Patents by Inventor Michael Cutter

Michael Cutter 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: 20250246207
    Abstract: In one aspect, an example method includes (i) obtaining a first segment of video content; (ii) outputting for presentation, the obtained first segment; (iii) after outputting for presentation the obtained first segment, causing a user to be prompted for user-input data; (iv) receiving user-input data provided in response to the prompting; (v) using at least the received user-input data to synthetically generate a second segment of the video content, wherein the generated second segment is static, non-interactive content; and (vi) outputting for presentation, the generated second segment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2025
    Publication date: July 31, 2025
    Inventors: Katie Lauren Lucas, Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Charles Brian Pinkerton, Karina Levitian
  • Publication number: 20250217861
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are system, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof for providing an item search service for a premises comprising a set of Internet of Things (IoT) cameras. An example embodiment operates by receiving, via a user interface of the item search service, first user input regarding an item of interest, wherein the first user input comprises one or more of speech input or text input, accessing a plurality of images of the premises captured by the set of IoT cameras, executing a machine learning model to identify one or more images in the plurality of images that include the item of interest based at least on the first user input, generating an item search result based on the identified one or more images, and providing the item search result via the user interface of the item search service.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2023
    Publication date: July 3, 2025
    Applicant: Ruku, Inc.
    Inventors: Yu-Cheng LIN, Sunil RAMESH, Michael CUTTER, Nicholas LINEBACK, Karina LEVITIAN
  • Patent number: 12346480
    Abstract: A method and system for use of obfuscation coding. An example method includes a computing system receiving an image that depicts a human face. The method then includes the computing system generating a modified image based on the received image, with the generating of the modified image involving inserting into the received image an obfuscation marker that (i) obfuscates the human face in a manner that prevents a person observing the modified image from identifying the human face and (ii) includes predefined symbology that is interpretable by a machine to identify the obfuscated human face. Further, the method includes using the predefined symbology in the modified image as a basis to take action based on an identity of the human face.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2023
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2025
    Assignee: Roku, Inc.
    Inventors: Soren Riise, Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Karina Levitian
  • Patent number: 12348815
    Abstract: A method and system for controlling media-content presentation based on user presence and/or user profile. An example method includes a computing system determining a quantity of users present at a media-presentation device, the quantity being at least one. Further, the example method includes, based on the determining, the computing system using the determined quantity of users present at the media-presentation device as a basis to control what media content a media player outputs for presentation by the media-presentation device. For instance, based on the determined quantity of users the computing system could tailor a graphical user interface (GUI) that the media player outputs for presentation by the media-presentation device, such as by tailoring a set of channel options that a channel-selection GUI provides, among other possibilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2024
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2025
    Assignee: Roku, Inc.
    Inventors: Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Ronica Jethwa
  • Patent number: 12334115
    Abstract: In one aspect, an example method includes (i) obtaining a set of user attributes for a user of a content-presentation device; (ii) based on the set of user attributes, obtaining structured data and determining a textual description of the structured data; (iii) transforming, using a text-to-speech engine, the textual description of the structured data into synthesized speech; and (iv) generating, using the synthesized speech and for display by the content-presentation device, a synthetic video of a targeted advertisement comprising the synthesized speech.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2024
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2025
    Assignee: ROKU, INC.
    Inventors: Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Charles Brian Pinkerton, Karina Levitian
  • Patent number: 12330023
    Abstract: In one aspect, an example method includes (i) receiving, from one or more cameras in a viewing environment of a content-presentation device, video of a user performing a fitness exercise in the viewing environment; (ii) using the received video and a skeletal detection model to estimate skeletal movement of the user; (iii) generating a synthetic video representing the user moving according to the estimated skeletal movement; (iv) based on a comparison of the estimated skeletal movement with predefined reference skeletal movement representing desired skeletal movement for the fitness exercise, and while the user is performing the fitness exercise, continually calculating a metric representing a difference between the estimated skeletal movement and the reference skeletal movement; and (v) causing the content-presentation device to concurrently display the generated synthetic video, a reference video representing the reference skeletal movement, and an indication of the metric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2024
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2025
    Assignee: Roku, Inc.
