Patents Examined by Robert J Hance
  • Patent number: 11659251
    Abstract: Various embodiments of systems, apparatus, and/or methods are described for integrating a broadcast media stream with media streams from one or more amateur sources. In one implementation, a method includes receiving, at a stream integrator, one or more user media streams captured by one or more user capture devices, receiving a broadcast stream from a broadcast provider, selecting at least one of the one or more user media streams based on one or more parameters, and integrating one or more of the selected user media streams into the broadcast stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: DISH Technologies L.L.C.
    Inventor: Jason Anguiano
  • Patent number: 11638052
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to identify candidates for media asset qualification. Example apparatus disclosed herein include a media creditor to determine whether to credit a first media asset to linear media or non-linear media, the non-linear media including subscription video on demand (SVOD). Disclosed example apparatus also include a media asset candidate controller to: classify the first media asset as a non-candidate for media asset qualification in response to the first media asset being credited to the linear media or the non-linear media. In some examples, the media asset candidate controller is to determine whether to classify the first media asset as a candidate for media asset qualification based on whether the first media asset remains uncredited by the media creditor and the first media asset overlaps a streaming period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Raghuram Ranganathan, David Howell Wright, James Petro, Daniel Nelson, Deborah Cross
  • Patent number: 11622151
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided herein for recommending a media asset based on a geographic location at which that media asset was frequently consumed. For example, the system may monitor a location, such as New York City or Times Square, to determine popular media assets watched there, such as “The Avengers,” and when another user visits New York City, the system may then notify the user that the movie, such as “The Avengers,” is associated with New York City. The system stores the geographic locations associated with the media asset in the database based on the consumption of the media asset so that other users may be notified which media assets are associated with each geographic location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: ROVI GUIDES, INC.
    Inventors: Gabriel C. Dalbec, Jonathan A. Logan, Ajay Kumar Gupta, Alexander W. Liston, William L. Thomas, Margret B. Schmidt, Mathew C. Burns
  • Patent number: 11601635
    Abstract: A stereoscopic vision system captures stereoscopic images. The stereoscopic images are processed to rapidly discriminate between portions of the images that are on a ground-plane and those that are off the ground plane. The discrimination is based on comparing locations within the images using an expected disparity shift.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventor: Gordon Bell
  • Patent number: 11601716
    Abstract: A system and method for notifying client devices in a subscriber account that the account is undersubscribed and no further client devices can stream media content until other client devices are no longer actively streaming media content is disclosed herein. The method comprises receiving a request to receive and play the media content from a requesting client device, the requesting client device being one of a plurality of client devices enabled to receive media content according to a subscriber account and determining if the subscriber account is undersubscribed; if the subscriber account is not undersubscribed. If the subscriber account is not undersubscribed, initiating transmission of the media content, and if the subscriber account is undersubscribed, information is transmitted to the requesting client device, the information including data indicating the subscriber account is undersubscribed without initiating the transmission of the media content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC
    Inventors: Nithin Raj Kuyyar Ravindranath, Sandeep Guddeokoppa Suresh, Vinod Jatti, Kiran Tovinkere Srinivasan
  • Patent number: 11587420
    Abstract: A system of identifying and tracking occupants of a building is provided. The system includes multiple detector devices that each receive an identification signal from an identification device and multiple image capture devices that each output an image signal depicting a respective monitored location of the building. The system further includes a processing circuit that receives the identification signal from one of the detector devices, associates the detector device with a detector location, retrieves a user attribute, and receives the image signal from one of the image capture devices depicting a monitored location corresponding to the detector location. The processing circuit further generates an annotated video signal including the user attribute overlaid on the video signal, and displays the annotated video signal on a display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Tyco IP Holdings LLP
    Inventor: Ross White
  • Patent number: 11589088
    Abstract: Media content is encoded based on network quality of service parameters. For instance, quality of service parameters for a network between a media server and a media client are determined by a system. The system selects an encoder based on a list of decoders available at the media client and the quality of service parameters, and encodes at least a portion of the media via the encoder. The system can further determine settings for the encoder based on a media type, and encode the media via the encoder according to the settings. The system can detect when the media client moves to a new network, detect new quality of service parameters, and select a new encoder based on the list of decoders available at the media client, the media type, and the new quality of service parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
