Did You Know...
...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8015104 | Method and system for multi-enterprise optimization using flexible trade contracts A method of multi-enterprise optimization at a buyer computer includes accessing a forecasted demand for at least one item and generating one or more proposed flexible trade contracts using the forecasted demand for the item. The proposed flexible trade contract is ... | 09/06/2011 |
| 7966211 | Determining an inventory target for a node of a supply chain Determining an inventory target for a node of a supply chain includes calculating a demand stock for satisfying a demand over supply lead time at the node of the supply chain, and calculating a demand variability stock for satisfying a demand variability of the dema... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7953656 | Displaying market data A system for generating a display of at least one side of a market includes a computer system having one or more computers. The displayed side of the market includes one or more offers from one or more market participants. Each offer includes an offered price and an... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7949598 | Displaying market data A system for generating a display of at least one side of a market includes a computer system having one or more computers. The displayed side of the market includes one or more offers from one or more market participants. Each offer includes an offered price and an... | 05/24/2011 |
| 7941331 | Determining order lead time for a supply chain using a probability distribution of order lead time In one embodiment, determining order lead time for a supply chain includes generating probability distribution for expected order lead time options, where each probability distribution for expected order lead time option is associated with a category. A category tha... | 05/10/2011 |
| 7937282 | Generating an optimized price schedule for a product Generating a price schedule involves generating a graph having paths that include states with values. The graph is generated by determining the values of a successor state from the values of a predecessor state. An optimal path is selected, and a price schedule is d... | 05/03/2011 |
| 7937280 | Planning and scheduling of maintenance, repair, and overhaul services A system (10) for planning and scheduling service events for one or more assets includes a demand optimizer engine (12) that receives information regarding future service requirements for an asset and operating characteristics of the asset. The demand ... | 05/03/2011 |
| 7933673 | Demand breakout for a supply chain A system for demand breakout for a supply chain includes a memory operable to store a plurality of orders for at least one product. Each product may be produced using at least one precursor. The memory is also operable to store a production schedule identifying one ... | 04/26/2011 |
| 7917379 | Large-scale supply chain planning system and method A system and method for performing large scale supply chain planning is disclosed, which includes at least one database with a plurality of partitions. A large scale, supply chain planning problem is decomposed into a plurality of independent and isolated sub-proble... | 03/29/2011 |
| 7905393 | Generating an optimized supplier allocation plan Generating an optimized supplier allocation plan includes identifying parts and suppliers associated with an allocation problem, where each supplier can supply at least one part. One or more objective functions are selected. Each objective function has part variable... | 03/15/2011 |
| 7895090 | Generating an order plan for a supply chain network Generating an order plan is disclosed. Data describing priority levels including at least one item request is accessed. Data describing a supply chain network including network components that supply one or more items to satisfy an item request is accessed. For each... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7886960 | Redistribution of parts in a distribution network Redistributing parts includes defining locations. An actual inventory of parts is established among the locations, and a desired allocation of the parts is established among the locations. A demand for the parts at each location is determined using the actual invent... | 02/15/2011 |
| 7881985 | Electronic marketplace providing service parts inventory planning and management Service parts inventory planning and management are provided for one or more entities in a supply chain (12), preferably within the context of an electronic marketplace (14). Status data reflecting substantially current service parts inventory levels a... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7856371 | Pull planning for unserviceable parts in connection with on-demand repair planning In one embodiment, planning repairs in response to demand in a multi-level repair network includes accessing a forecasted demand for serviceable parts at a repair location and, for each inspected unserviceable part at the location that is not repairable at the locat... | 12/21/2010 |
| 7853505 | Displaying market data A system for generating a display of at least one side of a market includes a computer system having one or more computers. The displayed side of the market includes one or more offers from one or more market participants. Each offer includes an offered price and an... | 12/14/2010 |
| 7853462 | Optimizing an inventory of a supply chain Optimizing inventory targets for nodes of a supply chain to satisfy a target customer service level may include accessing a supply chain model that has an assumed value for each of a number of inputs. An optimized inventory target is calculated according to the supp... | 12/14/2010 |
| 7827049 | Estimating demand for a supply chain according to order lead time In one embodiment, estimating demand for a supply chain includes accessing a probability distribution for expected order lead time of the supply chain. The supply chain has nodes including a starting node and an ending node and a path from the starting node to the e... | 11/02/2010 |
| 7818243 | Displaying strikes between bids and asks in a market over time using polygons A system for displaying strikes between bids and asks in a market over time includes a computer system. The computer system receives data for a plurality of strikes reflecting values specified in the strikes for a plurality of strike variables. The computer system g... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7809672 | Association of data with a product classification schema A computer-implemented system (10) for associating target data with a product classification schema includes a data association module (39) that accesses the product classification schema. The schema includes a taxonomy that includes a hierarchy of cla... | 10/05/2010 |
| D623062 | Lid | 09/07/2010 |
