Patents by Inventor James A. Howard

James A. Howard 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: 12002161
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for a map tool displaying a three-dimensional view of a map based on a three-dimensional model of the surrounding environment. The three-dimensional map view of a map may be based on a model constructed from multiple data sets, where the multiple data sets include mapping information for an overlapping area of the map displayed in the map view. For example, one data set may include two-dimensional data including object footprints, where the object footprints may be extruded into a three-dimensional object based on data from a data set composed of three-dimensional data. In this example, the three-dimensional data may include height information that corresponds to the two-dimensional object, where the height may be obtained by correlating the location of the two-dimensional object within the three-dimensional data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Christopher Blumenberg
  • Patent number: 10671264
    Abstract: A system and method are described for delivering content to a mobile device using a companion device. The companion device acts as a proxy device to send and receive signals on behalf of other proxied devices. Once content is loaded onto the mobile device, a user can navigate through the content using a navigation path determined based on a user's item of focus. Various transitions and animations can be displayed along the navigation path. Moreover, a user can interact with the content when viewed in a specific layout using touch events or a rotation input device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Jonathan R. Dascola
  • Publication number: 20190122432
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for a map tool displaying a three-dimensional view of a map based on a three-dimensional model of the surrounding environment. The three-dimensional map view of a map may be based on a model constructed from multiple data sets, where the multiple data sets include mapping information for an overlapping area of the map displayed in the map view. For example, one data set may include two-dimensional data including object footprints, where the object footprints may be extruded into a three-dimensional object based on data from a data set composed of three-dimensional data. In this example, the three-dimensional data may include height information that corresponds to the two-dimensional object, where the height may be obtained by correlating the location of the two-dimensional object within the three-dimensional data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2018
    Publication date: April 25, 2019
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Christopher Blumenberg
  • Publication number: 20190065039
    Abstract: A system and method are described for delivering content to a mobile device using a companion device. The companion device acts as a proxy device to send and receive signals on behalf of other proxied devices. Once content is loaded onto the mobile device, a user can navigate through the content using a navigation path determined based on a user's item of focus. Various transitions and animations can be displayed along the navigation path. Moreover, a user can interact with the content when viewed in a specific layout using touch events or a rotation input device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Publication date: February 28, 2019
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Jonathan R. Dascola
  • Patent number: 10163260
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for a map tool displaying a three-dimensional view of a map based on a three-dimensional model of the surrounding environment. The three-dimensional map view of a map may be based on a model constructed from multiple data sets, where the multiple data sets include mapping information for an overlapping area of the map displayed in the map view. For example, one data set may include two-dimensional data including object footprints, where the object footprints may be extruded into a three-dimensional object based on data from a data set composed of three-dimensional data. In this example, the three-dimensional data may include height information that corresponds to the two-dimensional object, where the height may be obtained by correlating the location of the two-dimensional object within the three-dimensional data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: Apple, Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Christopher Blumenberg
  • Patent number: 10099854
    Abstract: A trashcan system is disclosed herein. In various aspects, the trashcan system includes an inlet located about a trashcan to be proximate to a surface upon which the trashcan is placed in order to entrain materials disposed upon the surface into air communicated into the inlet. The trashcan system, in various aspects, includes a collector disposed within the trashcan. A chamber of the collector may receive air with materials entrained therein communicated from the inlet, and the chamber may be adapted to collect materials entrained in the air. An exit may be located about the trashcan that communicates with the chamber to exhaust the air from the chamber, in various aspects. A vacuum assembly located about the trashcan, the vacuum assembly cooperates with the inlet, the chamber, and the exit to communicate the air into the inlet, through the chamber, to the exit where the air is exhausted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: POUBELLE LLC
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Lori D. Montag
  • Patent number: 10095394
    Abstract: A system and method are described for delivering content to a mobile device using a companion device. The companion device acts as a proxy device to send and receive signals on behalf of other proxied devices. Once content is loaded onto the mobile device, a user can navigate through the content using a navigation path determined based on a user's item of focus. Various transitions and animations can be displayed along the navigation path. Moreover, a user can interact with the content when viewed in a specific layout using touch events or a rotation input device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Jonathan R. Dascola
  • Patent number: 9860436
