Patents by Inventor Alvy Ray Smith

Alvy Ray Smith 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).

  • Mixed but indistinguishable raster and vector image data types
    Patent number: 7148907
    Abstract: An image processing application employs the concept of integral pre-multiplied alpha channel, and combines the techniques of multi-resolution representation, graph-structured representation, and automatic and intelligent data type conversion in order to permit a computer user to mix and manipulate both raster and vector based images in a single user interface while remaining unaware of the different data types underlying the images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Alvy Ray Smith, John Bradstreet, Jonathan Edgar Fay, Ajai Sehgal, Tanuja Abhay Joshi, John Fitzgerald Bronskill, Daniel Gwozdz, Steven Andrew Cover, Nicholas John Clay, Edward W. Connell
  • Mixed but indistinguishable raster and vector image data types
    Patent number: 6870545
    Abstract: An image processing application employs the concept of integral pre-multiplied alpha channel, and combines the techniques of multi-resolution representation, graph-structured representation, and automatic and intelligent data type conversion in order to permit a computer user to mix and manipulate both raster and vector based images in a single user interface while remaining unaware of the different data types underlying the images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2005
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Alvy Ray Smith, John Bradstreet, Jonathan Edgar Fay, Ajai Sehgal, Tanuja Abhay Joshi, John Fitzgerald Bronskill, Daniel Gwozdz, Steven Andrew Cover, Nicholas John Clay, Edward W. Connell
  • Mixed but indistinguisable raster and vector image data types
    Publication number: 20040257367
    Abstract: An image processing application employs the concept of integral pre-multiplied alpha channel, and combines the techniques of multi-resolution representation, graph-structured representation, and automatic and intelligent data type conversion in order to permit a computer user to mix and manipulate both raster and vector based images in a single user interface while remaining unaware of the different data types underlying the images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2004
    Publication date: December 23, 2004
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Alvy Ray Smith, John Bradstreet, Jonathan Edgar Fay, Ajai Sehgal, Tanuja Abhay Joshi, John Fitzgerald Bronskill, Daniel Gwozdz, Steven Andrew Cover, Nicholas John Clay, Edward W. Connell
  • Extracting a matte of a foreground object from multiple backgrounds by triangulation
    Patent number: 6301382
    Abstract: A method for pulling (extracting) a matte of an image of a foreground object from a composite image, using a computer. An image of the foreground object is recorded over at least two backgrounds having arbitrarily different coloring. Each point of one background must have a color that is different than the color of a corresponding point in the other backgrounds. The images may be recorded with an analog camera and digitized with a scanner or recorded with a digital camera. Images should be registered during recording and digitization to eliminate misalignment of corresponding points in each recorded image. A triangulation of corresponding points of each recorded image is performed so that an alpha value (opacity) and a set of color coordinates for each point of an uncomposited image of the foreground object may be determined using either a difference of sums technique or a least squares technique. To facilitate the triangulation, images are recorded of each background alone, without the foreground object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2001
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Alvy Ray Smith, James F. Blinn