Patents by Inventor Brett Bentsen

Brett Bentsen 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: 8606609
    Abstract: The present invention relates to designating that durations of specific tasks are estimated or tentative. The user can indicate estimated durations by the sheet mode or the dialog mode. Estimated duration characters are symbols of uncertainty, such as “?”, that indicate that the duration entries are not fixed and final, but may need to be adjusted in the future. The user can select an option to not display the estimated duration character even though the estimated field for the task is set. The user can also select an option to have new tasks that are created have estimated duration characters until the user chooses to enter a duration value. The program can also filter the task list to display only tasks that have estimated duration characters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Brett A. Bentsen, Qin Zhang, Eric W. Doerr
  • Patent number: 8429554
    Abstract: Displaying graphical indicators, instead of data, based on user-defined conditions. The user can specify conditions for displaying graphical indicators instead of actual data by specifying a test, values, and an image. The graphical indicators can be pre-assigned images that are dynamically applied based on the underlying text or numeric data values. Graphical indicators allow the user to visually represent data types or categories with graphics, based on the user's conditions. Different conditions can be specified for a given data field and each condition can be associated with a particular graphical indicator. Prioritized processing of data conditions allow for complex control of which indicator will be displayed to visually represent the data. When the underlying data in a field changes, the criteria can be reapplied and the field dynamically updated to the appropriate indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey R. Aamodt, David E. Levin, Darius Snapkauskas, Brett A. Bentsen
  • Patent number: 7711837
    Abstract: A system that facilitates implementation of business rules for multimedia content on a portable device comprises a receiver component that receives a request for support of extensions to a protocol that enable transfer of customized business rules associated with multimedia content from a host device to a portable device, the portable device is a closed system. A servicing component provides the requested support to an entity that initiated the request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Brett A. Bentsen, Udiyan I. Padmanabhan, Jordan B. Naftolin
  • Publication number: 20070299707
    Abstract: The present invention relates to designating that durations of specific tasks are estimated or tentative. The user can indicate estimated durations by the sheet mode or the dialog mode. Estimated duration characters are symbols of uncertainty, such as “?”, that indicate that the duration entries are not fixed and final, but may need to be adjusted in the future. The user can select an option to not display the estimated duration character even though the estimated field for the task is set. The user can also select an option to have new tasks that are created have estimated duration characters until the user chooses to enter a duration value. The program can also filter the task list to display only tasks that have estimated duration characters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2007
    Publication date: December 27, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Brett Bentsen, Qin Zhang, Eric Doerr
  • Publication number: 20070236482
    Abstract: A larger display can be directly attached to the portable device to enhance the experience of the portable device. In the case of video or pictures, the optimal resolution shows on the attachable display. When the attachable display is not connected, the local display on the device shows the appropriate resolution for the local display. The attachable display has a processor for decoding video from the device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2006
    Publication date: October 11, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: David Proctor, Thamer Abanami, Brett Bentsen
  • Publication number: 20070236472
    Abstract: A flexible, scalable hardware input device for interacting with a variety of devices ranging from a phone, to a media playback device to a steering wheel or a tablet PC is provided. The input device includes a set of mechanical input controls, each mapping to one or more independent functions and a set of touch sensitive input control areas (e.g., capacitive), where each touch sensitive input control area receives touch input independently. In addition, one or more of the touch sensitive input control areas interchangeably overlay one or more of the mechanical input controls, whereby interaction with the touch sensitive input control areas is processed together to determine a corresponding function for controlling the application, service or computing device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 10, 2006
    Publication date: October 11, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Brett Bentsen, Dennis Flanagan, Gregory Cox, Thamer Abanami
  • Patent number: 7249042
    Abstract: The present invention relates to designating that durations of specific tasks are estimated or tentative. The user can indicate estimated durations by the sheet mode or the dialog mode. Estimated duration characters are symbols of uncertainty, such as “?”, that indicate that the duration entries are not fixed and final, but may need to be adjusted in the future. The user can select an option to not display the estimated duration character even though the estimated field for the task is set. The user can also select an option to have new tasks that are created have estimated duration characters until the user chooses to enter a duration value. The program can also filter the task list to display only tasks that have estimated duration characters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Eric W. Doerr, Brett A. Bentsen, Qin Zhang
  • Publication number: 20070150389
    Abstract: Displaying graphical indicators, instead of data, based on user-defined conditions. The user can specify conditions for displaying graphical indicators instead of actual data by specifying a test, values, and an image. The graphical indicators can be pre-assigned images that are dynamically applied based on the underlying text or numeric data values. Graphical indicators allow the user to visually represent data types or categories with graphics, based on the user's conditions. Different conditions can be specified for a given data field and each condition can be associated with a particular graphical indicator. Prioritized processing of data conditions allow for complex control of which indicator will be displayed to visually represent the data. When the underlying data in a field changes, the criteria can be reapplied and the field dynamically updated to the appropriate indicator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2007
    Publication date: June 28, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey Aamodt, David Levin, Darius Snapkauskas, Brett Bentsen
  • Publication number: 20070136444
    Abstract: A system that facilitates implementation of business rules for multimedia content on a portable device comprises a receiver component that receives a request for support of extensions to a protocol that enable transfer of customized business rules associated with multimedia content from a host device to a portable device, the portable device is a closed system. A servicing component provides the requested support to an entity that initiated the request.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2005
    Publication date: June 14, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Brett Bentsen, Udiyan Padmanabhan, Jordan Naftolin
  • Patent number: 7207009
    Abstract: Displaying graphical indicators, instead of data, based on user-defined conditions. The user can specify conditions for displaying graphical indicators instead of actual data by specifying a test, values, and an image. The graphical indicators can be pre-assigned images that are dynamically applied based on the underlying text or numeric data values. Graphical indicators allow the user to visually represent data types or categories with graphics, based on the user's conditions. Different conditions can be specified for a given data field and each condition can be associated with a particular graphical indicator. Prioritized processing of data conditions allow for complex control of which indicator will be displayed to visually represent the data. When the underlying data in a field changes, the criteria can be reapplied and the field dynamically updated to the appropriate indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2007
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey R. Aamodt, David E. Levin, Darius Snapkauskas, Brett A. Bentsen
  • Publication number: 20060168542
    Abstract: A list of digital elements is represented by a list of graphical elements where one of the graphical elements is highlighted. The non-highlighted graphical elements are overlapped over one another based on particular overlapping heuristics.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2005
    Publication date: July 27, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Thamer Abanami, Patrick Baudisch, Brett Bentsen, Marc Doll, Jeff Fong, Julian Selman