    Abstract: Certain embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to control a camera from a wearable mechanism device, such as a watch, pendant or other device with its own limited display. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a wearable mechanism device for remotely controlling a camera with an intuitive user interface and sequencing of interface options. In one embodiment, the display on the wearable mechanism changes before a picture or video is taken with the electronic camera. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to partially control a camera from the wearable mechanism device, providing split control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Eric S. Lee, Hugh W. Johnson, James C. Dovey, Gregory R. Chapman, James D. Batson, George E. Williams, Walker J. Eagleston, Gregory B. Novick, Chanaka G. Karunamuni
  • Publication number: 20170310874
    Abstract: Certain embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to control a camera from a wearable mechanism device, such as a watch, pendant or other device with its own limited display. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a wearable mechanism device for remotely controlling a camera with an intuitive user interface and sequencing of interface options. In one embodiment, the display on the wearable mechanism changes before a picture or video is taken with the electronic camera. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to partially control a camera from the wearable mechanism device, providing split control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2017
    Publication date: October 26, 2017
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Eric S. Lee, Hugh W. Johnson, James C. Dovey, Gregory R. Chapman, James D. Batson, George E. Williams, Walker J. Eagleston, Gregory B. Novick, Chanaka G. Karunamuni
  • Patent number: 9742977
    Abstract: Certain embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to control a camera from a wearable mechanism device, such as a watch, pendant or other device with its own limited display. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a wearable mechanism device for remotely controlling a camera with an intuitive user interface and sequencing of interface options. In one embodiment, the display on the wearable mechanism changes before a picture or video is taken with the electronic camera. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to partially control a camera from the wearable mechanism device, providing split control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Eric S. Lee, Hugh W. Johnson, James C. Dovey, Gregory R. Chapman, James D. Batson, George E. Williams, Walker J. Eagleston, Gregory B. Novick, Chanaka G. Karunamuni
  • Publication number: 20170210559
    Abstract: A trashcan system is disclosed herein. In various aspects, the trashcan system includes an inlet located about a trashcan to be proximate to a surface upon which the trashcan is placed in order to entrain materials disposed upon the surface into air communicated into the inlet. The trashcan system, in various aspects, includes a collector disposed within the trashcan. A chamber of the collector may receive air with materials entrained therein communicated from the inlet, and the chamber may be adapted to collect materials entrained in the air. An exit may be located about the trashcan that communicates with the chamber to exhaust the air from the chamber, in various aspects. A vacuum assembly located about the trashcan, the vacuum assembly cooperates with the inlet, the chamber, and the exit to communicate the air into the inlet, through the chamber, to the exit where the air is exhausted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2015
    Publication date: July 27, 2017
    Inventors: James A. HOWARD, Lori D. MONTAG
  • Publication number: 20170039757
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for a map tool displaying a three-dimensional view of a map based on a three-dimensional model of the surrounding environment. The three-dimensional map view of a map may be based on a model constructed from multiple data sets, where the multiple data sets include mapping information for an overlapping area of the map displayed in the map view. For example, one data set may include two-dimensional data including object footprints, where the object footprints may be extruded into a three-dimensional object based on data from a data set composed of three-dimensional data. In this example, the three-dimensional data may include height information that corresponds to the two-dimensional object, where the height may be obtained by correlating the location of the two-dimensional object within the three-dimensional data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2016
    Publication date: February 9, 2017
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Christopher Blumenberg
  • Patent number: 9453734
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for displaying a portion of a map on a mobile device of a user while the user is traveling along a route. The mobile device can use a selected route and a current location of the device to load map tiles for parts of the map that are upcoming along the route. In this manner, the user can have quick access to the portions of the map that the user likely will want to view. For example, the map tiles can be loaded for the next 50 Km, and then when the stored tiles reaches only 25 Km ahead, another 25 Km of tiles can be retrieved. The amount of tiles loaded (e.g., minimum and maximum amounts) can vary based on a variety of factors, such as network state, distance traveled along the route, and whether the mobile device is charging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Seejo K. Pylappan, James A. Howard, Bradford A. Moore, Christopher Blumenberg
  • Patent number: 9418478
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for a map tool displaying a three-dimensional view of a map based on a three-dimensional model of the surrounding environment. The three-dimensional map view of a map may be based on a model constructed from multiple data sets, where the multiple data sets include mapping information for an overlapping area of the map displayed in the map view. For example, one data set may include two-dimensional data including object footprints, where the object footprints may be extruded into a three-dimensional object based on data from a data set composed of three-dimensional data. In this example, the three-dimensional data may include height information that corresponds to the two-dimensional object, where the height may be obtained by correlating the location of the two-dimensional object within the three-dimensional data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Christopher Blumenberg
