Patents by Inventor Alexander Clark Prater
Alexander Clark Prater has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
-
Patent number: 11887046Abstract: A system may use sensor data from a facility to generate tentative values associated with an event, such as the identification of an item removed from a shelf of the facility. A confidence value associated with each of the tentative values may be less than a confidence threshold. In response, inquiry data seeking confirmation of a tentative value from an associate is generated and sent to one or more associates in the facility. Responses from the associates are collected to determine a selection of one of the tentative values. The selected tentative value is designated as output data for the system. Thereafter, the output data and the original sensor data are designated as training data, which can then be used to train or update machine learning systems. Subsequent use of the updated machine learning systems can yield more accurate results.Type: GrantFiled: July 31, 2020Date of Patent: January 30, 2024Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.Inventors: Christopher Andrew Stephens, Alexander Clark Prater, Alexander Michael McNamara, Sridhar Boyapati, David Echevarria Ignacio, David William Bettis, Korwin Jon Smith, Kevin Alexander Lee, Aaron Craig Thompson, Gary Paolo Raden, Sudarshan Narasimha Raghavan, Dilip Kumar, Félix Joseph Étienne Pageau
-
Publication number: 20230214768Abstract: This disclosure describes a system for tracking removal or placement of items at inventory locations with a materials handling facility. In some instances, a user may remove an item from an inventory location and the inventory management system may detect that removal and update a user item list associated with the user to include an item identifier representative of the removed item. Likewise, if the user places an item at an inventory location, the inventory management system may detect that placement and update the user item list to remove an item identifier representative of the placed item.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 12, 2022Publication date: July 6, 2023Inventors: Dilip Kumar, Elie Micah Kornfield, Alexander Clark Prater, Sridhar Boyapati, Xiaofeng Ren, Chang Yuan
-
Patent number: 11526840Abstract: This disclosure describes a system for tracking removal or placement of items at inventory locations with a materials handling facility. In some instances, a user may remove an item from an inventory location and the inventory management system may detect that removal and update a user item list associated with the user to include an item identifier representative of the removed item. Likewise, if the user places an item at an inventory location, the inventory management system may detect that placement and update the user item list to remove an item identifier representative of the placed item.Type: GrantFiled: April 22, 2019Date of Patent: December 13, 2022Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Dilip Kumar, Elie Micah Kornfield, Alexander Clark Prater, Sridhar Boyapati, Xiaofeng Ren, Chang Yuan
-
Patent number: 11521170Abstract: This disclosure describes techniques for utilizing sensor data to determine the results of events within a system. Upon receiving sensor data indicative of an event, the sensor data is analyzed to determine a result of the event. For instance, a user may identified upon entry to a facility, may pick items from shelves in the facility, and may be identified upon exit. Contents of a virtual shopping cart of the user may be maintained based on analysis of the sensor data as the user picks the items. When a user exits, a payment instrument of the user may be charged for a cost of the items and a receipt may be sent to a device of the user. A state-invariant time, representing a time before which all events have been processed, may be maintained such that no shopping sessions are finalized prior to the state-invariant time to avoid mistaken charges.Type: GrantFiled: March 29, 2021Date of Patent: December 6, 2022Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Casey Louis Thurston, Alexander Clark Prater, Kevin Alexander Lee, Kenneth King-Fung Lee
-
Patent number: 11507594Abstract: A bulk data distribution system in which, instead of multiple data consumers contending to access the same data sets from a primary data store, one or more producers capture snapshots (states of the data sets at particular points in time) and upload the snapshots to an intermediate data store for access by snapshot consumers. The snapshot consumers may download the snapshots to generate local versions of the data sets for access by one or more data processing applications or processes. A snapshot producer may periodically generate full snapshots of a data set, and may generate one or more incremental snapshots of the data set between full snapshots. A snapshot consumer may bootstrap a local data set from a full snapshot and one or more incrementals, and may maintain state of the local data set by accessing new snapshots uploaded by the producer.Type: GrantFiled: July 3, 2017Date of Patent: November 22, 2022Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Alexander Clark Prater, Victor Gregory Estevez, Matthew Rice Carlson, Nipun Dureja, Yung-Chun Lin, Udit Madan
