Patents Assigned to Microsoft Corp.
  • System and method for adaptive document layout via manifold content
    Patent number: 7120868
    Abstract: A system and method for improving document layout on arbitrary devices of different resolutions and size using manifold representations of content. Manifold representations of content are: multiple versions of anything that might appear in a document, from text, to images, to even such things as stylistic conventions. The specific content is selected and formatted dynamically, on the fly, by a layout engine in order to best adapt to a given viewing situation. A user interface for authoring and editing such manifold content is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: David Salesin, Charles Jacobs, Wilmot Li
  • Method for boosting the performance of machine-learning classifiers
    Patent number: 7099505
    Abstract: A novel statistical learning procedure that can be applied to many machine-learning applications is presented. Although this boosting learning procedure is described with respect to its applicability to face detection, it can be applied to speech recognition, text classification, image retrieval, document routing, online learning and medical diagnosis classification problems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: ZiQing Li, ZhenQiu Zhang, Long Zhu
  • System and method for face recognition using synthesized images
    Patent number: 7095879
    Abstract: A system and method that includes a virtual human face generation technique which synthesizes images of a human face at a variety of poses. This is preferably accomplished using just a frontal and profile image of a specific subject. An automatic deformation technique is used to align the features of a generic 3-D graphic face model with the corresponding features of these pre-provided images of the subject. Specifically, a generic frontal face model is aligned with the frontal image and a generic profile face model is aligned with the profile image. The deformation procedure results in a single 3-D face model of the specific human face. It precisely reflects the geometric features of the specific subject. After that, subdivision spline surface construction and multi-direction texture mapping techniques are used to smooth the model and endow photometric detail to the specific 3-D geometric face model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Jie Yan, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • System and method for low bit rate watercolor video
    Patent number: 7088777
    Abstract: A video compression/decompression procedure that provides a reliable, low bit video bit stream with some color features over relatively low bandwidth wireless networks. The procedure provides some pleasing color features in a video bit stream without needing a large bandwidth network like those needed for example for a MPEG 4 bit stream. The procedure provides the color features by using a bi-level Y luminance component and a number of UV chrominance combinations. The bi-level Y-component outlines the features of the image, while the UV-combinations describe the basic color information of the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Keman Yu, Jiang Li, Jizheng Xu, Shipeng Li
  • Embedding a panoramic image in a video stream
    Publication number: 20060164552
    Abstract: Techniques are described for embedding a panoramic image in standard resolution. A panoramic image is received from a panoramic camera and a location of a speaker is determined, either automatically or manually. A portion of the panoramic image is cropped to isolate the speaker and the cropped portion of the image is enlarged to standard video resolution. The panoramic image is combined with the cropped portion and transmitted via a standard video streaming format. In at least one implementation, the panoramic image is normalized so that face sizes of persons in the image appear approximately equal regardless of the distance each person is situated relative to the camera.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 21, 2005
    Publication date: July 27, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventor: Ross Cutler
  • Camera lens shuttering mechanism
    Publication number: 20060146177
    Abstract: A camera lens shuttering mechanism includes an image conducting unit disposed within a shutter housing when the camera is in a closed position so that the camera cannot record images. When moved to an open position, the shutter housing does not block the image conducting unit from imaging objects. The image conducting unit may be one or more lenses or one or more mirrors that reflect images to one or more lenses. When in the closed position, it is apparent to users that the camera is unable to transmit images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2004
    Publication date: July 6, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventor: Ross Cutler
  • Image exchange with image annotation
    Patent number: 7068309
    Abstract: A system and method for providing a peer-to-peer photo-sharing environment. The system includes: manual and automatic photo annotation at the client; periodic client-server synchronization; an index of client photos on a central server or a photo database that is resident on the central server, which is updated by the client-server synchronization function; end-user search functionality to search the centralized index or photo database; and transmission of the relevant photos to the client via an on-line image cache. In one embodiment, one client's new photos are automatically displayed on another client's computer (e.g., via screen saver or another mechanism).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Kentaro Toyama, David Vronay, Padmanabhan Anandan
  • System and method for image editing
    Patent number: 7065249
    Abstract: A system and method for editing images. Each image editing operation is described by a few parameters. Multiple users can share image processing changes by sharing a few set of parameters instead of the whole bitmaps of the images. An Editing List describes the parameters defining the image changes. The size of Editing List is very small and is ideal for network transmission and collaboration. Image Editing Lists are independent of the images themselves. By decoupling the Image Editing Lists from the original bitmap images, other advantages are obtained. For instance, the same Editing List can be applied to other images and also to multiple images at the same time. Rendering of the modified images can be performed at a later time and only when necessary. In case of collaborative editing, the transmission time is reduced drastically.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Ikko Fushiki, Ke-Cheng Huang
  • System and method for multi-view face detection
    Patent number: 7050607
    Abstract: A system and method for real-time multi-view (i.e. not just frontal view) face detection. The system and method uses a sequence of detectors of increasing complexity and face/non-face discriminating thresholds to quickly discard non-faces at the earliest stage possible, thus saving much computation compared to prior art systems. The detector-pyramid architecture for multi-view face detection uses a coarse-to-fine and simple-to-complex scheme. This architecture solves the problem of lengthy processing that precludes real-time face detection effectively and efficiently by discarding most of non-face sub-windows using the simplest possible features at the earliest possible stage. This leads to the first real-time multi-view face detection system which has the accuracy almost as good as the state-of-the-art system yet 270 times faster, allowing real-time performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: ZiQing Li, HongJiang Zhang, ZhenQiu Zhang
  • Method for boosting the performance of machine-learning classifiers
    Patent number: 7024033
