Patents by Inventor R. Donald Thompson, III

R. Donald Thompson, 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: 8566261
    Abstract: An interactive recommendation system generates one or more recommendations (e.g., recommended products, travel destinations, etc.) for a user based on a recommendation model. The recommendation model includes one or more criteria that are used to analyze a datastore of user characteristics (e.g., a user's age, location, past online behavior, etc.) and generate one or more recommendations based thereon. The interactive recommendation system further presents a user interface that allows the user to interactively modify the criteria of the recommendation model and to apply the modified recommendation model to the datastore in order to generate one or more modified recommendations. In this manner, for example, the user can customize the recommendations he or she receives by interacting with the recommendation system to modify the recommendation model used to generate such recommendations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Vijay Mital, R. Donald Thompson, III, Robert Povey, Gary Shon Katzenberger
  • Publication number: 20120158622
    Abstract: An interactive recommendation system generates one or more recommendations (e.g., recommended products, travel destinations, etc.) for a user based on a recommendation model. The recommendation model includes one or more criteria that are used to analyze a datastore of user characteristics (e.g., a user's age, location, past online behavior, etc.) and generate one or more recommendations based thereon. The interactive recommendation system further presents a user interface that allows the user to interactively modify the criteria of the recommendation model and to apply the modified recommendation model to the datastore in order to generate one or more modified recommendations. In this manner, for example, the user can customize the recommendations he or she receives by interacting with the recommendation system to modify the recommendation model used to generate such recommendations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2010
    Publication date: June 21, 2012
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Vijay Mital, R. Donald Thompson, III, Robert Povey, Gary Shon Katzenberger
  • Patent number: 8065293
    Abstract: An indexing system uses a graph-like data structure that clusters features indexes together. The minimum atomic value in the data structure is represented as a leaf node which is either a single feature index or a sequence of two or more feature indexes when a minimum sequence length is imposed. Root nodes are formed as clustered collections of leaf nodes and/or other root nodes. Context nodes are formed from root nodes that are associated with content that is being indexed. Links between a root node and other nodes each include a sequence order value that is used to maintain the sequencing order for feature indexes relative to the root node. The collection of nodes forms a graph-like data structure, where each context node is indexed according to the sequenced pattern of feature indexes. Clusters can be split, merged, and promoted to increase the efficiency in searching the data structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Kunal Mukerjee, R. Donald Thompson, III, Jeffrey Cole, Brendan Meeder
  • Patent number: 7792121
    Abstract: Serialized data from broadcast services is provided to a broadcast server for transmitting to one or more client devices. The serialized data may correspond to shared data, private data, or control data. Data is scheduled for transmission based on weighted priorities including quality of service metrics. The transmission frame is arranged according to a frame protocol that includes provisions for a table of contents indexing system for the shared data. Packets of shared data are formatted based on criteria that is known by the particular broadcast service and corresponding application that is resident on the client device. The client device receives the table of contents at the transport layer, and notifies applications of data that will be available in the next frame. Applications submit prioritized requests to the transport layer, requesting data in the next frame. Data is retrieved by the transport layer, and deserialized by handlers for each application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: R. Donald Thompson, III, Davide Massarenti, Cosmin A. Corbea, Gerald F. Cermak, Gideon A. Yuval
  • Patent number: 7746885
    Abstract: Described is a communication system including wireless client devices. In the described system, the client devices may be wrist-worn watches such as are in common use today, except that the watches are specially configured to receive transmissions from broadcast towers. A client device is associated with one or more home service regions, and is configured to receive personal messages on a home channel when in the home service region. The client device employs a self-assignment method to identify and select a home channel without the need for interaction by a user. A tower discovery method is employed to identify broadcast towers and available channels within a service region. A failover method is employed to identify a change in the broadcast system, and take appropriate action such as, for example, changing to another broadcast tower, selecting another frequency, selecting a sleep mode, as well as others.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: R. Donald Thompson, III, Cosmin A. Corbea
  • Publication number: 20090112905
    Abstract: An indexing system uses a graph-like data structure that clusters features indexes together. The minimum atomic value in the data structure is represented as a leaf node which is either a single feature index or a sequence of two or more feature indexes when a minimum sequence length is imposed. Root nodes are formed as clustered collections of leaf nodes and/or other root nodes. Context nodes are formed from root nodes that are associated with content that is being indexed. Links between a root node and other nodes each include a sequence order value that is used to maintain the sequencing order for feature indexes relative to the root node. The collection of nodes forms a graph-like data structure, where each context node is indexed according to the sequenced pattern of feature indexes. Clusters can be split, merged, and promoted to increase the efficiency in searching the data structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 24, 2007
    Publication date: April 30, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Kunal Mukerjee, R. Donald Thompson, III, Jeffrey Cole, Brendan Meeder
  • Patent number: 7433714
    Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are generally related to an alert mechanism. The alert mechanism is activated by the detection of one or more triggers, where the triggers can be categorized as time based and event based. Time-based triggers include timer based functions and scheduler based functions, while event-based triggers include internal alert functions and message based alert functions. Alerts are processed based on a priority scheme. Alerts take over the display area until dismissed by activation of one or more selectors by the user. Indicators may be included in a display screens to keep the user informed of ongoing changes in the alert status.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Dane M. Howard, Albert W. Tan, R. Donald Thompson, III, Paul Jacob Johannes VanderSpek
  • Patent number: 7403754
    Abstract: Described is a communication system including wireless client devices. In the described system, the client devices may be wrist-worn watches such as are in common use today, except that the watches are specially configured to receive transmissions from broadcast towers. A client device is associated with one or more home service regions, and is configured to receive personal messages on a home channel when in the home service region. The client device employs a self-assignment method to identify and select a home channel without the need for interaction by a user. A tower discovery method is employed to identify broadcast towers and available channels within a service region. A failover method is employed to identify a change in the broadcast system, and take appropriate action such as, for example, changing to another broadcast tower, selecting another frequency, selecting a sleep mode, as well as others.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: R. Donald Thompson, III, Cosmin A. Corbea
  • Patent number: 7181701
    Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are related to navigating through content on a device that includes stored information that is organized according to channels. Content that is associated with the channels is selected and viewed on a display of the device by means of passive interaction when the device is in a glance-view operating state. The device periodically changes the display according to a playlist that indexes selected channel views associated with the current channel. The selected channel views are selected from the available channels according to a rule set that is associated with the channel. After every item in the playlist is processed, the playlist is updated according to application of the rule set. A customized channel may include references to other channels such that channel views associated with the customized channel correspond to channel views from other channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2007
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Dane M. Howard, Eric G. Lang, R. Donald Thompson, III
  • Patent number: 7043214
    Abstract: Described is a communication system including wireless client devices. In the described system, the client devices may be wrist-worn watches such as are in common use today, except that the watches are specially configured to receive transmissions from broadcast towers. A client device is associated with one or more home service regions, and is configured to receive personal messages on a home channel when in the home service region. The client device employs a self-assignment method to identify and select a home channel without the need for interaction by a user. A tower discovery method is employed to identify broadcast towers and available channels within a service region. A failover method is employed to identify a change in the broadcast system, and take appropriate action such as, for example, changing to another broadcast tower, selecting another frequency, selecting a sleep mode, as well as others.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: R. Donald Thompson, III, Cosmin A. Corbea