Patents by Inventor Michael J. Black

Michael J. Black 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: 11782028
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for monitoring slug flow in subterranean wells. In one aspect, a method includes at a time instant, transmitting an acoustic signal across a cross-section of a pipeline flowing multiphase fluid including gaseous fluid and liquid fluid, wherein a portion of the acoustic signal is carried through the cross-section of the pipeline by the multiphase fluid and determining, at the time instant, a first quantity of the gaseous fluid and a second quantity of the liquid fluid passing the cross-section of the pipeline based, in part, on an energy of the portion of the acoustic signal carried through the cross-section and at least a portion of a total energy of the transmitted acoustic signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Talha Jamal Ahmad, Michael J. Black, Mohamed N. Noui-Mehidi
  • Publication number: 20230122143
    Abstract: Computer-implemented methods are provided for labelling motion-captured points that correspond to markers on an object. The methods include obtaining the motion-captured points, processing a representation of the motion-captured points in a trained self-attention unit to obtain label scores for the motion-captured points, and assigning labels based on the label scores.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2022
    Publication date: April 20, 2023
    Inventors: Michael J. Black, Nima Ghorbani
  • Patent number: 11501508
    Abstract: Disclosed are computer-readable devices, systems and methods for generating a model of a clothed body. The method includes generating a model of an unclothed human body, the model capturing a shape or a pose of the unclothed human body, determining two-dimensional contours associated with the model, and computing deformations by aligning a contour of a clothed human body with a contour of the unclothed human body. Based on the two-dimensional contours and the deformations, the method includes generating a first two-dimensional model of the unclothed human body, the first two-dimensional model factoring the deformations of the unclothed human body into one or more of a shape variation component, a viewpoint change, and a pose variation and learning an eigen-clothing model using principal component analysis applied to the deformations, wherein the eigen-clothing model classifies different types of clothing, to yield a second two-dimensional model of a clothed human body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Brown University
    Inventors: Michael J. Black, Oren Freifeld, Alexander W. Weiss, Matthew M. Loper, Peng Guan
  • Patent number: 11448618
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for monitoring slug flow in subterranean wells. In one aspect, a method includes at a time instant, transmitting an acoustic signal across a cross-section of a pipeline flowing multiphase fluid including gaseous fluid and liquid fluid, wherein a portion of the acoustic signal is carried through the cross-section of the pipeline by the multiphase fluid and determining, at the time instant, a first quantity of the gaseous fluid and a second quantity of the liquid fluid passing the cross-section of the pipeline based, in part, on an energy of the portion of the acoustic signal carried through the cross-section and at least a portion of a total energy of the transmitted acoustic signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Talha Jamal Ahmad, Michael J. Black, Mohamed Nabil Noui-Mehidi
  • Publication number: 20220170887
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for monitoring slug flow in subterranean wells. In one aspect, a method includes at a time instant, transmitting an acoustic signal across a cross-section of a pipeline flowing multiphase fluid including gaseous fluid and liquid fluid, wherein a portion of the acoustic signal is carried through the cross-section of the pipeline by the multiphase fluid and determining, at the time instant, a first quantity of the gaseous fluid and a second quantity of the liquid fluid passing the cross-section of the pipeline based, in part, on an energy of the portion of the acoustic signal carried through the cross-section and at least a portion of a total energy of the transmitted acoustic signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2021
    Publication date: June 2, 2022
    Inventors: Talha Jamal Ahmad, Michael J. Black, Mohamed N. Noui-Mehidi
  • Publication number: 20210398361
    Abstract: Disclosed are computer-readable devices, systems and methods for generating a model of a clothed body. The method includes generating a model of an unclothed human body, the model capturing a shape or a pose of the unclothed human body, determining two-dimensional contours associated with the model, and computing deformations by aligning a contour of a clothed human body with a contour of the unclothed human body. Based on the two-dimensional contours and the deformations, the method includes generating a first two-dimensional model of the unclothed human body, the first two-dimensional model factoring the deformations of the unclothed human body into one or more of a shape variation component, a viewpoint change, and a pose variation and learning an eigen-clothing model using principal component analysis applied to the deformations, wherein the eigen-clothing model classifies different types of clothing, to yield a second two-dimensional model of a clothed human body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2021
    Publication date: December 23, 2021
    Inventors: Michael J. Black, Oren Freifeld, Alexander W. Weiss, Matthew M. Loper, Peng Guan
  • Patent number: 11062528
    Abstract: Disclosed are computer-readable devices, systems and methods for generating a model of a clothed body. The method includes generating a model of an unclothed human body, the model capturing a shape or a pose of the unclothed human body, determining two-dimensional contours associated with the model, and computing deformations by aligning a contour of a clothed human body with a contour of the unclothed human body. Based on the two-dimensional contours and the deformations, the method includes generating a first two-dimensional model of the unclothed human body, the first two-dimensional model factoring the deformations of the unclothed human body into one or more of a shape variation component, a viewpoint change, and a pose variation and learning an eigen-clothing model using principal component analysis applied to the deformations, wherein the eigen-clothing model classifies different types of clothing, to yield a second two-dimensional model of a clothed human body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: BROWN UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Michael J. Black, Oren Freifeld, Alexander W. Weiss, Matthew M. Loper, Peng Guan
  • Patent number: 11017577
    Abstract: The invention comprises a learned model of human body shape and pose dependent shape variation that is more accurate than previous models and is compatible with existing graphics pipelines. Our Skinned Multi-Person Linear model (SMPL) is a skinned vertex based model that accurately represents a wide variety of body shapes in natural human poses. The parameters of the model are learned from data including the rest pose template, blend weights, pose-dependent blend shapes, identity-dependent blend shapes, and a regressor from vertices to joint locations. Unlike previous models, the pose-dependent blend shapes are a linear function of the elements of the pose rotation matrices. This simple formulation enables training the entire model from a relatively large number of aligned 3D meshes of different people in different poses. The invention quantitatively evaluates variants of SMPL using linear or dual quaternion blend skinning and show that both are more accurate than a BlendSCAPE model trained on the same data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V.
