Patents by Inventor Ronald K. Huang

Ronald K. Huang 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: 10108748
    Abstract: Crowd-sourced localized application usage data is collected from mobile devices at a usage location and sent to a network-based service. The network-based service analyzes the data to determine a single most relevant application correlated to the usage location. Once the most relevant application is determined, a recommendation for the application is sent to client devices operating at the usage location. In some implementations the data is processed to determine whether the usage location is a chained venue, a large venue or an event. Once the usage location has been determined, the most relevant application can be selected for recommendation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Lukas M. Marti, Zehua Zhou, Jeffrey Michael Bartunek, Weili Shao, Liviu Teodor Popescu, Lili Cao, Ronald K. Huang
  • Patent number: 10091646
    Abstract: Reduced resolution location determination for improved anonymity of a user location is disclosed. In some implementations, a first location of a computing device operating in a geographic area is determined. A population density of the geographic area is estimated. A grid overlay is generated, including a number of cells based on the estimated population density. Using the grid overlay, a second location is generated for the computing device that is less precise than the first location. The less precise second location can be used in a local search or other application to improve the anonymity of the user location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald K. Huang, Lukas M. Marti, Stephen J. Rhee, Robert Mayor, Tadaaki Shimada
  • Patent number: 10080103
    Abstract: Techniques of range free proximity determination are described. A mobile device can determine an entry into or exit from a proximity fence upon determining that the mobile device is sufficiently close to a signal source. The proximity fence can be a virtual fence defined by the signal source and associated with a service. The mobile device can detect signals from multiple signal sources. The mobile device can determine that, among the signal sources, one or more signal sources are located closest to the mobile device based on a ranking of the signal sources using signal strength. The mobile device can determine a probability indicating a confident level of the ranking. The mobile device can determine that the mobile device entered or exited a proximity fence associated with a highest ranked signal source satisfying a confidence threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Pejman Lotfali Kazemi, Lukas M. Marti, Robert Mayor, Shannon M. Ma, Ronald K. Huang
  • Patent number: 10070261
    Abstract: This disclosure describes embodiments for harvesting and serving labels for locations. In an embodiment, a method comprises: receiving, by one or more server computers, location data including wireless access point data and location labels associated with significant locations, the location data being harvested from a plurality of devices operating at a plurality of geographic locations; and updating, by the one or more server computers, a plurality of fingerprints representing the plurality of geographic locations, the updating including associating at least one of the received location labels with at least one of the plurality of fingerprints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Michael P. Dal Santo, Stephen J. Rhee, Ronald K. Huang, Nicholas M. Holt
  • Publication number: 20180249294
    Abstract: Methods, program products, and systems of using a mobile WAP for location and context purposes are disclosed. In general, in one aspect, a server can estimate an effective location of a wireless access gateway using harvested data. The server can harvest location data from multiple mobile devices. The harvested data can include a location of each mobile device and an identifier of a wireless access gateway that is located within a communication range of the mobile device. In some implementations, the server can identify a mobile wireless access gateway based on a distance comparison. Data indicating the mobility of a wireless access gateway can be used by a mobile device to initiate one or more actions, including managing power of the mobile device, modifying entrance and exit conditions of virtual fences and determining a context of the mobile device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2018
    Publication date: August 30, 2018
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald K. Huang, Robert Mayor, Lukas M. Marti
  • Patent number: 10064003
    Abstract: A mobile device can monitor a current location using a multi-tier approach. A baseband subsystem can monitor a coarse location of the mobile device using various course location parameters, such as a mobile country code (MCC), a location area code (LAC), or a cell identifier (cell ID), as the mobile device moves closer to the geographic region. Upon determining that the mobile device is in a cell that intersects the geographic region, the baseband subsystem can transfer the monitoring to the application subsystem. The task can be performed when the application subsystem determines that the mobile device is currently located in the geographic region. A beacon network can provide more accurate estimates of mobile device location and advertise location based services available to the mobile device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Morgan Grainger, Robert Mayor, Ronald K. Huang
  • Patent number: 10051109
    Abstract: Measurements can be obtained from sensors to determine a state of a device. The state can be used to determine whether to provide an alert. For example, after a first alert is provided, it can be determined that the device is not accessible to the user based on the determined state, and a second alert can be suppressed at a specified time after providing the first alert. The sensor measurements can be monitored after suppressing the second alert, and a state engine can detect a change in a state based on subsequent sensor measurements. If the state change indicates that the device is accessible to the user the second alert can be provided to the user. Alerts can be dismissed based on a change in state. A first device can coordinate alerts sent to or to be provided by a second device by suppressing or dismissing such alerts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen P. Jackson, Anil K. Kandangath, Ronald K. Huang
  • Patent number: 10042035
    Abstract: Embodiments of a system and method for tile-based reduction of access point location information are described. Embodiments may reduce a set of network access points and respective locations to generate a reduced set. For instance, embodiments may include parsing a representation of a geographic region into multiple tiles. Embodiments may also include, for each sub-area or “bucket” of multiple buckets that make up a given tile, evaluating the set of network access points and respective locations to identify network access points residing in that bucket, and based on a ranking of the network access points in that bucket, eliminating at least some network access points of that sub-area from the reduced set. Embodiments may also include, for each sub-tile of multiple sub-tiles of the given tile, assigning within the reduced set a common location to multiple access points residing within different locations of that sub-tile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2018
    Assignee: Apple, Inc.
