|Publication number||US6957253 B1|
|Application number||US 09/786,263|
|Publication date||Oct 18, 2005|
|Filing date||Sep 3, 1999|
|Priority date||Sep 4, 1998|
|Also published as||DE69913182D1, DE69913182T2, EP1116147A1, EP1116147B1, WO2000014663A1|
|Publication number||09786263, 786263, PCT/1999/2906, PCT/GB/1999/002906, PCT/GB/1999/02906, PCT/GB/99/002906, PCT/GB/99/02906, PCT/GB1999/002906, PCT/GB1999/02906, PCT/GB1999002906, PCT/GB199902906, PCT/GB99/002906, PCT/GB99/02906, PCT/GB99002906, PCT/GB9902906, US 6957253 B1, US 6957253B1, US-B1-6957253, US6957253 B1, US6957253B1|
|Inventors||Andrew H. Mather|
|Original Assignee||Balaena Limited|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (27), Referenced by (5), Classifications (8), Legal Events (4)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
This invention relates to a transactional computer system, namely a computer system adapted to perform negotiation and decision making functions related to a transaction.
Transactional computer systems are known for use in the financial and business world for conducting transactions such as, for example, ordering product, currency exchange, or the sale and purchase of stock, shares and bonds. Such systems are designed specifically for the particular function or functions which they are to perform.
Rule-based systems using what is generally known as artificial intelligence are also known. These are based on a large number of rules which are specific to the particular environment in which they are to be used. A given system is designed for a particular type of transaction, and if a new type of transaction is envisaged a new system will have to be designed specifically for that purpose.
I have appreciated that it would be highly desirable to provide a generalised transactional system which can be adapted to many specific types of transaction, and furthermore I have appreciated that such a generalised transactional computer system can be made by using the ideas and features described in the following and claimed in the claims appended to this description.
The invention is defined in the independent claims below to which reference should now be made. Advantageous features are set forth in the appendant claims.
According to the present invention there is provided a transactional computer system comprising a plurality of entities including at least one entity of each of the following forms, a first entity (Thing entity) having the properties of identifying a client system and uniquely identifying an object in that client system, a second entity (Proposal entity) for defining a transaction, the second entity being subordinate directly or indirectly to a first entity and having the properties of modelling at least one external agent to carry out a transformation in relation to the first entity, and a third entity (Decision entity) capable of communicating with a second entity and having the properties of defining the types of decision that may be made, and determining the responses in relation to those decisions.
Preferably the computer system further comprises at least one fourth entity (Assignment entity) subordinate to an associated first entity, the fourth entity having the properties of uniquely identifying the associated first entity, and identifying a particular type of assignment or transformation to be applied to the first entity. This entity may be combined with the second entity.
Additionally the computer system preferably further comprises at least one further entity (Tender entity) associated with a plurality of second entities and a single first entity, and identifying at least a quantity.
The invention will now be described in more detail by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which:
This system is embodied in a computer software module which, when included in a client system, will capture the complexity of its negotiations, but leave the description of those transactions to the client system. The system makes possible the management of the transaction space in a straightforward and effective manner. It does not, however, manage the transaction space directly. Rather, it supports the modelling of the transaction space in a convenient and effective manner, and then, once modelled, it is for the client system to respond to the situations discerned and captured in the model. The power of the system is in its flexibility for modelling and managing the client system's complex transaction space.
The system will only capture and supply information without using it for its own internal manipulation. It is better to record what people claim, and then leave the external clients/parties to resolve their claims, than it is to try to decide the truth of a matter. Consequently, the validity or otherwise of the supplied information has no bearing on the system. However, it may have a significant bearing on the satisfactory use of the system; therefore the client system should validate the information supplied and act accordingly.
The system comprises a hierarchy of entities: a Thing, a Proposal and a Decision, and optionally an Assignment and/or a Tender. Each entity type has a set of properties appropriate to its role. These are described in more detail below as part of the preferred embodiment. It is a feature of the system that an extension of the modelling environment can be achieved by the provision of additional properties per entity.
The Thing Entity
The system supports the modelling of the existence of external objects by provision of a ‘Thing’ entity. In the preferred embodiment, the Thing entity has fields ClientSystem, and ClientSystemReference. The ClientSystem field is an identifier of the client system itself, and the ClientSystemReference field is an identifier by which the implicit existence of an object identified by that Reference is posited.
