Patents by Inventor Neal Freeland

Neal Freeland 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).

  • Strategy-Resistant Referral Reward Distribution
    Publication number: 20130085821
    Abstract: In a participatory system, a reward is distributed to participants based on their contributions to the system and the contributions of direct and indirect referrals of the participant (descendant referrals). A convex function is applied to the effective contribution of each participant to determine the weighted contribution of the participant, and the participant's reward is based on the participant's weighted contribution less the weighted contributions of child participants referred by the participant.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2011
    Publication date: April 4, 2013
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: John R. Douceur, Thomas Moscibroda, Neal Freeland, Bruno S. Caiado
  • Promotional games architecture
    Patent number: 7798908
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can facilitate promotion of an online service. The architecture can provide for a games platform that can host a variety of games. The hosted games can be designed such that a user's experiences can be enhanced by game cards that can be discovered and retrieved while using the online service being promoted. Accordingly, the user's experiences can be enhanced as a function of the usage of the online service being promoted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christian Herwarth Borgs, Kamal Jain, Neal Freeland
  • PROMOTIONAL GAMES ARCHITECTURE
    Publication number: 20080200252
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can facilitate promotion of an online service. The architecture can provide for a games platform that can host a variety of games. The hosted games can be designed such that a user's experiences can be enhanced by game cards that can be discovered and retrieved while using the online service being promoted. Accordingly, the user's experiences can be enhanced as a function of the usage of the online service being promoted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 21, 2007
    Publication date: August 21, 2008
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christian Herwarth Borgs, Kamal Jain, Neal Freeland