Patents by Inventor Mark B. Atherton

Mark B. Atherton 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: 6154219
    Abstract: Labeling objects on a computerized map in an efficient manner while avoiding collisions with both more and less important objects. A first list contains objects to be labeled on the computerized map, the objects being both points and non-points. Each of the objects in the first list has a label selection priority. A second list contains the a collection of objects from the first list having the lowest label selection priority. The system can draw each object in the first list to the computerized map in ascending order of label selection priority. As each object is drawn, the system labels the object with a label while avoiding collisions between the label and objects in the second list having a higher label selection priority than the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2000
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: John-Michael Wiley, Mark B. Atherton