No validation as to the nature of that implicit object is either attempted or warranted, nor of any other information pertaining to the world outside the system.
A ClientSystemReference to a Thing must be unique, so that all behaviours and data to a common external thing will be mapped and managed by a common internal Thing. Client applications must ensure that they have implemented an appropriate nomenclature to ensure unique references per client system.
The Assignment Entity
The system supports the modelling of assignments or transformations applied to external objects. It does so by provision of an ‘Assignment’ entity. An Assignment, for the purposes of the system, is regarded as a transformation that may be applied to a Thing, for example an operation which can be conducted in relation to an object. Thus, in the system's entity hierarchy, an Assignment is subordinate to and applies to a Thing.
An Assignment will comprise in particular an identifier for the particular type of assignment or transformation to be applied. This key information is supplied by the external client system in the Assignment's ‘Redirection’ field, see below.
Timing of an assignment will often be significant to the external client. A facility to recognise timing may, if desired, be provided by the inclusion of fields appropriate to each of the distinct entity types. In particular, fields relating to overall deadlines for Assignments may be included in that entity.
The system supports sequential modelling of assignments. As an example: with a Thing(CAR), Assignment(WASH) might be followed by Assignment(DRY). The assignment sequence is maintained by referring to WASH as the predecessor to DRY.
The Tender Entity
The client system is allowed to group together a set of proposals, thus allowing more complex negotiation behaviours to be modelled. For example, as its name implies, Tenders and auctions may be modelled. The system allows the creation of the Tender entity and notes its corresponding external reference.
The Proposal Entity
The system includes an important facility to model the existence of agents to carry out the transformations. As an example this might be a cleaning machine which is required to wash a car. This is supplied by a ‘Proposal’ entity.
A client system wishing to identify the potential for an agent to impact an assignment's fulfilment will create a Proposal. Since in the preferred embodiment the Proposal has a bearing on a particular Assignment, it is subordinate to an Assignment in the hierarchy and in the preferred embodiment applies to a single Assignment only. Where there is no Assignment entity, a Proposal may be subordinate to a Thing; either way it is seen that a Proposal is subordinate directly or indirectly to a Thing.
The identification of an agent by a client system is at no time validated by the system, but is deemed to be supplied by the client system as a rational and satisfactory identity.
The system provides for modelling situations where the potential action of the agent may often have arisen as a matter of negotiation. The counter-party to the agent in this negotiation is also identifiable by the client system.
The system includes a facility to distinguish the current direction of the negotiation.
The Proposal itself carries a rich set of features, sufficient and appropriate to the complexity of the environments it is intended to be capable of modelling.
The preferred embodiment supports the following features within a Proposal, each being a field supporting input by the client system. The identity of the agent capable of impacting the Assignment is held in the field ‘Downline’. The counterparty to the agent in this negotiation is held in the field ‘Upline’. In regard to a specific proposal, the Upline will have no direct impact upon the Assignment. The direction of the negotiation is implemented as a boolean flag ‘DirectionGoingUp’, which may be either true or false.
For example, a proposal going DOWN, whereby the party making the proposal is the Upline and expects a reply from the Downline, models a request or command. Conversely, a proposal going UP, whereby the party making the proposal is the Downline and expects a reply from the Upline, models the function of volunteering.
A proposal is something to be considered and a decision made on it. A proposal is therefore conveniently recorded using the expression Consider.Do, as will be seen below.
As indicated above, a facility to recognise timing may be provided by the provision of fields to reflect the same. Deadlines for making a decision, and for complying (completing an assignment) may be included in the Proposal Entity.
By grouping proposals it is possible to extend the flexibility of the modelling environment to support the tracking of complex interactions. For example, cause and effect, flow modelling, command and control and the like, can be grouped. This grouping is accomplished by using Subordinate Proposals and Sibling Proposals.
A further feature of the preferred system is the modelling of subordinate proposals. For example, in a factory, a Thing(CLIENTORDER) with an Assignment(FILL) may require a sequence of proposals before it can be fulfilled. This may include the interaction of several people. These proposals should be grouped together. To achieve this the ProposalID of the Superior proposal is recorded in all subordinate proposals using the field SuperiorProposalRefID.
