Patents Assigned to Ancestry.com
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Patent number: 12045287Abstract: Methods and systems for creating a cluster view person for genealogical studies. Methods may include obtaining a plurality of genealogical trees. Each of the genealogical trees may include a plurality of interconnected nodes representing individuals that are related to each other. Methods may also include identifying one or more of the genealogical trees that contain a similar individual. Whether two individuals are grouped may depend on similarity and/or quality thresholds. Methods may include creating an aggregate individual including each of the similar individuals in each of the identified genealogical trees. The aggregate individual may combine information from each of the similar individuals.Type: GrantFiled: April 27, 2022Date of Patent: July 23, 2024Assignee: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.Inventor: Jeff Phillips
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Patent number: 12040054Abstract: An input genotype is divided into a plurality of windows, each including a sequence of SNPs. For each window, a diploid HMM is computed based on genotypes and/or phased haplotypes to determine a probability of a haplotype sequence being associated with a particular label. For example, the diploid HMM for a window is used to determine the emission probability that the window corresponds to a set of labels. An inter-window HMM, with a set of states for each window, is computed. Labels are assigned to the input genotype based on the inter-window HMM. Upper and lower bounds are estimated to produce a range of likely percentage values an input can be assigned to a given label. Confidence values are determined indicating a likelihood that an individual inherits DNA from a certain population. Maps are generated with polygons representing regions where a measure of ethnicity of population falls within specific ranges.Type: GrantFiled: May 13, 2020Date of Patent: July 16, 2024Assignee: ANCESTRY.COM DNA, LLCInventors: Shiya Song, Keith D. Noto, Yong Wang
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Patent number: 12032614Abstract: Described herein are systems, methods, and other techniques for evaluating a classifier model. The classifier model may be provided with a set of elements to be classified into N classes. Classification results may be obtained from the classifier model. N class-specific precisions and N class-specific recalls for the N classes may be computed based on the classification results. N class-specific precision weights and N class-specific recall weights corresponding to the N classes may be obtained. A weighted f-measure may be computed by weighting the N class-specific precisions with the N class-specific precision weights and weighting the N class-specific recalls with the N class-specific recall weights.Type: GrantFiled: February 12, 2021Date of Patent: July 9, 2024Assignee: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.Inventors: Yingrui Yang, Peng Jiang, Christopher Miller, Azadeh Moghtaderi
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Patent number: 12026982Abstract: Systems and methods for handwriting recognition using language modeling facilitate improved results by using a trained language model to improve results from a handwriting recognition machine learning model. The language model may be a character-based language model trained on a dataset pertinent to field values on which the handwriting recognition model is to be used. A loss prediction module may be trained with the handwriting recognition model and/or the language model and used to determine whether a prediction from the handwriting recognition model should be refined by passing the prediction through the trained language model.Type: GrantFiled: October 28, 2021Date of Patent: July 2, 2024Assignee: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.Inventors: Jinsol Lee, Gopalkrishna Balkrishna Veni, Masaki Stanley Fujimoto, Yen-Yun Yu
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Patent number: 12017226Abstract: A sample collection system can include a sample collection vessel having a sample collection chamber with an opening configured to receive a sample into the sample collection chamber. The sample collection system can additionally include a selectively movable sleeve valve configured to associate with the opening of the sample collection chamber. The sample collection system can include a sealing cap that is configured to associate with the selectively movable sleeve valve and with the sample collection vessel. The sealing cap can include a reagent chamber having reagent(s) stored therein, and when the sealing cap is associated with the sample collection vessel, the selectively movable sleeve valve opens, dispensing the reagent(s) into the sample collection chamber. When the selectively moveable sleeve associates with the sample collection chamber, an outer sleeve slides relative to an inner vessel, opening the sleeve and dispensing reagent into the sample collection chamber.Type: GrantFiled: April 11, 2023Date of Patent: June 25, 2024Assignee: ANCESTRY.COM DNA, LLCInventors: Thomas E. Blair, Tyler Fredric Allan, Bryce Twede, Jeremy Johnson
