Patents by Inventor Steven James Ball

Steven James Ball 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: 20230177135
    Abstract: According to examples, an apparatus may include a processor and a memory on which is stored machine-readable instructions that when executed by the processor, may cause the processor to cause a graphical user interface to be displayed, the graphical user interface including graphical icons of a plurality of authentication types available for assignment to users and a graphical icon of a first user. The instructions may also cause the processor to detect a movement of a graphical icon of a first authentication type from a first location to a second location in the graphical user interface, the second location corresponding to the graphical icon of the first user and based on the detected movement, assign the first authentication type to the first user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2021
    Publication date: June 8, 2023
    Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Steven James BALL, Michael Vincent MCLAUGHLIN
  • Publication number: 20210357491
    Abstract: According to examples, an apparatus may include a memory on which is stored machine-readable instructions that may cause a processor to receive a user credential from a terminal, in which the user credential is stored in a machine-readable code on a user device and the terminal obtained the machine-readable code from the user device. The processor may also identify at least one authentication factor associated with the user based on the user credential, in which the authentication factor(s) includes a physical location associated with the user and/or a time-based factor. The processor may further determine whether the authentication factor(s) indicates that the user is to be granted access to the terminal and based on a determination that the authentication factor(s) indicates that the user is to be granted access to the terminal, may grant the user access to the terminal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2020
    Publication date: November 18, 2021
    Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Rachel Anne Brown TELLER, Sarat Chandra SUBRAMANIAM, Steven James BALL
  • Publication number: 20210089500
    Abstract: A file sharing service having an aliasing service for use with a file sharing program is disclosed. The aliasing service receives a file sharing invitation from a file sender account of the file sharing program. The file sharing invitation is addressed to a first contact channel of a set of contact channels. A second contact channel is determined from the set of contact channels based on the file sharing account. The file sharing invitation is sent to the second contact channel, in which the first contact channel is different than the second contact channel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Publication date: March 25, 2021
    Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Steven James Ball, Eugene Lin
  • Patent number: 10284492
    Abstract: A method and system for controlling casting to a media renderer is provided. A casting control system receives from a requesting device a request to cast media to the media renderer. In response to receiving the request, the casting control system identifies a gatekeeper for the media renderer and notifies the gatekeeper that a request has been received to cast media to the media renderer. After the casting control system receives from the gatekeeper an indication to grant or deny the request, the casting control system allows or denies the casting of the media to the media renderer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Ariel Gordon, Steven James Ball, Benjamin Richard Vincent
  • Publication number: 20180048590
    Abstract: A method and system for controlling casting to a media renderer is provided. A casting control system receives from a requesting device a request to cast media to the media renderer. In response to receiving the request, the casting control system identifies a gatekeeper for the media renderer and notifies the gatekeeper that a request has been received to cast media to the media renderer. After the casting control system receives from the gatekeeper an indication to grant or deny the request, the casting control system allows or denies the casting of the media to the media renderer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2016
    Publication date: February 15, 2018
    Inventors: Ariel Gordon, Steven James Ball, Benjamin Richard Vincent
  • Publication number: 20130179414
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides for systems and/or methods for accessing and/or updating files by a first application in which the first application does not have direct accessibility to said file. In some embodiments, file host applications that are not directly accessible to said first application may be connected to through a file picker extensibility point that enable the first application to acquire files through an operating system user experience. In these various embodiments, the system may provide for one or more of the following functionalities: (1) refreshing content that is controlled by a file host application; (2) updating content that is controlled by a file host application; (3) exporting files from an application to a file host application; (4) a user interface for export operations and file host application intervention and (5) a file host extensibility point provided by the operating system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 6, 2012
    Publication date: July 11, 2013
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Scott David Hoogerwerf, David Charles Fields, Michael John Novak, Richard Jacob White, Dennis Lawrence Davis, Gabriel Shawn DeBacker, Jeffrey Jay Johnson, Manav Mishra, Steven James Ball