Patents by Inventor Michael Menefee

Michael Menefee 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: 10599921
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus and systems for a sign language recognition are disclosed. One example of a sign language recognition device includes a primary display facing a first direction and a secondary display facing a second direction. One or more cameras are positioned adjacent the secondary display and face the second direction, wherein an image captured by the one or more cameras is displayed on at least a portion of the primary display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: AVODAH, INC.
    Inventors: Michael Menefee, Dallas Nash, Trevor Chandler
  • Publication number: 20200034609
    Abstract: Methods, devices and systems for training a pattern recognition system are described. In one example, a method for training a sign language translation system includes generating a three-dimensional (3D) scene that includes a 3D model simulating a gesture that represents a letter, a word, or a phrase in a sign language. The method includes obtaining a value indicative of a total number of training images to be generated, using the value indicative of the total number of training images to determine a plurality of variations of the 3D scene for generating of the training images, applying each of plurality of variations to the 3D scene to produce a plurality of modified 3D scenes, and capturing an image of each of the plurality of modified 3D scenes to form the training images for a neural network of the sign language translation system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2019
    Publication date: January 30, 2020
    Inventors: Trevor Chandler, Dallas Nash, Michael Menefee
  • Patent number: 10521928
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods, apparatus and systems for real-time gesture recognition. One exemplary method for the real-time identification of a gesture communicated by a subject includes receiving, by a first thread of the one or more multi-threaded processors, a first set of image frames associated with the gesture, the first set of image frames captured during a first time interval, performing, by the first thread, pose estimation on each frame of the first set of image frames including eliminating background information from each frame to obtain one or more areas of interest, storing information representative of the one or more areas of interest in a shared memory accessible to the one or more multi-threaded processors, and performing, by a second thread of the one or more multi-threaded processors, a gesture recognition operation on a second set of image frames associated with the gesture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Avodah Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Trevor Chandler, Dallas Nash, Michael Menefee
  • Patent number: 10521264
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods, apparatus and systems for improving data management and workload distribution in pattern recognition systems. An example method of managing data for a sign language translation system includes receiving multiple sets of data acquired by one or more data acquisition devices. Each set of data including an image frame that illustrates at least a part of a gesture. The method includes determining, for each of the multiple sets of data, a plurality of attribute values defined by a customized template. The method includes accessing the multiple sets of data, by a plurality of processing units, based on a location indicated by the attributes for recognizing the at least a part of a gesture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: AVODAH, INC.
    Inventors: Trevor Chandler, Dallas Nash, Michael Menefee
  • Patent number: 10489639
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus and systems for recognizing sign language movements using multiple input and output modalities. One example method includes capturing a movement associated with the sign language using a set of visual sensing devices, the set of visual sensing devices comprising multiple apertures oriented with respect to the subject to receive optical signals corresponding to the movement from multiple angles, generating digital information corresponding to the movement based on the optical signals from the multiple angles, collecting depth information corresponding to the movement in one or more planes perpendicular to an image plane captured by the set of visual sensing devices, producing a reduced set of digital information by removing at least some of the digital information based on the depth information, generating a composite digital representation by aligning at least a portion of the reduced set of digital information, and recognizing the movement based on the composite digital representation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: AVODAH LABS, INC.
