Patents by Inventor Maria Esther Pace
Maria Esther Pace 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).
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Publication number: 20240085714Abstract: The present disclosure describes near-eye display systems including an array of projectors and a one-dimensional exit pupil expander. The array of projectors can be arranged along a first dimension and can output image light towards an input coupler within a waveguide that provides one-dimensional exit pupil expansion. In some implementations, arrays of monochromatic projectors are implemented and arranged in offset columns. The input coupler in-couples the image light from the array of projectors into a TIR path within the waveguide. Different optical elements, including diffractive and reflective optics, may be implemented as the input coupler. The image light travels within the waveguide until it interacts with an output coupler. Upon interaction with the output coupler, the image light is expanded in a second dimension transverse to the first dimension and is coupled out of the waveguide.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 14, 2022Publication date: March 14, 2024Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCInventors: Joel Steven KOLLIN, Andreas GEORGIOU, Ishan CHATTERJEE, Bernard Charles KRESS, Maria Esther PACE, Mario POSSIWAN
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Patent number: 11852824Abstract: Examples are disclosed that relate to using an array of hot mirrors in an eye-imaging system. One example provides a head-mounted display system, comprising a frame, an eye-imaging camera supported on the frame, a switchable hot mirror array comprising a plurality of switchable hot mirrors configured to direct light reflecting from an eye toward the eye-imaging camera, and a controller configured to control switching of a reflectivity of each of the plurality of switchable hot mirrors.Type: GrantFiled: April 4, 2022Date of Patent: December 26, 2023Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCInventors: Benjamin Eliot Lundell, Joel Steven Kollin, Ishan Chatterjee, Maria Esther Pace, Mark Theodore Bolas, Bernard Charles Kress, Robert Thomas Held, Andreas Georgiou, Christopher Charles Aholt
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Publication number: 20230314803Abstract: Examples are disclosed that relate to using an array of hot mirrors in an eye-imaging system. One example provides a head-mounted display system, comprising a frame, an eye-imaging camera supported on the frame, a switchable hot mirror array comprising a plurality of switchable hot mirrors configured to direct light reflecting from an eye toward the eye-imaging camera, and a controller configured to control switching of a reflectivity of each of the plurality of switchable hot mirrors.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 4, 2022Publication date: October 5, 2023Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCInventors: Benjamin Eliot LUNDELL, Joel Steven KOLLIN, Ishan CHATTERJEE, Maria Esther PACE, Mark Theodore BOLAS, Bernard Charles KRESS, Robert Thomas HELD, Andreas GEORGIOU, Christopher Charles AHOLT
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Publication number: 20230273432Abstract: Slanted surface relief gratings for use in an optical display system in an HMD device are replicated in a manufacturing process that utilizes non-contact optical proximity recording into a specialized photo-sensitive resin that is disposed over a waveguide substrate. The recording process comprises selective resin exposure to ultraviolet light through a mask to spatially record grating structures by interferential exposure and polymerization. Subsequent resin development evacuates unexposed resin down to the waveguide substrate to remove flat surfaces, referred to as a bias layer, that remain in the grating trenches after exposure. The resin development reduces Fresnel reflections that could otherwise be induced at the media interface between the bias layer and the waveguide substrate. Fresnel reflections may cause a loss of diffraction efficiency and thereby reduce the field of view that may be guided by the SRGs in the optical display system.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 3, 2022Publication date: August 31, 2023Inventors: Bernard Charles KRESS, Ishan CHATTERJEE, Joel Steven KOLLIN, Maria Esther PACE
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Publication number: 20230244077Abstract: One disclosed example provides a near-eye display device. The near-eye display device comprises an eye tracking system configured to determine a position of an eye of a user relative to the near-eye display device, and a waveguide including at least an input coupler and an output coupler, the output coupler including a plurality of zones, each zone activatable via a dynamically controllable output coupling element of the zone. The near-eye display device further comprises an image source configured to output image light to the input coupler, and a controller configured to selectively activate one or more zones of the output coupler based at least on the position of the eye.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 31, 2022Publication date: August 3, 2023Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCInventors: Joel Steven KOLLIN, Ishan CHATTERJEE, Benjamin Eliot LUNDELL, Christopher Charles AHOLT, Maria Esther PACE, Andreas GEORGIOU, Robert Thomas HELD, Mark Theodore BOLAS
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Publication number: 20230236417Abstract: Examples are disclosed that relate to a compact optical systems comprising SLMs. One example provides a projection system comprising an illumination stage including a light emitting diode (LED) array. The LED array comprises a plurality of red LEDs, a plurality of green LEDs, and a plurality of blue LEDs. The illumination stage further comprises an illumination stage optical system configured to control an angular extent of light emitted by the LED array and homogenize the light emitted by the LED array. The projection system further comprises an image forming stage configured to form an image from light output by the illumination stage, the image forming stage comprising a spatial light modulator (SLM) configured to spatially modulate the light output by the illumination stage to form an image, and one or more projection optics configured to project the image formed by the spatial light modulator.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 24, 2022Publication date: July 27, 2023Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCInventors: Ishan CHATTERJEE, Fei CHEN, Bernard Charles KRESS, Maria Esther PACE, Joel Steven KOLLIN, Scott Jeffrey WOLTMAN
