Patents by Inventor Sam Spencer

Sam Spencer 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: 9057772
    Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus for estimating the features of a radio frequency signal including a reference signal generator configured for generating a reference signal from a complex signal and one or more feature estimation units configured to generate one or more feature estimates from the reference signal and the complex signal. Techniques for creating reference signals from both signals spread by a scrambling code and FM signals are discussed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Carlos J. Chavez, W. Sam Spencer, Shubha L. Kadambe, Robert J. Frank, Gina M. Reyes, Michael N. Newhouse, Jason A. Fuemmeler
  • Patent number: 8743854
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for signal separation and SINR improvement is disclosed. In particular, disclosed is an iterative technique whereby a noisy signal, that may include signals from one or more distinct emitters, is first improved through an SINR improvement technique. Next, one signal from the noisy signal is identified and a reference signal substantially free of noise and interference is generated for this signal, and then this reference signal is subtracted from the noisy signal. This process is repeated until no other signals may be identified. In this way, the signal with the highest SINR may be identified first and then removed from the original signal. As such, the identified signal is no longer present as interference for the remaining signals, thus improving each of the remaining signals' respective SINRs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Jason A. Fuemmeler, Gina M. Reyes, Shubha L. Kadambe, Robert J. Frank, Carlos J. Chavez, W. Sam Spencer, Michael N. Newhouse
  • Patent number: 8567327
    Abstract: A manually operable seeding device comprises an elongate body portion having a trough section formed therein, and a plurality of openings formed through the body portion in or adjacent the trough section. The plurality of openings is spaced one from another a distance that corresponds to a spacing at which it is desired that plants germinating from the seeds will grow. A method of manually seeding a plant bed is also provided, including: obtaining a seeding device that comprises an elongate body portion having a trough section formed therein and a plurality of openings formed through the body portion in or adjacent the trough section; positioning the seeding device atop or partially below the ground surface; and delivering at least one seed through each of the openings to bed the seed within or atop the ground surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Inventor: Sam Spencer
  • Patent number: 8494464
    Abstract: An apparatus for sensing and classifying radio communications is provided. The apparatus includes one or more sensor units configured to detect radio frequency signals, a signal classifier configured to classify the detected radio frequency signals into a classification, the classification including at least one known signal type and an unknown signal type, a clustering learning algorithm capable of finding clusters of common signals among the previously seen unknown signals. The system is then further configured to use these clusters to retrain the signal classifier to recognize these signals as a new signal type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Shubba L. Kadambe, Benjamin J. Haan, Jason A. Fuemmeler, W. Sam Spencer, Carlos J. Chavez, Robert J. Frank
  • Patent number: 8418132
    Abstract: A method and system for creating and modifying computer applications using an application description language based on a markup language is provided. An engine creates, connects, and initializes objects corresponding to entities, and specified by entity tags. A factory may be specified by an entity tag and used to create a plurality of entities. Applications are specified in a plaintext descriptive language using a markup language such as XML, enabling applications to be easily developed using object oriented techniques and abstraction. Altering preexisting applications is also simplified. Finally, an application may be dynamically reconfigured when the application's data changes. Type checking and conditional creation of entities is supported.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Antony S. Williams, Stephen M. Danton, Arye Gittelman, Christopher D. Hackmann, Sam Spencer, Siddharth Jayadevan, Vladimir H. Hristov, William E. Aitken
  • Patent number: 8392149
    Abstract: A apparatus configured to detect the presence of one or more unknown signals in the presence of noise and/or interference. The apparatus includes an input configured to receive an input data from a sensor, an integrator configured to integrate the power of the input data over a period of time, and a comparator configured to compare the integrated power to a threshold to determine if the input data contains at least one signal, or if the input data contains noise only. The apparatus may further include a mean estimator configured to estimate the mean of the power integrated input data over a period of time, a variance estimator configured to estimate the variance of the power integrated input data over a period of time, and a threshold calculator configured to calculate the threshold value based on the estimated mean or estimate mean and estimated variance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: W. Sam Spencer, Carlos J. Chavez
  • Patent number: 8356058
    Abstract: Techniques for determining and tracking dependent properties for a calculated property are provided. A request for a value of a first property is received. The value for the first property is calculated, including accessing values for one or more properties used to calculate the value for the first property. The accessing of the values for the one or more properties may be detected, and the one or more properties may be tracked as dependent properties for the first property in a first set of dependent properties. A change in the value of a second property may subsequently be detected. If the second property is determined to be included in the first set of dependent properties, the value of the first property is invalidated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Sam Spencer, John Rivard, Stephen Provine