    Inventors: Michael J. Black, Matthew Loper, Naureen Mahmood, Gerard Pons-Moll, Javier Romero
  • Patent number: 10574157
    Abstract: The bluff body attaches to an elastic mount and is capable of generate vortex shedding when the elastic mount orients the bluff body in a flow-line traverse to a fluid flow and vibrates in response to the vortex shedding. A harvester is located within the bluff body and is capable of generating power above a specified threshold in response to the vibration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Talha Jamal Ahmad, Muhammad Arsalan, Michael J. Black, Mohamed Nabil Noui-Mehidi
  • Patent number: 10574158
    Abstract: The bluff body attaches to an elastic mount and is capable of generate vortex shedding when the elastic mount orients the bluff body in a flow-line traverse to a fluid flow and vibrates in response to the vortex shedding. A harvester is located within the bluff body and is capable of generating power above a specified threshold in response to the vibration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Talha Jamal Ahmad, Muhammad Arsalan, Michael J. Black, Mohamed Nabil Noui-Mehidi
  • Patent number: 10560039
    Abstract: The bluff body attaches to an elastic mount and is capable of generate vortex shedding when the elastic mount orients the bluff body in a flow-line traverse to a fluid flow and vibrates in response to the vortex shedding. A harvester is located within the bluff body and is capable of generating power above a specified threshold in response to the vibration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Talha Jamal Ahmad, Muhammad Arsalan, Michael J. Black, Mohamed Nabil Noui-Mehidi
  • Patent number: 10560040
    Abstract: The bluff body attaches to an elastic mount and is capable of generate vortex shedding when the elastic mount orients the bluff body in a flow-line traverse to a fluid flow and vibrates in response to the vortex shedding. A harvester is located within the bluff body and is capable of generating power above a specified threshold in response to the vibration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Talha Jamal Ahmad, Muhammad Arsalan, Michael J. Black, Mohamed Nabil Noui-Mehidi
  • Patent number: 10546417
    Abstract: A system and method of estimating the body shape of an individual from input data such as images or range maps. The body may appear in one or more poses captured at different times and a consistent body shape is computed for all poses. The body may appearin minimal tight-fitting clothing or in normal clothing wherein the described method produces an estimate of the body shape under the clothing. Clothed or bare regions of the body are detected via image classification and the fitting method is adapted to treat each region differently. Body shapes are represented parametrically and are matched to other bodies based on shape similarity and other features. Standard measurements are extracted using parametric or non-parametric functions of body shape. The system components support many applications in body scanning, advertising, social networking, collaborative filtering and Internet clothing shopping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2020
    Assignee: BROWN UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Michael J. Black, Alexandru O. Balan, Alexander W. Weiss, Leonid Sigal, Matthew M. Loper, Timothy S. St. Clair
  • Publication number: 20200025719
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for monitoring slug flow in subterranean wells. In one aspect, a method includes at a time instant, transmitting an acoustic signal across a cross-section of a pipeline flowing multiphase fluid including gaseous fluid and liquid fluid, wherein a portion of the acoustic signal is carried through the cross-section of the pipeline by the multiphase fluid and determining, at the time instant, a first quantity of the gaseous fluid and a second quantity of the liquid fluid passing the cross-section of the pipeline based, in part, on an energy of the portion of the acoustic signal carried through the cross-section and at least a portion of a total energy of the transmitted acoustic signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Publication date: January 23, 2020
    Applicant: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Talha Jamal Ahmad, Michael J. Black, Mohamed Nabil Noui-Mehidi
  • Patent number: 10529127
    Abstract: A system generates a clothing deformation model which models one or more of a pose-dependent clothing shape variation which is induced by underlying body pose parameters, a pose-independent clothing shape variation which is induced by clothing size and underlying body shape parameters and a clothing shape variation including a combination of the pose-dependent clothing shape variation and/or the pose-independent clothing shape variation. The system generates, for an input human body, a custom-shaped garment associated with a clothing type by mapping, via the clothing deformation model, body shape parameters of the input human body to clothing shape parameters of the clothing type and dresses the input human body with the custom-shaped garment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: BROWN UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Michael J. Black, Peng Guan
  • Publication number: 20190392626
