Patents by Inventor Michael F. Cohen

Michael F. Cohen 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).

  • Publication number: 20100318914
    Abstract: Described is a user interface that displays a representation of a stereo scene, and includes interactive mechanisms for changing parameter values that determine the perceived appearance of that scene. The scene is modeled as if viewed from above, including a representation of a viewer's eyes, a representation of a viewing screen, and an indication simulating what each of the viewer eyes perceives on the viewing screen. Variable parameters may include a vergence parameter, a dolly parameter, a field-of-view parameter, an interocular parameter and a proscenium arch parameter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2009
    Publication date: December 16, 2010
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Charles Lawrence Zitnick, III, Bryan K. Ressler, Sing Bing Kang, Michael F. Cohen, Jagannatha Koppal
  • Publication number: 20100315411
    Abstract: Various embodiments provide a global approach for computing transitions between captured runs through an intersection. In accordance with one or more embodiments, a transition algorithm receives as input various runs that have been captured through an intersection and an input path through the intersection. The transition algorithm processes its inputs and provides, as an output, a set of points and data such as a direction associated with each of the points. The set of points includes points from different captured runs. The output set of points and associated data indicate which images to obtain from a database and which field of view to create a simulated turn for the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2009
    Publication date: December 16, 2010
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Billy P. Chen, Michael F. Cohen, Eyal Ofek, Blaise H. Aguera y Arcas
  • Publication number: 20100312470
    Abstract: Various embodiments provide techniques for scrubbing variable paths in content. By way of example and not limitation, scrubbing can include receiving user input that defines a scrub path and navigating a data path through content based on the scrub path. According to some embodiments, a data path can include one or more predefined paths (e.g., a travel route) through the content. One or more of the techniques can account for variations in a data path and provide ways of maintaining adjacency between a scrub path and navigation along the data path. In some embodiments, a data path can be associated with one or more types of data path content that can be presented in response to a navigation of the data path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 5, 2009
    Publication date: December 9, 2010
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Billy P. Chen, Eyal Ofek, Michael F. Cohen
  • Publication number: 20100302280
    Abstract: Techniques and systems are disclosed for navigating human scale image data using aligned perspective images. A consecutive sequence of digital images is stacked together by aligning consecutive images laterally with an image offset between edges of consecutive images corresponding to a distance between respective view windows of the consecutive images. A view window of an image in the sequence is rendered, where the view window of the image corresponds to a desired location. Offset portions of the view window of a desired number of images in the sequence are rendered, for example, alongside the full view of the image at the desired location.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2009
    Publication date: December 2, 2010
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Richard S. Szeliski, Johannes P. Kopf, Michael F. Cohen, Eric J. Stollnitz
  • Publication number: 20100235078
    Abstract: The illustration may have a separate display window that displays illustrations which may be moving illustration related to the current spot on the map or to future spots on the map. The illustration may be viewed while traveling or may be viewed in advance. The moving illustration may display segments of the travel path with points of interest and substantial changes at a slow speed and/or low altitude and may display segments without points of interest and/or few substantial changes at a high speed and or high altitude.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 12, 2009
    Publication date: September 16, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Billy Chen, Michael F. Cohen, Eyal Ofek, Boris Neubert
  • Publication number: 20100142801
    Abstract: The stereo movie editing technique described herein combines knowledge of both multi-view stereo algorithms and human depth perception. The technique creates a digital editor, specifically for stereographic cinema. The technique employs an interface that allows intuitive manipulation of the different parameters in a stereo movie setup, such as camera locations and screen position. Using the technique it is possible to reduce or enhance well-known stereo movie effects such as cardboarding and miniaturization. The technique also provides new editing techniques such as directing the user's attention and easier transitions between scenes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2008
    Publication date: June 10, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sanjeev Jagannath Koppal, Sing Bing Kang, Charles Lawrence Zitnick, III, Michael F. Cohen, Bryan Kent Ressler
  • Publication number: 20100080489
    Abstract: The first image may be displayed adjacent to the second image where the second image is a three dimensional image. An element may be selected in the first image and a matching element may be selected in the second image. A selection may be permitted to view a merged view where the merged view is the first image displayed over the second image by varying the opaqueness of the images. If the merged view is not acceptable, the method may repeat and if the merged view is acceptable; the first view onto the second view and the merged view may be stored as a merged image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2008
