Patents by Inventor Daniel Teece

Daniel Teece 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).

  • Publication number: 20240144622
    Abstract: Techniques for aligning object representations for animation include analyzing a source object representation and a target object representation to identify a category of the source object and a category of the target object. Based on the category or categories of the objects, a feature extraction machine learning models is selected. The source object representation and the target object representation are provided as input to the selected feature extraction machine learning model to generate respective semantic descriptors and shape vectors for the source and target objects. Based on the semantic descriptors and the shape vectors for the source and target objects, an alignment machine learning model generates an aligned target object representation that is aligned with the source object representation and usable for animating the target object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2022
    Publication date: May 2, 2024
    Applicants: Pixar, Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Hayko Riemenschneider, Clara Fernandez, Joan Massich, Christopher Richard Schroers, Daniel Teece, Rasmus Tamstorf, Charles Tappan, Mark Meyer, Antoine Milliez
  • Patent number: 11847731
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for interactive editing of virtual three-dimensional scenes. In the disclosed techniques, rendering is divided into (1) an interactive phase during which a user interactively edits a virtual scene while preview image frames are rendered using a modified ray tracing technique, and (2) a refinement phase during which full ray tracing is performed to show the user a final rendered image frame. The modified ray tracing technique may limit the number of bounces of light rays and/or the computations performed at each bounce, thereby reducing computational expense relative to a full ray tracing technique. Further, the modified ray tracing technique may be user-selectable and associated with a particular department within an animation studio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Yining Karl Li, Mark Lee, Daniel Teece
  • Publication number: 20230132754
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for interactive editing of virtual three-dimensional scenes. In the disclosed techniques, rendering is divided into (1) an interactive phase during which a user interactively edits a virtual scene while preview image frames are rendered using a modified ray tracing technique, and (2) a refinement phase during which full ray tracing is performed to show the user a final rendered image frame. The modified ray tracing technique may limit the number of bounces of light rays and/or the computations performed at each bounce, thereby reducing computational expense relative to a full ray tracing technique. Further, the modified ray tracing technique may be user-selectable and associated with a particular department within an animation studio.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 3, 2022
    Publication date: May 4, 2023
    Inventors: Yining Karl LI, Mark LEE, Daniel TEECE
  • Patent number: 11494966
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for interactive editing of virtual three-dimensional scenes. In the disclosed techniques, rendering is divided into (1) an interactive phase during which a user interactively edits a virtual scene while preview image frames are rendered using a modified ray tracing technique, and (2) a refinement phase during which full ray tracing is performed to show the user a final rendered image frame. The modified ray tracing technique may limit the number of bounces of light rays and/or the computations performed at each bounce, thereby reducing computational expense relative to a full ray tracing technique. Further, the modified ray tracing technique may be user-selectable and associated with a particular department within an animation studio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Yining Karl Li, Mark Lee, Daniel Teece
  • Publication number: 20210209828
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for interactive editing of virtual three-dimensional scenes. In the disclosed techniques, rendering is divided into (1) an interactive phase during which a user interactively edits a virtual scene while preview image frames are rendered using a modified ray tracing technique, and (2) a refinement phase during which full ray tracing is performed to show the user a final rendered image frame. The modified ray tracing technique may limit the number of bounces of light rays and/or the computations performed at each bounce, thereby reducing computational expense relative to a full ray tracing technique. Further, the modified ray tracing technique may be user-selectable and associated with a particular department within an animation studio.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2020
    Publication date: July 8, 2021
    Inventors: YINING KARL LI, MARK LEE, DANIEL TEECE
  • Patent number: 8217940
    Abstract: A method for a computer system includes receiving a plurality of values for an illumination parameter associated with an illumination source for a scene, determining a plurality illumination contributions for a surface of an object within the scene, in response to the plurality of values, determining a plurality of texture maps associated with the surface of the object in response to the plurality of illumination contributions, wherein each of the plurality of texture maps is associated with each of the plurality of values for the illumination parameter, receiving a value for the illumination parameter at render time from a user, determining a texture map associated with the surface of the object, in response to the value for the illumination parameter and in response to the plurality of texture maps, rendering the surface of the object using the texture map to form an image, and displaying the image to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Brent Burley, Charles Tappan, Daniel Teece
  • Patent number: 8040355
    Abstract: Textures are transferred between different object models using a point cloud. In a first phase, a point cloud in 3-D space is created to represent a texture map as applied to a first, or “source,” object model. In a second phase, a value for a target texel of a texture map associated with a second, or “target,” object model, is determined by identifying the 3-D location on a surface defined by the target object model that maps to the location of the target texel and assigning a value based on the nearest point (or points) to that location in the 3-D point cloud. To the extent that differences between the source and target object models are minor, the texture transfer can be accomplished without loss of information or manual cleanup.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Brent Burley, Charles Tappan, Daniel Teece
  • Publication number: 20090027412
    Abstract: Textures are transferred between different object models using a point cloud. In a first phase, a point cloud in 3-D space is created to represent a texture map as applied to a first, or “source,” object model. In a second phase, a value for a target texel of a texture map associated with a second, or “target,” object model, is determined by identifying the 3-D location on a surface defined by the target object model that maps to the location of the target texel and assigning a value based on the nearest point (or points) to that location in the 3-D point cloud. To the extent that differences between the source and target object models are minor, the texture transfer can be accomplished without loss of information or manual cleanup.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2008
    Publication date: January 29, 2009
    Applicant: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Brent Burley, Charles Tappan, Daniel Teece
  • Publication number: 20090027391
    Abstract: A method for a computer system includes receiving a plurality of values for an illumination parameter associated with an illumination source for a scene, determining a plurality illumination contributions for a surface of an object within the scene, in response to the plurality of values, determining a plurality of texture maps associated with the surface of the object in response to the plurality of illumination contributions, wherein each of the plurality of texture maps is associated with each of the plurality of values for the illumination parameter, receiving a value for the illumination parameter at render time from a user, determining a texture map associated with the surface of the object, in response to the value for the illumination parameter and in response to the plurality of texture maps, rendering the surface of the object using the texture map to form an image, and displaying the image to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2008
    Publication date: January 29, 2009
    Applicant: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Brent Burley, Charles Tappan, Daniel Teece