Patents by Inventor Donna K. Byron

Donna K. Byron 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: 10599698
    Abstract: A method and system for generating summary details is provided. The method includes retrieving event data of associated with a user. Attributes are extracted from the event data and the event data is segmented into logical groups of related activities performed by the user. Key information and associated attributes of each logical group are identified and in response the user is evaluated. The logical groups of related activities are ranked and presented to the user. In response, an engagement summary associated with the user and the logical groups is generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Peter H. Burton, Donna K. Byron, Manvendra Gupta
  • Patent number: 10599994
    Abstract: A mechanism is provided for modifying an existing recipe to meet a set of desired colors for a final food dish. Responsive to receiving a request to modify the existing recipe to meet the set of desired colors, at least one of the set of existing colors to be changed to meet the desired set of colors is identified. An ingredient-action-sequence triplet associated with each at least one existing color to be changed in the existing recipe is identified and, from a corpus of ingredient-action-sequence triplets associated with other existing recipes, one or more candidates that can be added to produce the at least one target color are identified. The one or more candidates that can be added are ranked based on how each candidate pairs best with other ingredients in the existing recipe. Based on a selection of a candidate, the existing recipe is modified with the selected candidate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Donna K. Byron, Carmine M. DiMascio, Florian Pinel, Timothy P. Winkler
  • Patent number: 10599109
    Abstract: The program directs a computer processor to implement a method that dynamically operates one or more appliances. The method estimates a time period for a user to arrive at a location, wherein the estimated time period is based on one or more time constraints, and identifies one or more appliances needed based on at least an instruction set. The method further generates and sends one or more operating commands to the identified one or more appliances based on the estimated time period, updates the estimated time period based on a change in the one or more time constraints, and generates and sends one or more updated operating commands to the identified one or more appliances, based on the updated estimated time period. The method may further detect a current location of the user and receive travel data that corresponds to the one or more time constraints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Mark Delaney, Donna K. Byron, Robert H. Grant, Charlotte Hutchinson
  • Patent number: 10592819
    Abstract: One or more processors receive one or more variations to one or more first instruction elements in a first instruction set that indicate one or more second instruction elements of a second instruction set. One or more processors determine whether the one or more first instruction elements exceed a threshold of variability. One or more processors determine whether the one or more first instruction elements and the one or more second instruction elements are substantially equivalent. One or more processors determine whether a first outcome of the first instruction set is substantially similar to a second outcome of the second instruction set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Donna K. Byron, Carmine M. DiMascio, Florian Pinel, Timothy P. Winkler
  • Publication number: 20200080266
    Abstract: An automated leveling system for maintaining a level of a surface, comprising a surface traveling device and a leveling module attached to the surface traveling device. The leveling module comprises a depression detector arm assembly, at least one computing device, and a level-sensing detector. The level-sensing detector senses a level of a surface as the surface traveling device operates across the surface. The level-sensing detector moves across the surface according to the operation of the surface traveling device, and transmits a depression reporting signal to the computing device. The depression reporting signal indicates the presence of a depression in the surface if the level-sensing detector contacts a depression in the surface over a depression threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2019
    Publication date: March 12, 2020
    Inventors: Benjamin Luke Johnson, Charles E. Beller, Carmine Dimascio, Donna K. Byron, Florian Pinel
  • Patent number: 10585900
    Abstract: The program directs a computer processor to implement a program that selects at least one substitute ingredient for a food recipe based on a plurality of determined criteria. The program receives a food recipe comprising one or more ingredients, instructions, and preparation time. The program determines time constraints of a user. The program identifies one or more Internet of Things (IoT) enabled cooking devices that are available in a kitchen associated with the user to carry out the instructions of the food recipe. The program searches a market database in a market to identify available options for the at least one substitute ingredient found in the market database based on a similarity level of the at least one substitute ingredient compared with at least one ambiguous ingredient in the food recipe, and selects the at least one substitute ingredient according to the plurality of determined criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Donna K. Byron, Mark Delaney, Robert Grant, Charlotte Hutchinson
  • Patent number: 10579657
