Patents by Inventor Christopher Flick

Christopher Flick 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: 11686405
    Abstract: A mechanical valve assembly for the control of a gas flow to a gas appliance. The mechanical valve assembly includes at least one input knob movably connected to a housing, a shaft assembly connected to at least one input knob, and a manually-operated valve located inside the housing and in between the inlet port and the outlet port. The manually-operated valve is mechanically connected to the shaft assembly, and the manually-operated valve is configured for opening and closing a gas flow between the inlet port and the outlet port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, Jih Ching Lai
  • Patent number: 10972753
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for coding and delivering multi-view video in which the video is represented as a manifest file identifying a plurality of segments of the video available for download. The multi-view video may be partitioned spatially into a plurality of tiles that, in aggregate, encompass the entire spatial area of the video. The tiles are coded as segments contains coded video representing content contained within its respective tile. Tiles may be given different sizes based on saliency of the content within their respective regions. In this manner, tiles with high levels of interest may have relatively large spatial areas, which can lead to efficient coding in the presence of content motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Fanyi Duanmu, Eduardo Asbun, Xiaosong Zhou, Jun Xin, Hsi-Jung Wu, John Su, Samir Gehani, Christopher Flick, Shalini Sahoo
  • Publication number: 20210084332
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for coding and delivering multi-view video in which the video is represented as a manifest file identifying a plurality of segments of the video available for download. The multi-view video may be partitioned spatially into a plurality of tiles that, in aggregate, encompass the entire spatial area of the video. The tiles are coded as segments contains coded video representing content contained within its respective tile. Tiles may be given different sizes based on saliency of the content within their respective regions. In this manner, tiles with high levels of interest may have relatively large spatial areas, which can lead to efficient coding in the presence of content motion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2019
    Publication date: March 18, 2021
    Inventors: Fanyi DUANMU, Eduardo ASBUN, Xiaosong ZHOU, Jun XIN, Hsi-Jung WU, John SU, Samir GEHANI, Christopher FLICK, Shalini SAHOO
  • Patent number: 10937460
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide techniques for rendering content from a media item. According to these embodiments, from a file of the media item, track(s) in a group data structure corresponding to the type of content are identified as candidate track(s). From other tracks in the file, a determination may be made whether another track corresponds to the type of content. When another track corresponds to the type of content, feature tags in the file that are associated may be compared with the other track to capabilities of a player device that is to render the type of content. When the feature tags match capabilities of the player device, the other track may be included as a candidate track. Thereafter, a track may be selected from the candidate tracks and rendered by the player device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, Kevin Calhoun
  • Publication number: 20200124203
    Abstract: A mechanical valve assembly for the control of a gas flow to a gas appliance. The mechanical valve assembly includes at least one input knob movably connected to a housing, a shaft assembly connected to at least one input knob, and a manually-operated valve located inside the housing and in between the inlet port and the outlet port. The manually-operated valve is mechanically connected to the shaft assembly, and the manually-operated valve is configured for opening and closing a gas flow between the inlet port and the outlet port.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Applicant: Skytech Products Group
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, Jih Ching Lai
  • Patent number: 10520108
    Abstract: A mechanical valve assembly for the control of a gas flow to a gas appliance, the mechanical valve assembly comprising: a housing; a gas inlet port associated with the housing; a gas outlet port associated with the housing; a timer-controlled valve operable to open and close a gas flow between the inlet port and outlet port; and a manually-operated emergency shut-off valve positioned between the inlet port and the outlet port, ahead of the timer-controlled valve relative to a direction of the gas flow through the mechanical valve assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Skytech Products Group
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, Jih Ching Lai
  • Publication number: 20170357649
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide techniques for rendering content from a media item. According to these embodiments, from a file of the media item, track(s) in a group data structure corresponding to the type of content are identified as candidate track(s). From other tracks in the file, a determination may be made whether another track corresponds to the type of content. When another track corresponds to the type of content, feature tags in the file that are associated may be compared with the other track to capabilities of a player device that is to render the type of content. When the feature tags match capabilities of the player device, the other track may be included as a candidate track. Thereafter, a track may be selected from the candidate tracks and rendered by the player device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2017
    Publication date: December 14, 2017
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, Kevin Calhoun
  • Publication number: 20170268693
    Abstract: A mechanical valve assembly for the control of a gas flow to a gas appliance, the mechanical valve assembly comprising: a housing; a gas inlet port associated with the housing; a gas outlet port associated with the housing; a timer-controlled valve operable to open and close a gas flow between the inlet port and outlet port; and a manually-operated emergency shut-off valve positioned between the inlet port and the outlet port, ahead of the timer-controlled valve relative to a direction of the gas flow through the mechanical valve assembly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2016
    Publication date: September 21, 2017
    Applicant: Skytech Products Group
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, Jih Ching Lai
  • Patent number: 9507777
    Abstract: Methods, data processing systems and machine readable non-transitory storage media are described that can provide, in one embodiment, a non-time based description of types of metadata in a time based metadata track that can be associated with, in time, a time based media track. The description can include a set of keys, or other identifiers, that specify the types of metadata in the metadata track, and the description can also include values describing the structure of each key and values describing how to interpret each key.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, David Singer
  • Publication number: 20150356079
    Abstract: Methods, data processing systems and machine readable non-transitory storage media are described that can provide, in one embodiment, a non-time based description of types of metadata in a time based metadata track that can be associated with, in time, a time based media track. The description can include a set of keys, or other identifiers, that specify the types of metadata in the metadata track, and the description can also include values describing the structure of each key and values describing how to interpret each key.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2015
    Publication date: December 10, 2015
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, David Singer
  • Patent number: 9116988
