Patents by Inventor Chris Whytock

Chris Whytock 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: 9875149
    Abstract: Described herein are techniques performed by an application executing on a computing device. The application may have a graphical user interface (GUI) comprised of graphic objects displayed on a display of the computing device. The application may also have state data managed and stored by the application. The state data may specify features and layout of the GUI. The graphic objects may be displayed according to the state data. The application may dynamically adjust a threshold to different levels by monitoring user interactions with the GUI via an input device and setting the threshold to the different levels according to the user interactions with the GUI. Operations from an external source directed to the GUI are received. Each operation has a corresponding priority specific to the operation. The priorities and threshold levels are compared to determine whether to implement the operations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Sarah McDevitt, Clement Fauchere, Rick Duncan, Chris Whytock, Adrian Garside
  • Publication number: 20160085419
    Abstract: Processing multiple inputs received across simultaneously displayed applications. In an embodiment, a computing device displays a first application on a first portion of a display device, and simultaneously displays a second application on a second, different, portion of the display device. The computing device receives a first user input in connection with the first portion of the display device, and, at substantially the same time, also receives a second user input in connection with the second portion of the display device. The computing device routes the first user input to the first application based on the first user input having been received in connection with first portion of the display device, and, at substantially the same time, also routes the second user input to the second application based on the second user input having been received in connection with the second portion of the display device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2015
    Publication date: March 24, 2016
    Inventors: Curt Carpenter, Debora Everett, Doug Kramer, Derek E. Sunday, Chris Whytock
  • Patent number: 9164659
    Abstract: One or more users may interact simultaneously with different applications on the same device through an input system such as a touch-sensitive display screen. Simultaneous user input may be detected by a multiple input system and subsequently transmitted to an application using a single transmission frame. An application corresponding to the user input is determined based on an input location of the user input and a location and size of a corresponding application. Simultaneous user inputs are rendered simultaneously by each corresponding application. Each application may further include a secondary event processing thread that runs in parallel to traditional operating system event threads. The secondary event processing thread bypasses sequential processing limits of an operating system event thread, providing substantially simultaneous processing of input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Curt Carpenter, Debora Everett, Doug Kramer, Derek E. Sunday, Chris Whytock
  • Patent number: 8930834
    Abstract: A graphical user interface system is described in which users can be located at any angle. Different application interfaces can be generated on the display to appear in different orientations, such that different users sitting at different positions around the periphery of a display surface may each have an interface that is readable and accessible. The location and orientation of a new interface may be specified by user request, or may be automatically determined based on a characteristic of the request, such as the location of a tap or the direction of a swipe gesture. Interfaces may be radial in nature, and may have a central origin on the display, or at corners of the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Derek E. Sunday, Chris Whytock, Dane Storrusten, Sabrina Boler, Nicole Coddington
  • Publication number: 20140325379
    Abstract: Described herein are techniques performed by an application executing on a computing device. The application may have a graphical user interface (GUI) comprised of graphic objects displayed on a display of the computing device. The application may also have state data managed and stored by the application. The state data may specify features and layout of the GUI. The graphic objects may be displayed according to the state data. The application may dynamically adjust a threshold to different levels by monitoring user interactions with the GUI via an input device and setting the threshold to the different levels according to the user interactions with the GUI. Operations from an external source directed to the GUI are received. Each operation has a corresponding priority specific to the operation. The priorities and threshold levels are compared to determine whether to implement the operations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2013
    Publication date: October 30, 2014
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sarah McDevitt, Clement Fauchere, Rick Duncan, Chris Whytock, Adrian Garside
  • Patent number: 8587549
    Abstract: Various embodiments related to the location and adjustment of a virtual object on a display in response to a detected physical object are disclosed. One disclosed embodiment provides a computing device comprising a multi-touch display, a processor and memory comprising instructions executable by the processor to display on the display a virtual object, to detect a change in relative location between the virtual object and a physical object that constrains a viewable area of the display, and to adjust a location of the virtual object on the display in response to detecting the change in relative location between the virtual object and the physical object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Chris Whytock, Carlos Pessoa, Paul Armistead Hoover
  • Patent number: 8578283
