Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm Lee & Hayes, PLLC
  • Patent number: 8341537
    Abstract: Indication of delayed content output is described. In an implementation, content is output for display as a user interface having one or more selectable elements. When a cursor is positioned proximally to one of the selectable elements, a graphical symbol is output in the user interface that indicates a delay of a user-specified amount of time before additional content is displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ethan Ray, Hauke A. Gentzkow
  • Patent number: 8340637
    Abstract: In some embodiments, a user may associate a first communication type (e.g., Wi-Fi calling application) with a second communication type (e.g., standard ten-digit mobile telephone number), so that the user may have calls directed to an active communication type in a predetermined preference. In various embodiments, communication devices may become available (e.g., initiated) based on an activity of the user, such as by a location or proximity of the user, use of a device by the user, or for other reasons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Drovdahl, Paulo Chow, Sinclair M. Temple
  • Patent number: 8341410
    Abstract: An exemplary optimistic protocol for a two-party transaction includes a setup sub-protocol that includes an authorized Diffie-Hellman key agreement, an exchange sub-protocol that includes sending a certificate from a sending party to a receiving party and sending a receipt from the receiving party to the sending party and a dispute sub-protocol that includes a dispute resolution mechanism for resolving disputes between the sending party and the receiving party due to sending of an invalid certificate, due to sending an invalid receipt, or due to abortion of the exchange sub-protocol. Other exemplary methods, systems, etc., are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jun Shao, Bin Zhu, Min Feng
  • Patent number: 8339965
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides systems and/or methods that discover comparative differences in performance of Internet Service Provider networks. The system can include devices, components, and/or processes that partitions measurement processes into cycles and measures at least one Internet Service Provider network every cycle, develops and distributes to interrogation nodes a list of destination Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to interrogate, and utilizes results delivered or retrieved from interrogation nodes to generate a report on the comparative performance of Internet Service Provider networks queried.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ming Zhang, Ratul Mahajan, Lindsey Philip Poole, Vivek Sadananda Pai
  • Patent number: 8341513
    Abstract: An item-providing system supplies items to a user device for consumption at the user device via communication infrastructure. The device may correspond to a book reader device or other type of device. In one illustrative case, the item-providing system may provide items to the user device in incremental form or in full form. The item-providing system and user device implement a protocol for determining whether the content should be delivered in incremental form or full form.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Amazon.com Inc.
    Inventors: John Lattyak, Michael V. Rykov, Girish Bansilal Bajaj, James C. Slezak, Aviram Zagorie, Richard Moore, Kevin R. Cheung, Thomas M. J. Fruchterman, Robert L. Goodwin
  • Patent number: 8340965
    Abstract: Embodiments of rich context modeling for speech synthesis are disclosed. In operation, a text-to-speech engine refines a plurality of rich context models based on decision tree-tied Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) to produce a plurality of refined rich context models. The text-to-speech engine then generates synthesized speech for an input text based at least on some of the plurality of refined rich context models.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Zhi-Jie Yan, Yao Qian, Frank Kao-Ping Soong
  • Patent number: 8340498
    Abstract: Video content comprising a plurality of frames containing textual and non-textual elements is processed. A portion of the plurality of frames is selected for analysis to identify textual elements in the frames corresponding to pre-defined textual elements. The identified textual elements are stored along with their location within the video content. In some embodiments, each of a subset of frames included in the portion is analyzed until the pre-defined textual element is identified in a start frame. A plurality of successive frames subsequent to the start frame is analyzed to identify pre-defined textual elements in the frame. Analyzing the frames includes filtering the frames to remove non-textual elements and increase the visibility of the textual elements contained therein. A confidence rating is calculated for the identified textual elements according to some embodiments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Sunbir Gill, Kamlesh T. Talrja, Peter A. Schwabland
  • Patent number: 8335991
    Abstract: Techniques for facilitating secure application interoperation via user interface (UI) gestures in computing devices that strictly isolate applications operating thereon are described herein. For instance, applications may define one or more specific UI gestures that, when executed by the user, express that the user desires for the computing device to allow for an instance of directed, ephemeral, by-value communication between two isolated applications. In some implementations, the gesture is an atomic gesture, such as a drag-and-drop operation. That is, the gesture is one that the user completes continuously and without interruption.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: John R. Douceur, Jonathan R. Howell
  • Patent number: 8335838
    Abstract: Web page load time prediction is achieved by simulating and adjusting the load times of web objects in a webpage to determined adjustments that optimize an overall page load time (PLT) of the webpage. The webpage load time prediction includes extracting a parental dependency graph (PDG) for the webpage. The PDG encapsulates one or more dependency relationships for each web object in the webpage. The prediction further includes determining an original PLT and original timing information of a webpage. The prediction also includes simulating a page loading of the webpage based on adjusted timing information of each web object and the PDG to estimate a new PLT of the webpage. The prediction additionally includes comparing the original PLT of the webpage to the new PLT of the webpage to determine whether the adjusted timing information increased or decreased the new PLT of the webpage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ming Zhang, Yi-Min Wang, Albert Greenberg, Zhichun Li
  • Patent number: 8335798
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided that enable searches of social networks by acting as a “compass” that assists users in navigating the social network. Individual user participation is not required in response to queries from other users. The systems and methods offer navigational assistance or information as opposed to a traditional search which returns requested information, thus currently acceptable social mechanisms for arbitrating trust can be exploited. As a result, users do not make their personal information publicly searchable, while at the same time, they are protected from potential misrepresentations of facts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Dimitris Achlioptas
  • Patent number: 8336102
