Patents by Inventor Mark Zimmer

Mark Zimmer 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).

  • Publication number: 20150106768
    Abstract: The techniques disclosed herein use a compass, MEMS accelerometer, GPS module, and MEMS gyrometer to infer a frame of reference for a hand-held device. This can provide a true Frenet frame, i.e., X- and Y-vectors for the display, and also a Z-vector that points perpendicularly to the display. In fact, with various inertial clues from accelerometer, gyrometer, and other instruments that report their states in real time, it is possible to track the Frenet frame of the device in real time to provide a continuous 3D frame-of-reference. Once this continuous frame of reference is known, the position of a user's eyes may either be inferred or calculated directly by using a device's front-facing camera. With the position of the user's eyes and a continuous 3D frame-of-reference for the display, more realistic virtual 3D depictions of the objects on the device's display may be created and interacted with by the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2014
    Publication date: April 16, 2015
    Inventors: Mark Zimmer, Geoff Stahl, David Hayward, Frank Doepke
  • Publication number: 20150009130
    Abstract: The techniques disclosed herein may use various sensors to infer a frame of reference for a hand-held device. In fact, with various inertial clues from accelerometer, gyrometer, and other instruments that report their states in real time, it is possible to track a Frenet frame of the device in real time to provide an instantaneous (or continuous) 3D frame-of-reference. In addition to—or in place of—calculating this instantaneous (or continuous) frame of reference, the position of a user's head may either be inferred or calculated directly by using one or more of a device's optical sensors, e.g., an optical camera, infrared camera, laser, etc. With knowledge of the 3D frame-of-reference for the display and/or knowledge of the position of the user's head, more realistic virtual 3D depictions of the graphical objects on the device's display may be created—and interacted with—by the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2014
    Publication date: January 8, 2015
    Inventors: Ricardo Motta, Mark Zimmer, Geoff Stahl, David Hayward, Frank Doepke
  • Patent number: 8913056
    Abstract: The techniques disclosed herein use a compass, MEMS accelerometer, GPS module, and MEMS gyrometer to infer a frame of reference for a hand-held device. This can provide a true Frenet frame, i.e., X- and Y-vectors for the display, and also a Z-vector that points perpendicularly to the display. In fact, with various inertial clues from accelerometer, gyrometer, and other instruments that report their states in real time, it is possible to track the Frenet frame of the device in real time to provide a continuous 3D frame-of-reference. Once this continuous frame of reference is known, the position of a user's eyes may either be inferred or calculated directly by using a device's front-facing camera. With the position of the user's eyes and a continuous 3D frame-of-reference for the display, more realistic virtual 3D depictions of the objects on the device's display may be created and interacted with by the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Zimmer, Geoff Stahl, David Hayward, Frank Doepke
  • Publication number: 20140307963
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains to novel devices, methods, and computer readable media for performing color defringing on image data. In photography, particularly RAW images, different artifacts can affect the quality of the edges of objects in the image. This effect is generally more noticeable when the edge has high contrast. One motivation for the described techniques is the understanding that, typically, not all pixels of an image exhibit color fringing. Usually, fringing only occurs in high-contrast edges. Mere masking of the effects of the whole-image operations can improve the result, but further improvements are still possible. This disclosure also pertains to novel devices and computer readable media for performing red-blue color reconstruction on data from a variety of color filter arrays (CFAs).
