International Business Machines Corporation

Google Inc.

Mediatek Corporation

Infoprintsolutions Company, LLC

Viktors Berstis

Randolph Michael Forlenza

Joel Leslie Smith

John W Dunsmoir

Maria Azua Himmel

Chung H Lam

Peter Juergen Klim

Michael A Paolini

Yen-Fu Chen

Manish Mahesh Modh

Danny Yen-Fu Chen

Linda Arnold Lisle

Stacey Alan Barnes

Ellen Kay Harper

Brian E Leonard

Kyle Joseph Prestenback

Creighton Matthew Hicks

Herman Rodriguez

James Harvey Kaufman

Robert Glenn Deen

Matthew Hammer

John Daniel Sieron Bethencourt

Kevin Blake Damm

Xiaolin Li

Justin Lucus Youngblood

Fabian F Morgan

John Paul Kaemmerer

Richard Scott Schwerdtfeger

Michael Pierre Carlson

George Willard Van Leeuwen

Tobin Jon Lehman

Amal Ahmed Shaheen

Steven Michael Pritko

Candice B Gilzean

Samuel Roy Detweiler

Joseph Raymond Thompson

Janet Dmitrovich

Scott Michael Preddy

Kyle Boon

Bella Voldman

Brian Scott Stein

Sonia M Gaillard

Michael Wayne Brown

Newton James Smith, Jr

Lorin Ullmann

Thomas Guthrie Zimmerman

Kelvin Roderick Lawrence

Leon Edward Gregg

Richard Dale Hoffman

Terry Lyle Schardt

Sheryl S Kinstler

Santhosh Rao

Raymond J Pedersen

Donald A James

Christopher Daniel Reech

James Gregory Ranweiler

Erin Christine Burke

William C Richardson

Kenneth Michael Ashcraft

Paolo Franco Magnone

Francis X Kinstler

Gerald John Balm

George Lee Fulk

Sockalingam Radhakrishnan

Murthy Lakshmana Mantha

James Xavier

Sockalinga Radhakrishnan

Manish Manesh Modh

Gary F Aberle

Kuang-Chi Hu

Charles T Watson

Maria C Azua

Toby Lehman

A method and system for controlling a commercial transaction is presented. An article of manufacture has a time cell that is read by an electronic apparatus. In response to a determination of a state of the time cell by the electronic apparatus, usage of the article of manufacture in a commercial transaction is enabled or denied based on the determined state of the time cell. The expiration period of a time cell controls the time period during which the commercial transaction is enabled or is denied to be performed; an unexpired time cell may both enable or deny performance of a commercial transaction, and an expired time cell may also both enable or deny performance of a commercial transaction. The time cell may be used to restrict the usage period of a coupon, a promotional offer, a pre-paid service, or some other commercial transaction that involves an article of manufacture.

Horological functions in commercial transactions using time cells

Mechanisms for controlling a commercial transaction is presented. An article of manufacture has a time cell that is read by an electronic apparatus. In response to a determination of a state of the time cell by the electronic apparatus, usage of the article of manufacture in a commercial transaction is enabled or denied based on the determined state of the time cell. The expiration period of a time cell controls the time period during which the commercial transaction is enabled or is denied to be performed; an unexpired time cell may both enable or deny performance of a commercial transaction, and an expired time cell may also both enable or deny performance of a commercial transaction. The time cell may be used to restrict the usage period of a coupon, a promotional offer, a pre-paid service, or some other commercial transaction that involves an article of manufacture.

Performing horological functions in commercial transactions using time cells

A method and system for transferring an image. Displayed are: (a) a graphic object representing a web page, (b) a first destination point within the graphic object and first text which is adjacent to the first destination point and describes the first destination point, and (c) a second, different destination point within the graphic object and second, different text which is adjacent to the second destination point and describes the second destination point. A user mouse selection of one of the destination points within the graphic object is received, and in response, a selected image is copied into the web page at the selected destination point. The first destination point, the first text, the second destination point, and the second text are stored in the transfer map. The selected image is mapped to the one of the destination points in the transfer map.

Multi-source, multi-destination data transfers

Methods and arrangements to check for permission to record Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) messages and to respond to requests for permission are contemplated. Embodiments include transformations, code, state machines or other logic to check for permission to record VoIP messages and to respond to requests by transmitting an inquiry on permission to record a VoIP message of a participant in a VoIP call session comprising the VoIP message, receiving a response to the inquiry, determining by a processor whether the response to the inquiry grants permission to record the VoIP message, and recording the VoIP message based upon the response to the inquiry granting permission to record the VoIP message. Some embodiments may involve querying a participant in a VoIP call session comprising a VoIP message for permission to record the VoIP message through a user interface mechanism for checking for permission to record VoIP messages.

Checking for permission to record VoIP messages

A method and system for transferring an image. A user-selected image is received. Displayed are: (a) a graphic object representing a web page, (b) a first destination point within the graphic object and first text which is adjacent to the first destination point and describes the first destination point, and (c) a second, different destination point within the graphic object and second, different text which is adjacent to the second destination point and describes the second destination point. A user mouse selection of one of the destination points within the graphic object is received, and in response, the image is copied into the web page at the selected destination point. The first destination point, the first text, the second destination point, and the second text are stored in the transfer map. The selected image is mapped to the one of the destination points in the transfer map.

