International Business Machines Corporation

Ebay, Incorporated

Sebastian Daniel Hassinger

Duane Kimbell Fields

William Walter Hurley, Ii

Thomas Preston Gregg

David B Kumhyr

Margaret Gardner MacPhail

Mark Andrew Kolb

William Walter Hurley

Steven Cameron Blair

William Meyer Smith

Alexander M Keller

Gautam Kar

John Joseph Edward Turek

John J E Turek

Stacy Braden Vu

A method, system, apparatus, and computer program product for processing e-commerce information are presented. A business entity may transfer e-commerce agreements through an electronic marketplace. The business entity retrieves dependency information about a commercial transaction from an e-commerce agreement. The business entity incorporates the dependency information, e.g., dates, costs, deliveries, etc., as dependency relationships within a project model that represents a project for a product or service for sale by the first business entity. User input is received for manipulating a cost dependency relationship within the project model while constraining the user input to ensure that another type of dependency relationship is not incompatible with modifications to the cost dependency relationship.

Method and system for manipulation of cost information in a distributed virtual enterprise

A method, system, apparatus, and computer program product for processing e-commerce information are presented. A first business entity and a second business entity may transfer e-commerce agreements through an electronic marketplace. After receiving a document for an e-commerce agreement that represents a legal agreement for a commercial transaction between the first business entity and the second business entity, the first business entity retrieves dependency information about the commercial transaction from the e-commerce agreement. The first business entity then incorporates the dependency information, e.g., dates, costs, deliveries, etc., as dependency relationships within a project model that represents a project for a product or service for sale by the first business entity. The project model may comprise objects representing tasks to be performed or physical components to be processed by the first business entity. The dependency relationships are subsequently used to constrain modifications of the project model with respect to specific parameters.

Method and system for distributed virtual enterprise dependency objects

A technique for determining an impact of a condition (e.g., service outage) of at least one subject component in a computing environment comprises the following steps/operations. First, one or more components in the computing environment which depend on the at least one subject component (e.g., dependents) are identified. Identification comprises traversing at least a portion of a model representative of an existence of one or more relationships associated with at least a portion of components of the computing environment and which is capable of accounting for a full lifecycle (e.g., including deployment, installation and runtime) associated with at least one component of the computing environment. Then, one or more procedures are performed in accordance with the one or more identified components to determine a condition status associated with each of the one or more identified components. By way of example, the inventive techniques may be applied to a distributed computing environment. The computing environment may also be an autonomic computing environment.

Methods and apparatus for impact analysis and problem determination

A method for extending the capabilities of an arbitrary web server operating in a client-server environment (e.g., the Internet). When a client makes a request to the web server, the request may include an address for a code module needed to service the request. If the code module is not available at the web server, the web server uses the address to request the code module from another location. The code module is then served to the web server and installed. The web server then responds to the original client request using the installed code module. In an alternative embodiment, the code module is uploaded to the target server from the client.

Method for extending capabilities of an arbitrary web server

A method and apparatus in a data processing system for generating suggested content for a site. A request is received for content for the site from a client, wherein the content is requested content. The requested content is sent to the client. The requested content includes information used to track user movement within the site. Suggested content is generated using the information in response to the client requesting the suggested content.

Method and apparatus for creating and displaying user specific and site specific guidance and navigation information

The present invention protects images via a server-based policy that results in the selective distribution of one of multiple versions of an original image. The policy includes a set of one or more rules that each include given criteria. When a request for a web page is received, a given rule in the set is evaluated against client-specific data (e.g., such as client IP address, the identity of the referring page, or the like) obtained from the client request. If a condition of the rule is satisfied against the client-specific data, a given restriction is imposed on the image distribution.

Method and system for distributing image-based content on the internet

A method of storing image files in digital storage media begins by arranging a given set of image files into a composite image. A transformation may be applied to a given image file prior to being arranged into the composite image. A compression routine is then applied to the composite image, with the result then being stored in the digital storage media. This process reduces the amount of storage that would be otherwise required if the individual files were compressed and stored separately.