    Publication date: April 1, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Billy Chen, Eyal Ofek, Gonzalo Ramos, Michael F. Cohen, Steven M. Drucker
  • Publication number: 20100067823
    Abstract: An image may be dehazed using a three-dimensional reference model. In an example embodiment, a device-implemented method for dehazing includes acts of registering, estimating, and producing. An image that includes haze is registered to a reference model. A haze curve is estimated for the image based on a relationship between colors in the image and colors and depths of the reference model. A dehazed image is produced by using the estimated haze curve to reduce the haze of the image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2008
    Publication date: March 18, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Johannes P. Kopf, Michael F. Cohen, Daniel Lischinski, Matthieu T. Uyttendaele
  • Publication number: 20100066732
    Abstract: A novel image view may be synthesized using a three-dimensional reference model. In an example embodiment, a device-implemented method for synthesizing a novel image view includes acts of registering, selecting, applying and synthesizing. An image is registered to at least one reference model. A source block of visual data from the image is selected with regard to a destination block of the reference model based on a source depth associated with the source block and a destination depth associated with the destination block. The destination position of the destination block of the reference model is not visible in the image. The source block of visual data from the image is applied to the destination block of the reference model to produce an image-augmented model. A novel image view is synthesized using the image-augmented model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2008
    Publication date: March 18, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Johannes P. Kopf, Michael F. Cohen, Daniel Lischinski, Matthieu T. Uyttendaele
  • Patent number: 7657060
    Abstract: The techniques and mechanisms described herein are directed to a system for stylizing video, such as interactively transforming video to a cartoon-like style. Briefly stated, the techniques include determining a set of volumetric objects within a video, each volumetric object being a segment. Mean shift video segmentation may be used for this step. With that segmentation information, the technique further includes indicating on a limited number of keyframes of the video how segments should be merged into a semantic region. Finally, a contiguous volume is created by interpolating between keyframes by a mean shift constrained interpolation technique to propagate the semantic regions between keyframes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Michael F. Cohen, Ying-Qing Xu, Heung-Yeung Shum, Jue Wang
  • Patent number: 7634533
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed that facilitate real-time information exchange in a multimedia conferencing environment. Data Client(s) facilitate data collaboration between users and are maintained separately from audio/video (AV) Clients that provide real-time communication functionality. Data Clients can be remotely located with respect to one another and with respect to a server. A remote user Stand-in Device can be provided that comprises a display to present a remote user to local users, a digital automatic pan/tilt/zoom camera to capture imagery in, for example, a conference room and provide real-time information to an AV Client in a remote office, and a microphone array that can similarly provide real-time audio information from the conference room to an AV Client in the remote office. The invention further facilitates file transfer and presentation broadcast between Data Clients in a single location or in a plurality of disparate locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Rudolph, Yong Rui, Henrique S Malvar, Li-Wei He, Michael F Cohen, Ivan Tashev
  • Publication number: 20090215534
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can facilitate rich interaction with and/or management of environmental components included in an environment. The architecture can exist in whole or in part in a housing that can resemble a wand or similar object. The architecture can utilize one or more sensor from a collection of sensors to determine an orientation or gesture in connection with the wand, and can further issue an instruction to update a state of an environmental component based upon the orientation. In addition, the architecture can include an advisor component to provide contextual and/or comprehensive guidance in an intuitive manner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2009
    Publication date: August 27, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Andrew David Wilson, James E. Allard, Michael F. Cohen, Steven Drucker, Yu-Ting Kuo
  • Publication number: 20090121894
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can facilitate rich interaction with and/or management of environmental components included in an environment. The architecture can exist in whole or in part in a housing that can resemble a wand or similar object. The architecture can utilize one or more sensor from a collection of sensors to determine an orientation or gesture in connection with the wand, and can further issue an instruction to update a state of an environmental component based upon the orientation. In addition, the architecture can include an advisor component to provide contextual and/or comprehensive guidance in an intuitive manner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2007
    Publication date: May 14, 2009
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Andrew David Wilson, James E. Allard, Michael F. Cohen, Steven Drucker, Yu-Ting Kuo
  • Patent number: 7499586
