TIMOTHY MICHAEL BARBER
Chiropractic in San Diego, CA

6349288, Feb 19, 2002

Nov 18, 1997

08/972639

Timothy P. Barber - San Diego CA 92128

G06F 1760

705 26

A highly distributed architecture for implementing payments for access to pay-per-view information offered on a network, especially the Internet. The architecture includes elements that not only collect payment for access to the pay-per-view information but also make possible a refund of the payment in case a consumer requests and is granted a refund. The architecture allows for monitoring the conduct of consumers and information vendors to detect behavior that might be unscrupulous. The architecture also includes elements that provide for compensating an advertiser for advertising pay-per-view information provided by an information vendor and for recovering the compensation in the case of a refund. The architecture scales to meet consumer demand by allowing for many of the kind of element in the architecture responsible for the more computationally intensive work of arranging for access to the information, and of charging for the information.

5930777, Jul 27, 1999

May 23, 1997

8/862496

Timothy P. Barber - San Diego CA

G06F 1760

705 40

A method for charging a consumer for access, over a network, to a vendor's information; in particular, a method for this pay-per-access over the Internet. The method uses a third-party, called a banker, to mint tokens identified with particular information a consumer might want to purchase. The tokens are immediately available to the consumer because of the consumer's having already established an account with the banker, and purchased what are here called credit units, which can have a value of only a fraction of a cent, allowing vendors to charge very little for access to their information. A token is pre-authorization for a consumer to pay for access for a particular page of information. In one embodiment, when a consumer makes a purchase, i. e. chooses to access a Web page for which a vendor makes a charge, the transaction is routed through the banker, which charges in credit units (those already on account), and credits the vendor account.

6289318, Sep 11, 2001

Mar 24, 1999

9/275696

Timothy P. Barber - San Diego CA

G06F 1760

705 14

A method and architecture for rewarding a merchant that operates a server on a computer network, and in particular on the Internet, when a consumer accesses the server and later access a server of a paying merchant, i. e. a merchant who has agreed to provide a reward to one or more of the merchants the consumer accessed on the way, in tracing a course through the network, to accessing the paying merchant. The invention involves having a service operate servers, on the computer network, that automatically distribute any reward provided by a paying merchant. The method is not intended to reward all merchants visited by a consumer on the way to a paying merchant; it distributes rewards only approximately, trading off accuracy for a lower burden of computation.

6157917, Dec 5, 2000

Jul 11, 1997

8/893503

Timothy P. Barber - San Diego CA

G06F 1760

705 26

A method for charging a payer for access, over a network, to a payee's information; in particular, a method for this pay-per-access over the Internet. The method uses an acquirer to intercept requests for information, process accounting information based on the payer having a signed, encrypted persistent dynamic data object available to the acquirer for inspection and modification. After using the persistent dynamic data object, similar in some respects to a so-called cookie, to collect payment for a page of pay-per-link information, the acquirer redirects the payer to the information at the payee's web site. The cookie-like object is issued to the payer by an issuer, which can be distinct from the acquirer. The cookie-like object can be used until its value is spent or until its lifetime elapses. Thus, a payer has a limited amount to spend without having to obtain authorization for each purchase, yet a payee does not risk a payer's double spending.

7552090, Jun 23, 2009

Aug 5, 1999

09/368996

Timothy P. Barber - San Diego CA, US

Keynetics Inc. - Boise ID

G06Q 40/00

705 40, 705 39

A method of billing (charging) for providing access to information over a computer network, with the billing based on the time a consumer elects to access the information, distinguished primarily by including a third party, called here a bank, to mediate between the consumer and the information vendor in such a way as to relieve the vendor of any involvement in billing the consumer, but leaving the vendor responsible for the quality of the information provided to the consumer. In the method, when a consumer visits a vendor network address and decides to purchase access to information from the vendor, the consumer will exercise a link that will put the consumer in contact with the bank, and so initiate billing, and the bank will then direct the consumer to the location at the vendor (a server operated by the vendor) where the information can be accessed. The method also includes a means by which the bank is made aware of the time at which the consumer finishes accessing the vendor's information, and can thus provide a charge to the consumer based on the time the consumer spends accessing the vendor's information.

5745383, Apr 28, 1998

Feb 15, 1996

8/601713

Timothy P. Barber - San Diego CA

G06F 1760

364554

A method and apparatus for predicting whether a specified threshold is likely to be exceeded for a specified predictor, based on preexisting information about related predictors and associated outcomes. If each predictor vector has n components, and the value of the outcome associated with m such predictor vectors is known, then the present invention shows how to guess the outcome associated with another predictor vector in fewer computational steps and more accurately than any previously known method. The invention is of great use in any situation where it is useful to be able to decide between two alternatives. More generally, the invention can be applied to problems where whether to adopt one alternative or the other depends on the value of a threshold.