Patents Assigned to Amazon Technologies
  • Patent number: 9667515
    Abstract: An electronic marketplace for service images permits users to browse descriptions of service images implementing desired functionalities of a virtual machine image. The described service images may contain one or more software applications and may be further offered for purchase through an electronic service image marketplace. Notifications, such as updates, regarding software applications contained within a service image can be uploaded to the electronic service image marketplace. The electronic service image marketplace identifies customers associated with service images containing outdated software applications and generates notifications for the customers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: John Daniel Thimsen, David Zipkin
  • Patent number: 9664577
    Abstract: A force-sensitive resistor (FSR) assembly includes first and second electrically insulative substrates. The first substrate includes a first top surface and a first bottom surface. The second substrate includes a second top surface and a second bottom surface. The first substrate is positioned such that the first bottom surface is disposed facing the second top surface. The FSR assembly also includes thermoset ink disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Edward Albert Liljegren, Angeles Marcia Almanza-Workman, Anna Kim Lee, Robert Olson, Jung Sik Yang
  • Patent number: 9663236
    Abstract: Aerial vehicles may include propulsion units having motors with drive shafts that may be aligned at a variety of orientations, propellers with variable pitch blades, and common operators for aligning the drive shafts at one or more orientations and for varying the pitch angles of the blades. The common operators may include plate elements to which a propeller hub is rotatably joined, and which may be supported by one or more linear actuators that may extend or retract to vary both the orientations of the drive shafts and the pitch angles of the blades. Operating the motors and propellers at varying speeds, gimbal angles or pitch angles enables the motors to generate forces in any number of directions and at any magnitudes. Attributes of the propulsion units may be selected in order to shape or control the noise generated thereby.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Dominic Timothy Shiosaki, Ricky Dean Welsh
  • Patent number: 9663295
    Abstract: Inventory holders in an inventory system can be moved among differing storage positions. The moves can be performed by mobile drive units not otherwise transporting inventory holders directly to or from inventory stations. A free mobile drive unit can move an inventory holder not likely to be useful soon at any nearby station from a storage position near the station to a position farther away from the station. A mobile drive unit can move an inventory holder likely to be useful soon from a storage position farther away from one or more stations to a storage position nearby one or more stations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter R. Wurman, Jeremiah David Brazeau, Pardeep Singh Farwaha, Ryan Alexander Holt, Joseph W. Durham, John Joseph Enright, Alex Glazkov, Jared Brian Holcomb
  • Patent number: 9663293
    Abstract: A system includes storage shelves and display shelves at a retail facility. The system also includes a management module operable to determine to replenish a display shelf with an inventory item stored by a storage shelf. The management module is also operable to coordinate movement of mobile drive units to replenish the display shelf with the inventory item at an inventory restocking station. The system also includes a first mobile drive unit and a second mobile drive unit. The first mobile drive unit is operable to receive first instructions from the management module to transport the display shelf to the inventory restocking station. The second mobile drive unit is operable to receive second instructions from the management module to transport the storage shelf to the inventory restocking station. At the inventory restocking station, the display shelf receives the inventory item.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter R. Wurman, Michael C. Mountz
  • Patent number: 9662588
    Abstract: A game system in which game sessions involving one or more players may be recorded and saved as game records. A previously recorded game session may be selected and replayed. However, in addition to providing a static replay of the game session, the game system may allow one or more players to step into and assume control of respective game characters at any point during the replay of the game session. When a player steps into and takes control of game a character during the playback, a new timeline is spawned from the original timeline with potentially different outcomes, and a new game record corresponding to the new timeline is generated and stored.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael Martin George
  • Patent number: 9665696
    Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for generating encrypted media content items as well as decrypting encrypted media content items. A content type is embedded in an initialization vector corresponding to an encrypted sample. Upon decryption of encrypted content, the content type is identified and an action taken based upon the detected content type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Lei Li, Pankaj Sethi, Patrik Schnell, Wesley Shawn Davis, Joshua B. Barnard
  • Patent number: 9663226
