Lucent Technologies Inc.

Google Inc.

Alcatel Lucent

At+t Corp.

Avaya Technology LLC

Daniel Francis Lieuwen

Bharat Kumar

Andrew William Hogue

Denis M Lynch

Juliana Freire Silva

Kenneth Andrew Ross

Richard Baxter Hull

Gregory A Morris

Akira Kawaguchi

Tin Kam Ho

Abraham Silberschatz

Inderpal Singh Mumick

Joann J Ordille

Sundararajarao Sudarshan

Vinod Anupam

Anwar I Walid

Latha S Colby

Philip L Bohannon

Manjunath Srinivasaiah

Gang Zhou

Krzysztof Czuba

Timothy G Griffin

Philip Lewis Bohannon

Robert M Arlein

Paulo A Santos

Robert K Dinoff

Haobo Ren

Dallan Wendell Quass

Greg Morris

Gavin C Michael

Jacques Gava

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for providing geographically relevant search results. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a geotoken for a resource. The geotoken can be a resource token that references a geographic location. A semantic geotoken can be selected using the received geotoken. The semantic geotoken is a standardized representation of the geographic location that includes one or more location-specific terms. The semantic geotoken is stored with a reference to the resource. Neighboring locations for the geographic location are determined. The neighboring locations are within a predetermined distance of the geographic location. Semantic geotokens for the neighboring locations are selected and stored with the reference to the resource. Data specifying the semantic geotokens and the reference to the resource are provided.

Semantic geotokens

A tone advisor, a tone assisting system and a method of associating tones with callers. In one embodiment the method includes: (1) monitoring calls to and from a user, (2) obtaining information based on the calls and (3) categorizing a caller associated with at least one of the calls into a contact group according to the information and (4) assigning a genre of tones to the contact group.

Tone advisor, a tone assisting system and a method of associating tones with callers

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for measuring resource geotopicality. In one aspect, a method includes receiving geotokens for a resource, where each geotoken references a geographic location. An initial geotopicality score for a geographic location is computed using token attribute values of geotokens in the resource. A set of geotopical locations are selected for the resource based on the initial geotopicality score for the geographic location. Each geotopical location can be a geographic location for which the initial geotopicality score exceeds a geotopicality threshold. A final geotopicality score representing a measure of relevance for the resource relative to the geotopical location is computed for the geotopical location. Data specifying geotopical locations for the resource and geotopicality scores for the geotopical locations are provided.

Resource geotopicality measures

An executable shopping list (ESL) enables a user browsing an affiliate Web site's Web page to order, with a single action, a bundle of multiple items offered for sale by the affiliate's associated merchant Web site, wherein the bundle is one that is not offered or available for sale as a bundle to on-line visitors who directly access the merchant's Web site server. By selecting a link on the affiliate's Web page, the ESL is executed, thereby automatically loading the bundle of multiple items on that list into a virtual shopping cart at the merchant's Web site on behalf of the user. The virtual shopping cart, filled with the multiple items, is then returned to the user's browser for completion of the checkout procedure by the user. ESLs can be implemented on the affiliate site's side using what is referred to as smart bookmark technology, which records for later playback, the multiple steps required to load each item on the list into a shopping cart at the merchant's Web server. Alternatively, ESLs cam be implemented on the merchant's site side using the merchant's Web server's infrastructure. A discount can be optionally associated with the offer to purchase the multiple items in the bundle. ESLs are also applied to permission marketing where a merchant can bundle a group of items together and electronically offer that bundle to one or more customers who have agreed to receive such merchandising offers.

Applications of executable shopping lists

In a database, a database manager can generate a view, which, in concept, is a subset of the database, which is placed outside the database for use without disturbing the database, and without disturbance by others using the database. The subset, or view, can be understood as a collection of rows, or tuples, of data copied from the database. With views existing, multiple copies of data within the database now exist: the original in the database, and copies in the views. If one of these is changed, without corresponding changes made in the others, then inconsistencies occur, which cannot be tolerated. Under the invention, when a user seeks a lock on a view, indicating that a change may be imminent, the invention locks a superset of the tuples in the database from which the view is derived. A superset is a set which contains the set of tuples of the view, plus possibly others. Thus, more tuples are locked than strictly necessary. The excess locking is tolerated because other benefits are obtained.

Concurrency control in materialized views of a database

A database system includes a trigger gateway for implementing trigger functionality. The trigger gateway is located at a communication point between a user and a database system. The trigger gateway receives database commands destined for the database and processes triggers associated with the database commands. Where appropriate, the trigger gateway forwards the database command to the database. A trigger action server, which is located remote from the trigger gateway, may execute trigger actions in response to trigger execution requests sent from the trigger gateway. Alternatively, trigger actions may be executed within the trigger gateway. Trigger processing includes the processing of triggers after failed database commands. Security features are implemented to prevent unauthorized database access through the use of triggers.