    Inventors: Todd Andrew Fryer, David Irvin, Nick Nicas
  • Patent number: 11582536
    Abstract: Customized highlight shows for sporting events, entertainment events, and/or the like, having a narrative component, are generated and presented. The events can be sporting events, entertainment events, and/or the like. For example, in the context of sporting events, a determination is made as to what types of sports, teams, leagues, players, plays, and/or the like are of interest to the user. A customized highlight show is then generated and presented, containing those specific portions of the sporting events that are likely to be of interest, arranged in a manner that is likely to be entertaining and interesting to the user and that presents a cohesive narrative.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: STATS LLC
    Inventors: Warren Joseph Packard, Dennis Kanygin, Jordan Toor, Dan Lythcott-Haims, Alan Levin
  • Patent number: 11582494
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method of content-layer based compression of a video being broadcasted over a network. The method may include: receiving a video stream comprising a plurality of video stream frames; identifying in at least some of the plurality of video stream frames at least two content-layers of predefined content-layers to yield corresponding at least two content-layer streams, wherein each of the at least two content-layer streams is associated with one of the at least two content-layers; and compressing each of the at least two content-layer video streams according to predetermined parameters of the content-layer associated with the respective content-layer video stream and according to available resources of the network to yield corresponding at least two compressed content-layer streams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: PIXELLOT LTD.
    Inventor: Gal Oz
  • Patent number: 11579004
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and devices for calibrating contrast measurements from laser speckle imaging systems to accurately determine unknown particle motion characteristics, such as flow rate. The calibration stores to memory calibration data, which may include a set of measurements from samples with known particle characteristics and/or estimates of noise, including the effects on contrast arising from undesired signals unrelated to the unknown particle motion characteristics. The calibration data may be accessed and used to correct an empirical measurement of contrast and/or interpolate a value of the unknown particle motion characteristic. The system may include a light source, photodetector, processor, and memory, which can be combined into a single device, such as a wearable device, for providing calibrated flow measurements. The device may be used, for example, to measure blood flow, cardiac output, and heart rate, and can be used to amplify the pulsatile signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: COVIDIEN AG
    Inventors: Tyler Bywaters Rice, Sean Michael White, Bruce Yee Yang
  • Patent number: 11582467
    Abstract: A method for processing image or video data is performed in an image processing pipeline. Color filtered mosaiced raw image or video data is received. A one-level wavelet transform of subbands of the color filtered mosaiced raw image or video data to provide LL, HH, LH and HL subbands. The LH and HL subbands are de-correlated by summing and difference operations to provide decorrelated sum and difference subbands. Additional n-level wavelet transformation on the sum and difference subbands and the LL and HH subbands to provide sparsified subbands for encoding. LL and HH and sum subbands are recombined into standard color images e.g., red, green, and blue color components, which are subsequently processed by color correction, white balance, and gamma correction. The sparsified subbands are encoded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignees: The Regents of the University of California, University of Dayton
    Inventors: Truong Nguyen, Yee Jin Lee, Keigo Hirakawa
  • Patent number: 11570506
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for synchronizing an additional signal to a primary signal. Synchronization information for a primary signal is generated by extracting at least one signal feature sequence of the primary signal and comparing it to DB feature sequences stored in a database. If the signal feature sequence matches one of the DB feature sequences to a predetermined degree, then synchronization information of the matching DB feature sequences is allocated to the primary signal at a position specified by the signal feature sequence. The synchronization information is transmitted to a playback device, which outputs an additional signal to the primary signal based on the synchronization information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: NativeWaves GmbH
    Inventors: Christof Haslauer, Oliver Dumböck
  • Patent number: 11564001
    Abstract: A mobile device responds in real time to media content presented on a media device, such as a television. The mobile device captures temporal fragments of audio-video content on its microphone, camera, or both and generates corresponding audio-video query fingerprints. The query fingerprints are transmitted to a search server located remotely or used with a search function on the mobile device for content search and identification. Audio features are extracted and audio signal global onset detection is used for input audio frame alignment. Additional audio feature signatures are generated from local audio frame onsets, audio frame frequency domain entropy, and maximum change in the spectral coefficients. Video frames are analyzed to find a television screen in the frames, and a detected active television quadrilateral is used to generate video fingerprints to be combined with audio fingerprints for more reliable content identification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: ROKU, INC.