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Patent number: 11984196Abstract: Disclosed are techniques for characterizing variants of interest and predicting assignments of individuals to communities based on obtained genetic information. To characterize a variant, DNA datasets of reference individuals are accessed and used to generate a cluster with additional individuals. Reference individuals carry a variant at a genetic locus and the additional individuals share IBD with reference individuals. Statistics of genealogical data of the cluster are generated. A result summarizing the characterization of the variant is generated based on the statistics. To determine if an individual belongs to a community, a subset of the individual's haplotypes are inputted into a community-specific model. The model is trained using the training samples that each include haplotypes of reference individuals and a label identifying whether the reference individual belongs to the community. Based on the output of the model, it is determined whether the individual is a member of the community.Type: GrantFiled: November 19, 2021Date of Patent: May 14, 2024Assignee: ANCESTRY.COM DNA, LLCInventors: Jake Kelly Byrnes, Julie M. Granka, Shannon Hateley, Ladan Doroud
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Patent number: 11960548Abstract: Systems, methods, and other techniques for genealogical entity resolution. The systems obtain first tree data and second tree data, the first tree data corresponding to a first tree person and the second tree data corresponding to a second tree person. The systems extract a set of features from the first tree data and the second tree data. The systems further generate an individual-level similarity score for each possible pairing of tree persons based on the set of features to identify a set of most-similar tree persons based on the individual-level similarity score for each possible pairing. The systems also provide a plurality of individual-level similarity scores for the set of most-similar tree persons as input to a family-level ML model to determine that the first tree person and the second tree person correspond to a same individual.Type: GrantFiled: July 22, 2019Date of Patent: April 16, 2024Assignee: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.Inventors: Tyler Folkman, Rey Furner, Drew Pearson
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Publication number: 20240096084Abstract: Systems and methods for identifying and segmenting objects from images include a preprocessing module configured to adjust a size of a source image; a region-proposal module configured to propose one or more regions of interest in the size-adjusted source image; and a prediction module configured to predict a classification, bounding box coordinates, and mask. Such systems and methods may utilize end-to-end training of the modules using adversarial loss, facilitating the use of a small training set, and can be configured to process historical documents, such as large images comprising text. The preprocessing module within the systems and methods can utilize a conventional image scaler in tandem with a custom image scaler to provide a resized image suitable for GPU processing, and the region-proposal module can utilize a region-proposal network from a single-stage detection model in tandem with a two-stage detection model paradigm to capture substantially all particles in an image.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 1, 2023Publication date: March 21, 2024Applicant: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.Inventors: Masaki Stanley Fujimoto, Yen-Yun Yu
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Patent number: 11887358Abstract: Systems and methods for identifying and segmenting objects from images include a preprocessing module configured to adjust a size of a source image; a region-proposal module configured to propose one or more regions of interest in the size-adjusted source image; and a prediction module configured to predict a classification, bounding box coordinates, and mask. Such systems and methods may utilize end-to-end training of the modules using adversarial loss, facilitating the use of a small training set, and can be configured to process historical documents, such as large images comprising text. The preprocessing module within said systems and methods can utilize a conventional image scaler in tandem with a custom image scaler to provide a resized image suitable for GPU processing, and the region-proposal module can utilize a region-proposal network from a single-stage detection model in tandem with a two-stage detection model paradigm to capture substantially all particles in an image.Type: GrantFiled: June 9, 2021Date of Patent: January 30, 2024Assignee: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.Inventors: Masaki Stanley Fujimoto, Yen-Yun Yu
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Patent number: 11887697Abstract: A user may select one or more potential common ancestors with a DNA match to view the target individual's relationship with them. The process may include identifying, from a first genealogical profile of the target individual. A first individual has a first linkage that connects the target individual towards the selected potential common ancestor. The process may also include identifying, from a second genealogical profile of the DNA match, a second individual who has a second linkage that connects the DNA match towards the selected potential common ancestor. The process may further include connecting the first linkage and the second linkage with the selected potential common ancestor by adding one or more individuals whose profiles are retrieved from other searchable genealogical profiles stored in the online system. With the nodes and connections available, the process may generate a map of visual connections between the target individual and the DNA match.Type: GrantFiled: October 7, 2022Date of Patent: January 30, 2024Assignee: Ancestry.com DNA, LLCInventors: Shiya Song, Neal Craig Varner, Ross E. Curtis, Brian Jerel Kerr, Kelly McCloy Becker, Brett Frederick Jorgensen, Bryce Damon Ririe, Michael Joseph Mulligan, Justin Matthew Robert Van Dyke, Michaela Black Bonkemeyer
