Patents by Inventor Dean A. Slawson

Dean A. Slawson 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: 9880712
    Abstract: In-application customization is provided where users can both use and customize the application. Within a graphical user interface of an application developed by an original author, an interaction from a customizer user of the application can be received to make a modification to the application from a set of available modifications that the original author did not create for the application. The modification can be performed using functionality made available through a developer program service.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Dean A. Slawson, Doron Bar-Caspi, Gregory S. Lindhorst, Imran Aziz, Nichol C. Viton
  • Publication number: 20150074546
    Abstract: In-application customization is provided where users can both use and customize the application. Within a graphical user interface of an application developed by an original author, an interaction from a customizer user of the application can be received to make a modification to the application from a set of available modifications that the original author did not create for the application. The modification can be performed using functionality made available through a developer program service.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2014
    Publication date: March 12, 2015
    Inventors: Dean A. Slawson, Doron Bar-Caspi, Gregory S. Lindhorst, Imran Aziz, Nichol C. Viton
  • Patent number: 8775399
    Abstract: Domain specific topics, and optionally uniform resource locators (URLs) can be received from a user, and from those domain specific topics and URLs, domain tuned search definitions are generated for a given domain. The domain tuned search definitions are saved and the user is provided with a definition of a domain tuned search interface that is embedded on a site specified by the user. When someone reviewing the user's web site performs a search using the domain tuned, embedded search interface, a search engine is invoked which performs a search on the user's input query, and then returns domain specific search results. The search engine searches for domain specific search results over web sites in addition to the web site that the user is currently reviewing, so the search is more precise than a general web search but broader than a specific site search.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ramen Chandrasekar, Dean A. Slawson
  • Publication number: 20120185457
    Abstract: Domain specific topics, and optionally uniform resource locators (URLs) can be received from a user, and from those domain specific topics and URLs, domain tuned search definitions are generated for a given domain. The domain tuned search definitions are saved and the user is provided with a definition of a domain tuned search interface that is embedded on a site specified by the user. When someone reviewing the user's web site performs a search using the domain tuned, embedded search interface, a search engine is invoked which performs a search on the user's input query, and then returns domain specific search results. The search engine searches for domain specific search results over web sites in addition to the web site that the user is currently reviewing, so the search is more precise than a general web search but broader than a specific site search.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 27, 2012
    Publication date: July 19, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Raman Chandrasekar, Dean A. Slawson
  • Patent number: 8191004
    Abstract: A user interface display for software has a user satisfaction portion displayed on each page. The user satisfaction portion includes a user selectable element which allows a user to provide a user satisfaction score (or level) with a single mouse click. In response to receiving the user satisfaction level, the context of the software which the user is using is recorded, and the user satisfaction level is correlated to that context. The captured data can be provided to application designers and developers directly or via computed metrics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Raman Chandrasekar, Dean A. Slawson, Matthew R. Scott, Dharmarajan Ratnagiri Ayakkad, Daniel Makoski
  • Patent number: 8171007
    Abstract: Domain specific topics, and optionally uniform resource locators (URLs) can be received from a user, and from those domain specific topics and URLs, domain tuned search definitions are generated for a given domain. The domain tuned search definitions are saved and the user is provided with a definition of a domain tuned search interface that is embedded on a site specified by the user. When someone reviewing the user's web site performs a search using the domain tuned, embedded search interface, a search engine is invoked which performs a search on the user's input query, and then returns domain specific search results. The search engine searches for domain specific search results over web sites in addition to the web site that the user is currently reviewing, so the search is more precise than a general web search but broader than a specific site search.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Raman Chandrasekar, Dean A. Slawson
  • Patent number: 8086591
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides systems and/or techniques that effectuate combining domain-tuned search systems. The system can include mechanisms that obtain queries, written descriptions, or illustrative web-pages regarding a particular area of interest, and generate a definition related to the area of interest. The definition contains a list of paths with associated weights employed to identify an pre-established first domain-tuned search system related to the area of interest. The first domain-tuned search system thereafter can be combined with a second domain-tuned search system related to another area of interest and presented to a user for utilization in re-ranking generic search results to be specific to the first and second domains of interest if combined, or to only the first domain if weights for the second domain are logically subtracted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew R. Scott, Jing Zhao, Raman Chandrasekar, Dean A. Slawson
