Patents by Inventor Walton Lin

Walton Lin 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: 20240095264
    Abstract: A map-based graphical user interface for a social media application displays to special social media activity information based on submission of geo-tagged social media items to the platform. For users and or submitted items that need predefined location fuzzing criteria, such activity is represented in the graphical user interface at an intentionally inaccurate position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2022
    Publication date: March 21, 2024
    Inventors: Daniel Amitay, Jonathan Dale Brody, Leonid Gorkin, Jeffrey Arthur Johnson, Andrew Lin, Walton Lin, John Rauser, Amer Shahnawaz, Evan Spiegel, Marcel M. Yung
  • Publication number: 20240073051
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for coordinating a side conversation within a virtual conferencing system. The program and method provide, for each of plural participants within a room, display of a participant video element correspond to the participant and including a user-selectable button to initiate a side conversation with the participant; receive indication of a user selection, by a first participant, of the user-selectable button for initiating the side conversation with a second participant; provide for a side conversation between a first device of the first participant and a second device of the second participant, the first and second participants maintaining presence in the room during the side conversation; and cause, for each of the plural participants, modified display of the participant video elements corresponding to the first and second participants, to indicate the side conversation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2022
    Publication date: February 29, 2024
    Inventor: Walton Lin
  • Publication number: 20240064037
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for providing a room preview within a virtual conferencing system. The program and method provide for virtual conferencing between plural participants within a first room of plural rooms, the plural rooms being included within a virtual space for virtual conferencing; and for each of the plural participants, provide a first audio channel associated with audio output of the first room, provide display of a room preview element within the first room, the room preview element corresponding to a live preview of a second room of the plural rooms, and provide a second audio channel associated with audio output of the second room.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2023
    Publication date: February 22, 2024
    Inventors: Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin
  • Patent number: 11893647
    Abstract: Among other things, embodiments of the present disclosure improve the functionality of electronic messaging and imaging software and systems by determining the current activities of users based on location sensor information from the users' computing devices and generating customized media content items based on their activities. The media content can be generated for a variety of topics and shared with other users. For example, media content (e.g., images or video) can be generated and displayed on a user's computing device, as well as transmitted to other users via electronic communications, such as short message service (SMS) or multimedia service (MMS) texts and emails.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Jonathan Brody, Leonid Gorkin, Andrew Lin, Evan Spiegel, Daniel Amitay, Sheridan Kates, Walton Lin, John Rauser, Amer Shahnawaz, Marcel M. Yung
  • Patent number: 11880560
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for providing bot participants for virtual conferencing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin
  • Publication number: 20240012550
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for providing bot participants for virtual conferencing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2023
    Publication date: January 11, 2024
    Inventors: Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin
  • Publication number: 20230421405
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for mixing participant audio from multiple rooms within a virtual conferencing system. The program and method provide, in association with designing a first room for virtual conferencing, display of a user interface for mixing participant audio from one or more second rooms into an audio channel for the first room; receive indication of user input via the user interface, the user input corresponding to settings for mixing the participant audio from the one or more second rooms; and provide, based on the settings and in association with virtual conferencing within the first room, for mixing the participant audio from one or more second rooms with respect to the audio channel for the first room.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2023
    Publication date: December 28, 2023
    Inventors: Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin
  • Patent number: 11855796
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for presenting an overview of participant reactions to a virtual conference. The program and method provide for a virtual conference between plural participants; provide, for each of the plural participants, display of reaction buttons which are selectable by the participant to indicate different reactions to the virtual conference; receive indication of selections of the reaction buttons by one or more of the plural participants; store an indication of the selections over time in association with recording the virtual conference; generate a graphical overview of reactions to the virtual conference based on the stored indication of the selections; and provide, for a first participant of the plural participants, display of the graphical overview.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin
  • Patent number: 11842411
    Abstract: Among other things, embodiments of the present disclosure improve the functionality of electronic messaging and imaging software and systems by determining the current activities of users based on location sensor information from the users' computing devices and generating customized media content items based on their activities. The media content can be generated for a variety of topics and shared with other users. For example, media content (e.g., images or video) can be generated and displayed on a user's computing device, as well as transmitted to other users via electronic communications, such as short message service (SMS) or multimedia service (MMS) texts and emails.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: SNAP INC.