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Patent number: 11836178Abstract: Described herein are systems, methods, and other techniques for segmenting an input text. A set of tokens are extracted from the input text. Token representations are computed for the set of tokens. The token representations are provided to a machine learning model that generates a set of label predictions corresponding to the set of tokens. The machine learning model was previously trained to generate label predictions in response to being provided input token representations. Each of the set of label predictions indicates a position of a particular token of the set of tokens with respect to a particular segment. One or more segments within the input text are determined based on the set of label predictions.Type: GrantFiled: April 12, 2021Date of Patent: December 5, 2023Assignee: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.Inventor: Carol Myrick Anderson
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Patent number: 11826027Abstract: The present description relates to a sample collection device comprising a receptacle and a closure member configured to seal the receptacle. Within the closure member is provided a reservoir configured to contain a stabilization fluid capable of preserving and stabilizing a collected sample. The reservoir includes an outlet which is sealed by a sealing member. The sealing member may be openable to allow communication, or mixture, between the contents of the reservoir and the contents of the receptacle. The closure member may also include a peel foil on the end of the closure member having the outlet to ensure sterility of and to avoid tampering with the outlet and the reservoir. The method includes collecting a sample from the user using the sample collection device, mixing the sample with the stabilization fluid, and analyzing the sample thus collected.Type: GrantFiled: September 6, 2019Date of Patent: November 28, 2023Assignee: ANCESTRY.COM DNA, LLCInventors: Travis Sessions, Aaron Devore, Dan H. O'Neill
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Patent number: 11797774Abstract: Systems, methods, and other techniques for extracting data from obituaries are provided. In some embodiments, an obituary containing a plurality of words is received. Using a machine learning model, an entity tag from a set of entity tags may be assigned to each of one or more words of the plurality of words. Each particular tag from the set of entity tags may include a relationship component and a category component. The relationship component may indicate a relationship between a particular word and the deceased individual. The category component may indicate a categorization of the particular word to a particular category from a set of categories. The extracted data may be stored in a genealogical database.Type: GrantFiled: December 6, 2022Date of Patent: October 24, 2023Assignee: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.Inventors: Carol Myrick Anderson, Gann Bierner, Philip Theodore Crone, Tyler Folkman
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Patent number: 11775838Abstract: Techniques for training a machine-learning (ML) model for captioning images are disclosed. A plurality of feature vectors and a plurality of visual attention maps are generated by a visual model of the ML model based on an input image. Each of the plurality of feature vectors correspond to different regions of the input image. A plurality of caption attention maps are generated by an attention model of the ML model based on the plurality of feature vectors. An attention penalty is calculated based on a comparison between the caption attention maps and the visual attention maps. A loss function is calculated based on the attention penalty. One or both of the visual model and the attention model are trained using the loss function.Type: GrantFiled: October 14, 2021Date of Patent: October 3, 2023Assignee: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.Inventors: Jiayun Li, Mohammad K. Ebrahimpour, Azadeh Moghtaderi, Yen-Yun Yu
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Patent number: 11751005Abstract: Augmented reality is used to display graphical elements overlaid on a continually updating image of an area around an augmented reality device (e.g., a mobile device). The graphical element may contain geographical location information about a grave of an ancestor and/or biographical information about the ancestor. The continually updating image is captured by a camera of the augmented reality device and updates in response to time and motion of the augmented reality device. Based on orientation data and geographical location data collected by the augmented reality device, the graphical element is updated and displayed on the mobile device.Type: GrantFiled: July 7, 2021Date of Patent: September 5, 2023Assignee: ANCESTRY.COM OPERATIONS INC.Inventors: Gary Lee Mangum, James Bart Whiteley, David Layne Boothe, Byron Hundley, Russell Adrian Ochoa, Kendall Jay Jefferson
