A system and method for effectuating Electronic Funds Transfer credit messages (see Fig. 12) is disclosed. The main structural components of the system include a Payment Portal Processor (Web Broker), an Internet Pay Anyone (IPA) Account (1202), a Virtual Private Lockbox (VPL) and an Account Reporter, the existing EFT networks, and a cash card for accessing a VPL or IP account. The Web Broker is a software application that provides a secure portal for accessing the user's Demand Deposit Account (DDA) or an IPA account and can be combined with the functionality of a traditional digital Wallet. Consumers use a Web Broker enhanced Wallet to fund their account, shop on the web, pay bills, store electronic receipts and transaction history, and check their recent Web Broker enhanced Wallet activity. The IPA is a special purpose account with limited functionality for making electronic payments in the form of EFT credit messages. The VPL is a limited function receive only account for receiving electronic payments through the EFT. The Account Reporter is a portal to view transaction history and the balance in IPA and VPL accounts, and provide online, real-time transaction reports and reconcile accounts receivable/purchase records against incoming EFT payment records. A physical card can be associated with either an IPA or VPL account in order to provide PIN debit capability.

Method and system for processing internet payments

A device and method of providing wireless communications is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes determining that a plurality of wireless networks are concurrently available to provide wireless communication for a telephone device wherein the plurality of wireless networks include different types of networks, selecting one of the plurality of wireless networks based, at least in part, one or more rules, establishing a first wireless communication link with a remote device via the selected network, and wherein the one or more rules are configured to reduce a cost of communicating data. Other embodiments may include various other selection criteria for selecting a network such as, for example, the available bandwidth of one or more of the networks and the type of data to be communicated.

Portable communications device and method

The present invention relates to methods for allowing an account holder to easily customize the terms of an account such as a loan account, an asset account, a mortgage account, an insurance account, or a brokerage account. Exemplary embodiments of the invention allow the user to specify various preferred terms such as cost (e.g., APR and annual fee), rewards programs, card design, affiliates, credit line, and payment due date, among others. The financial service provider issuing the account, e.g., the issuing bank, may make the various available terms for the account easily accessible to the user, for example through an internet website or an automated phone system, enabling the user to easily specify his or her preferences. The customization methods may be applied to the process of opening a new account or customizing an existing account. The customization methods may dynamically update the available terms as the user begins to select his or her desired terms.

System and method for establishing or modifying an account with user selectable terms

A system and method for integrating the Internet front end-sign on processes of the various systems of a financial institution which allows a customer to view and access its various financial accounts with the institution. During the initial sign up for the online access. to its accounts, a customer creates his/her User ID and password online during the same session. Once the customer has signed on (password) and verified ownership of at least one account, the system displays all of the customer's accounts that are available for access via the Internet website. The online ownership verification uses only a single account of the customer and the ownership verification criteria associated with the account. The account used for verifying a customer is first determined based on the accounts selected by the customer for accessing online. From the selected accounts, the system of the present invention creates a verification hierarchy with respect to the accounts. When determining the verification to use for the single ownership verification, the present invention selects the account from the hierarchy with the most stringent requirements.

System and method for single sign on process for websites with multiple applications and services

System and methods are described for assisting a contractor in managing information associated with a construction project. The amount of information relating to labor, materials, scheduling and billing and the number of individuals accessing the information can be overwhelmingly large for even a simple construction project. As such, the system and methods described are particularly useful for gathering, maintaining and disseminating the voluminous amount of information associated with a construction project. In one method, a drawing from a construction project is provided that has one or more intelligent objects. Information is then gathered relating to labor, materials and schedules for the project. The information is associated with the respective intelligent object and visually represented on the drawing. The drawing is displayed and certain aspects associated with the intelligent objects can be quickly identified. In addition, reports may be generated that quickly and efficiently organize information according to any number of user selected criteria. In some embodiments, emissive tags, such as RFID tags, associated with construction items are used in the data gathering process.

