Patents by Inventor Joseph Wheeler

Joseph Wheeler 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: 9595146
    Abstract: Embodiments are disclosed that relate to persistently identifying a user interacting with a computing device. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a method comprising receiving biometric data regarding the user, determining a determined identity of the user based on the biometric data, outputting a notification of the determined identity of the user, and providing a mechanism to receive feedback regarding a correctness of the determined identity of from the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Robert M. Smith, Joseph Wheeler, Victoria N. Podmajersky
  • Patent number: 9563627
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to contextual determination of related media content. A referral source identification component determines a referral source associated with a request for media content, and a determination component determines a set of context data for the request based in part on the referral source. A contextual suggestion component identifies or selects a set of additional content based in part on a subset of the context data, and suggests or recommends a subset of the additional content to a user based on a set of recommendation criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Aaron Joseph Wheeler, Kathryn Bush
  • Patent number: 9542544
    Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure are directed towards providing feedback to users of multi-user system that has biometric recognition capabilities, so that a user knows whether the system has correctly associated the user with his or her identity. The feedback may include a display of a current camera view, along with visible identity information that is associated with each user in the view. The feedback may include per-user icons (e.g., tiles, thumbnail images and so on) by which a user visually confirms that he or she is correctly recognized. Any misrecognition may be detected via the feedback and corrected. Feedback may convey other information, such as the current interaction state/capabilities of a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Robert Mitchell Smith, Emily M. Yang, Joseph Wheeler, Sergio Paolantonio, Xiaoji Chen, Eric C. Sanderson, Calvin Kent Carter, Christian Klein, Mark D. Schwesinger, Rita A. Yu
  • Publication number: 20160364097
    Abstract: A video playlist associated with a set of videos is distinguished in a graphical user interface using a dynamic thumbnail to represent the playlist. The dynamic thumbnail comprises a static portion comprising a first image associated with the set of videos and a dynamic portion comprising one or more second images associated with the set of videos. An image provided in the dynamic portion is configured to change while the first image remains the same in response to a shift in the graphical user interface that results in a change in position of the thumbnail about the user graphical user interface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2016
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Inventors: Aaron Joseph Wheeler, Chris Lauritzen
  • Patent number: 9477302
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure relate to controlling the functions of various devices based on spatial relationships. In one example, a system may include a depth and visual camera and a computer (networked or local) for processing data from the camera. The computer may be connected (wired or wirelessly) to any number of devices that can be controlled by the system. A user may use a mobile device to define a volume of space relative to the camera. The volume of space may then be associated with a controlled device as well as one or more control commands. When the volume of space is subsequently occupied, the one or more control commands may be used to control the controlled device. In this regard, a user may switch a device on or off, increase volume or speed, etc. simply by occupying the volume of space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Alejandro Kauffmann, Aaron Joseph Wheeler, Liang-Yu Chi, Hendrik Dahlkamp, Varun Ganapathi, Yong Zhao, Christian Plagemann
  • Patent number: 9454289
    Abstract: A video playlist associated with a set of videos is distinguished in a graphical user interface using a dynamic thumbnail to represent the playlist. The dynamic thumbnail comprises a static portion comprising a first image associated with the set of videos and a dynamic portion comprising one or more second images associated with the set of videos. An image provided in the dynamic portion is configured to change while the first image remains the same in response to a shift in the graphical user interface that results in a change in position of the thumbnail about the user graphical user interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2016
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Aaron Joseph Wheeler, Chris Lauritzen
  • Publication number: 20160252956
    Abstract: A wearable computing device or a head-mounted display (HMD) may be configured to track the gaze axis of an eye of the wearer. In particular, the device may be configured to observe movement of a wearer's pupil and, based on the movement, determine inputs to a user interface. For example, using eye gaze detection, the HMD may change a tracking rate of a displayed virtual image based on where the user is looking. Gazing at the center of the HMD field of view may, for instance, allow for fine movements of the virtual display. Gazing near an edge of the HMD field of view may provide coarser movements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2016
    Publication date: September 1, 2016
    Inventors: Aaron Joseph Wheeler, Hayes Solos Raffle
  • Patent number: 9392248
    Abstract: Systems and techniques are disclosed for visually rendering a requested scene based on a virtual camera perspective request as well as a projection of two or more video streams. The video streams can be captured using two dimensional cameras or three dimensional depth cameras and may capture different perspectives. The projection may be an internal projection that maps out the scene in three dimensions based on the two or more video streams. An object internal or external to the scene may be identified and the scene may be visually rendered based on a property of the object. For example, a scene may be visually rendered based on where an mobile object is located within the scene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Aaron Joseph Wheeler, Christian Plagemann, Hendrik Dahlkamp, Liang-Yu Chi, Yong Zhao, Varun Ganapathi, Alejandro Jose Kauffmann
  • Publication number: 20160112501
    Abstract: Exemplary methods and systems relate to creating and loading a device-group snapshot, which allows the states of devices to be stored and restored by different devices. A hub system may create a device-group snapshot for a plurality of devices in a source device group and load the device-group snapshot to a target device group by: (a) receiving an instruction to load a device-group snapshot; (b) determining the target device group with devices that are available to load the device-group snapshot; (c) determining that there is a difference between device groups; (d) modifying the device-group snapshot based on the difference between device groups; and (e) communicating with devices in the target device group to load the corresponding device states from the modified device-group snapshot.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 29, 2012
    Publication date: April 21, 2016
    Applicant: GOOGLE INC.