    Abstract: Systems and methods to deliver malformed data for software application fuzzing are described. In one aspect, a fuzzing engine receives well-formed valid input data from a test automation tool. The received data is for input into a software application to implement a functional test. Responsive to receiving the well-formed valid input data, the fuzzing engine automatically generates corresponding malformed data based on characteristics of the well-formed valid input data. The application is then automatically fuzzed with the malformed data to notify an end-user of any security vulnerabilities in one or more code paths of the application used to process the malformed data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Eugene Neystadt, Nissim Natanov, Meir Shmouely, Yoram Singer
  • Patent number: 8336073
    Abstract: Strategies are described for adding a mark to media content at a source location in response to the activation of a marking mechanism, and then resuming the presentation of the media content at a second location based on the mark. The source location may be the same as the destination location, or the source location may differ from the destination location. In the latter case, the source location can correspond to a first room in a home that provides a first media processing mechanism, and the destination location can correspond to a second room in the home that provides a second media processing mechanism. The marking mechanism can correspond to a mark button provided by a remote control. Various user interface displays facilitate the adding of the mark and the resuming of the presentation, including various timelines displays, mark panel displays, thumbnail displays, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Edward M. Tecot, Michael J. Darnell, Laurie June Vertelney, Shannon C. Hegg
  • Patent number: 8335163
    Abstract: Techniques and technologies for routing communications based on Quality of Service (QOS) related information. More particularly, this document discloses techniques and technologies for selecting communications paths which partially overlap other communication paths for which QOS related information has been measured. The techniques and technologies include determining, performance levels for path segments within the communication paths from the measured QOS information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jin Li, Cheng Huang, Ye Wang, Richard R Yang
  • Patent number: 8335791
    Abstract: Tools and techniques are described herein for detecting synonyms and merging synonyms into search indexes. The tools provide methods that include receiving input documents for indexing into a search index file. The tools may compare parts of the input documents to parts of other documents already indexed into the search index file. The methods may also evaluate, based on these comparisons, whether the input document and the existing document are sufficiently similar to justify an inference that any dissimilar terms between the input document and the existing document are candidate synonyms. Other methods may include receiving requests to perforin searches that include one or more input keywords. The method then searches for links to synonyms of the input keyword, and returns search results responsive to the input keyword and to the synonyms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michel L. Goldstein, Walter Manching Tseng, Randall Winston Puttick
  • Patent number: 8332538
    Abstract: An application programming interface and related system is presented for a middleware communication space that provides asynchronous message delivery service for partially connected mobile ad hoc networks. Embodiments of the present invention use mobile devices to bridge separated islands of networks and store and propagate messages. The system and software architecture supports methods for messaging caching, transferring and routing. More specifically, embodiments provide methods and systems that extend a communication space concept into a distributed environment and combine it with the standard Web Services technologies, i.e, SOAP, and WS series protocols. The communication space provides an extension of Web Services to mobile ad hoc networks and provides asynchronous message caching, transferring and routing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Kun Tan, Qian Zhang, Wenwu Zhu
  • Patent number: 8332769
    Abstract: A rendering engine that supports directional focus navigation, in response to a directional input, shifts the focus to an appropriate focusable element. The rendering engine determines one or more focusable elements that are candidates to receive the focus based on the received directional input and based on the relative display locations of the focusable elements. The rendering engine selects the most appropriate candidate focusable element based on each candidate element's display location in relation to the display location of the element that currently has focus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Tantek Celik, Ada Y. Chan, Bradley R. Pettit
  • Patent number: 8332751
    Abstract: In accordance with certain aspects of the removal of redundant information from electronic documents, a package for an electronic document includes a plurality of parts. The package is accessed, and redundant information in one or more of the plurality of parts is identified. The identified redundant information is removed from the package.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Vladimir Sadovsky, Michael D. Stokes, Joseph D. Ternasky, Hubert Van Hoof
  • Patent number: 8332646
    Abstract: On-demand watermarking of digital content, particularly in the context of retail transactions, is described. Rather than replicating the digital content in bulk or mass at once, the digital content is replicated on-demand, at the time that a customer orders or otherwise transacts for the content. After the order is placed, the digital content is watermarked. The watermark can be defined based on personal information related to the customer, thereby personalizing or customizing the watermark and the digital content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Clinton A Staley, Darren Giles
  • Patent number: 8332650
    Abstract: A password reset disk is created using a private key/public key pair. The private key is stored on a removable computer-readable medium so that it can be removed and securely stored remote from the computer system on which it was created. The public key is stored on the computer system and used to maintain an encrypted copy of the current password to be stored on the computer system. If the user forgets a password, the user may insert the password reset disk into the computer system. The private key is retrieved from the password reset disk and the encrypted password is decrypted using the private key. If the decryption is successful, the user is allowed to set a new password. The password reset disk is effective even if the user password has been changed since the creation of the password reset disk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: John Banes, George Masters, Glenn D. Pittaway, Jonathan David Hubbard, Peter J. Skelly
  • Patent number: 8331263
    Abstract: Systems and related methods for discovering network nodes and routable addresses include a scan server, local link segment, an agent coupled to the local link segment, and a router coupled to place the scan server in communication with the agent. The scan server commands the agent to discover a network node coupled to the local link segment. The agent is responsive to commands from the scan server to discover a network node coupled to the local link segment. The agent also obtains a link-local address for the network node, and obtains a routable site-local address to which the link-local address maps. The agent provides the routable site-local address to the scan server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Louis R Dow