    Abstract: A mechanism is provided, in a question answering (QA) system, for performing persona-based question answering is provided. An identification of a requested persona is received from a user along with a natural language question input specifying an input question to be answered by the QA system. Responsive to receiving the requested persona, components of the QA system are customized to answer questions from a viewpoint of the requested persona. An answer to the input question is generated from the viewpoint of the requested persona based on the customization of the components of the QA system. The answer to the input question is output in a form representative of the requested persona.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Donna K. Byron, Alexander Pikovsky, David G. Radley, Timothy P. Winkler
  • Publication number: 20200065373
    Abstract: A method, system and computer-usable medium for augmenting the training of a conversational system. In certain embodiments, the method comprises: ingesting a training set to be used in training of the conversational system, the training set including objects for use in the training, wherein the objects include one or more object types, wherein the object types include one or more of an entity or intent; generating proposed reductions for inclusion in an augmented training set, wherein the proposed reductions include one or more of: reduction candidates generated using properties of objects included in the training set; reduction candidates obtained from search queries of one or more external resources, wherein the search queries relate to one or more objects included in the training set; filtering the proposed reductions to generate a reduced set of proposed reductions; and augmenting the training set with the reduced set of proposed reductions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2018
    Publication date: February 27, 2020
    Inventors: Joanne M. Santiago, Donna K. Byron, Benjamin L. Johnson, Priscilla Moraes
  • Publication number: 20200058146
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method according to one embodiment includes identifying an entity within a selected plurality of video frames that includes one or more missing portions; determining a three-dimensional (3D) model for the entity; and filling in the one or more missing portions of the entity within the selected plurality of video frames, utilizing the 3D model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 23, 2019
    Publication date: February 20, 2020
    Inventors: Donna K. Byron, Carmine Dimascio, Florian Pinel
  • Publication number: 20200050643
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, computer program product, and system for generating a plan for document processing. A plurality of electronic documents are received, by a computer, using a network. The plurality of electronic documents are analyzed, using the computer, to identify a plurality of tabular data, based on the analyzed plurality of electronic documents. Textual data is identified within the identified tabular data, of the analyzed plurality of electronic documents. Textual hints are generated, based on the identified textual data within the identified tabular data. References are identified, wherein references are based on matching textual hints with textual data in the received plurality of electronic documents. A count of references is calculated, associated with one or more sets of tabular data. A priority score is calculated based on the count of references, and an ingestion plan is generated, based on the calculated priority score.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 23, 2019
    Publication date: February 13, 2020
    Inventors: Paul R. Bastide, Matthew E. Broomhall, Donna K. Byron, Robert E. Loredo
  • Patent number: 10552008
    Abstract: A domain specific ontology collection associated with a user is determined. At least one action of the user is received. A task for the user is determined based on the domain specific ontology collection for the user and the at least one action of the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Donna K. Byron, Lakshminarayanan Krishnamurthy, William G. O'Keeffe, David D. Taieb, Cale R. Vardy
  • Publication number: 20200034758
    Abstract: An iterative process for cognitive assessment of generated work products relies on a variety of assessors providing different granularities such as coarse, medium and fine, in combination with user guidance. A cognitive system generates candidates based on soft constraints such as user preferences. The candidates are analyzed using first assessors to compute preliminary scores which are ranked and presented to a user. Based on user selection/adjustment, the system generates a final work product which is analyzed using second assessors, and presents the final work product and final scores to the user. There may be multiple iterations of the user adjustment and refined presentation of final work products. The invention may be consummated by receiving confirmation of the final work product from the user, and taking some action such as electronically completing a purchase of a product or electronically reserving a third-party service.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2018
    Publication date: January 30, 2020
    Inventors: Donna K. Byron, Carmine DiMascio, Christian Ewen, Florian Pinel
  • Publication number: 20200036885
    Abstract: A life-logging system is configured to register a plurality of cameras and a plurality of users to a life-logging network. The life-logging system receives a plurality of camera profiles associated with the plurality of cameras and a user profile associated with a user. The life-logging system determines location information associated with the user and identifies a camera of the plurality of cameras for capturing an image of the user based on the plurality of camera profiles, the user preferences, and the location information. The life-logging system arranges for the image of the user captured by the camera to be delivered to a client device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2018