    Abstract: The subject application provides an architecture that facilitates producing a single image that can visualize a scene too large to depict from any single perspective view. These images can be stitched together on a 2-dimensional picture surface to form a multi-perspective image of the entire extent of the scene depicted by the input images. Where the respective images overlap, an objective function can be employed to determine where to make a transition between one image and the next. The objective function can employ a data cost and a seam cost to make this determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Aseem O. Agarwala, Maneesh Agrawala, Michael F. Cohen, David H. Salesin, Richard Szeliski
  • Publication number: 20090041375
    Abstract: A dynamic tone mapping technique is presented that produces a local tone map for a sub-image of a wide-angle, high dynamic range (HDR), which is used in rendering the sub-image for display. The technique generally involves first computing a global tone map of the wide-angle, HDR image in advance of rendering the sub-image. The global tone map is then used during rendering to compute a local tone map based on the average luminance and contrast of the pixels of the sub-image. In addition, the sub-image can be tone mapped as part of the rendering of a sequence of sub-images during a viewer-executed panning and/or zooming session. In this case, the local tone maps can be kept from changing too rapidly by adding a hysteresis feature to smooth out the intensity changes between successive sub-images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2007
    Publication date: February 12, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Michael F. Cohen, Matthew T. Uyttendaele, Johannes Kopf
  • Publication number: 20090022421
    Abstract: A gigapixel image is generated from a set of images in raw format depicting different portions of a panoramic scene that has up to a full spherical field of view. Radiometric alignment of the images creates a set of images in radiance format. Geometric alignment of the radiance format images creates a set of true poses for the images in radiance format. A gigapixel image depicting the entire scene is assembled from the set of radiance format images and radiance format true poses for the images. The set of images in raw format is captured using a conventional digital camera, equipped with a telephoto lens, attached to a motorized head. The head is programmed to pan and tilt the camera in prescribed increments to individually capture the images at a plurality of exposures and with a prescribed overlap between images depicting adjacent portions of the scene.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2007
    Publication date: January 22, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew T. Uyttendaele, Michael F. Cohen
  • Patent number: 7457477
    Abstract: A system and method for improving digital flash photographs. The present invention is a technique that significantly improves low-light imaging by giving the end-user all the advantages of flash photography without producing the jarring look. The invention uses an image pair—one taken with flash the other without—to remove noise from the ambient image, sharpen the ambient image using detail from the flash image, correct for color, and remove red-eye.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Georg F. Petschnigg, Richard Szeliski, Michael F. Cohen, Hugues Hoppe, Maneesh Agrawala
  • Patent number: 7450758
    Abstract: The techniques and mechanisms described herein are directed to a system for stylizing video, such as interactively transforming video to a cartoon-like style. Briefly stated, the techniques include determining a set of volumetric objects within a video, each volumetric object being a segment. Mean shift video segmentation may be used for this step. With that segmentation information, the technique further includes indicating on a limited number of keyframes of the video how segments should be merged into a semantic region. Finally, a contiguous volume is created by interpolating between keyframes by a mean shift constrained interpolation technique to propagate the semantic regions between keyframes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Michael F. Cohen, Ying-Qing Xu, Heung-Yeung Shum, Jue Wang
  • Patent number: 7446772
    Abstract: A spectator experience corresponding to an occurrence of one or more games or events is generated based on each associated occurrence. The occurrence of a game or event varies in response to contributions and/or interactions of one or more participants of the game or event. The spectator experience enables users thereof to observe an augmented version of the game or event, such as by implementing enhanced viewpoint controls and/or other spectator related effects. In a particular aspect, the spectator experience can provide an indication of the spectator' presence, which is made available to the spectators and/or to the participants of the game.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Curtis G. Wong, Steven Drucker, Michael F. Cohen, Steven D. De Mar, Asta L. Glatzer, Li-Wei He
  • Publication number: 20080267494
    Abstract: A “Joint Bilateral Upsampler” uses a high-resolution input signal to guide the interpolation of a low-resolution solution set (derived from a downsampled version of the input signal) from low-to high-resolution. The resulting high-resolution solution set is then saved or applied to the original input signal to produce a high-resolution output signal. The high-resolution solution set is close to what would be produced directly from the input signal without downsampling. However, since the high-resolution solution set is constructed in part from a downsampled version of the input signal, it is computed using significantly less computational overhead and memory than a solution set computed directly from a high-resolution signal. Consequently, the Joint Bilateral Upsampler is advantageous for use in near real-time operations, in applications where user wait times are important, and in systems where computational costs and available memory are limited.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2007
    Publication date: October 30, 2008
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael F. Cohen, Matthew T. Uyttendaele, Daniel Lischinski, Johannes Kopf