    Abstract: Methods to allow, suppress, or reformulate a presentation of a UI element invoked by a computer program are provided. One method includes applying an administrator-configurable heuristic to determine whether to allow a native presentation of the UI element, to suppress the native presentation of the UI element, or to enable a reformulated presentation of the UI element. The method further includes one or more of suppressing and reformulating the UI element in accordance with a determination of the heuristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Chris Whytock, Maxim Oustiougov, Thibaut Vial, Joon Chang
  • Publication number: 20130002591
    Abstract: Various embodiments related to the location and adjustment of a virtual object on a display in response to a detected physical object are disclosed. One disclosed embodiment provides a computing device comprising a multi-touch display, a processor and memory comprising instructions executable by the processor to display on the display a virtual object, to detect a change in relative location between the virtual object and a physical object that constrains a viewable area of the display, and to adjust a location of the virtual object on the display in response to detecting the change in relative location between the virtual object and the physical object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Publication date: January 3, 2013
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chris Whytock, Carlos Pessoa, Paul Armistead Hoover
  • Patent number: 8347215
    Abstract: One or more users may interact simultaneously with different applications on the same device through an input system such as a touch-sensitive display screen. Simultaneous user input may be detected by a multiple input system and subsequently transmitted to an application using a single transmission frame. An application corresponding to the user input is determined based on an input location of the user input and a location and size of a corresponding application. Simultaneous user inputs are rendered simultaneously by each corresponding application. Each application may further include a secondary event processing thread that runs in parallel to traditional operating system event threads. The secondary event processing thread bypasses sequential processing limits of an operating system event thread, providing substantially simultaneous processing of input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Curt Carpenter, Debora Everett, Doug Kramer, Derek E Sunday, Chris Whytock
  • Patent number: 8289288
    Abstract: Various embodiments related to the location and adjustment of a virtual object on a display in response to a detected physical object are disclosed. One disclosed embodiment provides a computing device comprising a multi-touch display, a processor and memory comprising instructions executable by the processor to display on the display a virtual object, to detect a change in relative location between the virtual object and a physical object that constrains a viewable area of the display, and to adjust a location of the virtual object on the display in response to detecting the change in relative location between the virtual object and the physical object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Chris Whytock, Carlos Pessoa, Paul Armistead Hoover
  • Publication number: 20100177931
    Abstract: Various embodiments related to the location and adjustment of a virtual object on a display in response to a detected physical object are disclosed. One disclosed embodiment provides a computing device comprising a multi-touch display, a processor and memory comprising instructions executable by the processor to display on the display a virtual object, to detect a change in relative location between the virtual object and a physical object that constrains a viewable area of the display, and to adjust a location of the virtual object on the display in response to detecting the change in relative location between the virtual object and the physical object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 15, 2009
    Publication date: July 15, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chris Whytock, Carlos Pessoa, Paul Armistead Hoover
  • Publication number: 20100100831
    Abstract: Methods to allow, suppress, or reformulate a presentation of a UI element invoked by a computer program are provided. One method includes applying an administrator-configurable heuristic to determine whether to allow a native presentation of the UI element, to suppress the native presentation of the UI element, or to enable a reformulated presentation of the UI element. The method further includes one or more of suppressing and reformulating the UI element in accordance with a determination of the heuristic.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2008
    Publication date: April 22, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chris Whytock, Maxim Oustiougov, Thibaut Vial, Joon Chang
  • Publication number: 20100053110
    Abstract: One or more users may interact simultaneously with different applications on the same device through an input system such as a touch-sensitive display screen. Simultaneous user input may be detected by a multiple input system and subsequently transmitted to an application using a single transmission frame. An application corresponding to the user input is determined based on an input location of the user input and a location and size of a corresponding application. Simultaneous user inputs are rendered simultaneously by each corresponding application. Each application may further include a secondary event processing thread that runs in parallel to traditional operating system event threads. The secondary event processing thread bypasses sequential processing limits of an operating system event thread, providing substantially simultaneous processing of input.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 11, 2009
    Publication date: March 4, 2010
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Curt Carpenter, Debora Everett, Doug Kramer, Derek E. Sunday, Chris Whytock
  • Publication number: 20090327886
    Abstract: An interactive media display system and a method of activating a graphical user interface element presented by the interactive media display system are provided. The method includes presenting the graphical user interface element via a touch-sensitive display surface of the interactive media display system; receiving a user input at the touch-sensitive display surface; determining whether one or more secondary factors associated with the user input indicate an intentional contact with the graphical user interface element that is presented via the touch sensitive display surface; activating the graphical user interface element if the one or more secondary factors indicate the intentional contact with the graphical user interface element; and disregarding the user input by not activating the graphical user interface if the one or more secondary factors do not indicate the intentional contact.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2008
