Patents by Inventor Ronald K. Huang

Ronald K. Huang 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: 10362440
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and program products for providing services to a user by a mobile device based on the user's daily routine of movement. The mobile device determines whether a location cluster indicates a significant location for the user based on one or more hints that indicate an interest of the user in locations in the cluster. The mobile device can perform adaptive clustering to determine a size of area of the significant location based on how multiple locations converge in the location cluster. The mobile device can provide location-based services for calendar items, including predicting a time of arrival at an estimated location of a calendar item. The mobile device can provide various services related to a location of the mobile device or a significant location of the user through an application programming interface (API).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Michael P. Dal Santo, Lukas M. Marti, Ronald K Huang, Lili Cao
  • Patent number: 10362162
    Abstract: Measurements can be obtained from sensors to determine a state of a device. The state can be used to determine whether to provide an alert. For example, after a first alert is provided, it can be determined that the device is not accessible to the user based on the determined state, and a second alert can be suppressed at a specified time after providing the first alert. The sensor measurements can be monitored after suppressing the second alert, and a state engine can detect a change in a state based on subsequent sensor measurements. If the state change indicates that the device is accessible to the user the second alert can be provided to the user. Alerts can be dismissed based on a change in state. A first device can coordinate alerts sent to or to be provided by a second device by suppressing or dismissing such alerts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen P. Jackson, Anil K. Kandangath, Ronald K. Huang
  • Patent number: 10356559
    Abstract: This disclosure describes embodiments for harvesting and serving labels for locations. In an embodiment, a method comprises: receiving, by one or more server computers, location data including wireless access point data and location labels associated with significant locations, the location data being harvested from a plurality of devices operating at a plurality of geographic locations; and updating, by the one or more server computers, a plurality of fingerprints representing the plurality of geographic locations, the updating including associating at least one of the received location labels with at least one of the plurality of fingerprints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Michael P. Dal Santo, Stephen J. Rhee, Ronald K. Huang, Nicholas M. Holt
  • Publication number: 20190215642
    Abstract: An application can specify a location service authorization type to be enforced by a mobile device. After the user authorizes the location service through an authorization dialog, the application can receive location service according to the authorization type. A first authorization type allows the application to receive continuous location updates and location events from a location service on the mobile device only when the application is in use. A second authorization type allows the application to always receive continuous location updates and location events when the application is running in a foreground or background. The text of the authorization dialog can be customized by the application to provide more detail on how the location data will be used by the application.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2019
    Publication date: July 11, 2019
    Inventors: Stephen J. Rhee, Adam M. Driscoll, Jeffrey Michael Bartunek, Ronald K. Huang, Erik Neuenschwander, Patrick Coffman, Guy L. Tribble
  • Publication number: 20190200080
    Abstract: In some implementations, a computing device can send a priming command to a media application to cause the media application to load media items and media item metadata into memory associated with the media application. The computing device can predict a media application that is likely to be invoked by a user. The computing device can launch the media application. The computing device can send the priming command to the media application to cause the media application to prepare media items for playback or presentation to the user. After the media application loads the media items, the computing device can receive metadata associated with the loaded media items and present the metadata and appropriate media application controls on a display of the computing device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2019
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas ALSINA, Charles MAGAHERN, Edward T. SCHMIDT, Gregory R. CHAPMAN, Ronald K. HUANG
  • Publication number: 20190191269
    Abstract: An application manager of a mobile device can provide a user with the ability to control whether an application can use location information provided by a location subsystem of the mobile device. The application can request to be notified by the location subsystem when the mobile device crosses a geofence. When the mobile device crosses the geofence, the location subsystem provides a notice to the application. The application manager can intercept the notice to the application, and present an alert on a user interface. The application manager can then provide the notice to the application only upon receiving an input through the user interface confirming that the application still has permission to use location information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2018
    Publication date: June 20, 2019
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew E. Shepherd, Ronald K. Huang, Stephen J. Rhee, Daniel T. Kurtz, Erik Neuenschwander
  • Patent number: 10264319
    Abstract: In some implementations, a computing device can send a priming command to a media application to cause the media application to load media items and media item metadata into memory associated with the media application. The computing device can predict a media application that is likely to be invoked by a user. The computing device can launch the media application. The computing device can send the priming command to the media application to cause the media application to prepare media items for playback or presentation to the user. After the media application loads the media items, the computing device can receive metadata associated with the loaded media items and present the metadata and appropriate media application controls on a display of the computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Charles Magahern, Edward T. Schmidt, Gregory R. Chapman, Ronald K. Huang, Thomas Alsina