  • Patent number: 8326240
    Abstract: An apparatus for identifying a specific emitter in the presence of noise and/or interference is disclosed. The apparatus includes a sensor configured to sense radio frequency signal data, the signal data containing noise and signal from at least one emitter, a reference estimation unit configured to estimate a reference signal relating to the signal transmitted by one emitter, a feature estimation unit configured to generate one or more estimates of one or more feature from the reference signal and the signal transmitted by that particular emitter, and an emitter identifier configured to identify the signal transmitted by that particular emitter as belonging to a specific device using one or more feature estimates. The emitter identifier identifies the signal transmitted by that particular emitter as belonging to a specific device using Gaussian Mixture Models and the Bayesian decision engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2012
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Shubha L. Kadambe, Jason A. Fuemmeler, Carlos J. Chavez, W. Sam Spencer, Gina M. Reyes, Robert J. Frank, Michael N. Newhouse
  • Publication number: 20110119681
    Abstract: Techniques for determining and tracking dependent properties for a calculated property are provided. A request for a value of a first property is received. The value for the first property is calculated, including accessing values for one or more properties used to calculate the value for the first property. The accessing of the values for the one or more properties may be detected, and the one or more properties may be tracked as dependent properties for the first property in a first set of dependent properties. A change in the value of a second property may subsequently be detected. If the second property is determined to be included in the first set of dependent properties, the value of the first property is invalidated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2009
    Publication date: May 19, 2011
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sam Spencer, John Rivard, Stephen Provine
  • Patent number: 7802179
    Abstract: The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for synchronizing data between different editor views. Embodiments of the present invention can be used to incrementally parse a portion of a document using a mark-up language (e.g., HTML) snippet. The parsed snippet is then merged back into the main document. Accordingly, code changes in a text view can be integrated into a design view's main document structure (e.g., parse tree) such that the preservation information for the parsed snippet is merged with the preservation information for the rest of the document. Fully reparsing the document is not required and incremental reparsing can be done in automated fashion. Thus, a document can be automatically re-outputted with full preservation of what the document would have looked like in code view without fully reparsing the document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Charles Y. Bissonnette, Mikhail E. Arkhipov, Sam Spencer
  • Patent number: 7716574
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for providing direct style sheet editing. The disclosed systems and methods may include selecting a first target rule for a next formatting operation. The selected first target rule may include a modified property and may be selected from a plurality of target rules. Furthermore, the disclosed systems and methods may include enabling property changes to occur in a most specific target rule in the plurality of target rules. The most specific target rule may contain the modified property. Moreover, the disclosed systems and methods may include providing a highlighting mechanism configured to allow a user to see which regions of a page are to be affected by the selected first target rule.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel P. Chartier, Benjamin C. Constable, Sam Spencer, Hessan Tchaitchian
  • Patent number: 7607066
    Abstract: Suggested corrections for a code error are provided by a compiler or code editor, for example. Thus, there is much less ambiguity about how an error should be corrected. Preferably, a predetermined number of suggested corrections are presented to the user (e.g., up to three suggestions), and the user can choose a desired suggested correction. Corrections for a given error can be made, not only at the location of the error, but throughout the code document, or other files in the user's solution. Furthermore, by undoing one correction and trying another, the user can go through all of the suggested corrections to determine which suggestion would be most preferable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew Wayne Gertz, Sam Spencer, Ernest Kien-Keung Tong, Li Zhang
  • Patent number: 7526753
    Abstract: A code segment and elements of information (e.g., meta information) associated with the code segment are encoded in an XML file. One or more encoded code segments are saved within a library of encoded code segments. An encoded code segment may be selected and inserted into a source code file. When the encoded code is inserted into the source code, associated elements required by the code segment are automatically included and the portions of the code segments that may require modification are identified. The code segments are managed and organized so that sharing of code segments is facilitated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Sam Spencer, Matthew W. Gertz, Ting Liang, James R. Schmelzer, Amanda K. Silver
  • Patent number: 7516441
