Patents by Inventor David W. Stafford

David W. Stafford 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: 9602806
    Abstract: Approaches discussed herein enable a computing device, such as a phone or tablet computer, to automatically recalibrate cameras used to capture three-dimensional images. A proximity sensor can be used to determine the distance to an object at approximately the time that three-dimensional image data is captured that includes a representation of the object. The apparent distance to the object, from the disparity of the three-dimensional image data, can be compared against the detected distance as measured by the proximity sensor. The difference between the detected and apparent distance, or the corresponding disparity values, can be used to determine a relative misalignment among the cameras, when then can be used to update the appropriate calibration parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: David W. Stafford, Jennifer Silva, Edward Ackley Falk, Robert King Myers
  • Patent number: 9503703
    Abstract: The quality of stereoscopic imaging using cameras with wide angle lenses can be improved using various calibration approaches to determine distortions or misalignments between the cameras. A calibration object such as a checkered grid with a determined inclination between portions can be used to provide lateral calibration as well as depth information. Intersections of the checkered regions can be used to determine intersection points for the calibration object in the image. Lines formed by the checkered regions can be located, and the points correlated with these lines, in order to determine correspondence between points in the image. These points are mapped to corresponding points of the calibration object in the real world, to determine system parameters and/or image adjustments to be made when subsequent images are captured, in order to remove the distortions and misalignment when providing a stereo image based on images from the cameras.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Sharadh Ramaswamy, David W. Stafford, Volodymyr V. Ivanchenko
  • Patent number: 9384551
    Abstract: An electronic device can have two or more pairs of cameras capable of performing three-dimensional imaging. In order to provide accurate disparity information, these cameras should be sufficiently rectified. Automatic rectification can be performed by periodically capturing images with the cameras of interest, and locating matching feature points in corresponding images captured by those cameras. Small misalignment errors can be treated as linear translations, such that a set of linear equations can be used to solve for the misalignments. Another process can process a set of homographies for the cameras until a cost function converges. Various other approaches can be used as well, such as to directly solve for yaw, pitch, and roll errors. Once this information is obtained, the misalignment values (or related values) can be stored for use in correcting images subsequently captured by those cameras.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2016
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Sharadh Ramaswamy, Matthew Paul Bell, Dmitri Khoklov, David W. Stafford, Isaac Scott Noble
  • Patent number: 9208548
    Abstract: Approaches are described for managing the processing of image and/or video data captured by an electronic device. A user can capture an image using a camera of a computing device, where metadata obtained by sensor(s) of the device can be stored along with the image. The image can be transmitted to a network service, where the network service can divide the image into a plurality of image portions, and for each image portion, the network service can search a library of image patches in attempt to find at least one library patch that substantially matches a respective image portion. If one of the library image portions matches the image portion within an allowable threshold, the network service can modify the image portion such as by applying image modifications made to the library image patch to the image portion or merging the library patch image with the image portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Isaac Scott Noble, David W. Stafford
  • Patent number: 9201585
    Abstract: Various embodiments enable a user to navigate between various hierarchical or functional levels of a computing device by providing a hand gesture, such as a multiple finger pinch or splay. For example, a user viewing an application page on an interface of a computing device can leave the application page and navigate to the home page with a single hand gesture. Accordingly, the same hand gesture could be subsequently used to navigate the user to a higher functional level, such as a network level, a disk utility level, and the like. A multiple finger pinch or splay can also be utilized as a trigger to reveal an application's chrome, reveal running applications, provide a short-cut to accessing favorite applications or notes, or to provide alternative views or organization schemes for applications, documents, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth M. Karakotsios, David W. Stafford
  • Patent number: 5493678
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for providing improved editing capability in a structure editor, and more particularly for syntax-directed editors. A set of methods provide an approach to selecting arbitrary nodes from within a tree, and using those arbitrarily selected groups of nodes in otherwise conventional editing operations such as move, copy, delete, collect, and the like. In syntax-directed editors, the present invention provides a way of maintaining syntax while these novel and highly flexible editing operations are performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 20, 1996
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Anthony J. Arcuri, William S. Cadden, Patrick C. Mancuso, Frederick P. Muller, Kurt A. Riegel, Robert C. Seacord, David W. Stafford