  • Publication number: 20190098674
    Abstract: Embodiments for performing, by a wireless device, a procedure for auto-joining a wireless network based on factors associated with the wireless networks are provided. The embodiments include determining a current location of the wireless device. The wireless device stores information regarding nearby known networks associated with the current location of the wireless device and may select a candidate network from the nearby known networks based on a network score associated with the candidate network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2017
    Publication date: March 28, 2019
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Vinesh PALLEN, Ronald K. Huang, Chaitanya Mannemala, Christopher R. Purcell, Sriram Lakshmanan
  • Patent number: 10244344
    Abstract: An application can specify a location service authorization type to be enforced by a mobile device. After the user authorizes the location service through an authorization dialog, the application can receive location service according to the authorization type. A first authorization type allows the application to receive continuous location updates and location events from a location service on the mobile device only when the application is in use. A second authorization type allows the application to always receive continuous location updates and location events when the application is running in a foreground or background. The text of the authorization dialog can be customized by the application to provide more detail on how the location data will be used by the application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen J. Rhee, Adam M. Driscoll, Jeffrey Michael Bartunek, Ronald K. Huang, Erik Neuenschwander, Patrick Coffman, Guy L. Tribble
  • Publication number: 20190007547
    Abstract: Measurements can be obtained from sensors to determine a state of a device. The state can be used to determine whether to provide an alert. For example, after a first alert is provided, it can be determined that the device is not accessible to the user based on the determined state, and a second alert can be suppressed at a specified time after providing the first alert. The sensor measurements can be monitored after suppressing the second alert, and a state engine can detect a change in a state based on subsequent sensor measurements. If the state change indicates that the device is accessible to the user the second alert can be provided to the user. Alerts can be dismissed based on a change in state. A first device can coordinate alerts sent to or to be provided by a second device by suppressing or dismissing such alerts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2018
    Publication date: January 3, 2019
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen P. Jackson, Anil K. Kandangath, Ronald K. Huang
  • Publication number: 20180376286
    Abstract: This disclosure describes embodiments for harvesting and serving labels for locations. In an embodiment, a method comprises: receiving, by one or more server computers, location data including wireless access point data and location labels associated with significant locations, the location data being harvested from a plurality of devices operating at a plurality of geographic locations; and updating, by the one or more server computers, a plurality of fingerprints representing the plurality of geographic locations, the updating including associating at least one of the received location labels with at least one of the plurality of fingerprints.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Publication date: December 27, 2018
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Michael P. Dal Santo, Stephen J. Rhee, Ronald K. Huang, Nicholas M. Holt
  • Publication number: 20180376283
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and program products for determining a location of a mobile device using a location application programming interface (API) are described. A mobile device can receive an input requesting the mobile device to monitor entry into and exit from a significant location. The mobile device can call a start-monitoring instance function of an object of a location manager class as declared in the API to start monitoring, and call a stop-monitoring instance function of the object as declared in the API to stop monitoring. The mobile device can store the entry and exit, or provide a record of the entry or exit to a function that is conformant to the API for performing various tasks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Publication date: December 27, 2018
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Bradley Joel Jensen, Ronald K. Huang, Stephen J. Rhee, Jay N. Bruins, Adam M. Driscoll, Lukas M. Marti, Michael P. Dal Santo, Patrick Thomas Dillon
  • Patent number: 10165399
    Abstract: Methods, program products, and systems for baseband location monitoring and related functions are disclosed. A mobile device can monitor its own current location using its baseband subsystem and decide whether to selectively activate its application subsystem based on whether particular conditions are satisfied by the current location. The mobile device can also correlate location and cellular signal information using its baseband subsystem and provide the correlated location and cellular signal information to a server. The server can receive the correlated location and cellular signal information from the baseband subsystems of a large number of widely distributed mobile devices and generate respective profiles of cellular network base stations that transmitted the cellular signals to the mobile devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald K. Huang, Morgan Grainger, Robert W. Mayor
  • Patent number: 10154789
