Patents by Inventor Robert C. Combs

Robert C. Combs 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: 11662801
    Abstract: A supervisory control system provides power management in an electronic device by providing timeout periods for a hardware component to lower levels of the operating system such as a power management arbitrator and/or a hardware interface controller. The power management arbitrator and/or hardware interface controller transition at least a portion of a hardware component to a lower-power state based on monitored activity information of the hardware component. The supervisory control system may further provide wakeup periods to the power management arbitrator and/or a hardware interface controller to determine whether the hardware component should be transitioned to a higher-power state at the end of the wakeup period if the hardware component satisfies a transition condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Harish Srinivasan, Robert C. Combs
  • Publication number: 20220350394
    Abstract: A supervisory control system provides power management in an electronic device by providing timeout periods for a hardware component to lower levels of the operating system such as a power management arbitrator and/or a hardware interface controller. The power management arbitrator and/or hardware interface controller transition at least a portion of a hardware component to a lower-power state based on monitored activity information of the hardware component. The supervisory control system may further provide wakeup periods to the power management arbitrator and/or a hardware interface controller to determine whether the hardware component should be transitioned to a higher-power state at the end of the wakeup period if the hardware component satisfies a transition condition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 15, 2022
    Publication date: November 3, 2022
    Inventors: Harish Srinivasan, Robert C. Combs
  • Patent number: 11314317
    Abstract: A supervisory control system provides power management in an electronic device by providing timeout periods for a hardware component to lower levels of the operating system such as a power management arbitrator and/or a hardware interface controller. The power management arbitrator and/or hardware interface controller transition at least a portion of a hardware component to a lower-power state based on monitored activity information of the hardware component. The supervisory control system may further provide wakeup periods to the power management arbitrator and/or a hardware interface controller to determine whether the hardware component should be transitioned to a higher-power state at the end of the wakeup period if the hardware component satisfies a transition condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Harish Srinivasan, Robert C. Combs
  • Patent number: 10705591
    Abstract: A system for aggregated electronic device power management includes an aggregated power management arbitrator configured to collect activity information from one or more electronic devices regarding the use of a type of hardware component on the electronic devices. The aggregated power management arbitrator selects a timeout period for transmitting to one of the one or more electronic devices to define a minimum amount of time before the hardware component is transitioned to a lower-power state. The aggregated power management arbitrator may determine usage patterns for one of the electronic devices based on the collected activity information and the applications executing on the electronic device. A timeout period may be adjusted based on the determined usage pattern to improve efficiency of the power management of the electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Harish Srinivasan, Robert C. Combs
  • Publication number: 20180120917
    Abstract: A system for aggregated electronic device power management includes an aggregated power management arbitrator configured to collect activity information from one or more electronic devices regarding the use of a type of hardware component on the electronic devices. The aggregated power management arbitrator selects a timeout period for transmitting to one of the one or more electronic devices to define a minimum amount of time before the hardware component is transitioned to a lower-power state. The aggregated power management arbitrator may determine usage patterns for one of the electronic devices based on the collected activity information and the applications executing on the electronic device. A timeout period may be adjusted based on the determined usage pattern to improve efficiency of the power management of the electronic device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2017
    Publication date: May 3, 2018
    Inventors: Harish Srinivasan, Robert C. Combs
  • Publication number: 20180121306
    Abstract: A supervisory control system provides power management in an electronic device by providing timeout periods for a hardware component to lower levels of the operating system such as a power management arbitrator and/or a hardware interface controller. The power management arbitrator and/or hardware interface controller transition at least a portion of a hardware component to a lower-power state based on monitored activity information of the hardware component. The supervisory control system may further provide wakeup periods to the power management arbitrator and/or a hardware interface controller to determine whether the hardware component should be transitioned to a higher-power state at the end of the wakeup period if the hardware component satisfies a transition condition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2017
    Publication date: May 3, 2018
    Inventors: Harish Srinivasan, Robert C. Combs
  • Patent number: 9836518