-
Patent number: 11069381Abstract: This disclosure describes techniques for utilizing sensor data to automatically determine the results of events within a system. Upon receiving sensor data indicative of an event, the techniques may analyze the sensor data to determine a result of the event, such as that a particular user associated with a user identifier selected a particular item associated with an item identifier. The techniques described herein may determine when sensor data is to be stored for a default amount of time, and when sensor data is to be stored for a greater amount of time. By retaining data in an intelligent manner, the system is able to function accurately without unduly taxing storage constraints.Type: GrantFiled: December 27, 2016Date of Patent: July 20, 2021Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Alexander Clark Prater, Ameet Nirmal Vaswani, Natalie Thuy-Tien Nguyen, Joseph Papa, Gregory Martin, Ming-Hsiu Wang
-
Patent number: 10963834Abstract: This disclosure describes techniques for utilizing sensor data to determine the results of events within a system. Upon receiving sensor data indicative of an event, the sensor data is analyzed to determine a result of the event. For instance, a user may identified upon entry to a facility, may pick items from shelves in the facility, and may be identified upon exit. Contents of a virtual shopping cart of the user may be maintained based on analysis of the sensor data as the user picks the items. When a user exits, a payment instrument of the user may be charged for a cost of the items and a receipt may be sent to a device of the user. A state-invariant time, representing a time before which all events have been processed, may be maintained such that no shopping sessions are finalized prior to the state-invariant time to avoid mistaken charges.Type: GrantFiled: September 29, 2017Date of Patent: March 30, 2021Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Casey Louis Thurston, Alexander Clark Prater, Kevin Alexander Lee, Kenneth King-Fung Lee
-
Patent number: 10733565Abstract: Described is an interactive data processing system configured to facilitate selection by a human associate of tentative values generated by an automated system from sensor data. In one implementation, an event may take place in a materials handling facility. The event may comprise a pick or place of an item from an inventory location, movement of a user, and so forth. The sensor data associated with the event is processed by an automated system to determine tentative values associated with the event. In some situations, an uncertainty may exist as to which of the tentative values accurately reflects the actual event. The sensor data and tentative values may be provided to a human associate. The associate may select one of the tentative values. The selected tentative value and the sensor data may be used to train the automated system.Type: GrantFiled: September 30, 2014Date of Patent: August 4, 2020Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.Inventors: Christopher Andrew Stephens, Alexander Clark Prater, Alexander Michael McNamara, Sridhar Boyapati, David Echevarria Ignacio, David William Bettis, Korwin Jon Smith, Kevin Alexander Lee, Aaron Craig Thompson, Gary Paolo Raden, Sudarshan Narasimha Raghavan, Dilip Kumar, Félix Joseph Étienne Pageau
-
Patent number: 10679181Abstract: An inventory location, such as a shelf, may be used to stow different items. The shelf is divided into a plurality of adjacent lanes, some of which may be grouped into a cluster. Items are placed upon the lanes of the cluster. Each lane includes one or more weight sensors to obtain weight data about a load on the lane. Based on the weight data and physical layout data for the shelf, one or more hypotheses may be determined for describing interactions, such as a pick or place of an item, occurring at the lanes of a cluster. One of the hypotheses may be selected as a solution for describing the interaction and used to maintain inventory quantities of items at the shelf.Type: GrantFiled: April 12, 2019Date of Patent: June 9, 2020Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.Inventors: Alexander Clark Prater, Ivan Avramov, Ismael Medrano, Benjamin Lloyd Shapiro, Navid Shiee, Brett Allen Skaloud
-
Publication number: 20190251499Abstract: This disclosure describes a system for tracking removal or placement of items at inventory locations with a materials handling facility. In some instances, a user may remove an item from an inventory location and the inventory management system may detect that removal and update a user item list associated with the user to include an item identifier representative of the removed item. Likewise, if the user places an item at an inventory location, the inventory management system may detect that placement and update the user item list to remove an item identifier representative of the placed item.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 22, 2019Publication date: August 15, 2019Inventors: Dilip Kumar, Elie Micah Kornfield, Alexander Clark Prater, Sridhar Boyapati, Xiaofeng Ren, Chang Yuan
