Patents by Inventor John T. Maxwell, III

John T. Maxwell, III 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: 5903860
    Abstract: A method of using a processor to conjoin a first clause and a second clause as part of a unification of a first graph. If the first clause is not associated with the first graph, then a third clause is created that is opaque and has a pointer to the first clause. Afterward, the third clause is conjoined with the second clause.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 11, 1999
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: John T. Maxwell, III, Ronald M. Kaplan
  • Patent number: 5819210
    Abstract: A method of unifying edge data structures using a processor. The method begins with creation of a first edge data structure and unifying it with a second edge data structure. If during unification any of the contexted lazy copy links associated with the second graph data structure are activated, then second graph data structure is expanded. Expansion involves first selecting a contexted lazy copy link from among the contexted lazy copy links associated with the second graph data, selecting a selected attribute from the subtree feature structure pointed to by the selected contexted lazy copy link, making a copy of the selected attribute and storing the copy of the selected attribute in the second graph data structure as a second attribute, and adding a contexted lazy copy link from the second attribute to the selected attribute value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 6, 1998
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: John T. Maxwell, III, Ronald M. Kaplan
  • Patent number: 5727222
    Abstract: A method of unifying feature structures using disjunctive lazy copy links. The method begins with unification of two daughter feature structures to generate their mother feature structure. Lazy copy links point from the mother feature structure back to her daughter feature structures. If unification activates any of these lazy copy links, then a selected one of the two daughter feature structures is expanded. Expansion of a disjunctive feature structure may generate a number of alternative feature structures. If so, the alternative feature structures are examined to determine if their number can be reduced by replacing multiple feature structures with one feature structure having multiple disjunctive lazy copy links, each disjunctive lazy copy link pointing to an alternative value. Two or more feature structures can be merged together if they have the same attributes and attribute values. Unification of the two daughter feature structures then resumes, an attribute at a.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 10, 1998
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: John T. Maxwell, III
  • Patent number: 5533183
    Abstract: Workspaces provided by an object-based user interface appear to share windows and other display objects. Each workspace's data structure includes, for each window in that workspace, a linking data structure called a placement which links to the display system object which provides that window, which may be a display system object in a preexisting window system. The placement also contains display characteristics of the window when displayed in that workspace, such as position and size. Therefore, a display system object can be linked to several workspaces by a placement in each of the workspaces' data structures, and the window it provides to each of those workspaces can have unique display characteristics. The display system object can operate continuously despite switching between one workspace and another, and the windows it provides in successive workspaces can share features so that they appear to the user to be the same window or versions of the same window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 2, 1996
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: D. Austin Henderson, Jr., Stuart K. Card, John T. Maxwell, III
  • Patent number: 5438511
    Abstract: Unification of a disjunctive system is performed based on context identifiers within data structures that correspond to disjunctions. Each context identifier is a logical combination of choices, with each choice identifying one of the disjuncts of a disjunction in the system. Each choice can include a disjunction identifier and a choice identifier identifying one of the disjuncts of the identified disjunction. The logical combination of choices in a context identifier thus corresponds to a combination of disjuncts, all of which could be from different disjunctions. If two data units have context identifiers identifying contexts that are genuine alternatives, those data units are not unified. Data units that have context identifiers that are not genuine alternatives are unified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 1988
    Date of Patent: August 1, 1995
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: John T. Maxwell, III, Ronald M. Kaplan
  • Patent number: 5394521
    Abstract: Workspaces provided by an object-based user interface appear to share windows and other display objects. Each workspace's data structure includes, for each window in that workspace, a linking data structure called a placement which links to the display system object which provides that window, which may be a display system object in a preexisting window system. The placement also contains display characteristics of the window when displayed in that workspace, such as position and size. Therefore, a display system object can be linked to several workspaces by a placement in each of the workspaces' data structures, and the window it provides to each of those workspaces can have unique display characteristics. The display system object can operate continuously despite switching between one workspace and another, and the windows it provides in successive workspaces can share features so that they appear to the user to be the same window or versions of the same window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 1993
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1995
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: D. Austin Henderson, Jr., Stuart K. Card, John T. Maxwell, III
  • Patent number: 5325091
    Abstract: A text-compression technique utilizes a plurality of word-number mappers ("WNMs") in a frequency-ordered hierarchical structure. The particular structure of the set of WNMs depends on the specific encoding regime, but can be summarized as follows. Each WNM in the set is characterized by an ordinal WNM number and a WNM size (maximum number of tokens) that is in general a non-decreasing function of the WNM number. A given token is assigned a number pair, the first being one of the WNM numbers, and the second being the token's position or number in that WNM. Typically, the most frequently occurring tokens are mapped with a smaller-numbered WNM. The set of WNMs is generated on a first pass through the database to be compressed. The database is parsed into tokens, and a rank-order list based on the frequency of occurrence is generated. This list is partitioned in a manner to define the set of WNMs. Actual compression of the data base occurs on a second pass, using the set of WNMs generated on the first pass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 1992
    Date of Patent: June 28, 1994
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Ronald M. Kaplan, John T. Maxwell, III
  • Patent number: 5233687
    Abstract: Workspaces provided by an object-based user interface appear to share windows and other display objects. Each workspace's data structure includes, for each window in that workspace, a linking data structure called a placement which links to the display system object which provides that window, which may be a display system object in a preexisting window system. The placement also contains display characteristics of the window when displayed in that workspace, such as position and size. Therefore, a display system object can be linked to several workspaces by a placement in each of the workspaces' data structures, and the window it provides to each of those workspaces can have unique display characteristics. The display system object can operate continuously despite switching between one workspace and another, and the windows it provides in successive workspaces can share features so that they appear to the user to be the same window or versions of the same window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 1991
    Date of Patent: August 3, 1993
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: D. Austin Henderson, Jr., Stuart K. Card, John T. Maxwell, III
  • Patent number: 5072412
    Abstract: Workspaces provided by an object-based user interface appear to share windows and other display objects. Each workspace's data structure includes, for each window in that workspace, a linking data structure called a placement which links to the display system object which provides that window, which may be a display system object in a preexisting window system. The placement also contains display characteristics of the window when displayed in that workspace, such as position and size. Therefore, a display system object can be linked to several workspaces by a placement in each of the workspaces' data structures, and the window it provides to each of those workspaces can have unique display characteristics, yet appear to the user to be the same window or versions of the same window. As a result, the workspaces appear to be sharing a window. Workspaces can also appear to share a window if each workspace's data structure includes data linking to another workspace with a placement to the shared window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 1987
    Date of Patent: December 10, 1991
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: D. Austin Henderson, Jr., Stuart K. Card, John T. Maxwell, III