    Inventors: Michael Menefee, Dallas Nash, Trevor Chandler
  • Publication number: 20190332419
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods, apparatus and systems for improving data management and workload distribution in pattern recognition systems. An example method of managing data for a sign language translation system includes receiving multiple sets of data acquired by one or more data acquisition devices. Each set of data including an image frame that illustrates at least a part of a gesture. The method includes determining, for each of the multiple sets of data, a plurality of attribute values defined by a customized template. The method includes accessing the multiple sets of data, by a plurality of processing units, based on a location indicated by the attributes for recognizing the at least a part of a gesture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2019
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Inventors: Trevor Chandler, Dallas Nash, Michael Menefee
  • Publication number: 20190251344
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus and systems for a sign language recognition are disclosed. One example of a sign language recognition device includes a primary display facing a first direction and a secondary display facing a second direction. One or more cameras are positioned adjacent the secondary display and face the second direction, wherein an image captured by the one or more cameras is displayed on at least a portion of the primary display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2019
    Publication date: August 15, 2019
    Inventors: Michael Menefee, Dallas Nash, Trevor Chandler
  • Publication number: 20190251343
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus and systems for recognizing sign language movements using multiple input and output modalities. One example method includes capturing a movement associated with the sign language using a set of visual sensing devices, the set of visual sensing devices comprising multiple apertures oriented with respect to the subject to receive optical signals corresponding to the movement from multiple angles, generating digital information corresponding to the movement based on the optical signals from the multiple angles, collecting depth information corresponding to the movement in one or more planes perpendicular to an image plane captured by the set of visual sensing devices, producing a reduced set of digital information by removing at least some of the digital information based on the depth information, generating a composite digital representation by aligning at least a portion of the reduced set of digital information, and recognizing the movement based on the composite digital representation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Publication date: August 15, 2019
    Inventors: Michael Menefee, Dallas Nash, Trevor Chandler
  • Publication number: 20190251702
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods, apparatus and systems for real-time gesture recognition. One exemplary method for the real-time identification of a gesture communicated by a subject includes receiving, by a first thread of the one or more multi-threaded processors, a first set of image frames associated with the gesture, the first set of image frames captured during a first time interval, performing, by the first thread, pose estimation on each frame of the first set of image frames including eliminating background information from each frame to obtain one or more areas of interest, storing information representative of the one or more areas of interest in a shared memory accessible to the one or more multi-threaded processors, and performing, by a second thread of the one or more multi-threaded processors, a gesture recognition operation on a second set of image frames associated with the gesture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2019
    Publication date: August 15, 2019
    Inventors: Trevor Chandler, Dallas Nash, Michael Menefee
  • Patent number: 10346198
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods, apparatus and systems for improving data management and workload distribution in pattern recognition systems. An example method of managing data for a sign language translation system includes receiving multiple sets of data acquired by one or more data acquisition devices. Each set of data including an image frame that illustrates at least a part of a gesture. The method includes determining, for each of the multiple sets of data, a plurality of attribute values defined by a customized template. The method includes accessing the multiple sets of data, by a plurality of processing units, based on a location indicated by the attributes for recognizing the at least a part of a gesture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: AVODAH LABS, INC.
    Inventors: Trevor Chandler, Dallas Nash, Michael Menefee
  • Patent number: 10304208
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods, apparatus and systems for gesture recognition based on neural network processing. One exemplary method for identifying a gesture communicated by a subject includes receiving a plurality of images associated with the gesture, providing the plurality of images to a first 3-dimensional convolutional neural network (3D CNN) and a second 3D CNN, where the first 3D CNN is operable to produce motion information, where the second 3D CNN is operable to produce pose and color information, and where the first 3D CNN is operable to implement an optical flow algorithm to detect the gesture, fusing the motion information and the pose and color information to produce an identification of the gesture, and determining whether the identification corresponds to a singular gesture across the plurality of images using a recurrent neural network that comprises one or more long short-term memory units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: Avodah Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Trevor Chandler, Dallas Nash, Michael Menefee
  • Patent number: 10289903