    Inventor: Aaron Joseph Wheeler
  • Publication number: 20160011724
    Abstract: Methods and devices for providing a user-interface are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving data corresponding to a first position of a wearable computing device and responsively causing the wearable computing device to provide a user-interface. The user-interfaces comprises a view region and a menu, where the view region substantially fills a field of view of the wearable computing device and the menu is not fully visible in the view region. The method further comprises receiving data indicating a selection of an item present in the view region and causing an indicator to be displayed in the view region, wherein the indicator changes incrementally over a length of time. When the length of time has passed, the method comprises responsively causing the wearable computing device to select the item.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2012
    Publication date: January 14, 2016
    Applicant: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Aaron Joseph Wheeler, Sergey Brin, Thad Eugene Starner, Alejandro Kauffmann, Cliff L. Biffle, Liang-Yu (Tom) Chi, Steve Lee, Sebastian Thrun, Luis Ricardo Prada Gomez
  • Publication number: 20150309670
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and media for navigating a user interface are provided. In some embodiments, methods for navigating a user interface is provided, the method comprising: causing a user interface to be presented including media identifiers that correspond media assets; causing the media identifiers to be arranged along a first direction; causing a first media identifier at a first position to be highlighted; causing a menu element to be presented at a first menu position associated with the first media identifier; receiving an instruction from a user input device to navigate to a next element along the first direction; causing a second media identifier next to the first position to be highlighted in response to receiving the instruction; causing the menu element to be presented at a second menu position associated with the second media identifier; and inhibiting presentation of the menu element at the first menu position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2014
    Publication date: October 29, 2015
    Inventors: Aaron Joseph Wheeler, Chris Lauritzen
  • Publication number: 20150309669
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and media for navigating a user interface are provided. In some embodiments, a method for navigating a user interface is provided, the method comprising: causing a user interface to be presented including a plurality of media identifier elements corresponding to media assets; causing the plurality of media identifier elements to be arranged along a first direction of the user interface; selecting a first media asset associated with a first media identifier element for presentation; identifying related media assets in response to selection of the first media asset; causing the first media asset to be presented in a first portion of the user interface; and causing related media identifier elements to be presented in a second portion of the user interface aligned with the first portion along the first direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2014
    Publication date: October 29, 2015
    Inventors: Aaron Joseph Wheeler, Chris Lauritzen
  • Publication number: 20150301693
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and media for presenting related content are provided. In some embodiments, the method comprises: causing a first media interface to be presented, wherein the first media interface represents a first plurality of media content items and wherein first metadata is associated with the first media interface; determining, using a hardware processor, that at least one media interface representing related content should be presented; in response to determining that at least one media interface representing related content should be presented, generating a plurality of media interfaces, wherein each of the plurality of media interfaces is associated with metadata related to the first metadata; and causing at least one of the plurality of media interfaces to be presented concurrently with the first media interface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2014
    Publication date: October 22, 2015
    Inventors: Aaron Joseph Wheeler, Sarah Hatem Ali
  • Patent number: D745546
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Nathan Johnson, Joseph Wheeler, Sean Kollenkark, Nicholas Robinson
  • Patent number: D754145
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jason Giles, Jeff Fleischmann, Joseph Wheeler
  • Patent number: D754146
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jason Giles, Jeff Fleischmann, Joseph Wheeler
  • Patent number: D754681
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2016
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jason Giles, Jeff Fleischmann, Joseph Wheeler
  • Patent number: D766319
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Nathan Johnson, Joseph Wheeler
  • Patent number: D770490
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jason Giles, Jeff Fleischmann, Joseph Wheeler
  • Patent number: D772926
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Emmanuel Reyes, Benjamin Perry, John Snavely, Xiaoji Chen, Ryan Phillips, Jeff Fleischmann, Mitchell Johnson, Nicholas Robinson, Joseph Wheeler, Nathan Johnson, Brian Ralphs, David Gardner, Lynnette Reed, Mengyuan Tu