Patents by Inventor Russell Y. Webb

Russell Y. Webb 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: 20240105079
    Abstract: A method includes obtaining a speech proficiency value indicator indicative of a speech proficiency value associated with a user of the electronic device. The method further includes in response to determining that the speech proficiency value satisfies a threshold proficiency value: displaying training text via the display device; obtaining, from the audio sensor, speech data associated with the training text, wherein the speech data is characterized by the speech proficiency value; determining, using a speech classifier, one or more speech characterization vectors for the speech data based on linguistic features within the speech data; and adjusting one or more operational values of the speech classifier based on the one or more speech characterization vectors and the speech proficiency value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2023
    Publication date: March 28, 2024
    Inventors: Barry-John Theobald, Russell Y. Webb, Nicholas Elia Apostoloff
  • Patent number: 11887497
    Abstract: A method includes, while displaying a first set of text content via a display device, determining an engagement value that characterizes a level of user engagement with respect to the first set of text content. The method includes, in accordance with a determination that the engagement value satisfies a threshold, replacing the first set of text content with a second set of text content via the display device. The first set of text content is different from the second set of text content. The method includes in accordance with a determination that the engagement value does not satisfy the threshold, maintaining display of the first set of text content via the display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Barry-John Theobald, Russell Y. Webb, Nicholas Elia Apostoloff
  • Patent number: 11769016
    Abstract: A method includes obtaining user input interaction data. The user input interaction data includes one or more user interaction input values respectively obtained from the corresponding one or more input devices. The user input interaction data includes a word combination. The method includes generating a user interaction-style indicator value corresponding to the word combination in the user input interaction data. The user interaction-style indicator value is a function of the word combination and a portion of the one or more user interaction input values. The method includes determining, using a semantic text analyzer, a semantic assessment of the word combination in the user input interaction data based on the user interaction-style indicator value and a natural language assessment of the word combination. The method includes generating a response to the user input interaction data according to the user interaction-style indicator value and the semantic assessment of the word combination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Barry-John Theobald, Nicholas Elia Apostoloff, Garrett Laws Weinberg, Russell Y. Webb, Katherine Elaine Metcalf
  • Publication number: 20230087611
    Abstract: A method is provided that includes predicting, using a language model, one or more words from a first set of words expected to be difficult for a reader, and providing the first set of words for display to the reader. The predicted one or more words in the first set of words are displayed differently from non-predicted words in the first set of words.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2022
    Publication date: March 23, 2023
    Inventors: Daniel W. BUSBRIDGE, Jason RAMAPURAM, Russell Y. WEBB, Paul G. PUSKARICH
  • Publication number: 20230081346
    Abstract: A generative network may be learned in an adversarial setting with a goal of modifying synthetic data such that a discriminative network may not be able to reliably tell the difference between refined synthetic data and real data. The generative network and discriminative network may work together to learn how to produce more realistic synthetic data with reduced computational cost. The generative network may iteratively learn a function that synthetic data with a goal of generating refined synthetic data that is more difficult for the discriminative network to differentiate from real data, while the discriminative network may be configured to iteratively learn a function that classifies data as either synthetic or real. Over multiple iterations, the generative network may learn to refine the synthetic data to produce refined synthetic data on which other machine learning models may be trained.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2022
    Publication date: March 16, 2023
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ashish Shrivastava, Tomas J. Pfister, Cuneyt O. Tuzel, Russell Y. Webb, Joshua Matthew Susskind
  • Patent number: 11475276
    Abstract: A generative network may be learned in an adversarial setting with a goal of modifying synthetic data such that a discriminative network may not be able to reliably tell the difference between refined synthetic data and real data. The generative network and discriminative network may work together to learn how to produce more realistic synthetic data with reduced computational cost. The generative network may iteratively learn a function that synthetic data with a goal of generating refined synthetic data that is more difficult for the discriminative network to differentiate from real data, while the discriminative network may be configured to iteratively learn a function that classifies data as either synthetic or real. Over multiple iterations, the generative network may learn to refine the synthetic data to produce refined synthetic data on which other machine learning models may be trained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ashish Shrivastava, Tomas J. Pfister, Cuneyt O. Tuzel, Russell Y. Webb, Joshua Matthew Susskind
