Patents by Inventor Safford T. Black

Safford T. Black 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: 11016651
    Abstract: A computer-implemented system that transforms one or more project plans to create a graphical project view. The project view contains a set of markers in rows and along a time axis, with each marker having associated text that must be placed into the project view in a manner that does not interfere with other nearby markers or other nearby text. To avoid such collisions, the user may turn on an algorithm that finds an optimal text position by seeking available white space. The user may also choose to invoke one or more escape paths which apply transformations to the conflicting text to either change the amount of space that they require, change the location of the text to a less-crowded location, increase the amount of available whitespace, or a combination of these approaches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Chronicle Graphics, inc.
    Inventors: Safford T. Black, James L. Black, Nathan W. Black
  • Patent number: 10380772
    Abstract: A computer-implemented system that transforms one or more project plans to create a graphical project view. The project view contains a set of markers along a time axis, and one or more time axis rules which define the appearance of discontinuous timespans, non-linear timespans, or both along the time axis. Once created, users may alter its appearance by adding, removing, or changing the time axis rules to modify the set of timespans along the time axis. Timespan adjustment also causes markers to shift horizontally and adjust their widths so that the dates on the time axis always align with the dates of the markers. The system also can create templates containing time axis rules and other settings, but no markers. Templates are used to create new project views from different project plans, while maintaining the same time axis geometry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Inventors: Safford T Black, James L Black, Nathan W Black
  • Patent number: 10282688
    Abstract: A computer-implemented system that transforms one or more project plans to create a graphical project view. The appearance of the project view is determined by a default style, one or more style rules applied to each task or milestone in the chart, or both. Once the project view has been created, users may alter its appearance by changing the default style settings, modifying the data-driven style rules, or by manually changing the appearance of selected tasks and milestones to deviate from the default style or style rules. As project plans are updated, the project view may be refreshed to create a new snapshot, or to replace an existing snapshot. As data is refreshed, the system will preserve manual style changes, and will also reapply style rules, which may result in a change to the project view's appearance. Snapshots may have different appearances, based on rules and manual changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Inventors: Safford T Black, James L Black
  • Publication number: 20190130611
    Abstract: A computer-implemented system that transforms one or more project plans to create a graphical project view. The project view contains a set of markers along a time axis, and one or more time axis rules which define the appearance of discontinuous timespans, non-linear timespans, or both along the time axis. Once created, users may alter its appearance by adding, removing, or changing the time axis rules to modify the set of timespans along the time axis. Timespan adjustment also causes markers to shift horizontally and adjust their widths so that the dates on the time axis always align with the dates of the markers. The system also can create templates containing time axis rules and other settings, but no markers. Templates are used to create new project views from different project plans, while maintaining the same time axis geometry.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2017
    Publication date: May 2, 2019
    Inventors: Safford T. Black, James L. Black, Nathan W. Black
  • Patent number: 9535893
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for collecting, animating in chronological sequence, and presenting the progression of events is disclosed. The method includes providing a set of event data to form a database, the data relating to events that constrained, summarized, or led up to some of the events. Then presenting the database graphically to allow user selection and editing of the Event data in the database to create a set of Events to be presented in an animated manner, and then assigning properties to the manner of presentation of the set of Events to be presented in an animated manner to create a movie. The movement of the movie is provided by an engine that moves a cursor along the timeline to represent the forward or backward change of time and displaying a marker representing an Event from Event data contained in the database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Inventors: James L Black, Safford T Black
  • Publication number: 20160103578
    Abstract: A computer-implemented system that transforms one or more project plans to create a graphical project view. The appearance of the project view is determined by a default style, one or more style rules applied to each task or milestone in the chart, or both. Once the project view has been created, users may alter its appearance by changing the default style settings, modifying the data-driven style rules, or by manually changing the appearance of selected tasks and milestones to deviate from the default style or style rules. As project plans are updated, the project view may be refreshed to create a new snapshot, or to replace an existing snapshot. As data is refreshed, the system will preserve manual style changes, and will also reapply style rules, which may result in a change to the project view's appearance. Snapshots may have different appearances, based on rules and manual changes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2015
    Publication date: April 14, 2016
    Inventors: Safford T. Black, James L. Black
  • Patent number: 9251487
    Abstract: A computer-implemented system that transforms one or more project plans to create a graphical project view. The appearance of the project view is determined by a default style, one or more style rules applied to each task or milestone in the chart, or both. Once the project view has been created, users may alter its appearance by changing the default style settings, modifying the data-driven style rules, or by manually changing the appearance of selected tasks and milestones to deviate from the default style or style rules. As project plans are updated, the project view may be refreshed to create a new snapshot, or to replace an existing snapshot. As data is refreshed, the system will preserve manual style changes, and will also reapply style rules, which may result in a change to the project view's appearance. Snapshots may have different appearances, based on rules and manual changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Inventors: Safford T Black, James L Black
  • Publication number: 20140365938
    Abstract: A computer-implemented system that transforms one or more project plans to create a graphical project view. The appearance of the project view is determined by a default style, one or more style rules applied to each task or milestone in the chart, or both. Once the project view has been created, users may alter its appearance by changing the default style settings, modifying the data-driven style rules, or by manually changing the appearance of selected tasks and milestones to deviate from the default style or style rules. As project plans are updated, the project view may be refreshed to create a new snapshot, or to replace an existing snapshot. As data is refreshed, the system will preserve manual style changes, and will also reapply style rules, which may result in a change to the project view's appearance. Snapshots may have different appearances, based on rules and manual changes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2013
    Publication date: December 11, 2014
    Inventors: Safford T. Black, James L. Black
  • Publication number: 20140006938
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for collecting, animating in chronological sequence, and presenting the progression of events is disclosed. The method includes providing a set of event data to form a database, the data relating to events that constrained, summarized, or led up to some of the events. Then presenting the database graphically to allow user selection and editing of the Event data in the database to create a set of Events to be presented in an animated manner, and then assigning properties to the manner of presentation of the set of Events to be presented in an animated manner to create a movie. The movement of the movie is provided by an engine that moves a cursor along the timeline to represent the forward or backward change of time and displaying a marker representing an Event from Event data contained in the database.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2013
    Publication date: January 2, 2014
    Applicant: CHRONICLE GRAPHICS, INC
    Inventors: James L. Black, Safford T. Black