    Abstract: Time-related properties may be modeled independent of a base object. Rather than storing time properties with the object, they may be stored independently. A given object may be stored once, even if it has a recurrent time property. The description of a “meeting,” for example, may be stored once. Each occurrence of that object over time may be stored in a “timeslot” (object <foo> occurs at time ‘t’ on day ‘d’). If it is a recurring property, recurrence information may be stored independently. “Exception” information may be stored independently as well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Christopher Michael Simison, Remi Alain Lemarchand, Robert C. Combs
  • Publication number: 20160154873
    Abstract: Time-related properties may be modeled independent of a base object. Rather than storing time properties with the object, they may be stored independently. A given object may be stored once, even if it has a recurrent time property. The description of a “meeting,” for example, may be stored once. Each occurrence of that object over time may be stored in a “timeslot” (object <foo> occurs at time ‘t’ on day ‘d’). If it is a recurring property, recurrence information may be stored independently. “Exception” information may be stored independently as well.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2016
    Publication date: June 2, 2016
    Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Christopher Michael Simison, Remi Alain Lemarchand, Robert C. Combs
  • Patent number: 9262368
    Abstract: Time-related properties may be modeled independent of a base object. Rather than storing time properties with the object, they may be stored independently. A given object may be stored once, even if it has a recurrent time property. The description of a “meeting,” for example, may be stored once. Each occurrence of that object over time may be stored in a “timeslot” (object <foo> occurs at time ‘t’ on day ‘d’). If it is a recurring property, recurrence information may be stored independently. “Exception” information may be stored independently as well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Christopher Michael Simison, Remi Alain Lemarchand, Robert C. Combs
  • Patent number: 9104406
    Abstract: A computing device that has a network interface that performs a subset of possible networking functions while the computing device is in a sleep mode. The subset of functions may be simply implemented on the network interface, yet to substantially reduce the frequency with which the computing device has to wake up to perform networking functions. The subset of functions may be selected to maintain a network presence of the computing device while the device is in sleep mode, and may include responding to requests for MAC information, sending keep-alive messages or exchanging security information that, in accordance with network protocols, has a limited lifetime that would otherwise expire while the computing device is in sleep mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Alireza Dabagh, Narasimha Rao S.S. Nagampalli, Robert C. Combs, Alexander Malysh, Narasimhan A. Venkataramaiah
  • Publication number: 20150071298
    Abstract: Forwarding techniques for a virtual switch are described. A type is identified of data packet received by an extensible virtual switch of a computing device, the extensible virtual switch configured to support communication between a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine or external device. Responsive to the identification, an identifier of the type is associated with the data packet. The data packet is passed through a plurality of extension modules of the extensible virtual switch. Forwarding for the data packet is calculated by at least one of the plurality of extension modules that correspond to the associated identifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2013
    Publication date: March 12, 2015
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Robert C. Combs, Pankaj Garg, Luis M. Hernandez, Claire Elizabeth Mitchell, Praveen Balasubramanian
  • Patent number: 8966499
    Abstract: An extensible virtual switch allows virtual machines to communicate with one another and optionally with other physical devices via a network. The extensible virtual switch includes an extensibility protocol binding, allowing different extensions to be added to the extensible virtual switch. The extensible virtual switch also includes a miniport driver on which the extensions are loaded, tying the lifetimes of the extensions to the lifetime of the extensible virtual switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Robert C. Combs, Pankaj Garg, Sambhrama M. Mundkur, Luis M. Hernandez, Alireza Dabagh, Sandeep K. Singhal
  • Publication number: 20130067466
    Abstract: An extensible virtual switch allows virtual machines to communicate with one another and optionally with other physical devices via a network. The extensible virtual switch includes an extensibility protocol binding, allowing different extensions to be added to the extensible virtual switch. The extensible virtual switch also includes a miniport driver on which the extensions are loaded, tying the lifetimes of the extensions to the lifetime of the extensible virtual switch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2011
    Publication date: March 14, 2013
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Robert C. Combs, Pankaj Garg, Sambhrama M. Mundkur, Luis M. Hernandez, Alireza Dabagh, Sandeep K. Singhal
  • Patent number: 8321416
