Patents by Inventor Timothy D. Sharpe

Timothy D. Sharpe 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: 8909546
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can mitigate privacy concerns in connection with ad targeting or data collection. In particular, architecture can be included in a personal mobile communication device such as a cell phone. During communication transactions between the host device and a peer device, shared information can be extracted either from content included in the communication or from metadata. Based upon the shared information, a social graph maintained on the host device can be updated. In addition, the host device can receive a large set of ads and select or tailor a custom ad from the set based upon the social graph.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Eric J. Horvitz, Brett D. Brewer, Mary P. Czerwinski, Melissa W. Dunn, Karim T. Farouki, Jason Garms, Alexander G. Gounares, Milind V. Mahajan, Jayaram NM Nanduri, Timothy D. Sharpe, Darrell Leroy Blegen
  • Patent number: 7962344
    Abstract: Depiction of a speech user interface via graphical elements is provided. One or more bits of a graphical user interface bitmask are re-designated as speech bits. When a software application processes the re-designated speech bits, a window manager responsible for generating and rendering a graphical user interface for the application passes information to a secondary window manager responsible for generating and rendering a speech user interface. The secondary speech window manager may load a text-to-speech engine, a speech recognizer engine, a lexicon or library of recognizable words or phrases and a set of “grammars” (recognizable words and phrasing) for building a speech user interface that will receive, recognize and act on spoken input to the associated software application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy D. Sharpe, Cameron A. Etezadi
  • Publication number: 20110040627
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides systems and/or methods for propagating viral advertising content to multiple mobile devices without utilizing an intermediary interposing hosting and/or distribution service. The system includes devices that receive viral advertising content on a mobile device, modify the viral advertising content with further viral advertising content previously received from a disparate mobile device, determine sets of recipients to whom the modified viral advertising content can be perceived as compelling, and disseminates the modified viral advertising content to the sets of recipients each of whom can be associated with a disparate mobile device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2009
    Publication date: February 17, 2011
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Brett D. Brewer, Timothy D. Sharpe, Jason Garms, Melissa W. Dunn, Abhiram G. Khune
  • Publication number: 20100332496
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates accessing information content based at least in part on relevancy to a user by leveraging user ambitions. User ambitions can take the form of to-do lists, calendar items, goals, or interests. These can be leveraged with or without contextual information, historical data, user profiles, and the like to determine the relevancy of content to a specific user. This can facilitate determining what content is accessible to a user based on relevance. A threshold relevance level can be dynamically adjusted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2009
    Publication date: December 30, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Eric Horvitz, Brett Brewer, Melissa W. Dunn, Janet Galore, Abhiram G. Khune, Sin Lew, Timothy D. Sharpe
  • Patent number: 7769804
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides systems and/or methods that expand input data. An interface can obtain input data and a wildcard insertion component can modify the input data to include at least one implicit wildcard inserted at an end of each intended word. Additionally, an expansion component can generate a candidate list of expanded data based at least in part on the input data including the at least one implicit wildcard utilizing a language model that provides likely expansions of wildcards. Further, the expansion component can evaluate the input data at a server side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Church, Timothy D. Sharpe, Bo Thiesson
  • Publication number: 20090265242
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can mitigate privacy concerns in connection with ad targeting or data collection. In particular, architecture can be included in a personal mobile communication device such as a cell phone. During communication transactions between the host device and a peer device, shared information can be extracted either from content included in the communication or from metadata. Based upon the shared information, a social graph maintained on the host device can be updated. In addition, the host device can receive a large set of ads and select or tailor a custom ad from the set based upon the social graph.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2009
    Publication date: October 22, 2009
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Eric J. Horvitz, Brett D. Brewer, Mary P. Czerwinski, Melissa W. Dunn, Karim T. Farouki, Jason Garms, Alexander G. Gounares, Milind V. Mahajan, Jayaram NM. Nanduri, Timothy D. Sharpe, Darrell Leroy Blegen
  • Patent number: 7533352