    Publication date: December 31, 2009
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chris Whytock, Peter Vale, Steven Seow, Carlos Pessoa, Paul Armistead Hoover
  • Patent number: 7620901
    Abstract: One or more users may interact simultaneously with different applications on the same device through an input system such as a touch-sensitive display screen. Simultaneous user input may be detected by a multiple input system and subsequently transmitted to an application using a single transmission frame. An application corresponding to the user input is determined based on an input location of the user input and a location and size of a corresponding application. Simultaneous user inputs are rendered simultaneously by each corresponding application. Each application may further include a secondary event processing thread that runs in parallel to traditional operating system event threads. The secondary event processing thread bypasses sequential processing limits of an operating system event thread, providing substantially simultaneous processing of input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Curt Carpenter, Debora Everett, Doug Kramer, Derek E. Sunday, Chris Whytock
  • Publication number: 20090231281
    Abstract: A computing system includes a display and a sensor to detect multi-touch input at the display. The computing system further includes a processing subsystem operatively connected to the display and the sensor and computer-readable media operatively connected to the processing subsystem and including instructions executable by the processing subsystem. Such instructions cause the display to present a virtual keyboard image, the virtual keyboard image including a primary key and a modifier key. Such instructions also translate touch input at only the primary key into a first keyboard message and translate temporally overlapping touch input at both the primary key and the modifier key into a second keyboard message, different than the first keyboard message.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2008
    Publication date: September 17, 2009
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chris Whytock, Derek Sunday, Carlos Pessoa
  • Publication number: 20090225040
    Abstract: An interactive media display system includes a display surface including a touch-sensitive region; a processing subsystem operatively coupled to the display surface; computer-readable media operatively coupled to the processing subsystem and including system instructions that, when executed by the processing subsystem: determine an initial user orientation relative to the display surface; receive an orientation query from an application; and return an orientation query response to the application, the orientation query response identifying the determined initial user orientation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2008
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventor: Chris Whytock
  • Publication number: 20080040692
    Abstract: A variety of commonly used gestures associated with applications or games may be processed electronically. In particular, a user's physical gesture may be detected as a gesture signature. For example, a standard gesture in blackjack may be detected in an electronic version of the game. A player may thus hit by flicking or tapping his finger, stay by waving his hand and double or split by dragging chips from the player's pot to the betting area. Gestures for page turning may be implemented in electronic applications for reading a document. A user may drag or flick a corner of a page of an electronic document to flip a page. The direction of turning may correspond to a direction of the user's gesture. Additionally, elements of games like rock, paper, scissors may also be implemented such that standard gestures are registered in an electronic version of the game.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2006
    Publication date: February 14, 2008
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Derek E. Sunday, Chris Whytock
  • Publication number: 20070226636
    Abstract: One or more users may interact simultaneously with different applications on the same device through an input system such as a touch-sensitive display screen. Simultaneous user input may be detected by a multiple input system and subsequently transmitted to an application using a single transmission frame. An application corresponding to the user input is determined based on an input location of the user input and a location and size of a corresponding application. Simultaneous user inputs are rendered simultaneously by each corresponding application. Each application may further include a secondary event processing thread that runs in parallel to traditional operating system event threads. The secondary event processing thread bypasses sequential processing limits of an operating system event thread, providing substantially simultaneous processing of input.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 21, 2006
    Publication date: September 27, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Curt Carpenter, Debora Everett, Doug Kramer, Derek Sunday, Chris Whytock
  • Publication number: 20070220444
    Abstract: A graphical user interface system is described in which users can be located at any angle. Different application interfaces can be generated on the display to appear in different orientations, such that different users sitting at different positions around the periphery of a display surface may each have an interface that is readable and accessible. The location and orientation of a new interface may be specified by user request, or may be automatically determined based on a characteristic of the request, such as the location of a tap or the direction of a swipe gesture. Interfaces may be radial in nature, and may have a central origin on the display, or at corners of the display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2006
    Publication date: September 20, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Derek Sunday, Chris Whytock, Dane Storrusten, Sabrina Boler, Nicole Coddington