Patents by Inventor Marya L. Alston

Marya L. Alston 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: 8164443
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to personal articles tracking and provide a method, system and computer program product for group aware tracking within a bounded zone. In an embodiment of the invention, a group aware tracking method can include recording an association in a table in a computing system between individuals within a geographically bounded zone and at least one target object within the geographically bounded zone. The method also can include sensing an individual from amongst the individuals exiting the geographically bounded zone and further sensing a target object exiting the geographically bounded zone. The method yet further can include comparing the sensed individual with the further sensed target object to determine whether or not an association exists in the table and triggering an alarm when an association is determined not to exist in the table between the sensed individual and the further sensed target object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Marya L. Alston, Joel Duquene, Morris S. Johnson, Jr., Henri F. Meli
  • Publication number: 20100259385
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to personal articles tracking and provide a method, system and computer program product for group aware tracking within a bounded zone. In an embodiment of the invention, a group aware tracking method can include recording an association in a table in a computing system between individuals within a geographically bounded zone and at least one target object within the geographically bounded zone. The method also can include sensing an individual from amongst the individuals exiting the geographically bounded zone and further sensing a target object exiting the geographically bounded zone. The method yet further can include comparing the sensed individual with the further sensed target object to determine whether or not an association exists in the table and triggering an alarm when an association is determined not to exist in the table between the sensed individual and the further sensed target object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2009
    Publication date: October 14, 2010
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Marya L. Alston, Joel Duquene, Morris S. Johnson, JR., Henri F. Meli