Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Daniel Rosen

David Earl Heckerman

Robert L Rounthwaite

Fileno A Alleva

Yoram Yaacovi

John L Manferdelli

Mei-Yuh Hwang

D Maxwell Chickering

D Chase Franklin

Daniel Ron Simon

Josh D Benaloh

Targeted delivery of items with inventory management using a cluster-based approach or a rule-based approach is disclosed. An example of items is advertisements. Each item is allocated to one or more clusters. The allocation is made based on a predetermined criterion accounting for at least a quota for each item and possibly a constraint for each cluster. The former can refer to the number of times an item must be shown. The latter can refer to the number of times a given group of web pages is likely to be visited by users, and hence is the number of times items can be shown in a given cluster. The invention is not limited to any particular definition of what constitutes a cluster or item.

Cluster-based and rule-based approach for automated web-based targeted advertising with quotas

The transmission of information during ad click-through is disclosed. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method selects an ad to be displayed on a web page, as one of a plurality of ads within a current cluster in which each of the ad has a probability to be selected. The method displays the ad on the web page, and then detects activation&#x2014;for example, click-through&#x2014;of the displayed ad. The method transmits information to an entity associated with the ad, such as an advertiser, upon detecting click-through or other activation of the ad. In one embodiment, the information transmitted includes information regarding the current cluster.

Transmission of information during ad click-through

Automated methods and apparatus for synchronizing audio and text data, e.g., in the form of electronic files, representing audio and text expressions of the same work or information are described. Also described are automated methods of detecting errors and other discrepancies between the audio and text versions of the same work. A speech recognition operation is performed on the audio data initially using a speaker independent acoustic model. The recognized text in addition to audio time stamps are produced by the speech recognition operation. The recognized text is compared to the text in text data to identify correctly recognized words. The acoustic model is then retrained using the correctly recognized text and corresponding audio segments from the audio data transforming the initial acoustic model into a speaker trained acoustic model. The retrained acoustic model is then used to perform an additional speech recognition operation on the audio data. The audio and text data are synchronized using the results of the updated acoustic model. In addition, one or more error reports based on the final recognition results are generated showing discrepancies between the recognized words and the words included in the text. By retraining the acoustic model in the above described manner, improved accuracy is achieved.

Methods and apparatus for performing speech recognition using acoustic models which are improved through an interactive process

Automated methods and apparatus for synchronizing audio and text data, e.g., in the form of electronic files, representing audio and text expressions of the same work or information are described. A statistical language model is generated from the text data. A speech recognition operation is then performed on the audio data using the generated language model and a speaker independent acoustic model. Silence is modeled as a word which can be recognized. The speech recognition operation produces a time indexed set of recognized words some of which may be silence. The recognized words are globally aligned with the words in the text data. Recognized periods of silence, which correspond to expected periods of silence, and are adjoined by one or more correctly recognized words are identified as points where the text and audio files should be synchronized, e.g., by the insertion of bi-directional pointers. In one embodiment, for a text location to be identified for synchronization purposes, both words which bracket, e.g., precede and follow, the recognized silence must be correctly identified. Pointers, corresponding to identified locations of silence to be used for synchronization purposes are inserted into the text and/or audio files at the identified locations. Audio time stamps obtained from the speech recognition operation may be used as the bi-directional pointers. Synchronized text and audio data may be output in a variety of file formats.

Methods and apparatus for automatically synchronizing electronic audio files with electronic text files

An online commerce system facilitates online commerce over a public network using an online commerce card. The 'card' does not exist in physical form, but instead exists in digital form. It is assigned a customer account number that includes digits for a prefix number for bank-handling information, digits for a customer identification number, digits reserved for an embedded code number, and a digit for check sum. The bank also gives the customer a private key. During an online transaction, the customer computer retrieves the private key and customer account number from storage. The customer computer generates a code number as a function of the private key, customer-specific data (e.g, card-holder's name, account number, etc.) and transaction-specific data (e.g., transaction amount, merchant ID, goods ID, time, transaction date, etc.). The customer computer embeds the code number in the reserved digits of the customer account number to create a transaction number specific to the transaction. The customer submits that transaction number to the merchant as a proxy for a regular card number. When the merchant submits the number for approval, the issuing institution recognizes it as a proxy transaction number, indexes the customer account record, and looks up the associated private key and customer-specific data. The institution computes a test code number using the same function and input parameters as the customer computer. The issuing institution compares the test code number with the code number embedded in the transaction number. If the two numbers match, the issuing institution accepts the transaction number as valid.

Electronic online commerce card with customer generated transaction

An online commerce system facilitates online commerce over a public network using an online commerce card. The 'card' does not exist in physical form, but instead exists in digital form. The online commerce card is issued electronically to a customer by an issuing institution. The issued card is assigned a permanent customer account number that is maintained on behalf of the customer at the issuing institution to remove the risk of the number being lost or s stolen. When the customer desires to conduct an online transaction, the customer asks the issuing institution to issue a transaction number for a single transaction. The issuing institution generates a temporary transaction number and associates it with the permanent account number in a data record. The customer receives the transaction number and submits that number to the merchant as a proxy for the customer account number. The transaction number looks like a real card number and the merchant handles the transaction number in the same manner as any regular credit card number. When the merchant submits an request for authorization, the issuing institution recognizes the number as a transaction number for an online commerce card. The issuing institution references the customer account number, using the transaction number as an index, and processes the authorization request using the real customer account number in place of the proxy number. Once the authorization request is processed, the issuing institution once again exchanges the transaction number for the customer account number and sends an authorization reply back to the merchant under the transaction number.

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Daniel Rosen