A further feature of the system is the grouping together of proposals regarding the same matter. For example, if in a warehouse a customer wants 1000 ball bearings, but there is only 800 on the shelf, then 200 will have to be refused. All of this information will be stored in many proposals, but all regarding the same matter (i.e. the order for 1000 ball bearings). To achieve this grouping all sibling proposal entities store the original ProposalID in the field SiblingProposalRefID.
Combined Proposal/Assignment Entity
As described above, the assignment entity is optional. The features of the assignment entity, if included, may be combined with a proposal entity to provide a combined proposal/assignment entity which has the properties of both a proposal entity and an assignment entity.
The Decision Entity
The system records the response from the counter-party in regard to a corresponding proposal. This is the role of the Decision Entity which is subordinate to and can communicate with a single one of the Proposals. Delegated proposals are tracked by passing the Decision for a Subordinate Proposal to the Superior Proposal. An individual position in a negotiation is tracked by passing a Decision for a Sibling Proposal to all the other Sibling Proposals with the same SiblingProposalRefID field.
The response recorded by the decision entity can be: decline, accept, partially accept, or forward. Forwarding involves accepting the proposal but finding another agent actually to undertake it. The responses are recorded in the form Decline.Do, or Accept.Do, and so on, as appropriate.
The Decision Schema
In order to derive effective meaning from the system, external decisions need to be recorded in a consistent, effective and intuitive manner. The protocol for so doing is implicitly provided by the creation of a logical structure, termed the decision schema. The decision schema comprises multiple dimensions and defines what types of decision may be stored. Each dimension comprises a set of direct fields and a set of derived fields:
It is desirable that the direct fields represent a set of mutually exclusive states, whereas the derived fields need not be mutually exclusive. Each field is assigned an index into the dimension. A decision type node is then defined as a vector, comprising one index from each dimension. Decisions of that type have their quantities applied to that node, so that each node accumulates a summary of like decisions.
The Decision Schema is a facility which client applications may use to model complex negotiations in a manageable and effective manner. A client application must, however, be clear as to its decision semantics, in order to make use this feature. An example of a Decision Schema is given below in the more detailed description of the preferred embodiment.
The Decision Cube
A decision cube is built in the code in the form of a multidimensional array. It is used to store the quantities associated with each decision. Each element of the array should be initialised to zero.
Design Principles for Decision Schemas
Decision states (within a dimension) are exclusive. It is meaningless to record both an agreement to NotDo something, and yet that it is Done. If an agent agrees to NotDo something, and yet declares it Done, then it is regarded in the context of the system as a rogue agent.
The decision cube does not preclude recording inappropriate or meaningless information. As noted above, it is a fundamental design principle that it is better to record what people claim, and then leave the external clients (or parties) to resolve their claims, than it is to try to decide the truth of a matter. Thus the system can record both a NotDo and a Done, and let the client system scan for such occurrences, and then implement whatever procedures necessary at that point.
Decision states may be partial. This requires the proposal to have a Quantity. For example: a proposal to ship 12 crates of water (Consider.Do.12) may have the response: Accept.Do.6, Decline.Do.4; leaving 2 undecided (Pending).
This also leads to a further observation: that a proposal using a Quantity is deemed to refer to a homogeneous assignment. Thus, with shipping bottles of water, it is assumed that the parties to the proposal are indifferent between two bottles of water from the same assignment. If partial quantities need to be differentiated, then they should be differentiated as different Things, and then renegotiated accordingly. Thus a crate of 20 pieces of fruit (12 Apples and 8 Oranges) is perfectly acceptable as a Thing, provided the system is not expected to discriminate between Apples and Oranges. If it is, then it should be registered as 2 shipments: one of Apples [Quantity 12], and the second as Oranges [Quantity: 8].
The entities Assignment and Tender are optional members of the hierarchy. Specifically a Proposal may be created for a Thing without requiring an Assignment or Tender. This facility is provided to support very simple scenarios, without the overhead of the unnecessary creation of Assignment and Tender entities. The hierarchy will always include Thing, Proposal and Decision entities. This hierarchical structure is illustrated in
The basic requirements needed to support a physical implementation of the system are:
A facility to create the Entities.
A facility to have such Entities persist.
A facility to manipulate Entities in a Hierarchy.
The processes required to implement the system will now be described in more detail, including in particular the construction of the Entity hierarchy, and adding decisions to the hierarchy.
