Patents by Inventor John I. Ferrell

John I. Ferrell 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: 6370566
    Abstract: The present invention includes a mobile device which provides the user with the ability to schedule a meeting request from the mobile device itself. The mobile device creates an object representative of the meeting request and assigns the object a global identification number which uniquely identifies the object to other devices which encounter the object. In addition, the mobile device in accordance with one aspect of the present invention provides a property in the object which is indicative of whether the meeting request has already been transmitted. In this way, other devices which encounter the meeting request are capable of identifying it as a unique meeting request, and of determining whether the meeting request has already been transmitted, in order to alleviate the problem of duplicate meeting request transmissions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2002
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Anthony Discolo, Scott Skorupa, Salim Alam, Garrett R. Vargas, Dave Whitney, Bryce Ulrich, John I. Ferrell
  • Publication number: 20010054072
    Abstract: The present invention includes a mobile device which provides the user with the ability to schedule a meeting request from the mobile device itself. The mobile device creates an object representative of the meeting request and assigns the object a global identification number which uniquely identifies the object to other devices which encounter the object. In addition, the mobile device in accordance with one aspect of the present invention provides a property in the object which is indicative of whether the meeting request has already been transmitted. In this way, other devices which encounter the meeting request are capable of identifying it as a unique meeting request, and of determining whether the meeting request has already been transmitted, in order to alleviate the problem of duplicate meeting request transmissions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 10, 1998
    Publication date: December 20, 2001
    Inventors: ANTHONY DISCOLO, SCOTT SKORUPA, SALIM ALAM, GARRETT R. VARGAS, DAVE WHITNEY, BRYCE ULRICH, JOHN I FERRELL
  • Patent number: 6324544
    Abstract: First and second computing devices each contain an object store which store objects indicative of file data. Synchronization components are provided to synchronize the objects while efficiently overcoming problems associated with synchronizing files.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2001
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Salim Alam, Vinayak A. Bhalerao, Charles Wu, George Hu, John I. Ferrell
  • Patent number: 6208996
    Abstract: A system is provided for maintaining a notification database in a mobile device. A notification scheduling program is run at a predetermined time. The notification scheduling program is configured to obtain information indicative of a plurality of notifications to be presented in the future. The notifications which are to be presented within a predetermined time period are entered in the notification database. The notification scheduling program is scheduled to run in response to expiration of the predetermined time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2001
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ido Ben-Shachar, Scott A. Skorupa, Garrett R. Vargas, John I. Ferrell
  • Patent number: 5548718
    Abstract: An improved system and method for determining software reliability is provided. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a mapping mechanism and a preferred automated testing system are used. The mapping mechanism provides for the creation of a number of hits to failure metric. The preferred automatic testing system of the preferred embodiment of the present invention provides for the automatic testing of software and the creation of the number of hits to failure and the elapsed time to failure. The combination of the number of hits to failure metric and the results of the preferred automated testing system provide for a more accurate indication of the reliability of software.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 1994
    Date of Patent: August 20, 1996
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew R. Siegel, John I. Ferrell