Alvin J Chang

US Patent:

7949686, May 24, 2011

Filed:

Oct 4, 2010

Appl. No.:

12/896990

Inventors:

Alvin Kai-Hau Chang - Oakland CA, US
Simon Wing-Lok Hui - Redwood City CA, US
Yulia Groza - Pacifica CA, US
Nathaniel D. Harward - San Francisco CA, US
Steven S. Chen - Union City CA, US

Assignee:

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. - Bentonville AR

International Classification:

G06F 17/30
G06F 7/00

US Classification:

707802

Abstract:

A scalable fulfillment system is presented that supports business processes, manages the transport and processing of business-related messages or documents between a business entity and clients, such as customers, vendors, and business partners, and generally supports business document processing. The system intelligently manages the transportation of files from clients, through processing of files, to generating responses that return to the clients. To accommodate a heterogeneous interfacing and processing with different clients in a central system, a file normalization technique is used that captures a common meta-data format from the numerous heterogeneous file types used by numerous clients. The meta-data files, also referred to as messages, contain links to their associated data files and are processed separately. Once the messages are entered into the system, an intelligent queue scheduler (IQS) is used to schedule the processing of messages across a scalable resource of processing engines based on normalized file meta-data parameters.

US Patent:

7983961, Jul 19, 2011

Filed:

Oct 26, 2006

Appl. No.:

11/553247

Inventors:

Alvin Chang - Oakland CA, US
Rocky Kahn - Oakland CA, US

International Classification:

G06Q 30/00

US Classification:

705 267

Abstract:

Techniques are described for collecting user descriptive data as a user employs a client device, such as a personal computer, laptop, PDA, or the like. The data is evaluated and a profile code is assigned based upon the evaluation. This profile code is selected from a domain of profile codes established so that useful markets for targeted advertising are identified by the profile codes, but the profile codes are not so specific that the user's privacy is unduly threatened.

US Patent:

20050240625, Oct 27, 2005

Filed:

Apr 23, 2004

Appl. No.:

10/830614

Inventors:

Alvin Chang - Oakland CA, US
Simon Hui - Redwood City CA, US
Yulia Groza - Pacifica CA, US
Nathaniel Harward - San Francisco CA, US
Steven Chen - Union City CA, US

Assignee:

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. - Bentonville AR

International Classification:

G06F017/30

US Classification:

707104100

Abstract:

A scalable fulfillment system is presented that supports business processes, manages the transport and processing of business-related messages or documents between a business entity and clients, such as customers, vendors, and business partners, and generally supports business document processing. The system intelligently manages the transportation of files from clients, through processing of files, to generating responses that return to the clients. To accommodate a heterogeneous interfacing and processing with different clients in a central system, a file normalization technique is used that captures a common meta-data format from the numerous heterogeneous file types used by numerous clients. The meta-data files, also referred to as messages, contain links to their associated data files and are processed separately. Once the messages are entered into the system, an intelligent queue scheduler (IQS) is used to schedule the processing of messages across a scalable resource of processing engines based on normalized file meta-data parameters. The IQS supports serial processing file requirements in a parallel processing environment. The IQS in conjunction with processing daemons implement a dynamic queue that supports initial message entry and prioritization of messages within the IQS queue during the life cycle processing of a message. The processing daemons dynamically provide processing status, timestamps, message type information, client information and other similar information that can be used by the IQS in prioritizing processing steps. Message and file processing is partitioned in a series of separate action code modules that can be programmatically selected and sequenced in a desired processing pipelined order. By using a multi-pass action interfacing method, new actions can be defined and allowed to be pluggable in the system for processing new message types and adding new clients with possibly unique file types and interfaces. The ability to define new actions and define a programmable sequence of actions allows new capabilities of message processing as the system evolves.