The specific functions (processes) described in more detail below are:
The facility to create a new member entity of
The facility to load an entity (into memory)
The facility to load directly a full
The facility to increment the multidimensional
data array, or cube
The facility to retrieve a pointer to a member
Cube: GetValue( )
The facility to retrieve a cube's value at a
Advising Client System of an event
Of these functions, only two are intended to be accessible to clients/parties external to the system, namely NewEntity( ) and Item( ) . The function LoadHierarchy( ) could be achieved by multiple applications of RegisterEntity( ) but it is convenient to have it available as a separate function in its own right.
The only further facility required to provide an effective minimal embodiment of the system is then:
EntityPropertyValue( ): Retrieve the Value of a Property of an Entity.
This is a trivial process and need not be further discussed.
The utility of the system will often require a client application to be able to determine the state of a particular entity, by examining its properties. This function provides that facility.
The following describes the sequencing and sub-processes necessary to support each of the key function processes highlighted above. The descriptions should be read in conjunction with the flowcharts in
In the preferred embodiment of the system, the hierarchy consists of Things, Assignments, Tenders, Proposals and Decisions. Since their processing internal to the system is largely similar, it is more convenient to regard them all as instances of a generalised Entity. An implementation of NewEntity( ) therefore may be read as “Construct a facility, of the type: NewEntity(EntityTypeName) where EntityTypeName is one of: Thing, Assignment, Tender, Proposal, Decision.”This allows further hierarchies to be readily developed, but at the cost of more sophisticated code to handle the distinct types.
Notation: Numbers: 1. Numbered boxes in the accompanying flow-charts. Restrictions: [Thing only] Entities only of [this] type Exclusions: [Not Thing] Entities not of [this] type Universal: [All] Entities of all Types.
This is the facility to create a new member entity of the hierarchy and is illustrated in
Arguments: The Properties of that Entity. See Entity Properties, Below.
This is the facility to load an entity (into memory), and is illustrated in
Arguments: The properties of that Entity. See Entity Properties.
Arguments: In addition, the ID's of the Entity's superiors in the Hierarchy.
This is the facility to load directly a full subordinate tree, and is illustrated in
Arguments: The ID (ThingID) of the Thing Whose Hierarchy is to be Loaded.
The process needs to load all the Assignments, Tenders and Proposals associated with a Thing. It does this by Registering the Entities. The procedure is described therefore as follows.
This function is called in NewEntity and LoadHierarchy above, and is illustrated in
This is the facility to increment the Decision cube's data which is called in Math: AddDecision above, and is illustrated in
Arguments: Decision parameters. Decision Quantity.
This function is called in RegisterEntity above, and is the facility to retrieve a pointer to a member entity, and is illustrated in
Arguments: Entity Key
This is illustrated in
This is the facility to retrieve the Decision cube's data which is called in Math: GetMathValue, and is illustrated in
Arguments: Decision Parameters. Decision Quantity.
Computer Resources & Specification
While not restricted to these particular resources, the preferred embodiment of the system has been implemented on computer systems currently available.
The prototype of the system was developed on a 133 MHZ Pentium Notebook PC with 32 Mb RAM (random access memory), and a 2 Gb Hard Disk, running Microsoft Windows NT, with Microsoft Access as the Database, and with the software developed and prototyped both in Microsoft Visual Basic 5, and Microsoft Visual C++.
The system was then ported to a Sun Microsystems Ultra5, running Solaris 2.51, with a Sybase System 11 SQL Server database resource, and written in Unix/Ansi C++.
Thus, the key requirements of the system are readily met by the conjunction of a typical computer system, a typical software coding language, and a typical database resource.
It is readily understood that software design and implementation must take into account the possibility of function calls failing for numerous causes. Since this is a fundamental requirement in software engineering, which must be managed in any commercial implementation, the needs and skills appropriate to support failure will therefore be familiar to any software engineer skilled in the art. As such, they do not feature as an aspect of the claims of the system, such routines and techniques for developing robust code have been considered immaterial to the explicit description of the particular embodiment of the system.
The preferred embodiment implements a fixed and limited hierarchy, of specified types yet which is of sufficient power to provide a modelling and management facility which will cope with typical transactions and negotiations encompassed in the world today.