    Abstract: An unmanned vehicle receives a message from another unmanned vehicle. The recipient unmanned vehicle uses information included with the message to determine whether a quorum of other unmanned vehicles have vetted information in the message. If a quorum of unmanned vehicles have vetted the message, the unmanned vehicle uses the information in the message to determine how to perform one or more operations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Darren Ernest Canavor, Varadarajan Gopalakrishnan, Jesper Mikael Johansson, Jon Arron McClintock, Brandon William Porter, Andrew Jay Roths
  • Patent number: 9667985
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a central processing unit and a parallel processing unit. The parallel processing unit generally includes an array of software-configurable general purpose processors, a globally shared memory, and a shared memory. Each of the software-configurable general purpose processors in the array of software-configurable general purpose processors generally has access to the globally shared memory to execute one or more portions of a decoding program. The shared memory is accessible by the central processing unit to program the shared memory with a schedule describing which of the one or more portions of the decoding program are to be executed by each of the software-configurable general purpose processors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy B. Prins, Jeffrey K. Lassahn
  • Patent number: 9665960
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for augmenting or annotating image data to help a user locate an item among a number of items in a physical environment. The systems disclosed herein can access an image of a location that includes a number of items. The systems may then identify the items and the location of the items within the image. Further, the systems may create an interactive alternative visualization of the identified items to facilitate a user locating a particular item. For example, the alternative visualization may include presenting an ordered set of thumbnails corresponding to the items. The user can select the desired item using the alternative visualization and the systems can annotate a location within the image where the item can be located, thereby enabling the user to locate the item in the physical environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Nathan Eugene Masters, Shiblee Imtiaz Hasan, Joseph Edwin Johnson
  • Patent number: 9667879
    Abstract: Blur metrics may be calculated for each of the image pixels of a digital image of a scene captured using an imaging device. The blur metrics may be indicative of the level of blur expressed in the digital image, and a blur image representative of the blur metrics may be generated. Subsequently, when another digital image is to be captured using the imaging device, pixel sensors corresponding to high blur metrics may be digitized at a high level of priority, or at a high rate, compared to pixel sensors corresponding to low blur metrics, which may be digitized at a low level of priority, or at a low rate. The blur images may be updated based on changes in blur observed in subsequent images, and different pixel sensors may be digitized at higher or lower levels of priority, or at higher or lower rates, based on the changes in blur.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Dushyant Goyal, Pragyana K. Mishra
  • Patent number: 9665095
    Abstract: Robots or other machines may be used for retrieving errant objects from the floor of an automated warehouse. A system can include one or more reporting methods to alert a central control to the existence and location of an object on the warehouse floor. The central control can establish a safety zone around the object to avoid contact with normal warehouse traffic (e.g., standard warehouse robots). The system can route a cleanup robot to the location to retrieve the object. The system can include a cleanup pod comprising a convertible shelving unit with a robotic arm. The cleanup pod can have a similar form factor as shelving units used for storing inventory in the warehouse, thereby enabling standard warehouse robots to lift and transport the cleanup pod to retrieve an object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph Romano, Peter R. Wurman, Dennis Polic, Peter K. Mansfield
  • Patent number: 9665900
    Abstract: Systems and methods herein can generate sales rankings for parts based on one or more metrics, such as geographic location of purchasers of the parts or based on items owned by users that function in conjunction with the parts. The systems can present the sales rankings to a user based on another item owned by the user. For example, sales rankings of memory can be presented to a user based on a laptop model owned by the user. Thus, users can determine how popular a part is among particular segments of the population, such as among users living in a certain geographic region, or among users who own a particular item designed to operate with the part. Moreover, the sales rankings can be used to generate recommendations of parts based on a corresponding item owned by the user that is configured to function with the part type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeremy Todd Claeson, Darshan Dev Bildikar, Christopher Warren Bryant, Edward Charles Grenier, Samuel Stevens Heyworth, Sachin Midha, Balu Ramu, Ambareesha Raghothaman, Andrew Robert Toner
  • Patent number: 9665387