    Abstract: In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method including obtaining, by a heart rate sensor of a fitness tracking device, a heart rate measurement of a user of the fitness tracking device; obtaining, by at least one motion sensor, motion data of the user; analyzing, by the fitness tracking device, the motion data of the user to estimate a step rate of the user; estimating, by the fitness tracking device, a load associated with a physical activity of the user by comparing the heart rate measurement with the step rate of the user; and estimating, by the fitness tracking device, an energy expenditure rate of the user using the load and at least one of the heart rate measurement and the step rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Karthik Jayaraman Raghuram, Hung A. Pham, Richard Channing Moore, III, Alexander Singh Alvarado, Umamahesh Srinivas, Xing Tan, Dan Marvin Trietsch, Gunes Dervisoglu, Craig H. Mermel, Ronald K. Huang, Adeeti Ullal
  • Publication number: 20180348010
    Abstract: In some implementations, a computing device can proactively determine a destination and request traffic information for routes from a starting location to the destination. In some implementations, a computing device can identify some routes between a starting location and a destination as non-recommended routes and recommend other routes. In some implementations, a computing device can rank routes between a starting location and a destination based on automatically-determined user interest. In some implementations, a computing device can determine a user is familiar with a route and adjust the information presented to the user about the route accordingly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2018
    Publication date: December 6, 2018
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick J. Coleman, Brian J. Andrich, Daniel R. Delling, Dennis Schieferdecker, Ethan T. Bold, Hengbin Luo, Michael Wegner, Rami Khawandi, Lili Cao, Hyo Jeong Shin, Richard B. Warren, Ronald K. Huang
  • Publication number: 20180348003
    Abstract: In some implementations, a computing device can proactively determine a destination and request traffic information for routes from a starting location to the destination. In some implementations, a computing device can identify some routes between a starting location and a destination as non-recommended routes and recommend other routes. In some implementations, a computing device can rank routes between a starting location and a destination based on automatically-determined user interest. In some implementations, a computing device can determine a user is familiar with a route and adjust the information presented to the user about the route accordingly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2018
    Publication date: December 6, 2018
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick J. Coleman, Brian J. Andrich, Daniel R. Delling, Dennis Schieferdecker, Ethan T. Bold, Hengbin Luo, Michael Wegner, Rami Khawandi, Lili Cao, Hyo Jeong Shin, Richard B. Warren, Ronald K. Huang
  • Publication number: 20180347996
    Abstract: In some implementations, a computing device can proactively determine a destination and request traffic information for routes from a starting location to the destination. In some implementations, a computing device can identify some routes between a starting location and a destination as non-recommended routes and recommend other routes. In some implementations, a computing device can rank routes between a starting location and a destination based on automatically-determined user interest. In some implementations, a computing device can determine a user is familiar with a route and adjust the information presented to the user about the route accordingly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2018
    Publication date: December 6, 2018
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick J. Coleman, Brian J. Andrich, Daniel R. Delling, Dennis Schieferdecker, Ethan T. Bold, Hengbin Luo, Michael Wegner, Rami Khawandi, Lili Cao, Hyo Jeong Shin, Richard B. Warren, Ronald K. Huang
  • Publication number: 20180338033
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for managing or classifying movement states of an electronic device are provided that may utilize communications circuitry data from one or more communications circuitries when determining a current or future movement state of an electronic device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2018
    Publication date: November 22, 2018
    Inventors: Andre M. Boule, Andrew M. Wadycki, Bor-rong Chen, Emily C. Schubert, Srinivasan Nimmala, Sunny K. Chow, Gunes Dervisoglu, Venkateswara Rao Manepalli, Vijay Kumar Ramamurthi, Anh N. Phan, Maulik V. Choksi, John D. Blackwell, Xiao Xiao, Xiaoyuan Tu, Hung A. Pham, Richard B. Warren, Ronald K. Huang
  • Patent number: 10136252
    Abstract: An application manager of a mobile device can provide a user with the ability to control whether an application can use location information provided by a location subsystem of the mobile device. The application can request to be notified by the location subsystem when the mobile device crosses a geofence. When the mobile device crosses the geofence, the location subsystem provides a notice to the application. The application manager can intercept the notice to the application, and present an alert on a user interface. The application manager can then provide the notice to the application only upon receiving an input through the user interface confirming that the application still has permission to use location information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew E. Shepherd, Ronald K. Huang, Stephen J. Rhee, Daniel T. Kurtz, Erik Neuenschwander
  • Patent number: 10121374
    Abstract: Systems, methods, devices and computer-readable mediums are disclosed for parking event detection and location estimation. In some implementations, a method comprises: determining, by a processor of a mobile device, a first activity state indicative of a possible parking event; obtaining, by the processor, a speed of the mobile device from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) of the mobile device; obtaining, by the processor, pedometer data from a digital pedometer of the mobile device; determining, by the processor, a second activity state indicative of a possible parking event based at least in part on the GNSS speed and pedometer data; and responsive to the second activity state, estimating, by the processor, a location of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Pejman Lotfali Kazemi, Lili Cao, Sunny Kai Pang Chow, Gunes Dervisoglu, Anh Phan, Ryan David Shelby, Ronald K. Huang