  • Patent number: 9395193
    Abstract: A process is provided that reduces the amount of data for a map tile that could not be displayed separately on the scale of that tile. The process generates an equivalent of the road data by rasterizing the vectors representing road segments lying within a tile and generating a connectivity mask that keeps track of which pixels are connected to which other pixels along the vectors. The process constructs an undirected graph. Each “on” pixel of the undirected graph represents a vertex and the vertices are connected by edges generated from the connectivity graph, but without a set direction. The process traces the undirected graph to generate chains of connected road segments and takes the chains and simplifies them in order to reduce the amount of data that must be stored and transmitted for the tile in order to produce all the visible roads of the tile at that scale.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guillaume A. Carbonneau, Vincent Dumont, Anuj Dhamija, Denis Laprise, Okan Arikan, James A. Howard
  • Publication number: 20160062623
    Abstract: A system and method are described for delivering content to a mobile device using a companion device. The companion device acts as a proxy device to send and receive signals on behalf of other proxied devices. Once content is loaded onto the mobile device, a user can navigate through the content using a navigation path determined based on a user's item of focus. Various transitions and animations can be displayed along the navigation path. Moreover, a user can interact with the content when viewed in a specific layout using touch events or a rotation input device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 2, 2014
    Publication date: March 3, 2016
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Jonathan R. Dascola
  • Publication number: 20160065831
    Abstract: Certain embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to control a camera from a wearable mechanism device, such as a watch, pendant or other device with its own limited display. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a wearable mechanism device for remotely controlling a camera with an intuitive user interface and sequencing of interface options. In one embodiment, the display on the wearable mechanism changes before a picture or video is taken with the electronic camera. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to partially control a camera from the wearable mechanism device, providing split control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2015
    Publication date: March 3, 2016
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Howard, Eric S. Lee, Hugh W. Johnson, James C. Dovey, Gregory R. Chapman, James D. Batson, George E. Williams, Walker J. Eagleston, Gregory B. Novick, Chanaka G. Karunamuni
  • Patent number: 9224218
    Abstract: Embodiments of a system and method for loading and rendering curved features in a map are described. Embodiments may include a map tool of a mapping or navigation application configured to generate a display for a map that includes one or more curved features (e.g., curved roads or curved polygons). The map tool may be executed in a client/server environment in which a server portion receives digitized map data in the form of polylines, detects a curved feature in the map data by fitting it to a parametric curve, and transmits data representing the parametric curve to a client device for subsequent rendering. The client device may render the curved feature using the received parametric curve data or, dependent on characteristics of the client device, extract data corresponding to points on the parametric curve to generate a triangle mesh for rendering the curved feature at a suitable resolution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aroon Pahwa, Christopher Blumenberg, James A. Howard, Jeffrey P. Hultquist, Michael D. Schuster
  • Patent number: 9111380
    Abstract: Some embodiments provide a mapping application for rendering map portions. The mapping application includes a map receiver for receiving map tiles from a mapping service in response to a request for the map tiles needed for a particular map view. Each map tile includes vector data describing a map region. The mapping application includes a set of mesh building modules. Each mesh building module is for using the vector data in at least one map tile to build a mesh for a particular layer of the particular map view. The mapping application includes a mesh aggregation module for combining layers from several mesh builders into a renderable tile for the particular map view. The mapping application includes a rendering engine for rendering the particular map view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2015
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Patrick S. Piemonte, Christopher D. Moore, Aroon Pahwa, James A. Howard
  • Patent number: 9070314
    Abstract: Methods, systems and apparatus are described to render map data according to texture masks. A rendering device may obtain map data, which may include one or more shapes described by vector graphics data. Along with the one or more shapes, embodiments may include mask indicators corresponding to the one or more shapes. Embodiments may render the map data by creating a mask shape based upon mask indicators corresponding to the shapes described by the vector graphics data. For each created mask shape, a texture source may be determined according to the mask indicator for the mask shape. Embodiments may obtain a texture from the texture source and may apply the mask shape to the obtained texture to render a fill portion of the corresponding shape described by the vector graphics data. Some embodiments may display the rendered map data as a map view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aroon Pahwa, Jeffrey P. Hultquist, James A. Howard, Christopher Blumenberg