Patents by Inventor Gianpaolo U. Carraro

Gianpaolo U. Carraro 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: 6462785
    Abstract: When there is an inability to convey motion that is occurring in the frames of a video source by a full-frame-rate transmission, a surrogate effect, other than another form of motion, may be used as a compensation technique to better convey motion to a viewer. The surrogate effect employed may be a) fading, b) wiping, c) dissolving, d) blurring, e) enhancing the contrast, f) enhancing one or more colors, g) enhancing the brightness, h) scaling the image, and i) the like. How the surrogate effect is applied to any frame may be a function of one or more video frames. Optionally, more than one effect may be used in combination. Advantageously, a more continuous sense of motion is perceived by a viewer. In one embodiment of the invention, full-frame-rate video is initially available. A controller monitors the ability to transmit or display full-frame-rate video.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2002
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Gianpaolo U. Carraro, John T. Edmark, James Robert Ensor
  • Patent number: 6323861
    Abstract: A limitation of a three-dimensional world in which objects in the distance may be represented in only two dimensions as a video on a screen occurs when a computer graphic object represented by computer graphics, e.g., in front of, to the side, above, or below the video screen, undergoes a trajectory that takes it to a location in the world that is not represented as computer graphics, but instead is within the field represented by the video, because such an object would disappear from view by the viewer. This limitation is overcome by having such an object be represented as video on the screen, rather than computer graphics. Thus, the computer graphics object “goes into the video” as video and remains visible to a viewer in front of the video screen, rather than becoming invisible because it is blocked from view by the video screen if it were to be generated at its proper location using computer graphic techniques.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2001
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Gianpaolo U. Carraro, James Robert Ensor
  • Patent number: 6320589
    Abstract: A limitation of a three-dimensional world in which objects in the distance may be represented in only two dimensions as a video on a screen is that when an object within the field represented by the video undergoes a trajectory that takes it to a location in the world that is not represented by the video but instead is a location in the foreground which is represented by computer graphics, namely, any portion of the object that is no longer on the video screen disappears. To overcome this limitation, when an object within the field represented by the video undergoes a trajectory that takes it to a location in the world that is not represented by the video but instead is a location in the foreground which is represented by computer graphics, such an object, or portion thereof, is made to continue to be visible to the user by representing it at the foreground location to which its trajectory was carrying it using computer graphic techniques, rather than video.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2001
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies
    Inventors: Gianpaolo U. Carraro, James Robert Ensor
  • Patent number: 6256043
    Abstract: For a world that has a portion of the world distant from the point of view of the user represented in only two dimensions as a video on a video screen, when an object on the video screen undergoes a trajectory that takes at least a portion of it to a location in the world that is not represented by the video but instead is a location in the world that is represented by computer graphics, in addition to being able to continue to see such an object when it is rendered as computer graphics in the computer graphics part of the world, i.e., popped out from the video, one is able to interact with such an object. Thus, an object which pops out from a video into the computer graphics part of the world may be “investigated” by a viewer of the world. For example, the user could enter a store which popped out of the video, and engage in virtual shopping therein. The particular store which is actually entered may be customized on a per user basis, e.g., as a function of geography.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2001
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Alfred Vaino Aho, Sudhir Raman Ahuja, Gianpaolo U. Carraro, James Robert Ensor, Eugene J. Rosenthal
  • Patent number: 6256044
    Abstract: A limitation of a three-dimensional world in which objects in the distance may be represented in only two dimensions as a video on a screen occurs when a computer graphic object represented by computer graphics, e.g., in front of, to the side, above, or below the video screen, undergoes a trajectory that takes it to a location in the world that is not represented as computer graphics, but instead is within the field represented by the video, because such an object would disappear from view by the viewer. This limitation is overcome by having by determining when a computer graphic object undergoes a trajectory that takes it to a location in the world that is not represented as computer graphics, but instead is within the field represented by the video, and representing such an object as computer graphics in front of the screen to which at least one perspective transformation is applied, the perspective transformation being at least a function of the position at which the object is actually located.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2001
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Gianpaolo U. Carraro, John T. Edmark, James Robert Ensor
  • Patent number: 6226009
    Abstract: A limitation of a three dimensional world in which objects in the distance may be represented in only two dimensions as a video on a screen is that when an object within the field represented by the video undergoes a trajectory that takes it to a location in the world that is not represented by the video but instead is a location which is represented by computer graphics, namely, any portion of the object that is no longer on the video screen disappears. To overcome this limitation, when an object within the field represented by the video undergoes a trajectory that takes it to a location in the world that is not represented by the video on the video screen as currently configured, i.e., shaped and sized, the configuration of the screen is changed so that the object can continue to be displayed as video. The size and/or shape of the video screen is changed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2001
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Gianpaolo U. Carraro, James Robert Ensor