    Abstract: Time-related properties may be modeled independent of a base object. Rather than storing time properties with the object, they may be stored independently. A given object may be stored once, even if it has a recurrent time property. The description of a “meeting,” for example, may be stored once. Each occurrence of that object over time may be stored in a “timeslot” (object <foo> occurs at time ‘t’ on day ‘d’). If it is a recurring property, recurrence information may be stored independently. “Exception” information may be stored independently as well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Michael Simison, Remi Alain Lemarchand, Robert C. Combs
  • Patent number: 8161022
    Abstract: The principles of the present invention extend to efficiently and reliably providing message related data. Generally, data fields of electronic messages and attachments are created in accordance with an electronic message schema hierarchy. An electronic message can include links to folder items that represent message folders. An electronic message can also include links to contact items that represent message participants. Message applications can register for folder spaces such that each message application is aware of folders that are primarily controlled by other message applications. A link to a contact item can be selected to access current contact related data for a message participant, even when the contact related data has changed since an electronic message containing the link was received.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Bryan T. Starbuck, Gail Borod Giacobbe, Alexander E. Vaschillo, Stephen T. Wells, Robert C. Combs, Sridhar Sundararaman, Raghavendra Rachamadugu, Hubert Louis Marie Van Hoof, John Heinrich Lueders
  • Patent number: 8150923
    Abstract: The present invention extends to methods, systems, computer program products, and data structures for efficiently storing and accessing electronic messages. Generally, electronic messages are created and transformed in accordance with an electronic message schema hierarchy. Electronic messages can be created according to a general message schema that defines a format for data fields that are common to all types of electronic messages (e.g. electronic mail, instant message, fax message). Electronic messages can also be extended according to message extension schemas that define formats for adding protocol specific and/or or application specific data fields to an electronic message. Data fields added in accordance with message extension schemas can differ between electronic messages types.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Alexander E. Vaschillo, Bryan T. Starbuck, Gail Borod Giacobbe, Stephen T. Wells, Robert C. Combs, Sridhar Sundararaman, Raghavendra Rachamadugu, Hubert Louis Marie Van Hoof, John Heinrich Lueders
  • Publication number: 20120030252
    Abstract: Time-related properties may be modeled independent of a base object. Rather than storing time properties with the object, they may be stored independently. A given object may be stored once, even if it has a recurrent time property. The description of a “meeting,” for example, may be stored once. Each occurrence of that object over time may be stored in a “timeslot” (object <foo> occurs at time ‘t’ on day ‘d’). If it is a recurring property, recurrence information may be stored independently. “Exception” information may be stored independently as well.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2011
    Publication date: February 2, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Michael Simison, Remi Alain Lemarchand, Robert C. Combs
  • Patent number: 8065282
    Abstract: Time-related properties may be modeled independent of a base object. Rather than storing time properties with the object, they may be stored independently. A given object may be stored once, even if it has a recurrent time property. The description of a “meeting,” for example, may be stored once. Each occurrence of that object over time may be stored in a “timeslot” (object <foo> occurs at time ‘t’ on day ‘d’). If it is a recurring property, recurrence information may be stored independently. “Exception” information may be stored independently as well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Michael Simison, Remi Alain Lemarchand, Robert C. Combs
  • Publication number: 20100174808
    Abstract: A computing device that has a network interface that performs a subset of possible networking functions while the computing device is in a sleep mode. The subset of functions may be simply implemented on the network interface, yet to substantially reduce the frequency with which the computing device has to wake up to perform networking functions. The subset of functions may be selected to maintain a network presence of the computing device while the device is in sleep mode, and may include responding to requests for MAC information, sending keep-alive messages or exchanging security information that, in accordance with network protocols, has a limited lifetime that would otherwise expire while the computing device is in sleep mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2009
    Publication date: July 8, 2010
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Alireza Dabagh, Narasimha Rao S.S. Nagampalli, Robert C. Combs, Alexander Malysh, Narasimhan A. Venkataramaiah
  • Publication number: 20090240972
    Abstract: Time-related properties may be modeled independent of a base object. Rather than storing time properties with the object, they may be stored independently. A given object may be stored once, even if it has a recurrent time property. The description of a “meeting,” for example, may be stored once. Each occurrence of that object over time may be stored in a “timeslot” (object <foo> occurs at time ‘t’ on day ‘d’). If it is a recurring property, recurrence information may be stored independently. “Exception” information may be stored independently as well.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2009
    Publication date: September 24, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Michael Simison, Remi Alain Lemarchand, Robert C. Combs