  • Patent number: 11437039
    Abstract: Modifying operation of an intelligent agent in response to facial expressions and/or emotions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Inventors: Siddharth Khullar, Abhishek Sharma, Jerremy Holland, Nicholas E. Apostoloff, Russell Y. Webb, Tai-Peng Tian, Tomas J. Pfister
  • Publication number: 20220277662
    Abstract: A method includes, while displaying a first set of text content via a display device, determining an engagement value that characterizes a level of user engagement with respect to the first set of text content. The method includes, in accordance with a determination that the engagement value satisfies a threshold, replacing the first set of text content with a second set of text content via the display device. The first set of text content is different from the second set of text content. The method includes in accordance with a determination that the engagement value does not satisfy the threshold, maintaining display of the first set of text content via the display device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2022
    Publication date: September 1, 2022
    Inventors: Barry-John Theobald, Russell Y. Webb, Nicholas Elia Apostoloff
  • Patent number: 11373544
    Abstract: A method includes displaying a first set of text content characterized by a first difficulty level. The method includes obtaining speech data associated with the first set of text content. The method includes determining linguistic feature(s) within the speech data. The method includes in response to completion of the speech data, determining a reading proficiency value associated with the first set of text content and based on the linguistic feature(s). The method includes in accordance with determining the reading proficiency value satisfies change criteria, changing a difficulty level for a second set of text content. After changing the difficulty level, the second set of text content corresponds to a second difficulty level different from the first difficulty level. The method includes in accordance with determining the reading proficiency value does not satisfy the change criteria, maintaining the second set of text content at the first difficulty level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Barry-John Theobald, Russell Y. Webb, Nicholas Elia Apostoloff
  • Patent number: 11130391
    Abstract: A vehicle may have optical structures such as windows and mirrors that have the potential to allow glare from external objects to shine into the eyes of a driver or other vehicle occupant. A control circuit may gather information on where the eyes of the driver are located using a camera mounted in the vehicle and may gather information on where the sun or other source of glare are located outside of the vehicle. Based on this information, the control circuit may direct a light modulator on a window or mirror to selectively darken an area that prevents the glare from reaching the eyes of the driver. The light modulator may have a photochromic layer that is adjusted by shining light onto the photochromic layer, may be a liquid crystal modulator, an electrochromic modulator, or other light modulator layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Inventors: Hyungryul J. Choi, Arthur Y. Zhang, Cheng Chen, Graham B. Myhre, Malcolm J. Northcott, Matheen M. Siddiqui, Russell Y. Webb, Matthew E. Last
  • Publication number: 20210166691
    Abstract: Modifying operation of an intelligent agent in response to facial expressions and/or emotions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Publication date: June 3, 2021
    Inventors: Siddharth Khullar, Abhishek Sharma, Jerremy Holland, Nicholas E. Apostoloff, Russell Y. Webb, Tai-Peng Tian, Tomas J. Pfister
  • Patent number: 10936173
    Abstract: Some embodiments provide a novel user interface (UI) tool that is a unified slider control, which includes multiple sliders that slide along a region. The region is a straight line in some embodiments, while it is an angular arc in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the unified slider control is used in a media editing application to allow a user to modify several different properties of the image by moving several different sliders along the region. Each slider is associated with a property of the image. A position of the slider in the region corresponds to a value of the property associated with the slider.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Randy Ubillos, Garrett M. Johnson, Russell Y. Webb, Timothy D. Cherna, Samuel M. Roberts, Peter Warner
  • Patent number: 10885915
    Abstract: Modifying operation of an intelligent agent in response to facial expressions and/or emotions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Inventors: Siddharth Khullar, Abhishek Sharma, Jerremy Holland, Nicholas E. Apostoloff, Russell Y. Webb, Tai-Peng Tian, Tomas J. Pfister
  • Patent number: 10872228
    Abstract: A method for detecting objects in an environment includes obtaining, from one or more sensors, distance measurements from the one or more sensors to portions of the environment, generating a representation of a three-dimensional space using the distance measurements, identifying object features in the representation of the three-dimensional space using a neural network, comparing the object features to pre-defined three-dimensional templates to generate scores that represent correspondence of the object features to the pre-defined three-dimensional templates, and determining a location and a rotational orientation for a three-dimensional object based on the scores.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Yin Zhou, Russell Y. Webb, Luca Ballan, Cuneyt Oncel Tuzel
