Patents by Inventor William MacDonald White

William MacDonald White 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: 10176272
    Abstract: A smart-sizing, browser-based widget uses both information defined by a user (e.g., a width value, etc.) and information provided by the web browser and web page within which it is being displayed, to calculate, in real-time, which of its elements to display, and at what scale, so as to make the most efficient use of its available space. The determination as to which elements to display may be a function of a pre-defined relationship among the elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC
    Inventors: Joseph Andrew Magnani, William MacDonald White
  • Patent number: 9836798
    Abstract: Particular embodiments of the present invention are directed to providing an application programming interface allowing developers to create a single version of a social networking application configured to execute on more than one social network, wherein such execution may be customized with respect to each particular social network in which the social networking application may execute. The same or alternative embodiments may also provide an application programming interface for saving and/or retrieving social networking application data in and/or from a common data store, allowing aggregation of data specific to the cross-network social networking application such that the data is available across multiple social networks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: EXCALIBUR IP, LLC
    Inventors: William MacDonald White, Steven Horowitz
  • Patent number: 7937380
    Abstract: Systems and methods have been developed for selecting and recommending events to a consumer of media content based on information known about the consumer, including the consumer's interests, consumption history and preferences. In an embodiment, a system records a history of the media content accessed, purchased, viewed or otherwise consumed by a consumer. The system further includes an event database containing information about upcoming events. When a consumer interacts with the system, such as to access a media content item, the consumer is notified of one or more events based on the consumer's history. In this way consumers are automatically provided with updated event recommendations based on the known interests of the consumer, without the need for the consumer to subscribe to an event recommendation service and maintain the subscription to accurately reflect the consumer's current interests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2011
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Spiegelman, William MacDonald White
  • Publication number: 20100198741
    Abstract: A social networking system is configured to enable users in the system to prioritize vitality events in their respective vitality streams. For instance, a user may designate that at least one specified prioritization action is to be performed for any vitality event having one or more characteristic(s) specified by the user. Accordingly, when a vitality event having the one or more specified characteristic(s) is associated with the user, the at least one specified prioritization action is performed with respect to that vitality event.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2009
    Publication date: August 5, 2010
    Applicant: YAHOO! INC.
    Inventors: Steven Horowitz, William MacDonald White
  • Publication number: 20100199184
    Abstract: A social networking system is configured to enable users in the system to prioritize vitality events in their respective vitality streams. For instance, a user may designate that at least one specified prioritization action is to be performed for any vitality event having one or more characteristic(s) specified by the user. Accordingly, when a vitality event having the one or more specified characteristic(s) is associated with the user, the at least one specified prioritization action is performed with respect to that vitality event.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2009
    Publication date: August 5, 2010
    Applicant: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Horowitz, William MacDonald White
  • Publication number: 20100125571
    Abstract: Disclosed are apparatus and methods for facilitating the formation of remix web logs (blogs) containing commentary about one or more media objects based on one or more selected media objects obtained from one or more selected other blogs. A media object may take any suitable form such as a photograph, a video or audio object, a text excerpt (e.g., from a book or news article), an embedded audio and/or video player, etc. In specific embodiments, the media objects (of both the remix blog and the original source blogs) each take the form of a link or reference (e.g., mp3 link). The commentary about each media object may be created by the creator of the remix blog and/or may be obtained from the original source blogs if available. That is, one or more of the media objects of the remix blog are associated with commentary that was written or created by the remix blogger and/or the original source blogger.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 20, 2008
    Publication date: May 20, 2010
    Applicant: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventor: William MacDonald White
  • Publication number: 20100114788
    Abstract: Particular embodiments of the present invention are directed to providing an application programming interface allowing developers to create a single version of a social networking application configured to execute on more than one social network, wherein such execution may be customized with respect to each particular social network in which the social networking application may execute. The same or alternative embodiments may also provide an application programming interface for saving and/or retrieving social networking application data in and/or from a common data store, allowing aggregation of data specific to the cross-network social networking application such that the data is available across multiple social networks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2008
    Publication date: May 6, 2010
    Applicant: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: William MacDonald White, Steven Horowitz
  • Publication number: 20090089668
    Abstract: A smart-sizing, browser-based widget uses both information defined by a user (e.g., a width value, etc.) and information provided by the web browser and web page within which it is being displayed, to calculate, in real-time, which of its elements to display, and at what scale, so as to make the most efficient use of its available space. The determination as to which elements to display may be a function of a pre-defined relationship among the elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2007
    Publication date: April 2, 2009
    Applicant: YAHOO! INC.
    Inventors: Joseph Andrew Magnani, William MacDonald White
  • Publication number: 20080154696
    Abstract: Systems and methods have been developed for selecting and recommending events to a consumer of media content based on information known about the consumer, including the consumer's interests, consumption history and preferences. In an embodiment, a system records a history of the media content accessed, purchased, viewed or otherwise consumed by a consumer. The system further includes an event database containing information about upcoming events. When a consumer interacts with the system, such as to access a media content item, the consumer is notified of one or more events based on the consumer's history. In this way consumers are automatically provided with updated event recommendations based on the known interests of the consumer, without the need for the consumer to subscribe to an event recommendation service and maintain the subscription to accurately reflect the consumer's current interests.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2006
    Publication date: June 26, 2008
    Applicant: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Spiegelman, William MacDonald White