    Inventors: Yefim Grosman, Robert W. Mayor, Ronald K. Huang, Andrew Konstantinov
  • Patent number: 10018470
    Abstract: A location-aware device detects if a personal or point of interest region has been entered or exited and a current context of the device. In response, an operating mode is selected based on the region and a current context of the device. The operating mode is configurable by a user, including setting geofence parameters, context parameters and operating mode parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald K. Huang, Robert Mayor, Maximilian H. Luttrell, Brendan J. Langoulant, Vera Carr, Stephen J. Rhee, Gregory Novick
  • Patent number: 10002199
    Abstract: Mobile devices can provide app recommendations that are relevant to a location of interest. A localized app recommendation can be triggered (e.g., by a mobile device coming within a threshold distance of an application hotspot or some other user action). A location of interest can be determined. The location of interest can be the current location of the mobile device or another location (e.g., the destination in a mapping app). Using the location of interest, a localized application ranking database with app hotspot data can be queried with location data representing the location of interest. App recommendations can be received and displayed on the mobile device. Icons for apps that are relevant to the location of interest can be visually distinguished from other apps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Leonardo A. Soto Matamala, Ronald K. Huang, Scott M. Herz, Tad Shimada
  • Publication number: 20180167771
    Abstract: Techniques of range free proximity determination are described. A mobile device can determine an entry into or exit from a proximity fence upon determining that the mobile device is sufficiently close to a signal source. The proximity fence can be a virtual fence defined by the signal source and associated with a service. The mobile device can detect signals from multiple signal sources. The mobile device can determine that, among the signal sources, one or more signal sources are located closest to the mobile device based on a ranking of the signal sources using signal strength. The mobile device can determine a probability indicating a confident level of the ranking. The mobile device can determine that the mobile device entered or exited a proximity fence associated with a highest ranked signal source satisfying a confidence threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2018
    Publication date: June 14, 2018
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Pejman Lotfali Kazemi, Lukas M. Marti, Robert Mayor, Shannon M. Ma, Ronald K. Huang
  • Patent number: 9980096
    Abstract: Methods, program products, and systems of using a mobile WAP for location and context purposes are disclosed. In general, in one aspect, a server can estimate an effective location of a wireless access gateway using harvested data. The server can harvest location data from multiple mobile devices. The harvested data can include a location of each mobile device and an identifier of a wireless access gateway that is located within a communication range of the mobile device. In some implementations, the server can identify a mobile wireless access gateway based on a distance comparison. Data indicating the mobility of a wireless access gateway can be used by a mobile device to initiate one or more actions, including managing power of the mobile device, modifying entrance and exit conditions of virtual fences and determining a context of the mobile device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald K. Huang, Robert Mayor, Lukas M. Marti
  • Patent number: 9980195
    Abstract: Data provided by an access point of a wireless local area network (“WLAN”) is used to assist a mobile device in cell reselection. If a serving cell of a cellular communications network is unsuitable for providing cellular service, a candidate cell co-located with the serving cell can be selected as the serving cell based on quality of service metrics associated with the serving cell and the candidate cell. The mobile device can be proactively commanded to switch to the candidate cell for receiving cellular service. In some implementations, the quality of service metrics are calculated from call logs collected from mobile devices operating in the cellular communications network. In some implementations, network information regarding serving cell performance can be used with the call logs to generate the quality of service metrics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald K. Huang, Jason Shi
  • Publication number: 20180098196
    Abstract: This disclosure describes embodiments for harvesting and serving labels for locations. In an embodiment, a method comprises: receiving, by one or more server computers, location data including wireless access point data and location labels associated with significant locations, the location data being harvested from a plurality of devices operating at a plurality of geographic locations; and updating, by the one or more server computers, a plurality of fingerprints representing the plurality of geographic locations, the updating including associating at least one of the received location labels with at least one of the plurality of fingerprints.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2016
    Publication date: April 5, 2018
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Michael P. Dal Santo, Stephen J. Rhee, Ronald K. Huang, Nicholas M. Holt