Lightweight image manipulation for maximizing the capacity of digital photo storage media

An automated means for defining a filter used to extract web content for a web page is disclosed wherein the extracted content is used in a recast web page. The recast web page may be produced by a hosting site, or may be part of an effort to revise a web site at a web content provider. First, a set of pages, possibly a single page, is retrieved from a content provider web server. Next, the web page is parsed to identify a set of selectable content elements. Next, a representation of the original web page is presented in a user interface, wherein the selectable content elements are demarcated. The user will select some of the elements for inclusion in the filter through the user interface, whereby the tool will indicate the selected content elements for inclusion in the filter. The tool constructs the filter so that when the filter is used, the selected content elements are extracted from a retrieved web page from the content provider web server and reused in the recast web page. As part of the process of identifying the selectable content elements, a set of varied headers can be used to retrieve multiple versions of the same web page. In this way, the multiple versions of the web page are compared to identify static and dynamic content elements and marked as static or dynamic.

Filter definition for distribution mechanism for filtering, formatting and reuse of web based content

A method for reuse of image data in a distributed computer network is operative at a web server in response to a request from a client browser for a web page. At the web server, a determination is made regarding whether the web page includes a given object reference. If so, a template defining a composite image is retrieved. The template identifies at least one image object to be retrieved from another location, typically from a host remote to the web server. Once the image object is retrieved, a given transform is applied to the image object to generate a transformed image object. The given transform, for example, is selected from a group of transforms such as: scaling, mirroring, cutting, cropping, inverting, flipping, reversing, rotating, color shifting, and combinations of the above. Thereafter, the transformed image object is mapped into the composite image according to the template. After the composite image is created, it is served within the web page originally requested by the client.

Distribution mechanism for reuse of web based image data

A scanning tool executing on a host computer may be used to scan a server only if the server (or a proxy) first exposes to the host a certificate that, upon processing by the host, indicates that the server may be scanned. The certificate preferably encrypts a scan permission and is made available from a given port on the server (or the proxy). Whenever the host desires to perform a scan of the server, the host searches the port for the certificate. The certificate is then decrypted to determine whether the scan permission exists. If so, the scan then proceeds, in accordance with any conditions set forth in the decrypted scan permission.

Permission-based scanning of a web site

A system, method, and computer-usable medium for customizing and displaying a network file distributes customization tasks between a client and a server. A client sends a request for a network file, such as a Web page, to a server. The request may include information regarding the client machine type, browser, and customization options (i.e. preferences). Customization options may include personal (i.e. user) options and group (i.e. department, corporate, etc.) options. These options, along with the client machine type and browser, are used by the server to determine how to customize the requested network file. The server obtains the requested network file, and a server-side customization program customizes the file. The server-side customization program may also analyze the network file, and may embed return customization information in the customized network file. The client receives the customized network file, including the return customization information, from the server. A client-side customization program then performs further customization on the network file. This customization may be based on the return customization information from the server, other user preferences known by the client, and/or current conditions at the client. After the client-side customization is complete, the final customized file is displayed by the client.

System and method for cooperative client/server customization of web pages

Real time creation of new hyperlinks in a hyperlinked database is performed. Responsive to user input, a word or other element is selected in a first page of the hyperlinked database. The selected word is used as part of a search query to a selected search engine. The search results are received from the selected search engine and presented in a second page to a user. In one preferred embodiment, first and second pages are web pages presented by a browser and the selected search engine is an Internet search engine native to a different page than the server from which the first page originates.

Hyperlinked search interface for distributed database

The invention is used to balance and control traffic within a single internet site or between multiple sites. A static or dynamic analysis of site usage is performed. When an under-visited portion of a site is identified, then a link or message is created on a more-visited portion of the web-site to motivate the user visiting the site to explore the under-visited portion. The portion can be a specific page of the web site, or an entire section.

Growing community of inventors

Blanco, TX, United States of America

Sebastian Daniel Hassinger