Patents by Inventor Benjamin Funk

Benjamin Funk has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10852145
    Abstract: A location and mapping service is described that creates a global database of indoor navigation maps through crowd-sourcing and data fusion technologies. The navigation maps consist of a database of geo-referenced, uniquely described features in the multi-dimensional sensor space (e.g., including structural, RF, magnetic, image, acoustic, or other data) that are collected automatically as a tracked mobile device is moved through a building (e.g. a person with a mobile phone or a robot). The feature information can be used to create building models as one or more tracked devices traverse a building.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: TRX SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Travis Young, Kamiar Kordari, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis
  • Publication number: 20200372706
    Abstract: Systems, methods and instructions for creating building models of physical structures is disclosed. The building model may be a collection of floors defined by outlines containing regions that may be offset relative to a main region, and a collection of connectors. Connectors may have connection points for tracking, routing and sizing. Connectors may indicate elevation changes through georeferenced structural features. Signal elements may also be features that provide corrections when tracking. Feature descriptors are data that describes the structural configuration and signal elements enabling them to be matched to previously collected data in a database. User interface elements assist a user of a tracking device in collecting floor information, structural features and signal features and validating certain collected information based on previously known information. The height of floors may also be inferred based on sensor data from the tracking device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2020
    Publication date: November 26, 2020
    Inventors: Travis Young, Daniel Hakim, Daniel Franchy, Jared Napora, John Karvounis, Jonathan Fetter Degges, Tim Wang, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis, Carol Politi, Stuart Woodbury
  • Publication number: 20200372707
    Abstract: Systems, methods and instructions for creating building models of physical structures is disclosed. The building model may be a collection of floors defined by outlines containing regions that may be offset relative to a main region, and a collection of connectors. Connectors may have connection points for tracking, routing and sizing. Connectors may indicate elevation changes through georeferenced structural features. Signal elements may also be features that provide corrections when tracking. Feature descriptors are data that describes the structural configuration and signal elements enabling them to be matched to previously collected data in a database. User interface elements assist a user of a tracking device in collecting floor information, structural features and signal features and validating certain collected information based on previously known information. The height of floors may also be inferred based on sensor data from the tracking device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2020
    Publication date: November 26, 2020
    Inventors: Travis Young, Daniel Hakim, Daniel Franchy, Jared Napora, John Karvounis, Jonathan Fetter Degges, Tim Wang, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis, Carol Politi, Stuart Woodbury
  • Patent number: 10740965
    Abstract: Systems, methods and instructions for creating building models of physical structures is disclosed. The building model may be a collection of floors defined by outlines containing regions that may be offset relative to a main region, and a collection of connectors. Connectors may have connection points for tracking, routing and sizing. Connectors may indicate elevation changes through georeferenced structural features. Signal elements may also be features that provide corrections when tracking. Feature descriptors are data that describes the structural configuration and signal elements enabling them to be matched to previously collected data in a database. User interface elements assist a user of a tracking device in collecting floor information, structural features and signal features and validating certain collected information based on previously known information. The height of floors may also be inferred based on sensor data from the tracking device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: TRX SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Travis Young, Daniel Hakim, Daniel Franchy, Jared Napora, John Karvounis, Jonathan Fetter Degges, Tim Wang, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis, Carol Politi, Stuart Woodbury
  • Patent number: 10606866
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for investigation of network activities. Network activity information may be accessed. The network activity information may describe for an individual (1) respective relationship with one or more persons; and (2) respective activity status information indicating whether a given person has engaged in a particular activity. A network activity graph may be generated based on the network activity information. The network activity graph may include two or more nodes representing the individual and the one or more persons. Connections between the nodes may represent the respective relationships between the individual and the one or more persons. Data corresponding to the network activity graph may be presented through an interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: Palantir Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Benjamin Funk, Christian Burchhardt, Jakob Juelich, Lawrence Manning, Matthew Elkherj
  • Patent number: 10571270
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods and systems for fusion of sensor and map data using constraint based optimization. In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method may include obtaining tracking data for a tracked subject, the tracking data including data from a dead reckoning sensor; obtaining constraint data for the tracked subject; and using a convex optimization method based on the tracking data and the constraint data to obtain a navigation solution. The navigation solution may be a path and the method may further include propagating the constraint data by a motion model to produce error bounds that continue to constrain the path over time. The propagation of the constraint data may be limited by other sensor data and/or map structural data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: TRX SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Daniel Hakim, Christopher Giles, John Karvounis, Benjamin Funk, Jared Napora, Carole Teolis
