Patents by Inventor Richard Michael Powell

Richard Michael Powell 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: 9524014
    Abstract: Devices and methods for power management during media playback are provided. For example, an electronic device according to an embodiment may include storage, a decoder, an output buffer, and data processing circuitry. The storage may store compressed media data that may be decoded by the decoder. The output buffer may store the decoded media data before the decoded media data is played out. The data processing circuitry configured may measure a fullness of the output buffer and may set an operating frequency of the storage, the decoder, the output buffer, or the data processing circuitry, or a combination thereof, depending on a format of the compressed media data and the fullness of the output buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Saurabh Gupta, Wang Chun Leung, Richard Michael Powell, Joseph M. Williams
  • Publication number: 20160195914
    Abstract: Devices and methods for power management during media playback are provided. For example, an electronic device according to an embodiment may include storage, a decoder, an output buffer, and data processing circuitry. The storage may store compressed media data that may be decoded by the decoder. The output buffer may store the decoded media data before the decoded media data is played out. The data processing circuitry configured may measure a fullness of the output buffer and may set an operating frequency of the storage, the decoder, the output buffer, or the data processing circuitry, or a combination thereof, depending on a format of the compressed media data and the fullness of the output buffer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 4, 2016
    Publication date: July 7, 2016
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Saurabh Gupta, Wang Chun Leung, Richard Michael Powell, Joseph M. Williams
  • Patent number: 9256275
    Abstract: Devices and methods for power management during media playback are provided. For example, an electronic device according to an embodiment may include storage, a decoder, an output buffer, and data processing circuitry. The storage may store compressed media data that may be decoded by the decoder. The output buffer may store the decoded media data before the decoded media data is played out. The data processing circuitry configured may measure a fullness of the output buffer and may set an operating frequency of the storage, the decoder, the output buffer, or the data processing circuitry, or a combination thereof, depending on a format of the compressed media data and the fullness of the output buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Saurabh Gupta, Wang Chun Leung, Richard Michael Powell, Joseph M. Williams
  • Patent number: 8805693
    Abstract: Methods and devices to enable efficient beat-matched, DJ-style crossfading are provided. For example, such a method may involve determining beat locations of a first audio stream and a second audio stream and crossfading the first audio stream and the second audio stream such that the beat locations of the first audio stream are substantially aligned with the beat locations of the second audio stream. The beat locations of the first audio stream or the second audio stream may be determined based at least in part on an analysis of frequency data unpacked from one or more compressed audio files.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Richard Michael Powell
  • Patent number: 8768243
    Abstract: Various techniques that relate to prolonging the battery life on a portable electronic device during the buffering and playback of audio broadcast data are provided. In accordance with disclosed embodiments, upon detecting a low power state, the device may implement one or more low power actions, including starting, continuing, or stopping one or more audio broadcast functions, such as buffering or playing back audio broadcast data, to reduce overall power consumption, and thus prolong battery life. In one embodiment, a user may specify one or more low power actions that are to be implemented during a low power state by configuring user settings stored on the device. In another embodiment, the device, upon detecting a low power state, may prompt the user to make a selection from a listing of selectable low power action options and perform the selected low power action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Richard Michael Powell, Joseph M. Williams
  • Patent number: 8706272
    Abstract: Various techniques for adaptively encoding and compressing audio broadcast data to create a digital representation of the broadcast for storage on an electronic device are provided. In one embodiment, the audio broadcast data may be encoded and stored onto the electronic device using a particular codec and/or compression rate, the selection of which may be based upon one or more characteristics of the audio broadcast data signal, such as a genre parameter or a quality parameter. Particularly, the audio broadcast data may be encoded using either a music codec or a speech codec depending upon the genre parameter. Further, some embodiments may also provide for an adjustable compression bit-rate based at least partially upon the quality parameter of the audio broadcast.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Richard Michael Powell, Joseph M. Williams
  • Patent number: 8346203
    Abstract: Various techniques that relate to prolonging the battery life on a portable electronic device during the buffering and playback of audio broadcast data are provided. In accordance with disclosed embodiments, upon detecting a low power state, the device may implement one or more low power actions, including starting, continuing, or stopping one or more audio broadcast functions, such as buffering or playing back audio broadcast data, to reduce overall power consumption, and thus prolong battery life. In one embodiment, a user may specify one or more low power actions that are to be implemented during a low power state by configuring user settings stored on the device. In another embodiment, the device, upon detecting a low power state, may prompt the user to make a selection from a listing of selectable low power action options and perform the selected low power action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Richard Michael Powell, Joseph M. Williams