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Patent number: 11287882Abstract: A Near-Eye-Display (NED) devices that translates combinations of user gaze direction and predetermined facial gestures into user input instructions. The NED device includes an eye tracking system and a display that renders computer-generated images within a user's field-of-view. The eye tracking system may continually track the user's eye movements with a high degree of accuracy to identify specific computer-generated images that a user is focused on. The eye tracking system may also identify various facial gestures such as, for example, left-eye blinks and/or right-eye blinks that are performed while the specific computer-generated images are being focused on. In this way, NED devices are enabled to identify combinations of user gaze direction and predetermined facial gestures and to translate these identified combinations into user input instructions that correspond to specific computer-generated images.Type: GrantFiled: September 21, 2020Date of Patent: March 29, 2022Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLCInventors: Maria Esther Pace, Sergio Ortiz Egea
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Patent number: 11049788Abstract: An integrated circuit chip device configured provide thermal control by directing heat transfer away from a heat sensitive component. The structure directs the heat transfer away from the heat sensitive component so that the heat sensitive component can be maintained at reduced operating temperatures for improved performance.Type: GrantFiled: October 18, 2019Date of Patent: June 29, 2021Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCInventor: Maria Esther Pace
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Patent number: 10996169Abstract: A camera system includes one or more spectral illuminators, a tunable optical filter, and a sensor array. Active spectral light emitted from the one or more spectral illuminators towards a scene is dynamically tuned to an illumination sub-band selected from a plurality of different illumination sub-bands. Sequentially for each of a plurality of fluorescing light sub-bands different than the selected illumination sub-band, the tunable optical filter is adjusted to block light from being transmitted from the scene to the sensor array in all but a tested fluorescing light sub-band from the plurality of different fluorescing light sub-bands, and the sensor array is addressed to acquire one or more image of the scene in the tested fluorescing light sub-band.Type: GrantFiled: February 27, 2019Date of Patent: May 4, 2021Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCInventors: Sergio Ortiz Egea, Maria Esther Pace, Onur Can Akkaya, Michael Scott Fenton
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Publication number: 20210118763Abstract: An integrated circuit chip device configured provide thermal control by directing heat transfer away from a heat sensitive component. The structure directs the heat transfer away from the heat sensitive component so that the heat sensitive component can be maintained at reduced operating temperatures for improved performance.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 18, 2019Publication date: April 22, 2021Inventor: Maria Esther Pace
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Publication number: 20210041949Abstract: A Near-Eye-Display (NED) devices that translates combinations of user gaze direction and predetermined facial gestures into user input instructions. The NED device includes an eye tracking system and a display that renders computer-generated images within a user's field-of-view. The eye tracking system may continually track the user's eye movements with a high degree of accuracy to identify specific computer-generated images that a user is focused on. The eye tracking system may also identify various facial gestures such as, for example, left-eye blinks and/or right-eye blinks that are performed while the specific computer-generated images are being focused on. In this way, NED devices are enabled to identify combinations of user gaze direction and predetermined facial gestures and to translate these identified combinations into user input instructions that correspond to specific computer-generated images.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 21, 2020Publication date: February 11, 2021Inventors: Maria Esther PACE, Sergio ORTIZ EGEA
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Patent number: 10884494Abstract: The technology described herein generically calibrates the eye tracking apparatus in a head-mounted display (HMD) device making user-specific calibration unnecessary. The eye tracking apparatus uses one or more cameras to view the eyes of the user wearing the HMD device. From the images captured of the user's eyes, the generically calibrated HMD is able to determine a gaze direction for the user without the user needing to perform a user-specific calibration. The present technology bypasses the need for understanding user specific eye characteristics, such the shape of pupil and iris (ellipticity), by training a machine learning model on a large number of diverse eye images taken in diverse conditions. The machine learning model may take on the form of a convolutional neural network or some other regression based machine learning technology.Type: GrantFiled: January 10, 2020Date of Patent: January 5, 2021Inventors: Arasch Uwe Lagies, Sergio Ortiz-Egea, Maria Esther Pace