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Patent number: 11735290Abstract: Disclosed are techniques for predicting a trait of an individual and identifying a set of enriched record collections of a genetic community. To predict a trait of an individual, DNA features and non-DNA features of the individual are accessed to generate a feature vector that is inputted into a machine learning model. The machine learning model generates a prediction of the trait. The prediction may be based on an inheritance prediction and/or a community prediction. To identify a set of enriched record collections, individuals belonging to a genetic community are identified and a set of candidate record collections are accessed. A community count and a background count is determined for each candidate record collection. The set of enriched record collections are identified based on a comparison of the community count and the background count. The genetic community may be annotated using the set of enriched record collections.Type: GrantFiled: January 14, 2021Date of Patent: August 22, 2023Assignee: Ancestry.com DNA, LLCInventors: Ahna R. Girshick, Natalie Telis, Julie M. Granka, Asher Keith Haug Baltzell, Shiya Song, Genevieve Heather Linnea Roberts, Shannon Ries McCurdy, Jialiang Gu
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Patent number: 11721091Abstract: Systems and methods for classifying historical images. A feature extractor may create feature vectors corresponding to a plurality of images. A first classification of the plurality of images may be performed based on the plurality of feature vectors, which may include assigning a label to each of the plurality of images and assigning a probability for each of the assigned labels. The assigned probability for each of the assigned labels may be related to a statistical confidence that a particular assigned label is correctly assigned to a particular image. A subset of the plurality of images may be displayed to a display device. An input corresponding to replacement of an incorrect label with a corrected label for a certain image may be received from a user. A second classification of the plurality of images based on the input from the user may be performed.Type: GrantFiled: January 26, 2021Date of Patent: August 8, 2023Assignee: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.Inventors: Laryn Brown, Michael Murdock, Jack Reese, Shawn Reid
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Patent number: 11720632Abstract: Systems and methods for training a machine learning (ML) ranking model to rank genealogy hints are described herein. One method includes retrieving a plurality of genealogy hints for a target person, where each of the plurality of genealogy hints corresponds to a genealogy item and has a hint type of a plurality of hint types. The method includes generating, for each of the plurality of genealogy hints, a feature vector having a plurality of feature values, the feature vector being included in a plurality of feature vectors. The method includes extending each of the plurality of feature vectors by at least one additional feature value based on the number of features of one or more other hint types of the plurality of hint types. The method includes training the ML ranking model using the extended plurality of feature vectors and user-provided labels.Type: GrantFiled: January 9, 2023Date of Patent: August 8, 2023Assignee: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.Inventors: Peng Jiang, Tyler Folkman, Tsung-Nan Liu, Yen-Yun Yu, Ruhan Wang, Jack Reese, Azadeh Moghtaderi
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Patent number: 11678867Abstract: The present description relates to a sample collection device comprising a receptacle and a closure member configured to seal the receptacle. Within the closure member is provided a reservoir configured to contain a stabilization fluid capable of preserving and stabilizing a collected sample. The reservoir includes an outlet which is sealed by a sealing member. The sealing member may be openable to allow communication, or mixture, between the contents of the reservoir and the contents of the receptacle. The closure member may also include a peel foil on the end of the closure member having the outlet to ensure sterility of and to avoid tampering with the outlet and the reservoir. The method includes collecting a sample from the user using the sample collection device, mixing the sample with the stabilization fluid, and analyzing the sample thus collected.Type: GrantFiled: September 6, 2019Date of Patent: June 20, 2023Assignee: Ancestry.com DNA, LLCInventors: Travis Sessions, Aaron Devore, Dan H. O'Neill
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Patent number: 11638919Abstract: A sample collection system can include a sample collection vessel having a sample collection chamber with an opening configured to receive a sample into the sample collection chamber. The sample collection system can additionally include a selectively movable sleeve valve configured to associate with the opening of the sample collection chamber. The sample collection system can include a sealing cap that is configured to associate with the selectively movable sleeve valve and with the sample collection vessel. The sealing cap can include a reagent chamber having reagent(s) stored therein, and when the sealing cap is associated with the sample collection vessel, the selectively movable sleeve valve opens, dispensing the reagent(s) into the sample collection chamber. When the selectively moveable sleeve associates with the sample collection chamber, an outer sleeve slides relative to an inner vessel, opening the sleeve and dispensing reagent into the sample collection chamber.Type: GrantFiled: July 20, 2022Date of Patent: May 2, 2023Assignee: Ancestry.com DNA, LLCInventors: Thomas E. Blair, Tyler Fredric Allan, Bryce Twede, Jeremy Johnson