    Abstract: A system and method of providing edit and continue support in a software program debugging environment. “Edit and continue” support allows a user (e.g., programmer and/or developer) to update the code and/or data structure(s) of an executing program while it is running. After the user has finished editing their code and resumes execution, an integrated development environment (IDE) propagates the edit(s) into a common language runtime (CLR) environment before continuing. Therefore, from the CLR environment's perspective, an edit is a block of intermediate language code (IL) and/or metadata that is inserted into a running process. Moreover, The IDE can facilitate: determining “legality” of an edit; building the edit; sending the edit to the CLR environment; and/or, facilitating the CLR environment switch execution to the edited code.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jennifer A Hamilton, Michael M Magruder, James H Hogg, William G Evans, Vance P Morrison, Lawrence B Sullivan, Sean E Trowbridge, Jason L Zander, Ian H Carmichael, Patrick H Dussud, John L Hamby, John J Rivard, Li Zhang, Mario Chenier, Douglas Rosen, Steven J Steiner, Peter A Hallam, Brian R Crawford, James S Miller, Sam Spencer, Habib Heydarian
  • Patent number: 7434207
    Abstract: Floating or movable windows are provided to display information during debugging, either above the source code, or attached to the source code in the locations that they are relevant to. The floating windows can be semi-transparent in order to allow visibility to both the information in the window and the underlying information such as source code. The windows have different behavior, location, and look, depending on the type of information displayed in window and its relation to the underlying code.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Sam Spencer
  • Publication number: 20080155397
    Abstract: The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for synchronizing data between different editor views. Embodiments of the present invention can be used to incrementally parse a portion of a document using a mark-up language (e.g., HTML) snippet. The parsed snippet is then merged back into the main document. Accordingly, code changes in a text view can be integrated into a design view's main document structure (e.g., parse tree) such that the preservation information for the parsed snippet is merged with the preservation information for the rest of the document. Fully reparsing the document is not required and incremental reparsing can be done in automated fashion. Thus, a document can be automatically re-outputted with full preservation of what the document would have looked like in code view without fully reparsing the document.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2006
    Publication date: June 26, 2008
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Charles Y. Bissonnette, Mikhail E. Arkhipov, Sam Spencer
  • Patent number: 7337393
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for providing an editable visual formatting model. The disclosed systems and methods may include providing visual formatting properties. The visual formatting properties may comprise an outer-most polygon corresponding to a container of a selected element, a middle polygon corresponding to a margin of the selected element, and an inner-most polygon corresponding to a padding of the selected element. Furthermore, the disclosed systems and methods may include providing interactive handles configured to provide design view editing of the visual formatting properties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel P. Chartier, Benjamin C. Constable, Sam Spencer
  • Patent number: 7210132
    Abstract: Interoperability of a first framework or platform (e.g., COM) and a second different framework or platform (e.g., .NET) is provided via an attribute mechanism. The attribute mechanism is provided in a non-COM based platform (e.g., .NET) to expose classes to COM. In this manner, a compiler (e.g., the .NET compiler) creates class and events interfaces and adds attributes to the class and interfaces as appropriate for correct interoperability and marshaling. By adding this attribute mechanism to a class in .NET, the .NET compiler is able to use the class declarations (such as public methods, properties, and events) to automatically generate a class interface and an events interface, including appropriate dispatch IDs and GUIDs. Validation is performed on the class being mapped to provide an indication, such as an error message or warning, to the user that the underlying framework marshaling layer cannot marshal certain data types as desired or expected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2007
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: John J. Rivard, Sam Spencer
  • Publication number: 20070061715
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for providing an editable visual formatting model. The disclosed systems and methods may include providing visual formatting properties. The visual formatting properties may comprise an outer-most polygon corresponding to a container of a selected element, a middle polygon corresponding to a margin of the selected element, and an inner-most polygon corresponding to a padding of the selected element. Furthermore, the disclosed systems and methods may include providing interactive handles configured to provide design view editing of the visual formatting properties.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2005
    Publication date: March 15, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel Chartier, Benjamin Constable, Sam Spencer
  • Publication number: 20070061710
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for providing direct style sheet editing. The disclosed systems and methods may include selecting a first target rule for a next formatting operation. The selected first target rule may include a modified property and may be selected from a plurality of target rules. Furthermore, the disclosed systems and methods may include enabling property changes to occur in a most specific target rule in the plurality of target rules. The most specific target rule may contain the modified property. Moreover, the disclosed systems and methods may include providing a highlighting mechanism configured to allow a user to see which regions of a page are to be affected by the selected first target rule.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2005
    Publication date: March 15, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel Chartier, Benjamin Constable, Sam Spencer