Patents Assigned to Microsoft Corporation
  • Publication number: 20120139841
    Abstract: A user interface device with actuated buttons is described. In an embodiment, the user interface device comprises two or more buttons and the motion of the buttons is controlled by actuators under software control such that their motion is inter-related. The position or motion of the buttons may provide a user with feedback about the current state of a software program they are using or provide them with enhanced user input functionality. In another embodiment, the ability to move the buttons is used to reconfigure the user interface buttons and this may be performed dynamically, based on the current state of the software program, or may be performed dependent upon the software program being used. The user interface device may be a peripheral device, such as a mouse or keyboard, or may be integrated within a computing device such as a games device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Stuart Taylor, Jonathan Hook, David Alexander Butler, Shahram Izadi, Nicolas Villar, Stephen Edward Hodges
  • Publication number: 20120143677
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes a system and method of increasing discoverability of software applications in a marketplace catalog via behavioral data. Specifically, a client monitors behavioral usage of applications with a local usage tracking framework, optionally utilizing a data template. The data is aggregated either on the client or on a server or both, and synchronized with a server storage to be made available via application behavioral services. The client may also host an advertising placement framework to place selected advertising in the view of the client's user. Application behavioral services may apply one or more behavioral algorithms to the aggregated behavioral usage, to generate recommendations to maximize marketplace catalog ranking, visibility and projected revenue.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: John Bruno, Joseph Futty, Miller T. Abel, Kamran Rajabi Zargahi
  • Publication number: 20120143611
    Abstract: Hidden Markov Models HMM trajectory tiling (HTT)-based approaches may be used to synthesize speech from text. In operation, a set of Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and a set of waveform units may be obtained from a speech corpus. The set of HMMs are further refined via minimum generation error (MGE) training to generate a refined set of HMMs. Subsequently, a speech parameter trajectory may be generated by applying the refined set of HMMs to an input text. A unit lattice of candidate waveform units may be selected from the set of waveform units based at least on the speech parameter trajectory. A normalized cross-correlation (NCC)-based search on the unit lattice may be performed to obtain a minimal concatenation cost sequence of candidate waveform units, which are concatenated into a concatenated waveform sequence that is synthesized into speech.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Yao Qian, Zhi-Jie Yan, Yi-Jian Wu, Frank Kao-Ping Soong
  • Publication number: 20120144144
    Abstract: Memory objects may be allocated and re-allocated within a computer system to consolidate infrequently used memory objects to memory regions that may be operated at lower power. During initial allocation of memory objects, the objects may be placed into high power regions. During subsequent periodic analysis, memory objects in high power regions that are infrequently used may be relocated to lower power regions while memory objects in low power regions that are frequently used may be moved to the high power regions. Various heuristics or logic may be used to handle unmovable objects, shared objects, and other types of objects.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Bruce L. Worthington, Vishal Sharda, Qi Zhang, Swaroop Kavalanekar
  • Publication number: 20120139897
    Abstract: A tabletop display providing multiple views to users is described. In an embodiment the display comprises a rotatable view-angle restrictive filter and a display system. The display system displays a sequence of images synchronized with the rotation of the filter to provide multiple views according to viewing angle. These multiple views provide a user with a 3D display or with personalized content which is not visible to a user at a sufficiently different viewing angle. In some embodiments, the display comprises a diffuser layer on which the sequence of images are displayed. In further embodiments, the diffuser is switchable between a diffuse state when images are displayed and a transparent state when imaging beyond the surface can be performed. The device may form part of a tabletop comprising with a touch-sensitive surface. Detected touch events and images captured through the surface may be used to modify the images being displayed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: David Alexander Butler, Stephen Edward Hodges, Shahram Izadi, Nicolas Villar, Stuart Taylor, David Molyneaux, Otmar Hilliges
  • Publication number: 20120143993
    Abstract: Described herein are various principles for operating transfer protocols using adaptive flow control techniques. In accordance with some of these principles, a client may adaptively negotiate with a server regarding a window size to use when communicating datagrams using a connectionless content unit transfer protocol like the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP). In some implementations, a client may inform a server whether to increase or decrease a window size. In these implementations, the client may increase the window size upon determining that a previous window size has led to successful transfer of content without any loss of datagrams and the client may decrease the window size upon detecting a loss of a datagram. Because of the limited resources available in some environments in which these techniques may be used, in some implementations a window size may be increased by small amounts but may be decreased drastically upon detecting a loss.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Richard T. Russo, Aaron Matthew Tyler, Chandan Rama Reddy, Manoj Krishna Ghosh, Alaa H. Abdelhalim, Roger D. Seielstad, Peter A. Gurevich