    Inventors: Mihailo M. Stojancic, Sunil Suresh Kulkarni, Shashank Merchant, Jose Pio Pereira, Oleksiy Bolgarov
  • Patent number: 11558539
    Abstract: Systems and methods of detecting and identifying objects are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a method performed by one of a plurality of network nodes, with each network node having an optical sensor and being operable to wirelessly communicate with at least one other network node, comprises sending, by a network node over a wireless communication channel, to another network node, an indication associated with an object that is detected and identified by the network node based on one more images of that object that are captured by the optical sensor of the network node. Further, the detection and identification of the object is contemporaneous with the capture of the one or more images of that object. Also, the network node is operable to control a spatial orientation of the sensor so that the sensor has a viewing angle towards the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: SMART SUPERVISION SYSTEM LLC
    Inventor: Anton Kramarov
  • Patent number: 11558670
    Abstract: A method for providing a personalized media stream includes receiving a signal from a user to launch a personalized media stream, determining a current time, identifying a first time slot of a schedule into which the current time falls, identifying a first channel that is associated with the first time slot, wherein viewing history for the user indicates that the user has viewed the first channel during the first time slot in the past, automatically tuning the display device to the first channel in response to the signal, receiving, subsequent to the automatically tuning, a command from the user to pause a program playing on the first channel, identifying a second channel associated with a second time slot, wherein the second time slot occurs later in time that the first time slot, and buffering a portion of a program being shown on the second channel during the second time slot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P
    Inventors: Megha Venugopal, Binny Asarikuniyil
  • Patent number: 11553215
    Abstract: Techniques are described for providing alternative media content to a client device along with primary media content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexandria Way-Wun Kravis, Joshua Danovitz, Brandon Scott Love, Felicia Yue, Jeromey Russell Goetz, Lars Christian Ulness
  • Patent number: 11546662
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to monitor media presentations are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein include presenting information via a display of a media device, the information indicating that monitor software in the media device can be enabled, the monitor software to monitor media presented by the media device, the monitor software to be disabled by default. Disclosed example methods also include detecting a first user input that is to authorize the monitor software in the media device to be enabled, and in response to detection of the first user input: (i) enabling the monitor software in the media device to generate and report at least one of video fingerprints, audio fingerprints, video watermarks or audio watermarks representative of media presented by the media device, and (ii) transmitting, via a network interface, a notification to a remote monitoring entity to indicate that the monitor software in the media device has been enabled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventor: Mark C. Zimmerman
  • Patent number: 11528530
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and systems to collect audience measurement data are disclosed. Disclosed example systems include first means for processing to collect (i) first media identification data corresponding to a first time period and (ii) second media identification data corresponding to a second time period after the first time period, the first media identification data and the second media identification data associated with a monitored location and second means for processing to develop behavior data based on the first media identification data and people meter data collected during the first time period with a people meter associated with the monitored location, the people meter to be deactivated during the second time period and identify an audience member associated with the second media identification data based on the behavior data and without access to any people meter data corresponding to the second time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventor: Brian Shane Fuhrer
  • Patent number: 11490156
    Abstract: Disclosed are a delay control method, a delay control apparatus, a terminal device and a storage medium. The delay control method comprises: initializing a cached data amount, and setting an initial delay threshold value; acquiring real-time cached data of a client, and determining a network status of the client according to same; and adjusting the current delay threshold value according to the network status. According to the delay control method, a network status of a user end is determined according to cached data of the user end, and a delay time is adjusted, so that in a large-scale live broadcast scenario, a player can dynamically control, according to the network status of each user, a delay time of each user end in real time, and improve the viewing experience of user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: BEIJING DAJIA INTERNET INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Chao Zhou
  • Patent number: 11475583
    Abstract: A depth sensing system includes a sensor having first and second sensor pixels to receive light from a surface. The system also includes a filter to allow transmission of full spectrum light to the first sensor pixel and visible light to the second sensor pixel while preventing transmission of infrared light to the second sensor pixel. The system further includes a processor to analyze the full spectrum light and the visible light to determine a depth of the surface. The filter is disposed between the sensor and the surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventor: Gregory Michael Link