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2013
    Publication date: October 16, 2014
    Inventor: Mark Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8861885
    Abstract: Techniques in accordance with the following disclosure enable digital images to be filtered (smoothed) to reduce noise and, at the same time, preserve the image's underlying structure. In general, image pixels are analyzed to identify those that participate in, or belong to, structure within the image and those that do not. For those pixels determined to be part of the image's structure, the direction of that structure is determined and filtering or smoothing along that direction is provided. Contrast enhancement in a direction perpendicular to the detected edge's direction may also be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Zimmer
  • Publication number: 20140297130
    Abstract: A patient side cart for a teleoperated surgical system can include at least one manipulator arm portion for holding a surgical instrument, a steering interface, and a drive system. The steering interface may be configured to detect a force applied by a user to the steering interface indicating a desired movement for the teleoperated surgical system. The drive system can include at least one driven wheel, a control module, and a model section. The control module may receive as input a signal from the steering interface corresponding to the force applied by the user to the steering interface. The control module may be configured to output a desired movement signal corresponding to the signal received from the steering interface. The model section can include a model of movement behavior of the patient side cart, the model section outputting a movement command output to drive the driven wheel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2014
    Publication date: October 2, 2014
    Applicant: INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Paul G. GRIFFITHS, Arjang M. HOURTASH, Paul W. MOHR, David ROBINSON, Nitish SWARUP, John ZABINSKI, Mark ZIMMER
  • Publication number: 20140292797
    Abstract: Disclosed are a system and method for computing a picture. Instead of loading a file that contains the image from memory, the present invention provides for a system and method for opening and retaining a procedural recipe and a small set of instructions that can be executed to compute a picture. The picture can be computed very quickly using a GPU (graphics processing unit), and can be made to move on demand. When a part of the image is needed to composite, that part is computed using a fragment program on the GPU using the procedural recipe and a specially written fragment program into a temporary VRAM buffer. After it is computed and composited, the buffer containing the result of the fragment program may be discarded.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2014
    Publication date: October 2, 2014
    Inventors: Mark Zimmer, Ralph Brunner, Imran Chaudhri
  • Patent number: 8837827
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains to apparatuses, methods, and computer readable media for red-eye removal techniques using multiple recognition channels. In the following examples, red, golden, and white recognition channels are used. A recognition channel is the monochrome extraction from a color photograph in a manner designed to make one kind of red-eye artifact glow with maximum contrast. Once the red-eye artifact has been characterized by, e.g., size and location, the techniques disclosed herein may then discern whether the red-eye artifact is, for example, a red-, golden-, or white-eye case by examining the configuration and characteristics of prominence bitmasks created for the various recognition channels. Once the type of red-eye case has been discerned, the techniques disclosed herein may then replace the artifact with a photographically reasonable result based on the type of red-eye case being repaired. Specular reflection may also be re-added to the photograph.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8837785
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains to apparatuses, methods, and computer readable media for red-eye removal techniques using multiple recognition channels. In the following examples, red, golden, and white recognition channels are used. A recognition channel is the monochrome extraction from a color photograph in a manner designed to make one kind of red-eye artifact glow with maximum contrast. Once the red-eye artifact has been characterized by, e.g., size and location, the techniques disclosed herein may then discern whether the red-eye artifact is, for example, a red-, golden-, or white-eye case by examining the configuration and characteristics of prominence bitmasks created for the various recognition channels. Once the type of red-eye case has been discerned, the techniques disclosed herein may then replace the artifact with a photographically reasonable result based on the type of red-eye case being repaired. Specular reflection may also be re-added to the photograph.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8837822
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains to apparatuses, methods, and computer readable media for red-eye removal techniques using multiple recognition channels. In the following examples, red, golden, and white recognition channels are used. A recognition channel is the monochrome extraction from a color photograph in a manner designed to make one kind of red-eye artifact glow with maximum contrast. Once the red-eye artifact has been characterized by, e.g., size and location, the techniques disclosed herein may then discern whether the red-eye artifact is, for example, a red-, golden-, or white-eye case by examining the configuration and characteristics of pro prominence bitmasks created for the various recognition channels. Once the type of red-eye case has been discerned, the techniques disclosed herein may then replace the artifact with a photographically reasonable result based on the type of red-eye case being repaired. Specular reflection may also be re-added to the photograph.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8818091
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains to apparatuses, methods, and computer readable media for red-eye removal techniques using multiple recognition channels. In the following examples, red, golden, and white recognition channels are used. A recognition channel is the monochrome extraction from a color photograph in a manner designed to make one kind of red-eye artifact glow with maximum contrast. Once the red-eye artifact has been characterized by, e.g., size and location, the techniques disclosed herein may then discern whether the red-eye artifact is, for example, a red-, golden-, or white-eye case by examining the configuration and characteristics of prominence bitmasks created for the various recognition channels. Once the type of red-eye case has been discerned, the techniques disclosed herein may then replace the artifact with a photographically reasonable result based on the type of red-eye case being repaired. Specular reflection may also be re-added to the photograph.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8811683