Active database trigger processing using a trigger gateway

Shortcuts to Web pages that require multiple steps to be retrieved are enabled by means of a smart bookmark. A smart bookmark is a stored sequence of browsing steps performed by a user, that have been recorded in a transparent manner and which can be automatically played and replayed later when the smart bookmark is accessed. When a user elects to create a smart bookmark, a Java recorder-player applet is invoked that starts the recording process. When the recording process is started and an initial URL is inputted by the user, the responsive Web page at that URL downloaded into the browser is modified to attach event handlers to each element in that page that is associated with actions that the user may take. Each user's click, link traversal to another URL, or input of values to those elements on a form submission are automatically recorded as part of the smart bookmark under creation. The resultant information at each step is recorded in a file. When the smart bookmark is later accessed, the recorder-player Java applet reads the file, and the sequence of recorded steps is played back, including information associated with all link traversals and form submissions. During playback, each intermediate Web page optionally can be displayed in the user's browser, or only the last page can be displayed. Further, during playback, transitions between successive steps can be automatic or can require an input from the user before a next step in the sequence is made.

Method for creating and playing back a smart bookmark that automatically retrieves a requested Web page through a plurality of intermediate Web pages

In a data warehouse, materialized views are maintained to provide the latest versions thereof. A reader may initiate a reader session where a series of queries are issued against one or more of the views. However, an information inconsistency problem may arise when responses to the queries in the reader session are based on certain common underlying data in the views which is subject to an update by a maintenance transaction. To avoid the information inconsistency problem, each time when a maintenance transaction is performed to update a view, it is executed on a copy of the view, rather than the original view itself to which queries of on-going reader sessions are directed. After the maintenance transaction, the updated copy becomes the current version of the view to which queries of new reader sessions are directed.

Technique for effectively maintaining materialized views in a data warehouse

In a database, a database manager can generate a view, which can be considered as a subset of the database, and which is placed outside the database for use without disturbing the database. However, if the database changes, the views will not reflect those changes, because the views are separate from the database. To solve this problem, a process called &ldquo;refreshing&rdquo; keeps the views consistent with the data within the database. But different refreshing approaches are used: some views require immediate refreshing when the database changes, other types can be refreshed at later times, and still other types can be refreshed at different times and intervals. The invention presents a system which keeps data consistent among the views and the database, despite the different times of refreshing undertaken.

Refreshing materialized views of a database to maintain consistency with underlying data

A technique for calling party definition and control of the contact information and sequencing used to reach a particular called party. A method and apparatus are provided wherein the calling party specifies a set of communications devices along with their respective contact numbers for use in contacting a particular called party. Thereafter, attempts are made to locate the called party in accordance with the set of communications devices and respective contact numbers as designated by the calling party. Advantageously, a significant amount of increased control is provided to the calling party in defining and controlling the sequence in which attempts are made to reach a particular called party.

Method and apparatus for providing calling party control

A technique for providing calling party definition and control of the contact information and sequencing used to reach a particular called party. The calling party specifies a set of communications devices along with their respective contact numbers for use in contacting a particular called party. Thereafter, for example, a telecommunications service provider will attempt to locate the called party in accordance with the designated set of devices and respective contact numbers so designated by the calling party. Advantageously, the technique provides a significant amount of increased control to the calling party in defining and controlling the sequence in which attempts are made to reach a particular called party.

Telecommunications system for providing a calling party control service

A logical data architecture for fetch-intensive database applications includes a first and a second logical database. The second database includes materialized views over the first database. Updates are propagated from the first database to the second database using so-called view maintenance techniques. In preferred embodiments, the first database may be optimized for update transactions and the second database may be optimized for read transactions. At least one of the materialized views included in the second database is based on a pre-defined application read transaction. The update processing overhead associated with view maintenance is substantially performed at the first database.

Data architecture for fetch-intensive database applications

A method for recovering spin locks in a system having one or more processes capable of accessing a shared resource, the system providing a lock indicating exclusive access to the shared resource by a single process and enabling one or more processes to repeatedly attempt to gain access to the lock when ownership of the shared resource is desired. The method includes generating a linked list queue structure containing a first process currently having exclusive access to the lock and one or more processes added to the queue structure to spin on the lock, each process capable of modifying the queue structure by obtaining exclusive access of the lock from a process having exclusive access of the lock and releasing the lock to another process in the linked list queue structure; detecting when one or more processes having exclusive access to the lock terminates, and upon detection, removing the terminated process from the queue structure, and restoring consistency to said linked list queue structure.

Growing community of inventors

Somerville, NJ, United States of America

Daniel Francis Lieuwen