    Abstract: A service provider network includes functionality for allowing a customer to influence the placement of virtual machine instances on server computers by specifying a placement strategy. Placement strategies may be shared among customers of the service provider network, and the placement strategies and the publishers of the placement strategies might be rated. Vendor-agnostic placement strategies might also be utilized to identify a service provider network for executing a virtual machine instance. A placement strategy that includes dynamically evaluated parameters might also be utilized to modify virtual machine instances in a customer fleet on an ongoing basis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Eden Grail Adogla
  • Patent number: 9667569
    Abstract: A distributed system comprises one or more computers implementing a downstream server configured to determine whether it is overloaded and in response, to indicate to one or more upstream servers that the downstream server is in a hotspot situation. The system comprises one or more computers implementing one or more upstream servers configured to respond to receiving the indication of the hotspot situation by shielding the downstream server from subsequent requests, the shielding including serving one or more client requests without requesting service from the downstream server and reporting one or more measures of the shielded requests to the downstream server. The downstream server is further configured to determine whether the hotspot situation still exists, dependent on one or more of the reported measures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jason G. McHugh, Sohel R. Ahuja, James Christopher Sorenson, III, Allan H. Vermeulen, John David Cormie
  • Patent number: 9663294
    Abstract: The present disclosure involves the receipt of inventory items in a materials handling facility. In one embodiment, a listing of inventory items associated with an inventory is maintained in a memory accessible to a computing device. An attempt is made to identify a match between a first image of a receivable item and a second image of one of the inventory items. If a match is successfully identified, an identifier associated with the one of the inventory items is rendered, where the identifier is to be associated with the receivable item.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric C. Young, Sriram M. Krishnan
  • Patent number: 9665249
    Abstract: A computing device can be controlled based on changes in the angle of a user's head with respect to the device, such as due to the user tilting the device and/or the user tilting his head with respect to the device. Such control based on the angle of the user's head can be achieved even when the user is operating the device “off-axis” or when the device is not orthogonal and/or not centered with respect to the user. This can be accomplished by using an elastic reference point that dynamically adjusts to a detected angle of the user's head with respect to the device. Such an approach can account for differences between when the user is changing his natural resting position and/or the resting position of the device and when the user is intending to perform a gesture based on the angle of the user's head relative to the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Yi Ding, Stephen Vincent Mangiat, Peter Cheng, Kenneth Mark Karakotsios, Steven Michael Sommer, Peter Andrew Schiller
  • Patent number: 9667656
    Abstract: Computing resource service providers may provide computing resources to customers in a multi-tenant environment. These computing resources may be behind a firewall or other security device such that certain information does not reach the computing resources provided to the customer. A logging entity may be implemented on computer server operated by the computing resource service provider. The logging entity may obtain log information from the firewall or other security device and store the log information such that it is accessible to the customer. Additionally, the log information may be provided to other services such as a metrics service or intrusion detection service.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Rajat Banerjee, Nathan Andrew Miller, Aniket Deepak Divecha, John Robert Kerl, Mingxue Zhao, Shuai Ye, Kevin Christopher Miller
  • Patent number: 9668002
    Abstract: The identification of live streaming content supports a broad range of applications. Information is extracted from the live content as it is being delivered to viewers, generating a feature set that is then compared to feature sets corresponding to known content. Once the content is identified, any of a variety of actions may be taken depending on the application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Bradley Michael Baron, James Cleveland Willeford
  • Patent number: 9665465
    Abstract: This disclosure describes, in part, a system and process that allows for the automated review of a submitted application to determine the actually requested permissions and identify differences between the requested permissions and a submitted permissions list associated with the application. For example, when an application is submitted for review or approval it may include a submitted permissions list identifying the permissions that are to be associated with the application. In some instances, the permissions included in the submitted permissions list may not correspond with the permissions actually needed for proper operation of the application—there may be omitted permissions that should be included and/or permissions included in the permissions list that are never requested by the application. This disclosure describes, in part, a system and process for confirming that the appropriate permissions are included in the submitted permissions list.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Akshay Jain, Nitin Kumar Grover