  • Publication number: 20110040751
    Abstract: An information dissemination system ranks the search results based on a temporal weight assigned to each search result. The temporal weight is an indication of the importance to a user that varies with time. For each search result, the information dissemination system calculates a temporal weight that is based on the temporal proximity of the event that is related to the search result. The temporal weight may be used to re-rank the search results.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2010
    Publication date: February 17, 2011
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Raman Chandrasekar, Dean A. Slawson, Michael K. Forney
  • Patent number: 7849079
    Abstract: An information dissemination system ranks the search results based on a temporal weight assigned to each search result. The temporal weight is an indication of the importance to a user that varies with time. For each search result, the information dissemination system calculates a temporal weight that is based on the temporal proximity of the event that is related to the search result. The temporal weight may be used to re-rank the search results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Raman Chandrasekar, Dean A. Slawson, Michael K. Forney
  • Patent number: 7730426
    Abstract: A Visual Thesaurus program is provided that allows a user to find media clips through successive queries by example. Clips similar to the example clip may be retrieved based on artistic style, color and shape, or keywords. Clips retrieved based on keywords may be found based on a single keyword, multiple keywords, or all keywords associated with the example clip. The keyword may be the clip format (e.g., “mpeg” or “gif”).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Dean A Slawson, Tjeerd Hoek, Eric L Brechner
  • Patent number: 7685199
    Abstract: An information dissemination system provides users information related to topics extracted from event classes. Event classes can generally be thought of as scripts that specify topics and actions for obtaining information related to the topics. The event classes are executed to obtain information related to the particular event class. The information dissemination system identifies a user event that is of interest to a user. The information dissemination system then identifies an event class that corresponds to the user event. The information dissemination system then performs the actions specified for the event class, obtains the action results, and renders the action results to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Raman Chandrasekar, Dean A. Slawson, Michael K. Forney, Arungunram C. Surendran, Piali Choudhury, Erin Renshaw
  • Publication number: 20100037166
    Abstract: A user interface display for software has a user satisfaction portion displayed on each page. The user satisfaction portion includes a user selectable element which allows a user to provide a user satisfaction score (or level) with a single mouse click. In response to receiving the user satisfaction level, the context of the software which the user is using is recorded, and the user satisfaction level is correlated to that context. The captured data can be provided to application designers and developers directly or via computed metrics.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2008
    Publication date: February 11, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Raman Chandrasekar, Dean A. Slawson, Matthew R. Scott, Dharmarajan Ratnagiri Ayakkad, Daniel Makoski
  • Publication number: 20090265331
    Abstract: Domain specific topics, and optionally uniform resource locators (URLs) can be received from a user, and from those domain specific topics and URLs, domain tuned search definitions are generated for a given domain. The domain tuned search definitions are saved and the user is provided with a definition of a domain tuned search interface that is embedded on a site specified by the user. When someone reviewing the user's web site performs a search using the domain tuned, embedded search interface, a search engine is invoked which performs a search on the user's input query, and then returns domain specific search results. The search engine searches for domain specific search results over web sites in addition to the web site that the user is currently reviewing, so the search is more precise than a general web search but broader than a specific site search.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2008
    Publication date: October 22, 2009
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Raman Chandrasekar, Dean A. Slawson
  • Publication number: 20090240539
    Abstract: A machine learning system learns models to assist providers in processing documents of customers. Providers may use various productivity tools that use the learned models to assist in performing tasks on target documents of customers. The machine learning system may initially train models based on demographic information of customers and training data of the customers. To generate the models, the machine learning system collects the training data for the customers of each cluster and then trains a model for each cluster. The machine learning system uses the models to perform tasks on documents of customers. A provider can then modify the results of the task. The machine learning system can use those modifications to adjust the models.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 21, 2008
    Publication date: September 24, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Dean A. Slawson, Raman Chandrasekar, Vikram Dendi
  • Publication number: 20090240549
