response to receiving the request, the collections are evaluated in the specified order. The best resource is selected from each collection based on the dependencies, prior selections, and statistics to implement the policy." The patent application was filed on June 30, 2008 (12/164,959). 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=8,443,369&OS=8,443,369&RS=8,443,369 Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi. *** International Business Machines Assigned Patent for Method, system and program product for assigning a responder to a requester in a collaborative environment ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15 -- International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,443,048) developed by Charles Steven Lingafelt, Durham, N.C., David Paul Merrill, New Paltz, N.Y., and John Elbert Moore, Brownsburg, Ind., for a "method, system and program product for assigning a responder to a requester in a collaborative environment." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method, system and program product for assigning a resource to a client in a collaborative environment. The method includes defining, using a tool, a threshold value for collaborative attributes for each resource responding to one or more clients and calculating on a periodic basis, using the tool, an updated value for the collaborative attributes for each resource. The method further includes comparing, upon receipt of a collaboration request, the updated value with the threshold value defined for collaborative attributes for a first resource and, if the updated value is less than the threshold value for the first resource, connecting the client to the first resource for establishing a collaborative session. If not, repeating comparing the updated value with the threshold value for the collaborative attributes defined for a next resource and connecting the client to the next resource whose updated value is less than the threshold value." The patent application was filed on Aug. 1, 2012 (13/564,377). 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=8,443,048&OS=8,443,048&RS=8,443,048 Written by Arpi Sharma; edited by Anand Kumar. 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. -1124943 (c) 2013 Targeted News Service |