    Inventors: Karina Levitian, Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Preethi Parasseri Narayanan
  • Publication number: 20250191614
    Abstract: In one aspect, an example method includes (i) estimating, using a skeletal detection model, a pose of an original actor for each of multiple frames of a video; (ii) obtaining, for each of a plurality of the estimated poses, a respective image of a replacement actor; (iii) obtaining replacement speech in the replacement actor's voice that corresponds to speech of the original actor in the video; (iv) generating, using the estimated poses, the images of the replacement actor, and the replacement speech, synthetic frames corresponding to the multiple frames of the video that depict the replacement actor in place of the original actor, with the synthetic frames including facial expressions for the replacement actor that temporally align with the replacement speech; and (iv) combining the synthetic frames and the replacement speech so as to obtain a synthetic video that replaces the original actor with the replacement actor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 21, 2025
    Publication date: June 12, 2025
    Inventors: Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Karina Levitian
  • Publication number: 20250184222
    Abstract: A method and system for dynamically reconfiguring control pairing in a system comprising a controlling device, a first controlled device, and a second controlled device. An example method includes, when the controlling device is set to control state of the first controlled device, a processor determining that the first controlled device has experienced an operational failure. Further, the example method includes, responsive to the determining, the processor engaging in dynamic reconfiguration of the system, the dynamic reconfiguration causing the controlling device to control state of a second device instead of or in addition to the controlling device controlling state of the first controlled device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2025
    Publication date: June 5, 2025
    Inventors: Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Karina Levitian
  • Publication number: 20250184450
    Abstract: In one aspect, an example method includes (i) receiving audio from a first client device engaged in a communication session with a second client device, the audio comprising one or more words spoken by a user of the first client device; (ii) using the audio and a facial feature model to estimate facial movement that corresponds to the one or more words spoken by the user; (iii) generating a synthetic video depicting an avatar of the user moving according to the estimated facial movement; and (iv) in response to generating the synthetic video, causing the second client device to present the synthetic video synchronized with the audio.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2025
    Publication date: June 5, 2025
    Inventors: Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Karina Levitian
  • Patent number: 12300274
    Abstract: In one aspect, an example method includes (i) obtaining a first segment of video content; (ii) outputting for presentation, the obtained first segment; (iii) after outputting for presentation the obtained first segment, causing a user to be prompted for user-input data; (iv) receiving user-input data provided in response to the prompting; (v) using at least the received user-input data to synthetically generate a second segment of the video content, wherein the generated second segment is static, non-interactive content; and (vi) outputting for presentation, the generated second segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2025
    Assignee: Roku, Inc.
    Inventors: Katie Lauren Lucas, Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Charles Brian Pinkerton, Karina Levitian
  • Publication number: 20250150670
    Abstract: In one aspect, disclosed is an example method for use in connection with a media-presentation device presenting a media program via a display screen of the media-presentation device, the method including: (i) during presentation of a temporal portion of the media program, identifying an audience engagement region of presented content, wherein the identified audience engagement region is less than an entirety of a display area that corresponds to the display screen; (ii) using at least the identified audience engagement region as a basis to select a media segment from among multiple candidate media segments; (iii) identifying an upcoming media segment insertion point within the media program; and (iv) facilitating the media-presentation device inserting, at the identified media segment insertion point within the media program, the selected media segment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2023
    Publication date: May 8, 2025
    Inventors: Andrew Peter Fogg, Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Greg Garner, Karthick Narayanan, Karina Levitian
  • Publication number: 20250118179
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are system, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for reducing and/or eliminating false positive alarm triggers. Detector devices positioned throughout an environment scan for known events that are likely indicative of an alarm condition. A source device that may generate such a sound or image may imprint a fingerprint on to the event that can be detectable by the detector devices but is imperceptible to humans. Additionally, the detector devices may use directionality and known locations of source devices to determine if a triggering event occurred at a known location of a source device. An alarm suppression decision may occur at the detector device and/or relevant information may be sent from the various detectors to a central console for a final alarm decision.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2023
    Publication date: April 10, 2025
    Applicant: ROKU, INC.
    Inventors: Sunil RAMESH, Michael Cutter, Gregory Mack Garner, Robert Caston Curtis, David Lee Stern, Patrick Alan Brouillette
  • Publication number: 20250111764
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are system, apparatus, article of manufacture, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for reducing irrelevant alerts and/or network bandwidth usage from Internet of Things (IoT) cameras through the intelligent filtering out of video data. An example embodiment operates by receiving video data from an IoT camera. The embodiment further generates an ignore mask based on the video data, wherein the ignore mask specifies one or more regions in a video stream from the IoT camera that cannot trigger an alert. The embodiment then transmits the ignore mask to the IoT camera. The embodiment then receives the video stream from the IoT camera in response to transmitting the ignore mask to the IoT camera. The embodiment then determines that the video stream is associated with the alert. The embodiment may then transmit the alert to a user device in response to the determining.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2023
    Publication date: April 3, 2025
    Applicant: Roku, Inc.
