Bizarre Patents
Pet Toilet-Like Water Disk and Food Storage
One pet-friendly inventor patented "a device for watering pets, e.g., a dog or cat." The device, he helpfully noted, "has the general shape of a toilet."
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7406432 | Project management over a network with automated task schedule update A technique is provided for generating a hierarchy used in managing a development project by generating schedule data for a task and generating reference data for the task, wherein the reference data references tasks at other levels of a hierarchy that represents re... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7392492 | Multi-format consistency checking tool A method and system for performing consistency checking of one or more design representations having different design types. A translator for each design type obtains information from each design needed to evaluate rules that are design type-neutral. The described e... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7272600 | Migrating large data sets for products upgrades A mechanism is disclosed for migrating large data sets for product upgrades. In one embodiment, an identifier is received as a parameter of a first method of an API. In response to the receipt of the identifier as a parameter of the first method, a utility is invoke... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7155705 | Techniques for binding an application with a data exchange format based on tags in comments Techniques for binding a data exchange format with a computer program application having source code in a particular language include receiving comment data from a particular file that includes the source code. The comment data includes first data indicating a param... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7149216 | M-trie based packet processing In an embodiment, different aspects of a packet header and data included in the packet are singled out for attention, rather that just the four byte IP destination address. Different information is included in nodes of the trie that enables matching and branching on... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7146608 | Method and system for a software release process The present invention provides a system and method of using highly structured program testing, regression testing, final test and fix procedures and commit procedures at the levels of the Business Unit, at an intermediate pre-integration branch level and finally at ... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7146233 | Request queue management Methods and apparatus providing, controlling and managing a dynamically sized, highly scalable and available server farm are disclosed. A Virtual Server Farm (VSF) is created out of a wide scale computing fabric (“Computing Grid”) which is physically constructed... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7143435 | Method and apparatus for registering auto-configured network addresses based on connection authentication A method and apparatus for registering auto-configured network addresses includes receiving first data at a networking device connected to a host at a physical connection. The first data is received from a first server and indicates authentication information associ... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7136867 | Metadata format for hierarchical data storage on a raw storage device A system and techniques are described for formatting a persistent storage device to store hierarchical data. According to one aspect of the invention, data structures are established, at a base level of the persistent storage device, for storing a hierarchy of key-v... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7127705 | Developing applications online A method and apparatus for providing a network based operating system for mobile clients is disclosed. Services may be developed that can be used to support different client devices with different capabilities. The services provide output with multiple variations ba... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7107270 | Partitioning ownership of a database among different database servers to control access to the database A database or some portion thereof is partitioned into ownership groups. Each ownership group is assigned one or more database servers as owners of the ownership group. The database servers that are assigned as owners of an ownership group are treated as the owners ... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7103185 | Method and apparatus for distributing and updating private keys of multicast group managers using directory replication An approach for establishing secure multicast communication among multiple multicast proxy service nodes is disclosed. The multicast proxy service nodes, which can be distributed throughout an enterprise domain, are organized in a logical tree that mimics the logica... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7103647 | Symbolic definition of a computer system A method and apparatus for defining and deploying a networked computer system features creating and storing a textual representation of a logical configuration of the networked computer system according to a structured markup language. Based on the textual represent... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7103910 | Method and apparatus for verifying the legitimacy of an untrusted mechanism The legitimacy of an untrusted mechanism is verified by submitting a first set of information and a second set of information to the untrusted mechanism in an unpredictable sequence. For each submission of either the first set or the second set of information, a res... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7096213 | Persistent key-value repository with a pluggable architecture to abstract physical storage A system and techniques are described for managing key-value pairs using an architecture that does not restrict its users to any specific platform or storage subsystem. According to one aspect of the invention, the repository is portable in that the architecture nee... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7093263 | System and methodology for supporting a platform independent object format for a run-time environment A computer-implemented method and software are provided for supporting a platform independent object format for a run-time environment in which a definition of an object in terms of a composition of one or more primitive types and a platform-specific description of ... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7093259 | Hierarchically structured logging for computer work processing A work request is processed and interpreted to automatically establish job data structures associated with jobs constituent to the work and data storage structures associated with tasks constituent to the work. Further, parent-child relationships between jobs, sub-j... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7093005 | Graphical editor for defining and creating a computer system A method and apparatus for defining and deploying a networked computer system features creating and storing a graphical representation using a graphical editor to drag and drop icons representing computing elements and network elements into a workspace, such that a ... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7088718 | Server load balancing using IP option field approach to identify route to selected server A method of routing data from a client through one or more load-balancing nodes to a selected load-balanced server among a plurality of servers in a network involves: receiving, at a last load balancing node associated with a selected server among the plurality of s... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7089454 | Causing a transaction to fail at a predetermined transaction state A mechanism is provided for causing a transaction to fail at a predetermined transaction state. A transaction coordinator is instructed to process a transaction until the transaction has reached a predetermined transaction state. The transaction coordinator is cause... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7089265 | Database management system for implementing independent database actions in response to events of interest A method and apparatus for managing a database is provided. A database management system conducts a plurality of database transactions with a plurality of clients. An event may be detected as a result of one of the transactions. The event is mapped to an independent... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7089297 | Mechanism for automatically configuring a network resource A mechanism is disclosed for automatically configuring a resource to interact with a network. In one embodiment, the mechanism takes the form of a configuration program executed by the resource being configured. The program obtains a set of configuration information... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7085780 | Method and apparatus for monitoring a database system Techniques are provided for monitoring a database system. A set of data elements may be read from a database system into a device. The device may be external to the database system. From the device, a set of analysis operations are performed on the data elements in ... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7082526 | Mechanism for intuitively invoking one or more auxiliary programs during a computer booting process In a computer booting process, a basic input-output system (BIOS) causes one or more auxiliary programs to be automatically executed. By doing so, the BIOS transfers control of the booting process to the auxiliary programs. Thereafter, it is up to the auxiliary prog... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7082463 | Time-based monitoring of service level agreements A Time-Based Service Monitoring mechanism for monitoring Service Level Agreements (SLAs) over specific time intervals is described. To provide for the time-based monitoring of service, data is received for defining one or more tests for monitoring the level of netwo... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7082477 | Virtual application of features to electronic messages A method and apparatus for virtual application of features to electronic messages is disclosed. When a device applies a set of features to an electronic message, one or more of the features may be virtually applied instead of actually applied. For example, instead o... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7082531 | Method and apparatus for determining enforcement security devices in a network topology Enforcement firewalls and other security devices are located on a network for a given source node and destination node. Nodes in the network topology are programmatically identified as being part of a non-looping communication path between the source node and the de... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7080382 | Accessing shorter-duration instances of activatable objects based on object references stored in longer-duration memory Techniques are provided for accessing an instance of a recreatable object in a shorter-duration memory based on a reference located in a longer-duration memory, where the shorter-duration memory is associated with a call. One technique involves (1) locating, within ... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7080075 | Dynamic remastering for a subset of nodes in a cluster environment Techniques are provided for mastering resources by assigning resources to mastery-eligible-sets. The resources that are assigned to a mastery-eligible-set may be mastered only at nodes that belong to the mastery-eligible-set. The membership of a mastery-eligible-set... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7076511 | Simplified deallocation of memory for programming objects A method for providing memory management for objects is described. Specifically, techniques are described for providing common memory management code to objects that are instances of different classes and for releasing a memory management subtree that starts with a ... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7072898 | Method and apparatus for exchanging communications between heterogeneous applications A centralized integration system is provided for enabling two or more heterogeneous applications to exchange communications with one another. Metadata is stored in a first repository form in order to configure instructions for performing one or more conversion opera... | 07/04/2006 |
| 7069317 | System and method for providing out-of-band notification of service changes A system and method for detecting a failure of a first process is disclosed. According to one aspect, a first connection is established between a first process and a second process. A monitoring mechanism monitors the status of the first process to detect whether th... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7068132 | Compact magnetic induction switch An extremely compact low cost magnetic induction switch which may be activated by an extremely small operation force (approximately 1 g) has a movable member (2) and a coil spring (3) arranged inside a switch case (1), the spring coil (3)... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7069539 | Approach for implementing policy constraints in applications An approach for implementing policy controls in application programs provides for the execution of code to implement policy constraints in a manner that is generally transparent to application programmers. According to the call redirection approach, routine calls ar... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7065565 | System and method for policy-enabled, contract-based management of network operational support systems A method and apparatus is disclosed for policy-enabled, contract-based management of network operational support systems. A policy kernel utilizes multiple policy access points for interfacing to dedicated policy management systems. The policy kernel uses policy vie... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7062705 | Techniques for forming electronic documents comprising multiple information types Techniques for forming electronic documents include storing a plurality of information types for describing how information is used. Also, a plurality of document types is stored. Each document type includes a unique set of information types. A plurality of units of... | 06/13/2006 |
| 7061986 | Method for adaptive bit assignment and fine gain setting in a multi-carrier communications system Bits are assigned to channels of a discrete modulation communications system. A first set of channels and a second set of channels are selected from a plurality of channels in the communications system. The first and second set of channels are selected in order to r... | 06/13/2006 |
| 7058648 | Hierarchy-based secured document repository Techniques are provided for implementing and using a hierarchy-based secured document repository. The invention, the repository allows each user access to documents based on the position(s) held by the user in the hierarchy of a company. In one embodiment, the repos... | 06/06/2006 |
| 7055031 | Method for generation, delivery, and validation of electronic coupons through personal TV service system A process for coupon generation, delivery, and validation over a personal TV service system is disclosed. A client issues electronic coupons to personal TV service customers via a personal TV service center which generates a coupon authentication number for each rec... | 05/30/2006 |