  • Publication number: 20120141095
    Abstract: A first video preview corresponding to a first video program is played back. When it is time to transition from playing back the first video preview to playing back a second video preview corresponding to a second video program, the transition is made from playing back the first video preview to playing back the second video preview. The transition can be made by sliding the first video preview off a display while sliding the second video preview onto the display. Additionally, metadata associated with the first video program can be displayed for an amount of time before playback of the first video preview ceases, and metadata associated with the second video program can be displayed for an amount of time after playback of the second video preview begins.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mark D. Schwesinger, John Elsbree, David R. Fulmer, Evan J. Lerer, Stephane Joseph Comeau, Spencer I.A.N. Hurd
  • Publication number: 20120144060
    Abstract: Described herein are various principles for operating a connectionless content unit transfer protocol to transmit content of a content unit to multiple clients using a shared buffer. A server may transfer content of one or more content units to each of multiple clients upon request from the client using individual buffers. For each content unit being transferred, the server may maintain a count of the aggregate size of buffers for transferring content of that content unit. If the server determines that the aggregate size of the buffers transmitting a particular content unit is larger than the content unit itself, the server may establish a shared buffer for transferring that content unit to clients. A server using a shared buffer in this manner may transfer content of the content unit to clients using the shared buffer until all requesting clients have received the content unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Richard T. Russo, Aaron Matthew Tyler, Chandan Rama Reddy, Manoj Krishna Ghosh, Alaa H. Abdelhalim, Roger D. Seielstad, Peter A. Gurevich
  • Publication number: 20120144325
    Abstract: A pattern of visual interactivity may be automatically proposed for processing a data set that exhibits dimensions of variability. A visual display component may be analyzed to assess whether it is capable of receiving user input representing changes that correspond to types of changes of the identified dimensions of the data set. A suitable visual display component may be provided as a suggestion on a user interface for potentially using the visual display component to allow a user to interact with the data. In some embodiments, a visual display component includes a number of visual objects and/or visually interactive components for use within a graphical user interface. A visual display component may include one or more analytic patterns having at least one of an equation, rule, constraint, expression or combination thereof that represents the analytic pattern. Alternatively, a visual display component may involve a visual display representation of data through visual characteristics of a graphical object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Vijay Mital, Darryl Ellis Rubin, David G. Green, John A. Payne, Suraj T. Poozhiyil, Ahmad Nizam Anuar
  • Publication number: 20120143669
    Abstract: Loyalty offer modeling techniques are described. In one or more implementations, interaction with a loyalty service via a network is performed to model one or more loyalty offers for a use in conjunction with a merchant. Information is transmitted via the network for receipt by the loyalty service, at least a portion of the information describing consumer interaction with the merchant that pertains to the loyalty offer that is sufficient for use by the loyalty service to manage participation of the consumers with the one or more loyalty offers of the merchant.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Anoop Anantha, Murali R. Krishnan, Miller Thomas Abel
  • Publication number: 20120144367
    Abstract: Customization of source code of a software program like a business application is enabled without modifying the source code of the software. External pieces of source code may be executed prior to, and/or following the invocation of selected methods. The external methods executed prior to a designated method call may change the parameter values that the designated method gets called with, and the methods executed after the designated method has been called may change a value returned from the designated method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Villadsen, Karl Simonsen, Marcos Calderon Macias, Ramakanthachary Gottumukkala
  • Publication number: 20120144053
    Abstract: A transform engine and/or transformation process may reduce computational resources used by a client, such as during the consumption of a media stream. According to some implementations, a media stream is received over a network. A mapping template may be associated with the media stream. A traversal of the mapping template may be performed without the accumulation of an intermediate state. Following the traversal of the mapping template, a transformed media stream may be communicated to a client for presentation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph Futty, Danny Lange, Ashley N. Feniello
  • Publication number: 20120144452
    Abstract: A location provider manages dissemination of location data of a user to one or more third-party services, so that the user can take advantage of services offered by the third parties, without the associated burden of continuously granting or denying requests by the third party services to obtain location data of the user. A third-party service can obtain location information of a user from the location provider. Users may control circumstances in which the location provider is to share location data of the user with the one or more third-party services.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew Graham Dyor, Pablo Tapia