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Patent number: 10855979Abstract: A Near-Eye-Display (NED) device utilizes eye tracking to interpret gaze direction as user input for hands free positioning of virtual items. The NED device includes an eye tracking system to monitor gaze direction and a display component that renders virtual items within a user's view of a physical real-world environment. The NED device receives an indication that the user desires to adjust a position of the virtual item. In response, the NED device uses tracks the user's eye movements to dynamically change the position at which the display component is rendering the virtual item. In this way, a NED device may identify when a user desires to adjust a position at which a virtual item is being rendered and then may enable the user to make the desired adjustments simply by “dragging” the virtual item with deliberate and controlled eye movements.Type: GrantFiled: April 12, 2019Date of Patent: December 1, 2020Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCInventors: Maria Esther Pace, Sergio Ortiz Egea
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Patent number: 10838490Abstract: A Near-Eye-Display (NED) devices that translates combinations of user gaze direction and predetermined facial gestures into user input instructions. The NED device includes an eye tracking system and a display that renders computer-generated images within a user's field-of-view. The eye tracking system may continually track the user's eye movements with a high degree of accuracy to identify specific computer-generated images that a user is focused on. The eye tracking system may also identify various facial gestures such as, for example, left-eye blinks and/or right-eye blinks that are performed while the specific computer-generated images are being focused on. In this way, NED devices are enabled to identify combinations of user gaze direction and predetermined facial gestures and to translate these identified combinations into user input instructions that correspond to specific computer-generated images.Type: GrantFiled: April 12, 2019Date of Patent: November 17, 2020Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCInventors: Maria Esther Pace, Sergio Ortiz Egea
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Publication number: 20200271583Abstract: A camera system includes one or more spectral illuminators, a tunable optical filter, and a sensor array. Active spectral light emitted from the one or more spectral illuminators towards a scene is dynamically tuned to an illumination sub-band selected from a plurality of different illumination sub-bands. Sequentially for each of a plurality of fluorescing light sub-bands different than the selected illumination sub-band, the tunable optical filter is adjusted to block light from being transmitted from the scene to the sensor array in all but a tested fluorescing light sub-band from the plurality of different fluorescing light sub-bands, and the sensor array is addressed to acquire one or more image of the scene in the tested fluorescing light sub-band.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 27, 2019Publication date: August 27, 2020Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCInventors: Sergio ORTIZ EGEA, Maria Esther PACE, Onur Can AKKAYA, Michael Scott FENTON
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Publication number: 20200125165Abstract: A Near-Eye-Display (NED) devices that translates combinations of user gaze direction and predetermined facial gestures into user input instructions. The NED device includes an eye tracking system and a display that renders computer-generated images within a user's field-of-view. The eye tracking system may continually track the user's eye movements with a high degree of accuracy to identify specific computer-generated images that a user is focused on. The eye tracking system may also identify various facial gestures such as, for example, left-eye blinks and/or right-eye blinks that are performed while the specific computer-generated images are being focused on. In this way, NED devices are enabled to identify combinations of user gaze direction and predetermined facial gestures and to translate these identified combinations into user input instructions that correspond to specific computer-generated images.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 12, 2019Publication date: April 23, 2020Inventors: Maria Esther PACE, Sergio ORTIZ EGEA
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Publication number: 20200128231Abstract: A Near-Eye-Display (NED) device utilizes eye tracking to interpret gaze direction as user input for hands free positioning of virtual items. The NED device includes an eye tracking system to monitor gaze direction and a display component that renders virtual items within a user's view of a physical real-world environment. The NED device receives an indication that the user desires to adjust a position of the virtual item. In response, the NED device uses tracks the user's eye movements to dynamically change the position at which the display component is rendering the virtual item. In this way, a NED device may identify when a user desires to adjust a position at which a virtual item is being rendered and then may enable the user to make the desired adjustments simply by “dragging” the virtual item with deliberate and controlled eye movements.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 12, 2019Publication date: April 23, 2020Inventors: Maria Esther PACE, Sergio ORTIZ EGEA
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Patent number: 9038443Abstract: Determination of fluid properties is important in a variety of research and industrial applications. Real-time measurements in operating fluidic systems are performed for monitoring, diagnosis, and feedback-control. A simplified, microfabricated resonant sensor for separate density and viscosity measurements of a fluid with a common sensor is disclosed. The sensor is micron-scale, so as to produce a minimum of perturbation to the fluid under test, and may be arrayed to probe viscosity and density across a flowstream or vessel. Measurement is performed at resonance peaks, and geometry or operating conditions of sensor are varied to produce different resonance responses useful for separate sensing of density and viscosity of a fluid. Another embodiment includes a method for reducing quiescent in-plate elastic strain in a plate or membrane so as to allow bending-stiffness dominated behavior of a resonator.Type: GrantFiled: December 8, 2012Date of Patent: May 26, 2015Inventors: Maria Esther Pace, Eric Anthony Perozziello