    Abstract: A novel statistical learning procedure that can be applied to many machine-learning applications is presented. Although this boosting learning procedure is described with respect to its applicability to face detection, it can be applied to speech recognition, text classification, image retrieval, document routing, online learning and medical diagnosis classification problems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: ZiQing Li, ZhenQiu Zhang, Long Zhu
  • System and method for image-based surface detail transfer
    Patent number: 7020347
    Abstract: A system and method, called Image-Based Surface Detail Transfer, to transfer geometric details from one surface of an object in an image to another with simple 2D image operations. The basic observation is that, without knowing its 3D geometry, geometric details (local deformations) can be extracted from a single image of an object in a way independent of its surface reflectance, and furthermore, these geometric details can be transferred to modify the appearance of other objects directly in images. Examples are shown including surface detail transfer between real objects, as well as between real and synthesized objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Zhengyou Zhang, Zicheng Liu, Ying Shan
  • Method for boosting the performance of machine-learning classifiers
    Patent number: 7016881
    Abstract: A novel statistical learning procedure that can be applied to many machine-learning applications is presented. Although this boosting learning procedure is described with respect to its applicability to face detection, it can be applied to speech recognition, text classification, image retrieval, document routing, online learning and medical diagnosis classification problems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: ZiQing Li, ZhenQiu Zhang, Long Zhu
  • Scrolling web pages using direct interaction
    Publication number: 20060048072
    Abstract: Aspects of the present invention provide a system and method for scrolling or dragging information on a display. A panning tool is provided that may scroll information, such as a web page, on a display in tandem with movement of a cursor. If interactive elements are present on the page or document, an interactive element may be activated as desired. Scrolling may be accomplished with the panning tool either on non-interactive elements or interactive elements that are not required to be activated. Furthermore, inertia of movement of the information on a display is optimized and autoscrolling is provided in which a page or document may be scrolled without dragging.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2004
    Publication date: March 2, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Robert Jarrett, Richard Duncan, Emily Ribas-Ribikauskas
  • Scrolling web pages using direct interaction
    Publication number: 20060048071
    Abstract: Aspects of the present invention provide a system and method for scrolling or dragging information on a display. A panning tool is provided that may scroll information, such as a web page, on a display in tandem with movement of a cursor. If interactive elements are present on the page or document, an interactive element may be activated as desired. Scrolling may be accomplished with the panning tool either on non-interactive elements or interactive elements that are not required to be activated. Furthermore, inertia of movement of the information on a display is optimized and autoscrolling is provided in which a page or document may be scrolled without dragging.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2004
    Publication date: March 2, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Robert Jarrett, Richard Duncan, Emily Rimas-Ribikauskas
  • Scrolling web pages using direct interaction
    Publication number: 20060048073
    Abstract: Aspects of the present invention provide a system and method for scrolling or dragging information on a display. A panning tool is provided that may scroll information, such as a web page, on a display in tandem with movement of a cursor. If interactive elements are present on the page or document, an interactive element may be activated as desired. Scrolling may be accomplished with the panning tool either on non-interactive elements or interactive elements that are not required to be activated. Furthermore, inertia of movement of the information on a display is optimized and autoscrolling is provided in which a page or document may be scrolled without dragging.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2004
    Publication date: March 2, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Robert Jarrett, Richard Duncan, Emily Rimas-Ribikauskas
  • Touch-sensitive device for scrolling a document on a display
    Publication number: 20060028455
    Abstract: A touch-sensitive device for use as an electronic input device for controlling by scrolling the visible portion of a document or image relative to a display. The device can include various improved configurations such as physically separate opposed input surfaces at opposite longitudinal ends and/or lateral sides. The end regions of a touch sensitive surface may be rounded and/or tapered to provide relative positional feedback to the user. Tactile positional feedback can also include surface texture changes on the scrolling area and/or changes in the surface of the frame in the region immediately adjacent the scrolling area. The touch sensitive areas may be provided within a split alphanumeric section of an ergonomic keyboard to enable scrolling without the user having to remove his or her hands from the alphanumeric section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2005
    Publication date: February 9, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Kenneth Hinckley, Hugh McLoone, Steven Bathiche, James Cauthorn, Stiven Kerestegian, Timothy Muss
  • Maintenance of panoramic camera orientation
    Publication number: 20060023075
    Abstract: Systems and methods for maintaining orientation of a non-cylindrical panorama is described wherein an initial magnetometer reading is obtained for a panoramic camera. If the panoramic camera is rotated from an initial position, a new magnetometer reading is obtained and a magnitude of rotation is determined. The magnitude of rotation is factored into an image stitching and warping process to create a panoramic image that maintains the initial orientation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 31, 2004
    Publication date: February 2, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventor: Ross Cutler
  • System and method for extracting reflection and transparency layers from multiple images
    Patent number: 6987865
    Abstract: The present invention is embodied in a system and method for extracting structure from multiple images of a scene by representing the scene as a group of image layers, including reflection and transparency layers. In general, the present invention performs layer extraction from multiple images containing reflections and transparencies. The present invention includes an optimal approach for recovering layer images and their associated motions from an arbitrary number of composite images. The present invention includes image formation equations, the constrained least squares technique used to recover the component images, a novel method to estimate upper and lower bounds on the solution using min- and max-composites, and a motion refinement method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Richard S. Szeliski, Shmuel Avidan, Padmanabhan Anandan
  • User interface for a portion of a display screen
    Patent number: D523869
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Judson Craig Hally, Jeremy Knudsen
  • User interface for a portion of a display screen
    Patent number: D523871
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Judson Craig Hally, Jeremy Knudsen, Jae Park, Greg Melander