  • Publication number: 20120143989
    Abstract: Architecture for gathering and presentation to a remote user (watcher) of presence, preferences, and capabilities information of a local user (publisher). An extensible presence document is employed, as transmitted by the publisher, that contains specific information about the capabilities of the publisher endpoint and preferences that are for the publisher overall. The document is aggregated, and the aggregated capabilities are transmitted to watchers. The watchers render this information in a user experience.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2012
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Alexander M. Hehmeyer, Setty Venkateshaiah, Amit Gupta, Avronil Bhattacharjee
  • Publication number: 20120143593
    Abstract: Various embodiments provide a translation memory system that utilizes sentence-level fuzzy matching and a scoring algorithm based on direct alignment. In one or more embodiments, a fuzzy match scoring formula includes use of an edit operation definition to define various deductions that are computed as part of an overall score, an overall scoring algorithm, and word-level scoring and partial match definitions. A direct alignment algorithm finds a computed alignment between two sentences using a pair-wise difference matrix associated with a primary sentence and a comparison sentence. An overall algorithm identifies editing operations such as replacements, position swaps and adjustments for a final score calculation. Once final scores are calculated between the primary sentence and multiple comparison sentences, a primary/comparison sentence pair can be selected, based on the score, to serve as a basis for translating the primary sentence.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Enyuan Wu, Alan K. Michael, Beom Seok Oh, Shusuke Uehara, Kevin S. O'Donnell
  • Publication number: 20120140404
    Abstract: An electronic device has a ventilation system with an inlet section that receives inlet air that travels past components of the computing device to be cooled and exits at an outlet section. The air carries heat away from the components. A liquid heat transfer system captures heat generated by the components and transfers the captured heat to the inlet section of the ventilation system to warm the inlet air before it travels past the components to be cooled.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Eric C. Peterson, Christian L. Belady
  • Publication number: 20120143882
    Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for prioritizing one or more travel itineraries based on an itinerary query. Respective candidate itineraries from a set of candidate itineraries are ranked based on one or more ranking factors for the candidate itineraries, where the candidate itineraries were identified from a location-interest graph using the query. A desired number of the ranked candidate itineraries are re-ranked based on a one or more historical travel sequences, such that one or more prioritized travel itineraries can be identified in response to the itinerary query.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Yu Zheng, Xing Xie
  • Publication number: 20120144489
    Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards protecting virtual machines on guest partitions from malware in a resource-efficient manner. Antimalware software is divided into lightweight agents that run on each malware-protected guest partition, a shared scanning and signature update mechanism, and a management component. Each agent provides the scanning mechanism with files to scan for malware, such as by running a script, and receives results from the scanning mechanism including possible remediation actions to perform. The management component provides the scanning mechanism with access to virtual machine services, such as to pause, resume, snapshot and rollback guest partitions as requested by the scanning mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Sean Jarrett, Joseph Jared Johnson, Vishal Kapoor, Anil Francis Thomas, Eugene John Neystadt, Dennis Scott Batchelder
  • Publication number: 20120141046
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides a method and system for generating a map. An exemplary method includes selecting a media item from a plurality of media items. The media item may be relevant to the map and to an interest of a user. The method also includes selecting a segment from the media item, the selected segment being relevant to the interest of the user. Additionally, the method includes creating a distorted segment based on the selected segment. The selected segment may be distorted to facilitate positioning the distorted segment in the map. The method further includes compositing the distorted segment into the map as a media icon.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Bill Chen, Eyal Ofek
  • Publication number: 20120143792
    Abstract: Some implementations provide techniques for selecting web pages for inclusion in an index. For example, some implementations apply regularization to select a subset of the crawled web pages for indexing based on link relationships between the crawled web pages, features extracted from the crawled web pages, and user behavior information determined for at least some of the crawled web pages. Further, in some implementations, the user behavior information may be used to sort a training set of crawled web pages into a plurality of labeled groups. The labeled groups may be represented in a directed graph that indicates relative priorities for being selected for indexing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Taifeng Wang, Bin Gao, Tie-Yan Liu