  • Publication number: 20190371054
    Abstract: Systems, methods and instructions for creating building models of physical structures is disclosed. The building model may be a collection of floors defined by outlines containing regions that may be offset relative to a main region, and a collection of connectors. Connectors may have connection points for tracking, routing and sizing. Connectors may indicate elevation changes through georeferenced structural features. Signal elements may also be features that provide corrections when tracking. Feature descriptors are data that describes the structural configuration and signal elements enabling them to be matched to previously collected data in a database. User interface elements assist a user of a tracking device in collecting floor information, structural features and signal features and validating certain collected information based on previously known information. The height of floors may also be inferred based on sensor data from the tracking device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2019
    Publication date: December 5, 2019
    Inventors: Travis Young, Daniel Hakim, Daniel Franchy, Jared Napora, John Karvounis, Jon Fetter Degges, Tim Wang, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis, Carol Politi, Stuart Woodbury
  • Publication number: 20190271547
    Abstract: A location and mapping service is described that creates a global database of indoor navigation maps through crowd-sourcing and data fusion technologies. The navigation maps consist of a database of geo-referenced, uniquely described features in the multi-dimensional sensor space (e.g., including structural, RF, magnetic, image, acoustic, or other data) that are collected automatically as a tracked mobile device is moved through a building (e.g. a person with a mobile phone or a robot). The feature information can be used to create building models as one or more tracked devices traverse a building.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2019
    Publication date: September 5, 2019
    Inventors: Travis YOUNG, Kamiar KORDARI, Benjamin FUNK, Carole TEOLIS
  • Publication number: 20190249993
    Abstract: A location and mapping service is described that creates a global database of indoor navigation maps through crowd-sourcing and data fusion technologies. The navigation maps consist of a database of geo-referenced, uniquely described features in the multi-dimensional sensor space (e.g., including structural, RF, magnetic, image, acoustic, or other data) that are collected automatically as a tracked mobile device is moved through a building (e.g. a person with a mobile phone or a robot). The feature information can be used to create building models as one or more tracked devices traverse a building.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2019
    Publication date: August 15, 2019
    Inventors: Travis YOUNG, Kamiar KORDARI, Benjamin FUNK, Carole TEOLIS
  • Patent number: 10352707
    Abstract: This disclosure provides techniques for the creation of maps of indoor spaces. In these techniques, an individual or a team with no mapping or cartography expertise can contribute to the creation of maps of buildings, campuses or cities. An indoor location system can track the location of contributors in the building. As they walk through indoor spaces, an application may automatically create a map based on data from motion sensors by both tracking the location of the contributors and also inferring building features such as hallways, stairways, and elevators based on the tracked contributors' motions as they move through a structure. With these techniques, the process of mapping buildings can be crowd sourced to a large number of contributors, making the indoor mapping process efficient and easy to scale up.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: TRX SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Kamiar Kordari, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis, Jared Napora, John Karvounis, Dan Hakim, Christopher Giles, Carol Politi
  • Patent number: 10215587
    Abstract: A method for detecting a human's steps and estimating the horizontal translation direction and scaling of the resulting motion relative to an inertial sensor is described. When a pedestrian takes a sequence of steps the displacement can be decomposed into a sequence of rotations and translations over each step. A translation is the change in the location of pedestrian's center of mass and a rotation is the change along z-axis of the pedestrian's orientation. A translation can be described by a vector and a rotation by an angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: TRX SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Kamiar Kordari, Benjamin Funk, Jared Napora, Ruchika Verma, Carole Teolis, Travis Young
  • Publication number: 20190025062
    Abstract: A location and mapping service is described that creates a global database of indoor navigation maps through crowd-sourcing and data fusion technologies. The navigation maps consist of a database of geo-referenced, uniquely described features in the multi-dimensional sensor space (e.g., including structural, RF, magnetic, image, acoustic, or other data) that are collected automatically as a tracked mobile device is moved through a building (e.g. a person with a mobile phone or a robot). The feature information can be used to create building models as one or more tracked devices traverse a building, to indicate signal strength throughout different parts of the building mode, and to illustrate a path of each tracked device associated with signal strength and other annotations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2018
    Publication date: January 24, 2019
    Inventors: Travis Young, Kamiar Kordari, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis
  • Publication number: 20180321043
