Patents by Inventor David Wayne Stafford

David Wayne 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: 10237329
    Abstract: This disclosure is directed at least partly to a kiosk that provides high speed data transfer of content to a user device associated with the user. The kiosk may be located in frequently visited locations such as travel terminals or public spaces. The kiosks may provide instructions to users about how to receive some of the content on user devices via a high speed data transfer. The kiosk may detect and prepare a user device for receipt of electronic content by wirelessly exchanging information with the user device, such as consent information, memory allocation information, and/or other relevant data. The high speed data transfer may use high speed data transfer protocols that enable download of full-length movies in a matter of a few seconds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Biju Balakrishna Pillai, Kenneth Mark Karakotsios, Peter Cheng, David Wayne Stafford, Stephen Vincent Mangiat, Yi Ding
  • Patent number: 10019140
    Abstract: Approaches are described for managing a display of content on a computing device. Content (e.g., images, application data, etc.) is displayed on an interface of the device. An activation movement performed by a user (e.g., a double-tap) can cause the device to enable a content view control mode (such as a zoom control mode) that can be used to adjust a portion of the content being displayed on the interface. The activation movement can also be used to set an area of interest and display a graphical element indicating that the content view control mode is activated. In response to a motion being detected (e.g., a forward tilt or backward of the device), the device can adjust a portion of the content being displayed on the interface, such as displaying a “zoomed-in” portion or a “zoomed-out” portion of the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Matthew Paul Bell, Peter Cheng, Stephen Michael Polansky, Amber Nalu, Alexander Li Honda, Yi Ding, David Wayne Stafford, Kenneth Mark Karakotsios
  • Patent number: 9940583
    Abstract: This disclosure is directed at least partly to a cloud prediction device that provides information to a kiosk. The cloud prediction device may receive information from a user device associated with a user, such as travel information, itineraries, calendar events, emails, etc, which may be used to determine the information. The information may also include user preferences, user recommendations, and/or historical data that may be used to determine content to be provided by the kiosk for the user and/or other users. The kiosk may provide innovative user interfaces to engage a user and provide high speed data transfer of content to a user device associated with the user. The kiosk may be located in frequently visited locations such as travel terminals or public spaces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Biju Balakrishna Pillai, Kenneth Mark Karakotsios, Peter Cheng, David Wayne Stafford, Stephen Vincent Mangiat, Yi Ding
  • Patent number: 9860517
    Abstract: Various embodiments provide a method for determining conditions associated with the presence of a user in order to perform object detection. For example, various heuristic tests can be used to identify movement within a sequence of images or to identify user engagement therewith and, if movement or user engagement is identified, stereo disparity can be computed in an attempt to detect an object within a predetermined distance of the computing device. Accordingly, if the distance of the object is within the predetermined distance, object detection is performed. If the object is beyond the threshold distance, however, object detection is not performed in order to conserve battery life of the computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Sharadh Ramaswamy, David Wayne Stafford
  • Patent number: 9832452
    Abstract: Systems and approaches are provided for robustly detecting and tracking a user. Image data can be captured and processed to provide an estimated position and/or orientation of the user. Other sensor data, such as from an accelerometer and/or gyroscope, can be determined for a more robust estimation of the user's position and/or orientation. Multiple user detection processes and/or motion estimation approaches and their corresponding confidence levels can also be combined to determine a final estimated position and orientation of the user. The multiple user pose estimations and/or motion estimations can be combined via an approach such as probabilistic system modeling and maximum likelihood estimation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: David Allen Fotland, David Wayne Stafford, Matthew Liang Chaboud, Michael Paul Touloumtzis
  • Publication number: 20160092034
    Abstract: This disclosure is directed at least partly to a kiosk that provides innovative user interfaces to engage a user and provide high speed data transfer of content to a user device associated with the user. The kiosk may be located in frequently visited locations such as airports. The kiosks may advertise content and provide instructions to users about how to receive some of the content on user devices via a high speed data transfer. The high speed data transfer may use high speed data transfer protocols that enable download of a standard definition full length movie (e.g., less than 1 GB of data) in less than a couple of seconds or download of a high definition full length movie (e.g., 2-3 GB of data) in a few seconds. Besides, movies, other content may be downloaded such as electronic documents, music, games, and other electronic media available from an electronic catalog.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2014
    Publication date: March 31, 2016
    Inventors: Biju Balakrishna Pillai, Kenneth Mark Karakotsios, Peter Cheng, David Wayne Stafford, Stephen Vincent Mangiat, Yi Ding
  • Publication number: 20150362989
    Abstract: Object tracking, such as may involve face tracking, can utilize different detection templates that can be trained using different data. A computing device can determine state information, such as the orientation of the device, an active illumination, or an active camera to select an appropriate template for detecting an object, such as a face, in a captured image. Information about the object, such as the age range or gender of a person, can also be used, if available, to select an appropriate template. In some embodiments instances of templates can be used to process various orientations, while in other embodiments specific orientations, such as upside down orientations, may not be processed for reasons such as rate of inaccuracies or infrequency of use for the corresponding additional resource overhead.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2014
    Publication date: December 17, 2015
    Inventors: Ambrish Tyagi, Kah Kuen Fu, Tianyang Ma, Kenneth Mark Karakotsios, Michael Lee Sandige, David Wayne Stafford, Steven Bennett
  • Patent number: 9047504
    Abstract: Approaches to enable a computing device, such as a phone or tablet computer, to utilize a number of cues to detect the presence of a face (or head) in an image captured by a camera of the computing device. The cues may include the elliptical shape of the face, the stereo disparity signature of the face, color or image brightness, among others. The facial detection may be performed by using a boosted classifier ensemble that has been trained using a plurality of images that are known (i.e., have been previously identified) to contain faces. The classifier ensemble can combine a number of different cues, such as the elliptical shape and/or stereo disparity signature, to be used for detecting faces within an image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Sharadh Ramaswamy, David Wayne Stafford, Ilya Brailovskiy