  • Patent number: 9933527
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer program products for determining the location and direction of travel of a mobile device using map vector constraints is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Glenn Donald MacGougan, Stephen J. Rhee, Robert Mayor, Ronald K. Huang
  • Patent number: 9918294
    Abstract: Methods, program products, and systems of location estimation using a probability density function are disclosed. In general, in one aspect, a server can estimate an effective altitude of a wireless access gateway using harvested data. The server can harvest location data from multiple mobile devices. The harvested data can include a location of each mobile device and an identifier of a wireless access gateway that is located within a communication range of the mobile device. The server can calculate an effective altitude of the wireless access gateway using a probability density function of the harvested data. The probability density function can be a sufficient statistic of the received set of location coordinates for calculating an effective altitude of the wireless access gateway. The server can send the effective altitude of the wireless access gateway to other mobile devices for estimating altitudes of the other mobile devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Lukas M. Marti, Glenn Donald MacGougan, Robert Mayor, Ronald K. Huang, Jason Dere, Yefim Grosman
  • Publication number: 20180056128
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to methods and systems of determining swimming metrics of a user during a swimming session. The method can include receiving, by a processor circuit of a user device, motion information from one or more motion sensors of the user device; determining, by the processor circuit using the motion information, a first set of rotational data of the user device, wherein the first set of rotational data is expressed in a first frame of reference; converting, by the processor circuit, the first set of rotational data into a second set of rotational data, wherein the second set of rotational data is expressed in a second frame of reference; determining, by the processor circuit, one or more swimming metrics of the user; and outputting the one or more swimming metrics.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2017
    Publication date: March 1, 2018
    Inventors: Bharath NARASIMHA RAO, Craig H. MERMEL, Karthik Jayaraman RAGHURAM, Hung A. PHAM, Adam S. HOWELL, Rami Y. HINDIYEH, James P. OCHS, Vinay R. MAJJIGI, Alexander SINGH ALVARADO, Sunny K. CHOW, Umamahesh SRINIVAS, Xing TAN, Ronald K. HUANG, Edith Merle ARNOLD, Robin T. GUERS, Gunes DERVISOGLU, Adeeti ULLAL
  • Publication number: 20180056123
    Abstract: Systems and methods of analyzing a user's motion during a swimming session are described. One or more motions sensors can collect motion data of the user. A processor circuit can make motion analysis based on the motion data. The processor circuit can determine if the user's arm swing is a genuine swim stroke. The processor circuit can also determine whether the user is swimming or turning. The processor circuit can also classify the user's swim stroke style. The processor circuit can also determine the user's swim stroke phase. The processor circuit can also determine the user's stroke orbit consistency.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Publication date: March 1, 2018
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Bharath NARASIMHA RAO, Craig H. MERMEL, Karthik Jayaraman RAGHURAM, Hung A. PHAM, Adam S. HOWELL, James P. OCHS, Vinay R. MAJJIGI, Alexander SINGH ALVARADO, Sunny K. CHOW, Umamahesh SRINIVAS, Robin T. GUERS, Ronald K. HUANG, Edith Merle ARNOLD, Gunes DERVISOGLU, Kenneth Waters, Matthew DeMers
  • Publication number: 20170357381
    Abstract: Computer-implemented methods, computer-readable storage media storing instructions and computer systems for labeling significant locations based on contextual data can be implemented to perform operations that include determining a location of a computing device, and determining a label for the determined location based on contextual data associated with the significant location. The location can be a significant location that has meaning to a user of the device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2016
    Publication date: December 14, 2017
    Inventors: Michael P. Dal Santo, Hyo Jeong Shin, Krishna M. Behara, Marcos R. Vescovi, Patrick Thomas Dillon, Richard B. Warren, Ronald K. Huang, Xufeng Han
  • Publication number: 20170359694
    Abstract: Techniques for location source control for paired devices are described. Location source control selects a location source for a mobile device. The mobile device can receive, from an application program, a request for determining a location of the mobile device. The mobile device can determine a first location estimate using a location subsystem of the mobile device. The mobile device can determine whether to provide the first location estimate as input to the application program, or to provide a second location estimate as input to the application program. The second location estimate can be an estimated location of the companion device and determined by the companion device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Publication date: December 14, 2017
    Applicant: Apple inc.
    Inventors: Bradley Joel Jensen, Glenn Donald MacGougan, Kumar Gaurav Chhokra, Robert Mayor, Ronald K. Huang, Stephen J. Rhee