Patents by Inventor Michael Tholfsen

Michael Tholfsen 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: 20200117713
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method that may be carried out by a reader device or other computing device includes identifying boundaries of words and sentences of displayed content and receiving a language selection of a language for translating a selected unit of text in the displayed content; translating the unit of text to the selected language; retrieving from a picture dictionary, a pictogram associated with a tag applied to the word or at least one word from the sentence of the selected unit of text; generating pronunciation files for both an original language of the unit of text and the selected language; and displaying, in context with the displayed content, the unit of text in the original language and the selected language, the pictogram, and icons for requesting to play the pronunciation files. The selected unit of text can be a word or a sentence.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2018
    Publication date: April 16, 2020
    Inventors: Paul Ronald RAY, Michael THOLFSEN, Guillaume SIMONNET
  • Publication number: 20200118542
    Abstract: In non-limiting examples of the present disclosure, systems, methods and devices for mapping hyperarticulated sounds to text units are presented. A plurality of textual units may be received. The plurality of textual units may be processed with a natural language processing engine. A sentence structure for the plurality of textual units may be identified, wherein the sentence structure comprises a plurality of words. The plurality of words may be processed with a text-to-speech engine. A text-to-speech output comprising a plurality of pronunciations may be identified, wherein each of the plurality of pronunciations corresponds to a syllabic unit of one of the plurality of words. A hyperarticulated vowel sound may be mapped to each syllabic unit from the text-to-speech output. A pronunciation instruction corresponding to each hyperarticulated vowel sound may be caused to be surfaced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Publication date: April 16, 2020
    Inventors: Kevin Chad Larson, Tanya Matskewich, Gregory Carl Hitchcock, Michael Tholfsen, Guillaume Simonnet, Viktoryia Akulich, Nicholas Kibre, Christina Chen Campbell
  • Publication number: 20190075118
    Abstract: Notebook applications may be employed to create, edit, and/or share collaborative documents. In a classroom setting, a notebook application may enable interactivity among a teacher and students. A page lock may be provided for the notebook application to prevent students from making unauthorized changes, such as editing a page after an assignment deadline or erasing teacher feedback, while still enabling the teacher read and write capabilities. For example, a notebook page may be rendered with read and write permissions for the teacher and student(s). The teacher may be provided an option to set a lock on the page to disable one or more of the students' write permissions. The teacher may select a first timing parameter associated with setting the lock, which defines a future date and time or event to trigger the disabling of the students' write permissions. The lock may be set based on the first timing parameter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2017
    Publication date: March 7, 2019
    Applicant: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Jason SILVIS, Suleiman JABBOURI, Sharad SHARMA, Michael THOLFSEN
  • Publication number: 20180046331
    Abstract: Electronic reading devices provide readers with text on a display, and enhancements to their functionality and efficiency are discussed herein. Text is provided to the reader in an enhanced contrast mode that highlights the active word and line of the text as well as words of interest in the text so as to improve the functionality of the electronic reading device itself as a provider of textual content.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2016
    Publication date: February 15, 2018
    Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Aaron James Monson, Alexandre Pereira, Jeffrey Scott Petty, Pelle Haukali Nielsen, Sebastian Michael Greaves, Valentin Dobre, Mark Frank Flores, Dominik Messinger, Michael Tholfsen, Gregory Hitchcock, Kevin Larson, Robert Matthew McKaughan, Mohammadreza Jooyandeh
  • Publication number: 20170262490
    Abstract: Distributing content to multiple electronic documents or sections thereof, with various controlling users, documents states, and host devices quickly and accurately is provided herein. Content from a sender document is identified, reduced to its necessary parts, fixed in position, and validated so that it may be pushed to identified sections within the sender document or to sections in receiver documents on other host devices. Content is pushed from the sender document to sections identified as available, and each receiver section or document may have different sections and subsections available. The systems and methods provided herein operate without requiring the content to be encapsulated in new documents, and thus reduces the memory and bandwidth needed to share content remotely, and improves the user experience for sharing content.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2016
    Publication date: September 14, 2017
    Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC.
    Inventors: Michael Tholfsen, Eran Megiddo, Ivan Hor Siu Han