Quantity conversion interface for external program calls

US007962576B2 (12) Ullltfild States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 7,962,576 B2 Spens et al. (45) Date of Patent: Jun. 14, 2011 (54) QUANTITY CONVERSION INTERFACE FOR 6,782,403 B1* 8/2004 Kino etal. .......................... .. 1/1 EXTERNAL PROGRAM CALLS 6,851,115 B1* 2/2005 Cheyer et al. 719/317 6,853,920 B2 * 2/2005 Hsiung et al. .... .. 702/1 6,938,036 B2 * 8/2005 D tt' t 1 707/3 (75) Inventors: Guenter Spens, Dallas, TX (US); Ralf 7,162,498 B2 ,0 1/2667 Nfsnilgtgsifalii 1/1 Mueller, Angelbaehtal (DE); Markus 7,171,379 B2 * 1/2007 Menninger et 01 705/28 Seng, Berlin (DE) 7,295,849 B2 * 11/2007 Ghabra et al. 455/502 7,319,414 B2 * 1/2008 Horstemeyer 340/994 . >l< ' <79 We11d@rf<DE> 781,212 2/328 722922 . . . . . 7,382,741 B2 * 6/2008 Ra ........... .. 370/255 ( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term ofthis 7,552,676 B1 0, 6/2669 Ueioham et at 765/36 R patent is extended Or adjusted under 35 7,693,839 B2 * 4/2010 Daniels et 01. .. 705/26 U.S.C. l54(b) by 1873 days. 2002/0178168 A1* 11/2002 Daniels et al. 707/100 2003/0023756 A1 * 1/2003 Awamoto et al 709/246 . 2003/0137693 A1* 7/2003 Nishio ..... .. 358/1.15 (21) Appi NO" 10/896337 2003/0212564 A1* 11/2003 Sawabe et 01. .. 704/500 . 2003/0217071 A1* 11/2003 K b h' tal 707/102 (22) Flledi Ju1- 221 2004 2004/0002841 A1* 1/2004 Z101 703/7 2004/0015505 A1* 1/2004 Quick et al. 707/100 (65) Prior Publication Data 2004/0024662 A1* 2/2004 Gray et al. 705/29 2004/0042395 A1* 3/2004 Lu et al. 370/225 US 2006/0020685 A1 Jan 26, 2006 2004/0073925 A1* 4/2004 Kinoshita 725/46 2004/0083204 A1* 4/2004 Dettinger et al. ............... .. 707/3 (5 i) Int‘ Ci‘ (Continued) G06F 15/16 (2006.01) (52) U.S. Cl. .......... .. 709/219; 705/29; 705/30; 715/211; primary Examiner B Khanh Q Dinh 703/10; 73/23.2; 73/53.04; 73/204.11; 73/204.26; Assistant Examiner _ Saket K Dal,-was 73/861; 73/195; 73/196; 73/197; 73/198; . 73/199; 73/200; 73/201 (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Kenyon & Kenyon LLP (58) Field of Classification Search .............. .. 702/9, 14; (57) ABSTRACT 709/219; 705/29-30; 715/211; 703/10; _ _ _ _ 73/232, 5304, 5305, 20411, 20426, 361’ The application is directed to methods, systems, procedures, 73/195_2()1 networks and storage apparatus used to conduct conversions See applicaiign file fgr Cgmpieie Search higigi-y_ of data using remote conversion servers. In one embodiment of the present invention, recent query results may be stored e erences ite an t en use to so ve su se uent conversions rat ert an 56 R f C‘ d d h d l b q ' h h

querying a remote conversion server when the same conver

U-S PATENT DQCUMENTS sion was previously completed. A counter may be referenced

3,906,198 A * 9/1975 November .................... .. 702/46 to determine if tee niueh time has Passed sinee the Original 5,287,469 A * 2/1994 Tsuboi .......... .. 711/103 query Was stored in the buffer and, if too much time has 2 $1 Z 13; 1%/i1ur}11n‘?T at ills 709/212/it passed, the buffer may be cleared and the remote conversion

, , OS 3.lOV € 3. . .. ' ' _ 6,334,126 Bl ,, 12/2001 Nagatomo et at ““ H 1/1 server may be queried to convert the pending data. The result 6,381,616 B1 >l< 4/2002 Larson et at 707/201 ing conversion may be stored for subsequent use. 6,427,125 B1* 7/2002 Gzara et al. .. 702/9 6,651,514 B2 * 11/2003 Zanker ..................... .. 73/861.52 39 Claims, 6 Drawing Sheets

ll 010471 quury and win
51¢!!! iii Billie!

Page 2 U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 2005/0246487 A111 11/2005 E6566 6: 61. ................. .. 711/113 ,, . 2005/0027670 A111‘ 2/2005 Petropoulos ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,, 707/1 566276789632 A1,, 1275662 2:01“? 6‘ 61" 767/705,79 2005/0192991 A111‘ 9/2005 Nomoto 6: 61. 707/101 araa ‘eta ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ ~

2005/0197860 A14‘ 9/2005 Joffe et al. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,, 705/2 * cited by examiner

B°9‘" Figure 1

Input measured parameters from S N°_ petroleum product 1 Pertomi OS °°“"ty Violatlon level sggumy Send request to Va cam" external server seeking desired Slgrgd in conversion 101a Local memmy '

If exact query
1 Search previous NQT stored in
calculations in bufler Iuffer
memory to detemiine it
identical request and
solution is stored in
buffer memory

If exact query and results Clear Previous - saved quenes from Stole stored in buffer bufiermemmy 105 paramems

Does time since last buffer memory 1 cleanng exceed time between mandatory buffer clears?

I
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