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains to apparatuses, methods, and computer readable media for automatic red-eye repair using multiple recognition channels. While it is possible to manually specify all of the eyes in an image to be repaired, it is desirable for repair to happen automatically. Since red-eye repair algorithms are dependent upon knowing the image position and size of each artifact to be repaired, in an automatic repair mode, the algorithm must be directed as to where the repair should be applied. Face detection is one way to determine eye positions and the interocular distance (IOD) with some degree of certainty. In some embodiments, red, golden, and white recognition channels may be used to locate and determine the type of the artifacts. Once an artifact has been characterized by, e.g., type, size, and location, the techniques disclosed herein may then repair the artifact, replacing it with a photographically reasonable result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8793576
    Abstract: Disclosed are a system and method for computing a desktop picture. Instead of loading a file that contains the desktop image from memory, the present invention provides for a system and method for opening and retaining a procedural recipe and a small set of instructions that can be executed to compute a desktop picture. The desktop picture can be computed very quickly using a GPU (graphics processing unit), and can be made to move on demand. When a part of the desktop image is needed to composite, that part is computed using a fragment program on the GPU using the procedural recipe and a specially written fragment program into a temporary VRAM buffer. After it is computed and composited, the buffer containing the result of the fragment program may be discarded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Zimmer, Ralph Brunner, Imran Chaudhri
  • Patent number: 8786735
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains to apparatuses, methods, and computer readable media for red-eye removal techniques using multiple recognition channels. In the following examples, red, golden, and white recognition channels are used. A recognition channel is the monochrome extraction from a color photograph in a manner designed to make one kind of red-eye artifact glow with maximum contrast. Once the red-eye artifact has been characterized by, e.g., size and location, the techniques disclosed herein may then discern whether the red-eye artifact is, for example, a red-, golden-, or white-eye case by examining the configuration and characteristics of prominence bitmasks created for the various recognition channels. Once the type of red-eye case has been discerned, the techniques disclosed herein may then replace the artifact with a photographically reasonable result based on the type of red-eye case being repaired. Specular reflection may also be re-added to the photograph.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Zimmer
  • Publication number: 20140184634
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system for producing images including techniques for reducing the memory and processing power required for such operations. The system provides techniques for programmatically representing a graphics problem. The system further provides techniques for reducing and optimizing graphics problems for rendering with consideration of the system resources, such as the availability of a compatible GPU.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2014
    Publication date: July 3, 2014
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: John Harper, Ralph Brunner, Peter Graffagnino, Mark Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8762864
    Abstract: A presentation application for masking portions of an object, such as the background of an image, is provided. The presentation application may provide a background removal tool that allows a user to define an initial point in the background of the object. The presentation application may establish an initial background color based on the initial point, and may compute and automatically adjust a color tolerance of the background color based on the distance that a user-controlled cursor is from the initial point. Using a seed-fill algorithm, the presentation application can select a contiguous portion of the object for masking that includes the initial point and surrounding pixels that are within the background color tolerance. To smoothen the edges of the contiguous portion, the presentation application can convert the portion to a vector graphic before masking the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Flider, Mark Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8704837
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system for producing images including an application program interface. The system includes an API and techniques for creating images by defining relationships between filters and images, such relationships programmatically assembled in an object by a cooperative session between a requesting application and a graphics services resource. The system also includes aspects regarding optimization of the programmatically assembled object and techniques for rendering in multi-processor environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: John Harper, Ralph Brunner, Peter Graffagnino, Mark Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8650261
    Abstract: A system and method for automatically updating reference values includes a processing device configured to execute a software application. The software application employs one or more dynamic data items which change as a function of time. A memory device is configured to store at least one table including the one or more dynamic data items which change as a function of time. An update mechanism is configured to check one or more external information sources for current values of the one or more dynamic data items and update the one or more dynamic data items in the at least one table such that upon execution of the software application a most recently updated value is employed for the one or more dynamic data items.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: Siemens Energy, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8520021
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system and method for processing graphic operations on a plurality of data structures of an image with a graphics processing unit and memory. The disclosed techniques of the system and method create an accumulation buffer of the data structures for accumulating changes to the data structures. A separate buffer is then created from at least a portion of the data structures of the accumulation buffer. The disclosed techniques read the data structures from the separate buffer with the graphics processing unit. The graphics processing unit operates on the data structures read from the separate buffer with the operation. Then, the disclosed techniques write the results of the operation onto the portion of the accumulation buffer corresponding to the separate buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2013
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8508549
    Abstract: Graphical user interface objects are specified by a collection of attribute-value pairs, the collection of which comprise a complete description of the object and may be used by a rendering element to create a visual representation of the object. In practice, each of a first portion of attributes may be associated with two or more values—each value (for a given attribute) specifying that attribute's value for a unique resolution. A second portion of attributes are associated with a single value and are, therefore, display resolution independent. Accordingly, the target object may be displayed at any of the specified design display resolutions or accurately displayed at any resolution between the specified design display resolutions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Zimmer, Peter Graffagnino, Bas Ording