The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 06, 2005
Filed:
Aug. 30, 2000
James C. Monberg, Seattle, WA (US);
Rico Mariani, Kirkland, WA (US);
Gilma A. Z. Perkins, Redmond, WA (US);
John G. Carey, Sammamish, WA (US);
James C. Monberg, Seattle, WA (US);
Rico Mariani, Kirkland, WA (US);
Gilma A. Z. Perkins, Redmond, WA (US);
John G. Carey, Sammamish, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A method and system for allowing a regional service merchant that is outside of a given geographical boundary, but services inside the geographical boundary, to be included in a result set of a search directed to a location inside the geographical boundary. Text and/or glyphs are returned along with the regional service merchant's business listing so as to explain to a user why a business not physically residing in the search area has been included in the result set. An application programming interface ensures that, if a business is listed as a regional service merchant, then the text and/or glyph is stored in association with the business listing.