    Abstract: A recommendation system is provided that recommends tasks to be performed on electronic documents, providers for performing tasks on documents, and prices for tasks that are to be performed on the documents. In some embodiments, the recommendation system works in conjunction with a task brokerage system provided by a broker that helps customers who need tasks to be performed on documents to identify providers who can perform the requested tasks. The task brokerage system allows customers to publish their tasks and providers to discover the published tasks. The discovery process may match providers to customers based on criteria such as reputation, pricing, and availability.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 21, 2008
    Publication date: September 24, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Dean A. Slawson, Raman Chandrasekar
  • Patent number: 7577718
    Abstract: An information dissemination system identifies the interests of a user from information derived from various sources, such as, by way of example, the user's calendar entries, emails, World Wide Web (web) usage information, documents, enterprise resource planning (ERP) data, and the like. The information dissemination system then creates a profile for the user, and includes in the profile the details about the user's interests including the information sources to query, the user events which were analyzed to determine the user's interest, the topics derived from the analyzed events, the queries generated for the analyzed events, a language model of terms that are relevant to the user, and other information regarding the user. The information dissemination system then periodically executes the queries against the appropriate information sources, ranks the search results obtained from executing the queries, and renders the ranked search results to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Dean A. Slawson, Raman Chandrasekar, Michael K. Forney
  • Publication number: 20090199185
    Abstract: Microwork customers may create microtasks and publish them with a microwork broker. Microwork providers may discover published microtasks and complete them in exchange for specified compensation. Microtask creation, publication, discovery and workflow facilities may be integrated into document editors, productivity tools, and the like. To facilitate trust and efficiency, particularly in the context of large public microwork brokers, public reputations may be maintained for microwork participants by the microwork broker. Distinct reputations may be maintained with respect to particular microwork categories. Discovery of microtasks, access to microtasks, selection of providers, and even compensation may be based on reputation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2008
    Publication date: August 6, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Dean A. Slawson, Neema M. Moraveji, Filipe Fortes, David Zhang, Janine Michelle Perret, Christopher Edward Graves
  • Patent number: 7558832
    Abstract: The subject invention provides for a feedback loop system and method that facilitate classifying items in connection with spam prevention in server and/or client-based architectures. The invention makes uses of a machine-learning approach as applied to spam filters, and in particular, randomly samples incoming email messages so that examples of both legitimate and junk/spam mail are obtained to generate sets of training data. Users which are identified as spam-fighters are asked to vote on whether a selection of their incoming email messages is individually either legitimate mail or junk mail. A database stores the properties for each mail and voting transaction such as user information, message properties and content summary, and polling results for each message to generate training data for machine learning systems. The machine learning systems facilitate creating improved spam filter(s) that are trained to recognize both legitimate mail and spam mail and to distinguish between them.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Robert L. Rounthwaite, Joshua T. Goodman, David E. Heckerman, John D. Mehr, Nathan D. Howell, Micah C. Rupersburg, Dean A. Slawson
  • Publication number: 20080243838
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides systems and/or techniques that effectuate combining domain-tuned search systems. The system can include mechanisms that obtain queries, written descriptions, or illustrative web-pages regarding a particular area of interest, and generate a definition related to the area of interest. The definition contains a list of paths with associated weights employed to identify an pre-established first domain-tuned search system related to the area of interest. The first domain-tuned search system thereafter can be combined with a second domain-tuned search system related to another area of interest and presented to a user for utilization in re-ranking generic search results to be specific to the first and second domains of interest if combined, or to only the first domain if weights for the second domain are logically subtracted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2008
    Publication date: October 2, 2008
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew R. Scott, Jing Zhao, Raman Chandrasekar, Dean A. Slawson
  • Publication number: 20080028036
    Abstract: An information dissemination system identifies the interests of a user from information derived from various sources, such as, by way of example, the user's calendar entries, emails, World Wide Web (web) usage information, documents, enterprise resource planning (ERP) data, and the like. The information dissemination system then creates a profile for the user, and includes in the profile the details about the user's interests including the information sources to query, the user events which were analyzed to determine the user's interest, the topics derived from the analyzed events, the queries generated for the analyzed events, a language model of terms that are relevant to the user, and other information regarding the user. The information dissemination system then periodically executes the queries against the appropriate information sources, ranks the search results obtained from executing the queries, and renders the ranked search results to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2006
    Publication date: January 31, 2008
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Dean A. Slawson, Raman Chandrasekar, Michael K. Forney