  • Patent number: 10853691
    Abstract: A method includes processing an input image using convolution layers to define image features and processing the image features to define feature statistics. Processing the image features includes applying an activation function in a feature dimension of the image features. The method also includes processing the feature statistics using fully connected layers to produce a binary output regarding a characteristic of the input image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Russell Y. Webb, Jason Ramapuram
  • Publication number: 20200312183
    Abstract: A method includes displaying a first set of text content characterized by a first difficulty level. The method includes obtaining speech data associated with the first set of text content. The method includes determining linguistic feature(s) within the speech data. The method includes in response to completion of the speech data, determining a reading proficiency value associated with the first set of text content and based on the linguistic feature(s). The method includes in accordance with determining the reading proficiency value satisfies change criteria, changing a difficulty level for a second set of text content. After changing the difficulty level, the second set of text content corresponds to a second difficulty level different from the first difficulty level. The method includes in accordance with determining the reading proficiency value does not satisfy the change criteria, maintaining the second set of text content at the first difficulty level.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Inventors: Barry-John Theobald, Russell Y. Webb, Nicholas Elia Apostoloff
  • Publication number: 20200311347
    Abstract: A method includes obtaining user input interaction data. The user input interaction data includes one or more user interaction input values respectively obtained from the corresponding one or more input devices. The user input interaction data includes a word combination. The method includes generating a user interaction-style indicator value corresponding to the word combination in the user input interaction data. The user interaction-style indicator value is a function of the word combination and a portion of the one or more user interaction input values. The method includes determining, using a semantic text analyzer, a semantic assessment of the word combination in the user input interaction data based on the user interaction-style indicator value and a natural language assessment of the word combination. The method includes generating a response to the user input interaction data according to the user interaction-style indicator value and the semantic assessment of the word combination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Inventors: Barry-John Theobald, Nicholas Elia Apostoloff, Garrett Laws Weinberg, Russell Y. Webb, Katherine Elaine Metcalf
  • Publication number: 20190348037
    Abstract: Modifying operation of an intelligent agent in response to facial expressions and/or emotions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2017
    Publication date: November 14, 2019
    Inventors: Siddharth Khullar, Abhishek Sharma, Jerremy Holland, Nicholas E. Apostoloff, Russell Y. Webb, Tai-Peng Tian, Tomas J. Pfister
  • Patent number: 10446018
    Abstract: Some embodiments provide a warning prompt control module which adjustably controls the display of warning prompts for vehicle elements in a vehicle, based on a determined profile with which the occupant is associated. An occupant detected in the vehicle interior can be associated with a profile based on a sensor data representation of the occupant correlating with a sensor data representation included in the profile, accessing a profile from a device supporting the occupant, etc. A profile can include interaction history data which indicate historical interactions with warning prompts for a vehicle element. Displaying a warning prompt for a vehicle element can be adjustably controlled based on the interaction history data, included in a profile, which is associated with the vehicle element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Byron B. Han, Kjell F. Bronder, Scott M. Herz, Russell Y. Webb
  • Publication number: 20180304727
    Abstract: A vehicle may have optical structures such as windows and mirrors that have the potential to allow glare from external objects to shine into the eyes of a driver or other vehicle occupant. A control circuit may gather information on where the eyes of the driver are located using a camera mounted in the vehicle and may gather information on where the sun or other source of glare are located outside of the vehicle. Based on this information, the control circuit may direct a light modulator on a window or mirror to selectively darken an area that prevents the glare from reaching the eyes of the driver. The light modulator may have a photochromic layer that is adjusted by shining light onto the photochromic layer, may be a liquid crystal modulator, an electrochromic modulator, or other light modulator layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2016
    Publication date: October 25, 2018
    Inventors: Hyungryul J. CHOI, Arthur Y. ZHANG, Cheng CHEN, Graham B. MYHRE, Malcolm J. NORTHCOTT, Matheen M. SIDDIQUI, Russell Y. WEBB, Matthew E. LAST