Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Nicholas Berry

Mark A Nikiel

Craig A Link

Dean M Pachosa

A system and method are provided for producing one or more unique account names in response to a user request, or in response to a user attempting to adopt another name that is unavailable. When performed in response to a user request, the method includes the steps of combining a randomly selected word element, such as an affix or adjective, and a randomly selected stem, such as a noun, to produce a random account name, and comparing the name with a list of existing account names to determine if it is unique. If so, the unique name is provided to the user for acceptance. Additional unique names can be produced by the same or a different method so that the user is presented with a plurality of unique names for consideration. For example, if the user attempts to adopt a name that is unavailable, a unique modified account name can be produced that is based on the name entered by the user. The modified name is produced by combining the requested name or a stem thereof with a randomly generated word element or a numerical seed to produce an alternate account name, comparing the name with the list of existing account names to determine if it is unique and, if so, providing it to the user for acceptance.

System and method for producing unique account names

A system and method for altering a portion of a pre-calculated route by allowing a user to graphically indicate the portion of the route to alter is disclosed. The user indicates the portion to be altered by navigating a pointer to a point along a graphical representation of the route and selecting the point. The point identifies which portion of the route is to be altered. The user may then alter the route by dragging and dropping the selected portion to a new destination. In essence, the user redirects the route to the new destination by dragging the selected portion of the route to the new destination.

System and method for graphically altering a pre-calculated route

A computer-implementable method for ordering destinations to be visited in a computationally-efficient manner and which achieves an acceptable level of optimization of the order for those destinations is disclosed. The computer-implementable method orders destinations to be visited by identifying the position in an existing order of destinations where the insertion of a new destination will result in the shortest increase to the straight-line length of the route. More specifically, a single, continuous line connects each of the destinations to be visited. The continuous line is composed of multiple &ldquo;links.&rdquo; Each link is a straight line connecting two destinations. The total length of the continuous line is the sum of the lengths of each link. The order of the destinations defines the order in which the continuous line visits each destination. A new destination is added at a position in the existing order of destinations that results in the shortest increase to the straight-line length of the continuous line.

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Nicholas Berry