    Publication date: January 30, 2020
    Inventors: Florian Pinel, Benjamin L. Johnson, Donna K. Byron
  • Publication number: 20200034418
    Abstract: Aspects include learning object/action pairs for recipe ingredients. A method includes extracting an ingredient list that includes a plurality of entries from a recipe stored in an electronic format. Each of the plurality of entries includes one or more words. For each multi-word entry in the ingredient list, an ingredient associated with the entry is identified by comparing words contained in the entry to terms in a lexicon of cooking domain terms. It is determined whether an action corresponds to the identified ingredient. The determining includes parsing the entry to locate a verb that is associated with the identified ingredient. Based on determining that an action corresponds to the identified ingredient, a food item action pair that includes the identified ingredient and the located verb is output.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2019
    Publication date: January 30, 2020
    Inventors: Donna K. Byron, Alexander Pikovsky, Florian Pinel, Timothy P. Winkler
  • Patent number: 10546028
    Abstract: In an approach to personalizing a news feed, a computing device monitors a user accessing content. The computing device determines a personal knowledge graph for the user based on the accessed content. Responsive to receiving a new piece of content that the user has not accessed, the computing device determines a novelty score for the new piece of content based on the personal knowledge graph. The computing device filters the new piece of content based on the novelty score.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John P. Bufe, III, Donna K. Byron, Patrick A. Wagstrom, Timothy P. Winkler
  • Publication number: 20200020147
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method according to one embodiment includes identifying an entity within an image that includes one or more missing portions; determining a three-dimensional (3D) model for the entity; and filling in the one or more missing portions of the entity within the image, utilizing the 3D model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2019
    Publication date: January 16, 2020
    Inventors: Donna K. Byron, Carmine Dimascio, Florian Pinel
  • Patent number: 10534803
    Abstract: Electronic natural language processing in a natural language processing (NLP) system, such as a Question-Answering (QA) system. A receives electronic text input, in question form, and determines a readability level indicator in the question. The readability level indicator includes at least a grammatical error, a slang term, and a misspelling type. The computer determines a readability level for the electronic text input based on the readability level indicator, and retrieves candidate answers based on the readability level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Donna K. Byron, Devendra Goyal, Lakshminarayanan Krishnamurthy, Priscilla Santos Moraes, Michael C. Smith
  • Publication number: 20200012713
    Abstract: In an approach to determining one or more logical breaks in a digital text, a computer determines a reading speed of a user for a current reading session of a digital text and an available time for the current reading session for the user. The computer then determines, based, at least in part, on the reading speed and the available time, a user range in the digital text for the current reading session, and then one or more possible logical breaks within the user range. The computer further determines a first logical break, based on the determined user range, of the one or more possible logical breaks for the current reading session.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 6, 2018
    Publication date: January 9, 2020
    Inventors: Florian Pinel, Donna K. Byron, Benjamin L. Johnson, Carmine DiMascio
  • Publication number: 20200013091
    Abstract: A method of configuring a widget defining a user interface includes parsing content from a corpus comprising documents describing a plurality of products, selecting a plurality of pillars from the content, wherein the pillars are descriptors describing a product space of the products, determining an affinity of each of the products to each of the pillars, receiving, via the widget, a selection of a first pillar, and displaying a given product in the widget, the given product selected from the products given the selection of the first pillar.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2018
    Publication date: January 9, 2020
    Inventors: DONNA K. BYRON, EDWARD E. SEABOLT, MARY D. SWIFT, BRIAN HULL
  • Patent number: 10528878
    Abstract: A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for tailoring question answering system output based on user expertise. The mechanism receives an input question from a questioning user and determines a set of features associated with text of the input question. The mechanism determines an expertise level of the questioning user based on the set of features associated with the text of the input question using a trained expertise model. The mechanism generates one or more candidate answers for the input question and tailors output of the one or more candidate answers based on the expertise level of the questioning user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Nicholas V. Bruno, Donna K. Byron, Julius Goth, III, Dwi S. Mansjur