    Inventors: Sunil RAMESH, Michael CUTTER, Patrick BROUILLETTE, Gregory GARNER, Robert CURTIS, David STERN, Carl SASSENRATH
  • Publication number: 20250111768
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are system, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof for providing a multi-alert-level monitoring and alerting service for a premises comprising a set of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. An example embodiment operates by detecting that a first event has occurred based at least on first sensor data collected from a first subset of the set of IoT devices, modifying an alert level associated with the premises from a first level to a second level in response to at least the detecting, and, in response to the modification of the alert level, modifying a set of conditions used to detect whether a second event has occurred based at least on second sensor data collected from a second subset of the set of IoT devices and/or modifying a manner in which the second sensor data is generated by or collected from the second subset.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2023
    Publication date: April 3, 2025
    Inventors: SUNIL RAMESH, MICHAEL CUTTER, ROBERT C. CURTIS, PATRICK A. BROUILLETTE, GREGORY M. GARNER
  • Publication number: 20250106454
    Abstract: A method and system for controlling media-content presentation. An example method includes a computing system detecting that a media-player device has moved from a home location of the media-player device to a visited location and that the media-player device is connected with a media-presentation device at the visited location. Further, the example method includes, responsive to the detecting, the computing system causing the media-player device to output, for presentation by the media-presentation device at the visited location, media content selected by the computing system based on the media-player device having moved from the home location to the visited location. For instance, the computing system could cause the media-player device to output, for presentation by the media-presentation device, a message welcoming a user to the visited location and/or information about the visited location such as information about tourist attractions at the visited location for instance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 5, 2024
    Publication date: March 27, 2025
    Inventors: Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Ronica Jethwa, Karina Levitian
  • Publication number: 20250104550
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are system, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof for providing a monitoring and alerting service for a premises comprising a set of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. An example embodiment operates by analyzing one or more of user input provided to the monitoring and alerting service or sensor data collected from at least the set of IoT devices, defining, based at least on the analyzing, an event whose occurrence can be monitored for using at least one or more IoT devices in the set of IoT devices, monitoring for an occurrence of the event using at least the one or more devices in the set of IoT devices, detecting the occurrence of the event based on the monitoring and, in response to detecting the occurrence of the event, generating an alert.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2023
    Publication date: March 27, 2025
    Inventors: SUNIL RAMESH, Michael Cutter, Robert C. Curtis, Patrick A. Brouillette, Gregory M. Garner
  • Patent number: 12260882
    Abstract: In one aspect, an example method includes (i) estimating, using a skeletal detection model, a pose of an original actor for each of multiple frames of a video; (ii) obtaining, for each of a plurality of the estimated poses, a respective image of a replacement actor; (iii) obtaining replacement speech in the replacement actor's voice that corresponds to speech of the original actor in the video; (iv) generating, using the estimated poses, the images of the replacement actor, and the replacement speech, synthetic frames corresponding to the multiple frames of the video that depict the replacement actor in place of the original actor, with the synthetic frames including facial expressions for the replacement actor that temporally align with the replacement speech; and (iv) combining the synthetic frames and the replacement speech so as to obtain a synthetic video that replaces the original actor with the replacement actor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2024
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: Roku, Inc.
    Inventors: Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Karina Levitian
  • Patent number: 12256175
    Abstract: In one aspect, an example method includes (i) receiving audio from a first client device engaged in a communication session with a second client device, the audio comprising one or more words spoken by a user of the first client device; (ii) using the audio and a facial feature model to estimate facial movement that corresponds to the one or more words spoken by the user; (iii) generating a synthetic video depicting an avatar of the user moving according to the estimated facial movement; and (iv) in response to generating the synthetic video, causing the second client device to present the synthetic video synchronized with the audio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignee: Roku, Inc.
    Inventors: Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Karina Levitian
  • Patent number: 12255776
    Abstract: A method and system for dynamically reconfiguring control pairing in a system comprising a controlling device, a first controlled device, and a second controlled device. An example method includes, when the controlling device is set to control state of the first controlled device, a processor determining that the first controlled device has experienced an operational failure. Further, the example method includes, responsive to the determining, the processor engaging in dynamic reconfiguration of the system, the dynamic reconfiguration causing the controlling device to control state of a second device instead of or in addition to the controlling device controlling state of the first controlled device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignee: Roku, Inc.
    Inventors: Sunil Ramesh, Michael Cutter, Karina Levitian
  • Publication number: 20250078511
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are system, apparatus, article of manufacture, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for sharing video streams in a camera system network. The video streams may be modified and/or masked to obscure private video stream features from being shared. An example embodiment operates by linking a first camera system to a first user device. The first camera system detects a second camera system in its field of view, wherein the second camera system is linked to a second user device. Upon exchanging requests to share video streams, the first and second user devices may view the video streams from both camera systems. The video streams may be modified to mask and/or obscure private property and/or known persons to preserve privacy despite sharing video streams. For example, the first camera system may modify and stream a masked video stream to the second user device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2023
    Publication date: March 6, 2025
    Inventors: Sunil RAMESH, Michael CUTTER, Robert CURTIS, Gregory GARNER, Patrick BROUILLETTE