A system and method for transferring data or an image. A user-selected image or user-generated text within a word processing document is received. Displayed are: a graphic object representing a web page, and a first and second destination point within the graphic object. A user mouse selection of one of the destination points within the graphic object is received, and in response, the image or selected text is copied into the web page at the selected destination point. The first destination point and first text which is adjacent to the first destination point and describes the first destination point in a transfer map are stored. The second destination point and second text which is adjacent to the second destination point and describes the second destination point in the transfer map are stored. The user-selected text is mapped to the one of the destination points in the transfer map.

Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for multi-source, multi-destination data transfers that include identifying a plurality of destination points having destination contexts in one or more destination objects; selecting source content for transfer; displaying destination contexts for the destination points; and directing source content to at least one destination point in dependence upon the displayed destination contexts. In typical embodiments, identifying destination points includes recording each identified destination point and storing in association with each recorded destination point a copy of a destination context for each recorded destination point.

A method for receiving from a customer, customer subscription data at a menu tree service center prior to receiving a customer request from the customer, wherein the customer subscription data comprises at least one linked customer number linked to a spoken word or phrase. The method sends a service provider request for the linked customer number to the customer via the menu tree service center. The method receives a verbal response from the customer at the menu tree service center, wherein the verbal response comprises the spoken word or phrase. The method retrieves the linked customer number from the menu tree service center server based on the verbal response. The method sends the linked customer number to the service provider.

Phone service menus

Methods and arrangements to communicate aurally during a chat conference are contemplated. Embodiments include transformations, code, state machines or other logic to communicate aurally during a chat conference by receiving through a user interface for the chat conference the designation of a participant in the chat conference, receiving through the user interface for the chat conference a command to capture audio, capturing audio, and transmitting the captured audio to the participant based upon the designation of the participant. In some embodiments, a participant may be designated by a mouse click on a name representing the participant. In some embodiments, the command to capture audio may be expressed by holding down a mouse button. In alternate embodiments, the command to capture audio may be expressed by a pop-up menu. In further embodiments, the captured audio may be stored and transmitted to additional participants.

Ease of use feature for audio communications within chat conferences

A method and system for selective encryption within a document. A portion of the document selected and marked for encryption is detected, the selected portion of the document including plaintext. The detected portion of the document selected for encryption is encrypted as ciphertext. The encrypted portion of the document is decrypted with a proper decryption key, wherein the decrypting includes decrypting the encrypted portion of the document in response to presentation of required data by the accessor. The required data includes the proper decryption key, a name of the accessor, and an employee number of the accessor. The portion of the document is displayed as decrypted.

Selective encryption within documents

Disclosed is a computer-implemented planning process that aids a system administrator in the task of creating a job schedule. The process treats enterprise computing resources as a grid of resources, which provides greater flexibility in assigning resources to jobs. During the planning process, an administrator or other user, or software, builds a job-dependency tree. Jobs are then ranked according to priority, pickiness, and network centricity. Difficult and problematic jobs then are assigned resources and scheduled first, with less difficult jobs assigned resources and scheduled afterwards. The resources assigned to the most problematic jobs then are changed iteratively to determine if the plan improves. This iterative approach not only increases the efficiency of the original job schedule, but also allows the planning process to react and adapt to new, ad-hoc jobs, as well as unexpected interruptions in resource availability.

Jobstream planner considering network contention and resource availability

Methods and arrangements to selectively retrieve Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) messages are contemplated. Embodiments include transformations, code, state machines or other logic to selectively retrieve VoIP messages by storing the VoIP messages, associating one or more descriptors with the VoIP messages, and displaying at least some of the VoIP messages. The display may include one or more of the descriptors associated with the displayed VoIP messages. The embodiments may include receiving a designation of a designated VoIP message from the VoIP messages. The embodiments may include retrieving the designated VoIP message. In some embodiments, the designated VoIP message may be played. In further embodiments, the designated VoIP message may be forwarded. In many embodiments, the descriptors associated with the displayed VoIP messages may consist of values of attributes of the displayed VoIP messages. In several embodiments, the attributes may have been received through a user interface. In some embodiments, the displaying may include receiving a change in state of a mouse button. In many embodiments, the designating may include receiving a change in state of a mouse button while a location of a pointer driven by the mouse is associated with the designated VoIP message.

Selectively retrieving VoIP messages

Systems and media for awarding credits based on provided usage information are disclosed. More particularly, hardware and/or software for collecting and disseminating usage information related to electronic documents and for awarding usage credits to users in exchange for providing usage information are disclosed. Embodiments include receiving an indication of the usage of an electronic document by a user and aggregating the received usage indication for the document with usage indications relating to other users. Embodiments may also include creating document utilization information for the electronic document based on the aggregated usage indications and awarding usage credit to the user based on the user's providing statistics on the usage of the electronic document. Further embodiments may include transmitting an indication of the awarded usage credit to the user and receiving a request to use the usage credits.

Systems and media for awarding credits based on provided usage information

A method and system for facilitating the navigation of menu trees offered by service providers is provided. The method of facilitating menu tree options at a menu tree facilitator includes the steps of receiving a customer request from a customer at a menu tree service center, the request including a customer identification, and determining one menu tree from a plurality of menu trees based on the customer request, wherein each of the plurality of menu trees is associated with a service provider. The method also includes determining at least a portion of the determined menu tree based on the customer request; and sending the portion of the determined menu tree to the customer based on the determination. The menu tree facilitator is a separate entity from the service provider.

Method of providing phone service menus

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Viktors Berstis