Patents by Inventor Brian Durant

Brian Durant 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: 10298528
    Abstract: A digital magazine server receives user comments on content items of a digital magazine and generates comment threads. A comment thread has one or more user comments associated with a content item and at least one topic. A topic thread on a selected topic includes one or more comment threads related to the selected topic. To select comment threads for a topic thread based on the selected topic, the digital magazine server determines the relevance of the topic of each comment thread to the topic of the topic thread and determines the quality of the comment thread based on a plurality of quality factors such as number of comments and timestamps of the comments in a comment thread. The digital magazine server aggregates the comment threads based on at least one of topic relevance determination and thread quality determination and selects comment threads based on the aggregation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Flipboard, Inc.
    Inventors: Sang Chi, H L Peter Shu, Colin Brian DuRant, Christopher Kennedy Casey Allen
  • Publication number: 20170220580
    Abstract: A digital magazine server receives user comments on content items of a digital magazine and generates comment threads. A comment thread has one or more user comments associated with a content item and at least one topic. A topic thread on a selected topic includes one or more comment threads related to the selected topic. To select comment threads for a topic thread based on the selected topic, the digital magazine server determines the relevance of the topic of each comment thread to the topic of the topic thread and determines the quality of the comment thread based on a plurality of quality factors such as number of comments and timestamps of the comments in a comment thread. The digital magazine server aggregates the comment threads based on at least one of topic relevance determination and thread quality determination and selects comment threads based on the aggregation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2016
    Publication date: August 3, 2017
    Inventors: Sang Chi, H L Peter Shu, Colin Brian DuRant, Christopher Kennedy Casey Allen
  • Patent number: 8389100
    Abstract: A textile fabric has at least one raised surface incorporating multicomponent fibers formed of at least a first polymer and a second polymer disposed in side-by-side relationship. The first polymer and the second polymer exhibit differential thermal elongation, which causes the multicomponent fibers to bend or curl and reversibly recover in response to changes in temperature, thereby adjusting insulation performance of the textile fabric in response to ambient conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignees: MMI-IPCO, LLC, Mide Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Moshe Rock, Veronica Hunt, Brian Durant, David Gilbert
  • Patent number: 8360273
    Abstract: A cutlery utensil dispenser having at least one utensil compartment and a dispensing mechanism is disclosed. Each utensil compartment is so dimensioned and configured to house a stack of utensils. The dispensing mechanism includes a drive member in operable communication with at least one driven member, each driven member being associated with a respective one of the compartments. Actuation of the drive member causes simultaneous actuation of each driven member that causes a utensil to be dispensed from each compartment in repeatable succession one at a time. Also disclosed is a cutlery utensil dispenser having an electric motor in operable communication with the dispensing mechanism, and a controller in operable communication with the motor. The controller includes a processing circuit responsive to computer executable instructions which when executed on the processing circuit facilitates dispensing of a utensil from the utensil compartment by operation of the motor on command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: Dixie Consumer Products LLC
    Inventors: Christopher M. Reinsel, Brian Durant, Stephen J. Drabant, Thomas J. Steimer
  • Patent number: 8192824
    Abstract: A textile fabric has at least one raised surface incorporating multicomponent fibers formed of at least a first material and a second material disposed in side-by-side relationship. The first material and the second material exhibit differential thermal elongation, which causes the multicomponent fibers to bend or curl and reversibly recover in response to changes in temperature, thereby adjusting insulation performance of the textile fabric in response to ambient conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignees: MMI-IPCO, LLC, Mide Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Moshe Rock, Veronica Hunt, Brian Durant, David Gilbert
  • Publication number: 20100084418
    Abstract: A cutlery utensil dispenser having at least one utensil compartment and a dispensing mechanism is disclosed. Each utensil compartment is so dimensioned and configured to house a stack of utensils. The dispensing mechanism includes a drive member in operable communication with at least one driven member, each driven member being associated with a respective one of the compartments. Actuation of the drive member causes simultaneous actuation of each driven member that causes a utensil to be dispensed from each compartment in repeatable succession one at a time. Also disclosed is a cutlery utensil dispenser having an electric motor in operable communication with the dispensing mechanism, and a controller in operable communication with the motor. The controller includes a processing circuit responsive to computer executable instructions which when executed on the processing circuit facilitates dispensing of a utensil from the utensil compartment by operation of the motor on command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2008
    Publication date: April 8, 2010
    Applicant: Dixie Consumer Products LLC
    Inventors: Christopher M. Reinsel, Brian Durant, Stephen J. Drabant, Thomas J. Steimer