    Abstract: This disclosure provides techniques for the creation of maps of indoor spaces. In these techniques, an individual or a team with no mapping or cartography expertise can contribute to the creation of maps of buildings, campuses or cities. An indoor location system can track the location of contributors in the building. As they walk through indoor spaces, an application may automatically create a map based on data from motion sensors by both tracking the location of the contributors and also inferring building features such as hallways, stairways, and elevators based on the tracked contributors' motions as they move through a structure. With these techniques, the process of mapping buildings can be crowd sourced to a large number of contributors, making the indoor mapping process efficient and easy to scale up.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2018
    Publication date: November 8, 2018
    Inventors: Kamiar Kordari, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis, Jared Napora, John Karvounis, Dan Hakim, Christopher Giles, Carol Politi
  • Patent number: 10088313
    Abstract: A method for computing a correction to a compass heading for a portable device worn or carried by a user is described. The method involves determining a heading for the device based on a compass reading, collecting data from one or more sensors, determining if the device is indoors or outdoors based on the collected data, and correcting the heading based on the determination of whether the device is indoors or outdoors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: TRX SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Travis Young, John Riley Miller, John Karvounis, Dan Hakim, Jared Napora, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis
  • Publication number: 20180274932
    Abstract: A location and mapping service is described that creates a global database of indoor navigation maps through crowd-sourcing and data fusion technologies. The navigation maps consist of a database of geo-referenced, uniquely described features in the multi-dimensional sensor space (e.g., including structural, RF, magnetic, image, acoustic, or other data) that are collected automatically as a tracked mobile device is moved through a building (e.g. a person with a mobile phone or a robot). The feature information can be used to create building models as one or more tracked devices traverse a building.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2018
    Publication date: September 27, 2018
    Inventors: Travis YOUNG, Kamiar KORDARI, Benjamin FUNK, Carole TEOLIS
  • Patent number: 9983012
    Abstract: A location and mapping service is described that creates a global database of indoor navigation maps through crowd-sourcing and data fusion technologies. The navigation maps consist of a database of geo-referenced, uniquely described features in the multi-dimensional sensor space (e.g., including structural, RF, magnetic, image, acoustic, or other data) that are collected automatically as a tracked mobile device is moved through a building (e.g. a person with a mobile phone or a robot). The feature information can be used to create building models as one or more tracked devices traverse a building.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: TRX SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Travis Young, Kamiar Kordari, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis
  • Publication number: 20170370728
    Abstract: This disclosure provides techniques for the creation of maps of indoor spaces. In these techniques, an individual or a team with no mapping or cartography expertise can contribute to the creation of maps of buildings, campuses or cities. An indoor location system can track the location of contributors in the building. As they walk through indoor spaces, an application may automatically create a map based on data from motion sensors by both tracking the location of the contributors and also inferring building features such as hallways, stairways, and elevators based on the tracked contributors' motions as they move through a structure. With these techniques, the process of mapping buildings can be crowd sourced to a large number of contributors, making the indoor mapping process efficient and easy to scale up.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2017
    Publication date: December 28, 2017
    Inventors: Kamiar Kordari, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis, Jared Napora, John Karvounis, Dan Hakim, Christopher Giles, Carol Politi
  • Publication number: 20170370722
    Abstract: A method for computing a correction to a compass heading for a portable device worn or carried by a user is described. The method involves determining a heading for the device based on a compass reading, collecting data from one or more sensors, determining if the device is indoors or outdoors based on the collected data, and correcting the heading based on the determination of whether the device is indoors or outdoors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2017
    Publication date: December 28, 2017
    Inventors: Travis YOUNG, John Riley MILLER, John KARVOUNIS, Dan HAKIM, Jared NAPORA, Benjamin FUNK, Carole TEOLIS
  • Publication number: 20170363426
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods and systems for fusion of sensor and map data using constraint based optimization. In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method may include obtaining tracking data for a tracked subject, the tracking data including data from a dead reckoning sensor; obtaining constraint data for the tracked subject; and using a convex optimization method based on the tracking data and the constraint data to obtain a navigation solution. The navigation solution may be a path and the method may further include propagating the constraint data by a motion model to produce error bounds that continue to constrain the path over time. The propagation of the constraint data may be limited by other sensor data and/or map structural data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2017
    Publication date: December 21, 2017
    Inventors: Daniel HAKIM, Christopher GILES, John KARVOUNIS, Benjamin FUNK, Jared NAPORA, Carole TEOLIS
  • Patent number: 9778044
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods and systems for mapping irregular features. In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method may include obtaining tracking data that has dead reckoning tracking data for a tracked subject along a path and performing shape correction on the tracking data to provide a first estimate of the path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: TRX SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Amrit Bandyopadhyay, Brian Beisel, John Karvounis, Benjamin Funk, Carole Teolis, Christopher Giles