Michael Alan Schwarz

US Patent:

7974880, Jul 5, 2011

Filed:

Jan 31, 2007

Appl. No.:

11/701275

Inventors:

Michael Schwarz - Berkeley CA, US

Assignee:

Yahoo! Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06Q 30/00

US Classification:

705 1471, 705 1469, 705 1443, 705 1442, 705 1446, 705 141, 705 37

Abstract:

A system for updating advertisement bids including a query engine and an advertisement selection engine. The query engine provides an advertisement query to the advertisement selection engine. The advertisement selection engine includes a query processing module that retrieves advertisements associated with the advertisement query based on bids. The bid update module generates a suggested bid for an advertiser. The bid update module may be configured to automatically update the current bid for an advertisement based on the suggested bid. Further, the bid update module may be configured to determine the suggested bid by calculating a maximum profit position for the advertisement and projecting an envy free point for the maximum profit position.

US Patent:

8239325, Aug 7, 2012

Filed:

Jan 18, 2007

Appl. No.:

11/655647

Inventors:

Michael A. Schwarz - Thousand Oaks CA, US
Gregory M. Calcagno - San Jose CA, US
Mark E. Snycerski - San Jose CA, US
Joseph M Lynam - Cupertino CA, US
Jennifer R. Truitt - Campbell CA, US
Brad S. Singer - Sudbury MA, US

Assignee:

PaymentOne Corporation - San Jose CA

International Classification:

G06Q 40/00

US Classification:

705 44, 705 35, 705 39, 705 50, 705 64, 705 72, 705 75, 705 78

Abstract:

A method and system to verify the identity of a user are described. The system may include a communications module to receive a billing telephone number and a private data segment associated with a user; an address detector to obtain a street address associated with the user; a private data processor to obtain one or more identification records, utilizing the obtained street address and the private data segment; and a matching module to compare the one or more identification records with the private data segment associated with the user to generate a match result.

US Patent:

20080175360, Jul 24, 2008

Filed:

Dec 10, 2007

Appl. No.:

11/953783

Inventors:

Michael A. Schwarz - Thousand Oaks CA, US
Gregory M. Calcagno - San Jose CA, US
Mark E. Snycerski - San Jose CA, US
Joseph M. Lynam - Cupertino CA, US
Jennifer R. Truitt - Campbell CA, US
Brad S. Singer - Sudbury MA, US
Donald R. Teague - Campbell CA, US

International Classification:

H04M 11/00

US Classification:

379 9303

Abstract:

A method and system to verify the identity of a user are described. The system may include a communications module to receive a telephone number and a plurality of digits; an address detector to obtain a geographical address associated with a user, based on the telephone number; and a business rules engine to determine whether the plurality of digits correspond to at least a portion of the social security number of the user, utilizing the obtained geographical address and the received plurality of digits.

US Patent:

20080175367, Jul 24, 2008

Filed:

Aug 9, 2007

Appl. No.:

11/836686

Inventors:

Michael A. Schwarz - Thousand Oaks CA, US
Gregory M. Calcagno - San Jose CA, US
Mark E. Snycerski - San Jose CA, US
Joseph M. Lynam - Cupertino CA, US
Jennifer R. Truitt - Campbell CA, US
Brad S. Singer - Sudbury MA, US
Donald R. Teague - Campbell CA, US

International Classification:

H04M 3/42

US Classification:

37920712

Abstract:

A method and system to verify the identity of a user are described. The system may include a communications module to receive a telephone number and a plurality of digits; an address detector to obtain a geographical address associated with a user, based on the telephone number; and a business rules engine to determine whether the plurality of digits correspond to at least a portion of the social security number of the user, utilizing the obtained geographical address and the received plurality of digits.

US Patent:

20090006115, Jan 1, 2009

Filed:

Jun 29, 2007

Appl. No.:

11/824552

Inventors:

Michael Schwarz - Berkeley CA, US

Assignee:

Yahoo! Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06Q 10/00
G06F 17/40

US Classification:

705 1

Abstract:

The establishment and adjustment of the reputation score of a party in an online transaction system is described. A party may provide consideration to a transaction portal. In response, the transaction portal may increase (or initially establish) a reputation score for the party based upon the consideration. The portal may return to the party at least a portion of the consideration in response to a favorable event. The portal may decrease the score based upon factors such as the value of transactions weighted by user ratings. The transaction portal may also increase the score based upon a function of commissions made in transactions involving the party.

US Patent:

20090083098, Mar 26, 2009

Filed:

Sep 24, 2007

Appl. No.:

11/903669

Inventors:

Michael Schwarz - Berkeley CA, US

Assignee:

Yahoo! Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06Q 10/00
G06F 17/30

US Classification:

705 7

Abstract:

An improved system and method for an online auction with optimal reserve price is provided. An auction engine may choose advertisements for web page placements using an optimal reserve price. To estimate an optimal reserve price, a bid may be received from a bidder for the keyword, click-through rates of advertisements allocated web page placement may be obtained for the keyword, and the optimal reserve price may be estimated for the keyword to maximize revenue by determining a distribution for the values per click from the bidders for the keyword. Web page placements may then be allocated for advertisements with bids at least the value of the optimal reserve price and payment for each of the advertisements allocated web page placements may be calculated using the optimal reserve price.

US Patent:

20090240580, Sep 24, 2009

Filed:

Mar 24, 2008

Appl. No.:

12/054308

Inventors:

Michael Schwarz - Berkeley CA, US
Alexander Berg - El Cerrito CA, US

International Classification:

G06Q 30/00

US Classification:

705 14

Abstract:

A method and apparatus are provided for automatically targeting and modifying an Internet ad. In one example, the method includes receiving a page and an ad to be placed on the page, rendering the page into a graphical format, computing descriptive features about the graphical format, mapping the descriptive features to parameters for rendering the ad, and rendering the ad based on the parameters.

US Patent:

20090254414, Oct 8, 2009

Filed:

Apr 7, 2008

Appl. No.:

12/099039

Inventors:

Michael Schwarz - Berkeley CA, US
Zoe Abrams - Kensington CA, US

International Classification:

G06Q 30/00
G06Q 10/00
G06F 17/30

US Classification:

705 10, 705 14, 705 26

Abstract:

Various embodiments of systems and methods for auctioning sponsored ads are provided. The auctioning systems and methods take hidden costs of sponsored ads into account. A user's future propensity to click on ads is influenced by his/her experience with past clicks. An ad with disappointing quality of landing page imposes a negative externality on the search engine and the future stream of revenue from a user is reduced. The externality may also be positive. A good experience with an ad may train users to pay more attention to other ads. The externality of an advertisement (ad) can be considered as a “hidden cost.” Including hidden costs of sponsored ads in the auctioning process promote (or encourage) ads with good quality and discourage (or penalize) ads with poor quality. By doing so, advertisers are likely to improve the quality of ads being placed in the bidding pool, which will result in improvement in the overall quality of sponsored ads. Users benefit from the higher quality ads. The advertisers also benefit from the higher quality ads by paying less or no hidden costs for ads and by getting more satisfied customers. The search engine (site) can also benefit from having higher quality sponsored ads to gain more ad revenue.