    Abstract: The invention comprises a learned model of human body shape and pose dependent shape variation that is more accurate than previous models and is compatible with existing graphics pipelines. Our Skinned Multi-Person Linear model (SMPL) is a skinned vertex based model that accurately represents a wide variety of body shapes in natural human poses. The parameters of the model are learned from data including the rest pose template, blend weights, pose-dependent blend shapes, identity-dependent blend shapes, and a regressor from vertices to joint locations. Unlike previous models, the pose-dependent blend shapes are a linear function of the elements of the pose rotation matrices. This simple formulation enables training the entire model from a relatively large number of aligned 3D meshes of different people in different poses. The invention quantitatively evaluates variants of SMPL using linear or dual quaternion blend skinning and show that both are more accurate than a BlendSCAPE model trained on the same data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 14, 2019
    Publication date: December 26, 2019
    Inventors: Michael J. Black, Matthew Loper, Naureen Mahmood, Gerard Pons-Moll, Javier Romero
  • Publication number: 20190385381
    Abstract: Disclosed are computer-readable devices, systems and methods for generating a model of a clothed body. The method includes generating a model of an unclothed human body, the model capturing a shape or a pose of the unclothed human body, determining two-dimensional contours associated with the model, and computing deformations by aligning a contour of a clothed human body with a contour of the unclothed human body. Based on the two-dimensional contours and the deformations, the method includes generating a first two-dimensional model of the unclothed human body, the first two-dimensional model factoring the deformations of the unclothed human body into one or more of a shape variation component, a viewpoint change, and a pose variation and learning an eigen-clothing model using principal component analysis applied to the deformations, wherein the eigen-clothing model classifies different types of clothing, to yield a second two-dimensional model of a clothed human body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2019
    Publication date: December 19, 2019
    Inventors: Michael J. Black, Oren Freifeld, Alexander W. Weiss, Matthew M. Loper, Peng Guan
  • Patent number: 10494566
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide methods and composition for stimulating a hydrocarbon-bearing, heavy oil containing formation, a deep oil reservoir, or a tight oil reservoir, whereby exothermic reactants are utilized to generate in-situ steam and nitrogen gas downhole in the formation or the reservoir as an enhanced oil recovery process. An oil well stimulation method is provided, which includes injecting, into the one of the formation and the reservoir, an aqueous composition including an ammonium containing compound and a nitrite containing compound. The method further includes injecting, into the one of the formation and the reservoir, an activator. The activator initiates a reaction between the ammonium containing compound and the nitrite containing compound, such that the reaction generates steam and nitrogen gas, increasing localized pressure and improving oil mobility, in the one of the formation and the reservoir, thereby enhancing oil recovery from the one of the formation and the reservoir.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Ayman Raja Al-Nakhli, Michael J. Black
  • Patent number: 10473623
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for monitoring slug flow in subterranean wells. In one aspect, a method includes at a time instant, transmitting an acoustic signal across a cross-section of a pipeline flowing multiphase fluid including gaseous fluid and liquid fluid, wherein a portion of the acoustic signal is carried through the cross-section of the pipeline by the multiphase fluid and determining, at the time instant, a first quantity of the gaseous fluid and a second quantity of the liquid fluid passing the cross-section of the pipeline based, in part, on an energy of the portion of the acoustic signal carried through the cross-section and at least a portion of a total energy of the transmitted acoustic signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Talha Jamal Ahmad, Michael J. Black, Mohamed N. Noui-Mehidi
  • Publication number: 20190333267
    Abstract: A system and method of estimating the body shape of an individual from input data such as images or range maps. The body may appear in one or more poses captured at different times and a consistent body shape is computed for all poses. The body may appearin minimal tight-fitting clothing or in normal clothing wherein the described method produces an estimate of the body shape under the clothing. Clothed or bare regions of the body are detected via image classification and the fitting method is adapted to treat each region differently. Body shapes are represented parametrically and are matched to other bodies based on shape similarity and other features. Standard measurements are extracted using parametric or non-parametric functions of body shape. The system components support many applications in body scanning, advertising, social networking, collaborative filtering and Internet clothing shopping.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2019
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Inventors: Michael J. BLACK, Alexandru O. BALAN, Alexander W. Weiss, Leonid SIGAL, Matthew M. LOPER, Timothy S. ST. CLAIR