  • Publication number: 20120054383
    Abstract: Devices and methods for power management during media playback are provided. For example, an electronic device according to an embodiment may include storage, a decoder, an output buffer, and data processing circuitry. The storage may store compressed media data that may be decoded by the decoder. The output buffer may store the decoded media data before the decoded media data is played out. The data processing circuitry configured may measure a fullness of the output buffer and may set an operating frequency of the storage, the decoder, the output buffer, or the data processing circuitry, or a combination thereof, depending on a format of the compressed media data and the fullness of the output buffer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2010
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Saurabh Gupta, Wang Chun Leung, Richard Michael Powell, Joseph M. Williams
  • Publication number: 20120046954
    Abstract: Methods and devices to enable efficient beat-matched, DJ-style crossfading are provided. For example, such a method may involve determining beat locations of a first audio stream and a second audio stream and crossfading the first audio stream and the second audio stream such that the beat locations of the first audio stream are substantially aligned with the beat locations of the second audio stream. The beat locations of the first audio stream or the second audio stream may be determined based at least in part on an analysis of frequency data unpacked from one or more compressed audio files.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2010
    Publication date: February 23, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Richard Michael Powell
  • Publication number: 20110039508
    Abstract: Various techniques that relate to prolonging the battery life on a portable electronic device during the buffering and playback of audio broadcast data are provided. In accordance with disclosed embodiments, upon detecting a low power state, the device may implement one or more low power actions, including starting, continuing, or stopping one or more audio broadcast functions, such as buffering or playing back audio broadcast data, to reduce overall power consumption, and thus prolong battery life. In one embodiment, a user may specify one or more low power actions that are to be implemented during a low power state by configuring user settings stored on the device. In another embodiment, the device, upon detecting a low power state, may prompt the user to make a selection from a listing of selectable low power action options and perform the selected low power action.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 14, 2009
    Publication date: February 17, 2011
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Richard Michael Powell, Joseph M. Williams
  • Publication number: 20110040981
    Abstract: Various techniques relating to the buffering of a live audio broadcast on an electronic device and the subsequently playback the buffered data are provided. In one embodiment, the playback speed of the buffered data may be increased relative to the actual speed at which the data was originally broadcasted. If the buffered playback (using the increased playback speed) synchronizes or catches up to the live broadcast, the electronic device may disable buffering and output the live stream instead. This decreases processing demands by lowering processing cycles required for buffering (encoding, etc.) and playback of the buffered data (decoding, etc.), thereby reducing power consumption.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 14, 2009
    Publication date: February 17, 2011
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Richard Michael Powell, Joseph M. Williams
  • Publication number: 20110039506
    Abstract: Various techniques for adaptively encoding and compressing audio broadcast data to create a digital representation of the broadcast for storage on an electronic device are provided. In one embodiment, the audio broadcast data may be encoded and stored onto the electronic device using a particular codec and/or compression rate, the selection of which may be based upon one or more characteristics of the audio broadcast data signal, such as a genre parameter or a quality parameter. Particularly, the audio broadcast data may be encoded using either a music codec or a speech codec depending upon the genre parameter. Further, some embodiments may also provide for an adjustable compression bit-rate based at least partially upon the quality parameter of the audio broadcast.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 14, 2009
    Publication date: February 17, 2011
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aram Lindahl, Richard Michael Powell, Joseph M. Williams
  • Publication number: 20100063825
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for the management of memory used in a crossfading operation in an electronic device. In one embodiment, a processor is used to alternately decode two audio streams, one which is being faded out and one which is being faded in to implement a crossfade. The two audio streams may be encoded in the same or different formats and may be alternately decoded such that resource usage is reduced. The amount of decoded data of both audio streams and other parameters may determine which audio stream is to be actively decoded. In certain embodiments, the decoded data may be stored in a circular buffer, and a delta is determined between the decoded data and the empty space of the buffer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 5, 2008
    Publication date: March 11, 2010
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph M. Williams, Richard Michael Powell, Aram Lindahl