    Abstract: Methods, data processing systems and machine readable non-transitory storage media are described that can provide, in one embodiment, a non-time based description of types of metadata in a time based metadata track that can be associated with, in time, a time based media track. The description can include a set of keys, or other identifiers, that specify the types of metadata in the metadata track, and the description can also include values describing the structure of each key and values describing how to interpret each key.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, David Singer
  • Patent number: 9009118
    Abstract: A description of types of metadata can provide, in one embodiment, an index to the types of metadata in a time based metadata track that can be associated with a time based media track having audio or video or both. The description can be non-time based and be separate from the metadata track, and the description can be examined to determine whether a particular type of metadata exists in the time based metadata track without having to search through the track to determine whether the particular type of metadata exists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, David Singer
  • Patent number: 8843586
    Abstract: A content streaming system, such as an HTTP streaming system, can use a variant audio playlist that identifies different audio playlists, such as one playlist in English and one playlist in Spanish, for the same program such as a video program which is specified by a video playlist which can be separate from the variant audio playlist. A client can use the variant audio playlist to select a particular audio content for the same program, and the particular audio content can be referred to by one URL in the variant audio playlist, among a set of alternative URLs, in the variant audio playlist, for alternative audio content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Roger Pantos, David Biderman, William May, Jr., Christopher Flick, John Samuel Bushell, John Kevin Calhoun
  • Publication number: 20120311075
    Abstract: A content streaming system, such as an HTTP streaming system, can use a variant audio playlist that identifies different audio playlists, such as one playlist in English and one playlist in Spanish, for the same program such as a video program which is specified by a video playlist which can be separate from the variant audio playlist. A client can use the variant audio playlist to select a particular audio content for the same program, and the particular audio content can be referred to by one URL in the variant audio playlist, among a set of alternative URLs, in the variant audio playlist, for alternative audio content.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 2, 2011
    Publication date: December 6, 2012
    Inventors: Roger Pantos, David Biderman, William May, JR., Christopher Flick, John Samuel Bushell, John Kevin Calhoun
  • Publication number: 20120102078
    Abstract: A description of types of metadata can provide, in one embodiment, an index to the types of metadata in a time based metadata track that can be associated with a time based media track having audio or video or both. The description can be non-time based and be separate from the metadata track, and the description can be examined to determine whether a particular type of metadata exists in the time based metadata track without having to search through the track to determine whether the particular type of metadata exists.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2011
    Publication date: April 26, 2012
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, David Singer
  • Publication number: 20120102042
    Abstract: Methods, data processing systems and machine readable non-transitory storage media are described that can provide, in one embodiment, a non-time based description of types of metadata in a time based metadata track that can be associated with, in time, a time based media track. The description can include a set of keys, or other identifiers, that specify the types of metadata in the metadata track, and the description can also include values describing the structure of each key and values describing how to interpret each key.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2011
    Publication date: April 26, 2012
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, David Singer
  • Publication number: 20100243928
    Abstract: A modular gas valve arrangement including a housing that has a valve chamber having a gas inlet and a gas outlet and a valve mechanism disposed in the chamber between the inlet and the outlet to control the flow of gas. An interchangeable valve control module is mounted to the housing and has a valve actuator that moves the valve mechanism to control the position of the valve mechanism to thereby control the flow of gas. A diaphragm seal is disposed between the control module and the valve mechanism to seal the valve chamber from the control module. A diaphragm seal is connected to the valve mechanism and acts to retract the valve mechanism under pressure of gas within the valve chamber.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2010
    Publication date: September 30, 2010
    Applicant: AMERICAN FLAME, INC.
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, Michael Rogers, Jih-Ching Lai
  • Publication number: 20070224558
    Abstract: A system for controlling the flow and combustion of natural gas and/or liquid propane in a ventless fireplace. The system utilizes an ODS pilot in combination with a burner, an electronic control module, a gas control valve, an igniter, and a flame rectification sensor. When the pilot is lit, an ionized flame is provided and the current of the flame rectification sensor is rectified, providing a signal to the electronic control module to maintain the delivery of gas to the pilot and main burner via the gas control valve. When the oxygen level within the fireplace falls below a predetermined level, the flame at the pilot becomes unstable and this prevents the rectification of current at the flame rectification sensor, signaling the electronic control module to cease the flow of gas the burner and pilot via the gas control valve.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2007
    Publication date: September 27, 2007
    Applicant: AMERICAN FLAME, INC.
    Inventors: Christopher Flick, Corbit Beasey
  • Publication number: 20070022215
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for processing media data for transmission in a data communication medium and for use with data processing systems. One exemplary method processes readable content stored in a stream or set of data which contains samples for presenting a presentation (e.g. video only or audio only or video and audio together) at a plurality of scales of scalable content. A second stream is derived from a first stream, where the second stream contains references to the first stream for use in selecting data, for an operating point within the scalable content, from the first stream. In one aspect of this method, references contained in the second stream are accessed to transmit or store the data from the first stream.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2006
    Publication date: January 25, 2007
    Inventors: David Singer, John Bushell, Christopher Flick, John Calhoun
  • Publication number: 20060222320
    Abstract: A sequence of video images can be represented using multiple related timelines by generating a first timeline identifying a decode order associated with a sequence of video images and a second timeline identifying a display order associated with the sequence of video images, wherein the sequence of video images is comprised of one or more samples. The first and second timelines can be correlated based on an offset, which represents a time period by which decoding precedes display. The sequence of video images can then be played in accordance with the correlated first and second timelines. Additionally, the decode order in the first timeline can differ from the display order in the second timeline. A revised offset between the first and second timelines can be determined after the sequence of video images has been edited and the first and second timelines can be correlated based on the revised offset.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2005
    Publication date: October 5, 2006
    Inventors: John Bushell, Christopher Flick