-
Patent number: 10268983Abstract: This disclosure describes a system for tracking removal or placement of items at inventory locations with a materials handling facility. In some instances, a user may remove an item from an inventory location and the inventory management system may detect that removal and update a user item list associated with the user to include an item identifier representative of the removed item. Likewise, if the user places an item at an inventory location, the inventory management system may detect that placement and update the user item list to remove an item identifier representative of the placed item.Type: GrantFiled: June 26, 2013Date of Patent: April 23, 2019Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Dilip Kumar, Elie Micah Kornfield, Alexander Clark Prater, Sridhar Boyapati, Xiaofeng Ren, Chang Yuan
-
Patent number: 10262293Abstract: An inventory location such as a shelf may be used to stow different types of items. The shelf may be equipped with a plurality of lanes arranged parallel to one another. Items may rest upon two or more of the lanes. Each lane includes a weight sensor that provides weight data about a load on the lane. Based on the weight data and item data indicative of individual weights of those items stowed on the shelf, interaction data indicative of an activity such as a pick or place of an item may be determined. The interaction data may specify what item was picked or placed, quantity of that item that was picked or placed, and so forth. Data from other sensors, such as a camera, may be used to determine the interaction data.Type: GrantFiled: June 23, 2015Date of Patent: April 16, 2019Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INCInventors: Alexander Clark Prater, Ivan Avramov, Ismael Medrano, Benjamin Lloyd Shapiro, Navid Shiee, Brett Allen Skaloud
-
Publication number: 20170300551Abstract: A bulk data distribution system in which, instead of multiple data consumers contending to access the same data sets from a primary data store, one or more producers capture snapshots (states of the data sets at particular points in time) and upload the snapshots to an intermediate data store for access by snapshot consumers. The snapshot consumers may download the snapshots to generate local versions of the data sets for access by one or more data processing applications or processes. A snapshot producer may periodically generate full snapshots of a data set, and may generate one or more incremental snapshots of the data set between full snapshots. A snapshot consumer may bootstrap a local data set from a full snapshot and one or more incrementals, and may maintain state of the local data set by accessing new snapshots uploaded by the producer.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 3, 2017Publication date: October 19, 2017Applicant: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Alexander Clark Prater, Victor Gregory Estevez, Matthew Rice Carlson, Nipun Dureja, Yung-Chun Lin, Udit Madan
-
Patent number: 9697268Abstract: A bulk data distribution system in which, instead of multiple data consumers contending to access the same data sets from a primary data store, one or more producers capture snapshots (states of the data sets at particular points in time) and upload the snapshots to an intermediate data store for access by snapshot consumers. The snapshot consumers may download the snapshots to generate local versions of the data sets for access by one or more data processing applications or processes. A snapshot producer may periodically generate full snapshots of a data set, and may generate one or more incremental snapshots of the data set between full snapshots. A snapshot consumer may bootstrap a local data set from a full snapshot and one or more incrementals, and may maintain state of the local data set by accessing new snapshots uploaded by the producer.Type: GrantFiled: September 16, 2014Date of Patent: July 4, 2017Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Alexander Clark Prater, Victor Gregory Estevez, Matthew Rice Carlson, Nipun Dureja, Yung-Chun Lin, Udit Madan
-
Publication number: 20150019391Abstract: This disclosure describes a system for tracking removal or placement of items at inventory locations with a materials handling facility. In some instances, a user may remove an item from an inventory location and the inventory management system may detect that removal and update a user item list associated with the user to include an item identifier representative of the removed item. Likewise, if the user places an item at an inventory location, the inventory management system may detect that placement and update the user item list to remove an item identifier representative of the placed item.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 26, 2013Publication date: January 15, 2015Inventors: Dilip Kumar, Elie Micah Kornfield, Alexander Clark Prater, Sridhar Boyapati, Xiaofeng Ren, Chang Yuan