In combination with a facility to provide agents for execution of processes, it then encompasses a uniform and general transaction facility, suitable for example business, domestic, military and governmental use.
To the extent that these agents may themselves be computer processes, then such an environment offers a computerised transaction facility. Where these agents do not need to refer to non-computer resources for their information to fulfil their transactions, then to that extent, the environment so described becomes an automated one.
For each entity type there is a corresponding database table. The table is given the name of the entity type. Thus, the existence of a ‘Thing’ entity leads to the existence of a ‘Thing’ table.
The Thing Table contains references to objects external to the system. Each new Thing record added to the table has a unique ThingID.
Notes on Usage
Identifies the external
object in the Client System
Optional - Description
for client convenience
The Assignment Table contains references to processes to be applied to Thing entities. Each new Assignment record added to the table has a unique AssignmentID.
Notes on Usage
Uniquely identifies an
Thing this Assignment is
Supplied by client to
identify who created
Supplied by client as
external reference to
Precise nature of
How much of the
redirection is requested
The following fields can
optionally be included:
Date (including time) by
which an assignment must
Date (including time) by
which it would be
preferred to have the
The tender table contains the information which groups proposals. Each new Tender record added to the table has a unique TenderID.
Notes on Usage
Uniquely identifies a Tender
Thing this Tender is for
The superior Assignment in the
Supplied by client to identify
who created entity
Supplied by client as external
reference to Instigator
How much this tender relates to
The Proposal contains details of the negotiation with an agent to perform the process. Each new Proposal record added to the table has a unique ProposalID.
Notes on Usage
Uniquely identifies a
Thing this Proposal is for
The superior Assignment in
The superior Tender in the
Supplied by client to
identify who created entity
Supplied by client as
external reference to
Who has an interest in the
process being performed
Who will perform the
Who initiated the proposal
Does acceptance grant right
The action in regard to
performing the process
How much of the action is
The following fields can optionally be included:
Date by which the right to
make a decision
Date by which the accepted
quantity must be complete
Notes on Usage
Uniquely identifies a Decision
Uniquely identifies a Proposal
Supplied by client to identify
who created entity
Supplied by client as external
reference to Instigator
Amount of original proposal
A response, Amount declined from
A response, Amount accepted from
A response, Amount forwarded
Instigator and Instigator Reference
At the creation of an entity record, the client system can provide two references. One is the instigator of the entity creation, and the other is a meaningful reference to the instigator.
These fields are available for each entity type, however, they are of particular significance to the creation of Thing entities.
The preferred embodiment implements a three-dimensional decision schema, with dimensions: Action, Authority and Resolution.
Direct fields represent the immediate description of the decision. The Index for each dimension in this embodiment is noted in brackets.
Action:  Do: The potential exists that something be done.  NotDo: The potential no longer exists for something to be done.  Done: The claim is that something has in fact been done. Resolution:  Consider: It is being put to an agent to (action) something.  Annul: The (action) is no longer available for consideration.  Decline: The agent declines to pursue the action.  Accept: The agent accepts to pursue the action.  Forward: The agent accepts the responsibility for the action but will not perform the action. Authority:  FullAuthority: Upon acceptance, the agent is free to pursue the action.  BidWanted: There is no authority to pursue the action.
Notes to clarify the above:
Given the events (decisions) it is then appropriate to ask what the current situation is. The creation of derived fields therefore allows logical processing or mathematics to be done on the direct fields. The preferred embodiment implements the following derived fields. Calculations to generate the derived fields are noted beside the field description. The Identifiers are taken to indicate the values or quantities associated by those identifiers.
For example: (Do−NotDo−Done=Open) should be read as: If quantity required as “Do”=12, and quantity to “NotDo”=5 and quantity claimed as “Done”=3, then the quantity remaining “Open” is 12−5−3=4, ie 12 minus 5 minus 3. Dimension Indices are in brackets.
(Do - NotDo - Done)
cancelled or complete
(Consider - Annul)
(Available - Declined)
(Potential - Accept - Forward)
Everything not decided
No derived fields
Natural examples of decisions which may be expressed in this schema therefore are:
Accept to do something.
Decline to do something.
consider the following.
Accept to NotDo something (eg: cancel an
Declines to NotDo something (eg: too late to
Accepts that something has been done.
Decline to recognise that something has been
In the context of the system, a Do recognises the intent or potential to Do something, so that to Accept.Do for example sets up an expectation that whatever is being referred to will in due course be done.