    Abstract: A user interface for a hand-held device is provided that allows users to activate the full “card” for an entry using one gesture on a button while also giving the user the ability to reach a menu of context dependent commands using a second gesture on a button. In particular, certain button inputs are recognized as context menu gestures. When these gestures are made, a context menu appears. The user is then able to select a command in the context menu that is to be performed. A user is also allowed to open context menus while only using one hand to operate and hold the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Chee H. Chew, Elizabeth A. Bastiaanse, Jeffrey R. Blum, Greg A. Keyser, Charlton E. Lui, Kathryn L. Parker, Timothy D. Sharpe, Sarah E. Zuberec
  • Publication number: 20090006099
    Abstract: Depiction of a speech user interface via graphical elements is provided. One or more bits of a graphical user interface bitmask are re-designated as speech bits. When a software application processes the re-designated speech bits, a window manager responsible for generating and rendering a graphical user interface for the application passes information to a secondary window manager responsible for generating and rendering a speech user interface. The secondary speech window manager may load a text-to-speech engine, a speech recognizer engine, a lexicon or library of recognizable words or phrases and a set of “grammars” (recognizable words and phrasing) for building a speech user interface that will receive, recognize and act on spoken input to the associated software application.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2007
    Publication date: January 1, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy D. Sharpe, Cameron A. Etezadi
  • Publication number: 20080140519
    Abstract: Match criteria are provided to specify when advertisements will be shown, for instance in a search environment. Input such as search queries can be represented in a simplified form such as an implicit and/or explicit wildcard expression. Advertisers or other entities can bid on terms such that advertisements or similar content are presented when the terms match an expansion of a simplified input. Matching ads can subsequently be displayed alone or in combination with query expansion suggestions and/or query results.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2006
    Publication date: June 12, 2008
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Bo Thiesson, Christopher A. Meek, Kenneth W. Church, Timothy D. Sharpe
  • Patent number: 7352363
    Abstract: A single press method for entering text using a keypad is disclosed. A conventional four-row by three-column 12-key keypad is used to enter all of the letters of the alphabet using single key actuation. Depending on the letter, either a single key or multiple side-by-side keys, such as a pair of side-by-side keys, that can be substantially simultaneously depressed by a user's finger or thumb are used to enter alphabet letters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Justine E. Coates, Timothy D. Sharpe
  • Publication number: 20040264690
    Abstract: A single press method for entering text using a keypad is disclosed. A conventional four-row by three-column 12-key keypad is used to enter all of the letters of the alphabet using single key actuation. Depending on the letter, either a single key or multiple side-by-side keys, such as a pair of side-by-side keys, that can be substantially simultaneously depressed by a user's finger or thumb are used to enter alphabet letters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2003
    Publication date: December 30, 2004
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Justine E. Coates, Timothy D. Sharpe
  • Publication number: 20040075695
    Abstract: The present invention provides a user interface for a hand-held device that allows users to activate the full “card” for an entry using one gesture on a button while also giving the user the ability to reach a menu of context dependent commands using a second gesture on a button. In particular, the present invention recognizes certain button inputs as context menu gestures. When these gestures are made, a context menu appears. The user is then able to select a command in the context menu that is to be performed. The present invention also allows a user to open context menus while only using one hand to operate and hold the device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2003
    Publication date: April 22, 2004
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Chee H. Chew, Elizabeth A. Bastiaanse, Jeffrey R. Blum, Greg A. Keyser, Charlton E. Lui, Kathryn L. Parker, Timothy D. Sharpe, Sarah E. Zuberec
  • Patent number: 6664991
    Abstract: The present invention provides a user interface for a pen-based device that allows users to activate the full “card” for an entry using a single tap while also giving the user the ability to reach a menu of context dependent commands using a simple gesture. In particular, the present invention recognizes certain stylus and/or button inputs as context menu gestures. When these gestures are made, a context menu appears. The user is then able to select a command in the context menu that is to be performed. The present invention also allows a user to open context menus while only using one hand to operate and hold the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2003
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Chee H. Chew, Elizabeth A. Bastiaanse, Jeffrey R. Blum, Greg A. Keyser, Charlton E. Lui, Kathryn L. Parker, Timothy D. Sharpe, Sarah E. Zuberec