| 7788145 | Intelligent fulfillment agents A method for distributed inventory management includes receiving information regarding a number of participants in a value chain and information regarding one or more items relevant in the value chain. The method also includes modeling relationships between two or m... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7788119 | System providing for inventory optimization in association with a centrally managed master repository for core reference data associated with an enterprise In one embodiment, optimizing inventory for a supply chain includes generating an inventory plan for the supply chains. Execution of a supply chain plan associated with the inventory plan is initiated at the supply chain. The supply chain is monitored to generate me... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7774265 | Method and system for multi-enterprise optimization using flexible trade contracts A method of multi-enterprise optimization at a buyer computer includes accessing a forecasted demand for at least one item and generating one or more proposed flexible trade contracts using the forecasted demand for the item. The proposed flexible trade contract is ... | 08/10/2010 |
| 7765185 | Enterprise solution framework incorporating a master data management system for centrally managing core reference data associated with an enterprise In one embodiment, an enterprise solution framework is provided. A configuration segment is provided for specifying a configuration of an enterprise. The configuration segment includes a system for centrally managing core enterprise reference data, including: (1) a ... | 07/27/2010 |
| 7761903 | Determining a policy parameter for an entity of a supply chain Determining a policy parameter for an entity of a supply chain includes establishing attributes of the entities of the supply chain. Attribute segments are established for each attribute, where an attribute segment includes one or more values of the corresponding at... | 07/20/2010 |
| 7752246 | Binary trees for detecting inventory problems in an enterprise model A binary tree structure for detecting inventory problems. A first embodiment detects on-hand inventory problems. A second embodiment detects inventory requirements problems. Both embodiments use a binary tree whose nodes store time values and delta values. The delta... | 07/06/2010 |
| 7752245 | Binary trees for detecting inventory problems in an enterprise model A binary tree structure for detecting inventory problems. A first embodiment detects on-hand inventory problems. A second embodiment detects inventory requirements problems. Both embodiments use a binary tree whose nodes store time values and delta values. The delta... | 07/06/2010 |
| 7752244 | Binary trees for detecting inventory problems in an enterprise model A binary tree structure for detecting inventory problems. A first embodiment detects on-hand inventory problems. A second embodiment detects inventory requirements problems. Both embodiments use a binary tree whose nodes store time values and delta values. The delta... | 07/06/2010 |
| 7747481 | Extreme capacity management in an electronic marketplace environment A system (10) for managing a capacity extreme at a first entity (12) in a supply chain includes a planning application (36) that receives status data for at least the first entity (12) reflecting the capacity extreme at the first entity (... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7739222 | Binary trees for detecting inventory problems in an enterprise model A binary tree structure for detecting inventory problems. A first embodiment detects on-hand inventory problems. A second embodiment detects inventory requirements problems. Both embodiments use a binary tree whose nodes store time values and delta values. (FIG. ... | 06/15/2010 |
| 7734617 | Optimization using a multi-dimensional data model In one embodiment, a method for optimization using multi-dimensional data includes receiving a problem instance to be solved using an optimization engine. The problem instance is specified in a multi-dimensional format associated with a multidimensional data model t... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7725429 | Master data management system for centrally managing core reference data associated with an enterprise In one embodiment, a system is provided for centrally managing core enterprise reference data associated with an enterprise. A centralized master repository contains the core enterprise reference data. An internal services framework coupled to the centralized master... | 05/25/2010 |
| 7721959 | Optimizing inventory in accordance with a constrained network In one embodiment, optimizing inventory includes accessing service level band sets. Each service level band set is associated with a policy group, and includes service level bands. Each service level band of a service level band set has a service level priority with... | 05/25/2010 |
| 7720748 | Method and system for multi-enterprise optimization using flexible trade contracts A method of multi-enterprise optimization at a buyer computer includes accessing a forecasted demand for at least one item and generating one or more proposed flexible trade contracts using the forecasted demand for the item. The proposed flexible trade contract is ... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7720747 | Method and system for multi-enterprise optimization using flexible trade contracts A method of multi-enterprise optimization at a buyer computer includes accessing a forecasted demand for at least one item and generating one or more proposed flexible trade contracts using the forecasted demand for the item. The proposed flexible trade contract is ... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7712072 | Optimizing inventory in accordance with a constrained network In one embodiment, optimizing inventory includes accessing service level band sets. Each service level band set is associated with a policy group, and includes service level bands. Each service level band of a service level band set has a service level priority with... | 05/04/2010 |
| 7711597 | Optimizing inventory in accordance with a constrained network In one embodiment, optimizing inventory includes accessing service level band sets. Each service level band set is associated with a policy group, and includes service level bands. Each service level band of a service level band set has a service level priority with... | 05/04/2010 |
| 7711593 | Pull planning for unserviceable parts in connection with on-demand repair planning In one embodiment, planning repairs in response to demand in a multi-level repair network includes accessing a forecasted demand for serviceable parts at a repair location and, for each inspected unserviceable part at the location that is not repairable at the locat... | 05/04/2010 |
| 7702562 | Providing visualization of market offers using patterns of geometric display elements A method of providing visualization of market offers includes receiving offer data for multiple offers, the offer data reflecting values specified in the offers for multiple offer variables. The method further includes generating a display of the offer data. The dis... | 04/20/2010 |
| 7698240 | System and method for providing electronic financial transaction services A computer-implemented marketplace (16) for providing financial transaction services to participants (12, 14, 60, 62) in connection with commercial transactions involving the participants (12, 14, 60, 62) includes a database (22). The dat... | 04/13/2010 |