To recognise a Do is therefore to OPEN a potential. To CLOSE a potential, so that it can be dismissed from attention, one of two things must happen. Either it will in due course be Done or a subsequent agreement will be set up to NotDo that which is being referred to.
The set [Do, NotDo, Done] therefore reflects a fundamental and natural set of potential intents, actions or claims. Given a potential that something can be done, so the process is initiated or OPENED as a Do; and it remains OPEN until either there is a matching NotDo, or it is Done. Whereupon it is in effect CLOSED and requires no further attention.
In the example outline above the decision cube will have dimensions    and each element of the array will be initialised to zero.
This will apply 2 decisions to a Cube. The first will reflect asking someone to consider doing 12 of something (buying 12 bottles of water, for example). The second will reflect the agreement of the individual to the proposal. The details of the nature of the transaction are not stored in nor relevant to either the cube or the system itself. Rather, only references to the existence of the transaction are stored. The system manages and captures the complexity of the negotiation, but leaves the description of the transaction to the client system.
Decision 1: Asking someone to consider doing 12 of something. Decision Specification: Narrative/Intuitive description: Resolution: CONSIDER Please consider the following proposal Action: DO to do Quantity: 12 12 (of something) Authority: FULL with my permission to proceed, if you accept.
Decision 2: The invitee accepts 8 of the proposal Decision Type: Accept.Do.Full Decision Quantity: 8 Decision Vector: [Do = 0] [Accept = 3] [FullAuthority = 0]
For a given Action therefore, 2 key foci exist:
The system itself is not limited to or by the preferred embodiment. A more sophisticated embodiment may be implemented without impinging upon or materially reshaping the fundamentals of the system herein described. Some of the additions to the preferred embodiment are now outlined.
The system may include the entity property EntityCreatedAT to store its TIME of creation.
The system may include the entity property EntityVoid to support a facility to remove an Entity from consideration, in effect deleting it without actually removing it from the database.
The system may include the entity property EntityClosed to enable a client to decide not to post any further transactions to that entity. Note that this restriction would not be controlled by the system but by the client system, otherwise it violates the ‘Reflect don't Control’ principle of the system. Additional properties which suggest internal control should be avoided or renamed.
An Assignment entity may include further information above and beyond the simple identification of the transformation. For example, if a further embodiment of the system were to support deadline modelling, a deadline for the Assignment might be further included as a field in the Assignment entity.
The system may include an audit trail to record the details of all transactions passing through the system.
Math in Memory
The system may include storing the complex calculations in memory to speed up the overall performance.
Addition Functions for Client Systems
The system may include further facilities to enrich the range of the functionality available to the client system. An example is a query facility, taking advantage of the fact that the storage of the embodiment is a database, so that client applications may implement queries such as:
Assignments not Closed, Pending
Assignments not Closed, Created
before X Date
Agreements in place:
Proposals with Downline = Y
The system may include a facility to delete entity data. In the preferred embodiment no such facility exists. It is a design principle that the system does not ‘forget’ or ‘lose’ information. The preferred embodiment regards data deletion, therefore, as an internal housekeeping function for the user.
Clearly, on limited capacity machines, an unconstrained policy of adding data without any facility for deletion will overwhelm the resources at some point. Therefore, a policy on deletion of data would be prudent. This will typically depend on the rate of accretion of new data, the importance of the data, the resources available, and policy on data storage, archiving etc.
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|US20060167857 *||May 12, 2005||Jul 27, 2006||Yahoo! Inc.||Systems and methods for contextual transaction proposals|
|US20060294020 *||Aug 14, 2006||Dec 28, 2006||Duet General Partnership||Method and apparatus for dynamic renewability of content|
|U.S. Classification||709/220, 709/223|
|International Classification||G06Q10/00, G06F17/30|
|Cooperative Classification||G06F17/30607, G06Q10/10|
|European Classification||G06Q10/10, G06F17/30S8T|
|Jun 23, 2005||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: BALAENA LIMITED, ENGLAND
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:MATHER, ANDREW H.;REEL/FRAME:016714/0528
Effective date: 20020730
|Apr 27, 2009||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed|
|Oct 18, 2009||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees|
|Dec 8, 2009||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee|
Effective date: 20091018