System and method for tracking and managing construction projects

The present invention relates to a system and method ("Bid System") for topologically subdividing and defining the detail scope of work and for inter-linking construction plans and specifications to construction contracts and subcontracts. The Bid System permits full, clear and unambiguous definition of the scope of work under each subcontract, so as to eliminate errors and uncertainty relating to contract performance. The Bid System establishes a series of electronic overlays to the digitized construction plans corresponding to different trades or categories of work, in which each overlay may be divided into a series of optimized topological subdivisions or "boxes" which uniquely identify and locate on the plans a portion of the work to be performed. The system includes linkage of the overlays and boxes to the subcontracts whereby the scope of work to be bid is accurately associated or "mapped" to corresponding regions and overlay category on the architectural drawings or construction plans. This mapping of overlays to plans constitutes a system of almost-orthogonal equations having the property of progressively increasing transparency as the typical size of the subdivisions is reduced. The system and method also permits a bi-directional flow of information from the various entities involved in the bid process so as to enhance the clarity and detail of work description of both the contracts and the plans and specifications, thus permitting more efficient and effective monitorng and management of contract performance. Internet-based embodiments of the Bid System of the invention are described, including a central-server remote host Internet embodiment in which the transmittal of data, including plans, overlays, contracts, bids, comments, edits, changes and the like are via the Internet, the Bid System being operated principally on a central remote host operated by a Bid System Service Provider (BSSP). Distributed host Internet embodiments are also disclosed.

Building construction bid and contract management system, internet-based method and computer program therefor

A method for transferring data through a network of intelligent control stations (S1-S14) uses decentralized control techniques and associates the intelligent stations (S1-S14) with an addressing scheme which defines a hypercube.

Method for transferring data through a network of intelligent control stations using decentralized control techniques

An analog radio frequency spectrum analyzer (10) includes a calibration section (30) for compensating distortions. The spectrum analyzer includes a first reflective array compressor or "RAC" (12), a frequency sweep section (20), and a second RAC (14). Frequency domain compensations introduced at the signal input by the calibration section compensate distortions in the time domain at the output of the spectrum analyzer. This system corrects, for example, nonlinearities in the second RAC. The calibration function is determined by a network analysis of the spectrum analyzer and is specific to the RAC included. The function is stored in a ROM or other memory as a sequence of complex digital words. An address generator (36) directs the words to a complex multiplier (32) so that each input symbol period is multiplied by the sequence. Each complex digital word corresponds to an amplitude and phase modulation of the incoming signal over a fraction of a symbol period. The resulting output of the spectrum analyzer is that which would be expected without calibration given an ideal second RAC.

Calibrated radio frequency analog spectrum analyzer

A real-time image processing system (800) includes an array (810) of storage elements (813), each of which is designed to store a signal representative of radiation of interest. This system (800) provides image processing at a viable sampling rate even for very large arrays and permits very efficient determination of single element detections. Time-varying orthogonal functions are created by digital processor (804). The processor (804) modulates these base time-varying orthogonal functions by applying to them a matrix of weighing functions. These modulated time-varying orthogonal functions are then applied to selected storage elements (813). The modulated outputs of the array (810) are combined (838) and distributed among parallel channels (886, 888, 890). Demodulators correlate the signal in each channel with a respective of the original orthogonal functions. The demodulated outputs are digitized by an analog-to digital converter (908) for processing by a digital processor (908). The processor can use these demodulated output to efficiently interrogate the array (810), or proceed to use the outputs for image processing computations and other tasks.

Real-time image processing system

An image processing system (10) includes a focal plane array (652) of image detectors (654), each of which produces a signal proportional to incident radiation. The image data signals are arranged in groups, such as rows or columns that are respectively associated with a plurality of select circuits (656) which sequentially select the signals for correction by an associated offset and gain correction circuit (658). The correction circuit includes a pair of shift registers (672, 694) for respectively storing data related to a desired gain correction and offset correction of the data image signal. Under control of a processor, the stored correction data is used to pass the image data signal through a selectively configured network of resistive elements (720, 722) to thereby correct the gain and offset of the signal.

Rex J. Crookshanks

Papers

Building construction bid and contract management system, internet-based method and computer program therefor

Method for transferring data through a network of intelligent control stations using decentralized control techniques

Calibrated radio frequency analog spectrum analyzer

Real-time image processing system

Offset and gain correction system for image data processing