    Abstract: Methods, devices and systems for training a pattern recognition system are described. In one example, a method for training a sign language translation system includes generating a three-dimensional (3D) scene that includes a 3D model simulating a gesture that represents a letter, a word, or a phrase in a sign language. The method includes obtaining a value indicative of a total number of training images to be generated, using the value indicative of the total number of training images to determine a plurality of variations of the 3D scene for generating of the training images, applying each of plurality of variations to the 3D scene to produce a plurality of modified 3D scenes, and capturing an image of each of the plurality of modified 3D scenes to form the training images for a neural network of the sign language translation system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: Avodah Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Trevor Chandler, Dallas Nash, Michael Menefee
  • Publication number: 20140289126
    Abstract: A system for combining a payment mechanism with an offer to a consumer is described. The system includes a virtual payment account number generation engine to generate virtual payment account numbers that can be used by a consumer in a payment transaction at a merchant, the virtual payment account number generation service also operable to take a portion of the virtual payment account number and send it as a checkout code to a consumer using the consumer's mobile device, and an offer generation engine used to set rules for an offer to be sent to consumers, create a fund for the offer, and determine individual consumer's eligibility for the offer. The offer is associated with the checkout code such that the offer is processed as part of the payment during the payment transaction using the virtual payment account number.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2014
    Publication date: September 25, 2014
    Applicant: MODOPAYMENTS, LLC
    Inventors: Gregory W. Harvey, Samuel N. Brown, David S. Sink, Aaron Wilkinson, Michael Menefee, Mark S. Saum, Colm Bergin, Bruce Parker, Ralf Erich Schulz, Jon Buell, Jason Fisher
  • Patent number: 8751380
    Abstract: A system for combining a payment mechanism with an offer to a consumer is described. The system includes a virtual payment account number generation engine to generate virtual payment account numbers that can be used by a consumer in a payment transaction at a merchant, the virtual payment account number generation service also operable to take a portion of the virtual payment account number and send it as a checkout code to a consumer using the consumer's mobile device, and an offer generation engine used to set rules for an offer to be sent to consumers, create a fund for the offer, and determine individual consumer's eligibility for the offer. The offer is associated with the checkout code such that the offer is processed as part of the payment during the payment transaction using the virtual payment account number.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: ModoPayments, LLC
    Inventors: Gregory W. Harvey, Samuel N. Brown, David S. Sink, Aaron Wilkinson, Michael Menefee, Mark S. Saum, Colm Bergin, Bruce Parker, Ralf Erich Schulz, Jon Buell, Jason Fisher
  • Publication number: 20140114780
    Abstract: Described herein is a payment processing device for processing payment from a consumer at a merchant location using a user device, the device comprising a presence detection module configured to detect presence of the user device at the merchant location; and a checkout module configured to communicate with a backend system to verify an identity of the user device, to receive payment information from the user device, and to transmit payment information to a merchant point-of sale (POS) system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2013
    Publication date: April 24, 2014
    Applicant: ModoPayments, LLC
    Inventors: Michael Menefee, Gregory W. Harvey, Bruce Parker, Aaron Wilkinson
  • Publication number: 20140040001
    Abstract: A system for combining a payment mechanism with an offer to a consumer is described. The system includes a virtual payment account number generation engine to generate virtual payment account numbers that can be used by a consumer in a payment transaction at a merchant, the virtual payment account number generation service also operable to take a portion of the virtual payment account number and send it as a checkout code to a consumer using the consumer's mobile device, and an offer generation engine used to set rules for an offer to be sent to consumers, create a fund for the offer, and determine individual consumer's eligibility for the offer. The offer is associated with the checkout code such that the offer is processed as part of the payment during the payment transaction using the virtual payment account number.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2013
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Applicant: ModoPayment, LLC
    Inventors: Gregory W. Harvey, Samuel N. Brown, David S. Sink, Aaron Wilkinson, Michael Menefee, Mark S. Saum, Colm Bergin, Bruce Parker, Ralf Erich Schulz, Jon Buell, Jason Fisher
  • Publication number: 20120101887
    Abstract: A system for combining a payment mechanism with an offer to a consumer is described. The system includes a virtual payment account number generation engine to generate virtual payment account numbers that can be used by a consumer in a payment transaction at a merchant, the virtual payment account number generation service also operable to take a portion of the virtual payment account number and send it as a checkout code to a consumer using the consumer's mobile device, and an offer generation engine used to set rules for an offer to be sent to consumers, create a fund for the offer, and determine individual consumer's eligibility for the offer. The offer is associated with the checkout code such that the offer is processed as part of the payment during the payment transaction using the virtual payment account number.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2011
    Publication date: April 26, 2012
    Inventors: Gregory W. Harvey, Samuel N. Brown, David S. Sink, Aaron Wilkinson, Michael Menefee, Mark S. Saum, Colm Bergin, Bruce Parker, Ralf Erich Schulz, Jon Buell, Jason Fisher