    Inventors: Daniel Amitay, Jonathan Brody, Leonid Gorkin, Sheridan Kates, Andrew Lin, Walton Lin, John Rauser, Amer Shahnawaz, Evan Spiegel, Marcel M. Yung
  • Publication number: 20230379491
    Abstract: Systems and methods herein describe a video compression system. The described systems and methods accesses a sequence of image frames from a first computing device, the sequence of image frames comprising a first image frame and a second image frame, detects a first set of keypoints for the first image frame, transmits the first image frame and the first set of keypoints to a second computing device, detects a second set of keypoints for the second image frame, transmits the second set of keypoints to the second computing device, causes an animated image to be displayed on the second computing device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2023
    Publication date: November 23, 2023
    Inventors: Sergey Demyanov, Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin, Aleksei Podkin, Aleksei Stoliar, Sergey Tulyakov
  • Publication number: 20230344881
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for communicating with a user external to a virtual conference. The program and method provide, in association with designing a room for virtual conferencing, an interface for configuring an external communication element to communicate with an external user; receive, via the interface, an indication of first user input for setting properties for the external communication element; provide, in association with virtual conferencing for the room, the external communication element in the room based on the properties; receive an indication of second user input selecting the external communication element; and provide, in response to receiving indication of the second user input, for communication with the external user based on the properties.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2023
    Publication date: October 26, 2023
    Inventors: Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin
  • Publication number: 20230336691
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for configuring participant video feeds within a virtual conferencing system. The program and method provide, in association with designing a room for virtual conferencing, an interface for configuring plural participant video elements which are assignable to respective participant video feeds; receive, via the interface, an indication of user input for setting properties for the plural participant video elements; provide, in association with virtual conferencing between plural participants, display of the room based on the properties for the plural participant video elements; and assign, for each of the plural participants, a participant video feed corresponding to the participant with a respective participant video element of the plural participant video elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2023
    Publication date: October 19, 2023
    Inventors: Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin
  • Patent number: 11792031
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for mixing participant audio from multiple rooms within a virtual conferencing system. The program and method provide, in association with designing a first room for virtual conferencing, display of a user interface for mixing participant audio from one or more second rooms into an audio channel for the first room; receive indication of user input via the user interface, the user input corresponding to settings for mixing the participant audio from the one or more second rooms; and provide, based on the settings and in association with virtual conferencing within the first room, for mixing the participant audio from one or more second rooms with respect to the audio channel for the first room.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: SNAP INC.
    Inventors: Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin
  • Patent number: 11789179
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for analyzing messages generated by a plurality of computing devices associated with a plurality of users in a messaging system to generate training data to train a machine learning model to determine a probability that a media content item was generated inside an enclosed location or outside, receiving a media content item from a computing device, analyzing the media content item using the trained machine learning model to determine a probability that the media content item was generated inside an enclosed location or outside, determining, based on the probability generated by the trained machine learning model, that the media content item was generated inside an enclosed location, and determining an inside temperature associated with the venue based on messages generated by a plurality of computing devices in a messaging system comprising media content items and temperature information for the venue or a similar venue type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Anup Prabhakar Dhalwani, Walton Lin, Andrew Lin, Amer Shahnawaz, Leonid Gorkin, Amber Taylor, Lillian Zheng, Eric Wood
  • Patent number: 11784841
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for presenting participant reactions to a virtual conference. The program and method provide for a virtual conference between plural participants; provide, for each of the plural participants, display of a reaction button which is selectable by the participant to indicate a reaction to the virtual conference; receive indication of selections of the reaction button by one or more of the plural participants; and in response to receiving the indication, provide, for each of the plural participants, display of reaction icons and audio output based on the selections, determine that a rate at which the selections were received meets a threshold rate, and provide, in response to the determining, for modified audio output associated with the selections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Maxwell Gale, Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin
  • Patent number: 11782574
    Abstract: A server-side administrative interface for a social media platform allows for restriction of defined geographical areas. Social media items originating from such restricted areas are automatically filtered or age-restricted for availability via a map-based graphical user interface of the social media platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel Amitay, Jonathan Brody, Maxwell Gale, Timothy Jordan Garcia, Daniel Vincent Grippi, Jeffrey Arthur Johnson, Sheridan Kates, Andrew Lin, Walton Lin, Gaurav Misra, Suraj Vindana Samaranayake, Amer Shahnawaz, Evan Spiegel
  • Publication number: 20230280879
    Abstract: A map-based graphical user interface (GUI) for a public messaging platform allows a user location-based to their own expired ephemeral content. Such expired content is no longer available to other users for online viewing. The user can, however, switch the GUI between a live mode and a historical mode, access to their own expired content in the historical mode being facilitated in a manner closely similar to that for viewing live publicly available content.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2023
    Publication date: September 7, 2023
    Inventors: Daniel Amitay, Jonathan Brody, Maxwell Gale, Timothy Jordan Garcia, Daniel Vincent Grippi, Jeffrey Arthur Johnson, Sheridan Kates, Andrew Lin, Walton Lin, Gaurav Misra, Suraj Vindana Samaranayake, Amer Shahnawaz, Evan Spiegel
  • Publication number: 20230283494
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for updating element properties based on distances between elements in a virtual conference. The program and method provide, in association with designing a room, an interface for specifying how a first element in the room affects at least one property value of a second element, based on distance between the two elements; receive user selection of parameter values specifying how the first element affects the at least one property value of the second element based on the distance; provide a virtual conference between plural participants within the room including the first and second elements; update the at least one property value of the second element based on a change in distance between the first and second elements, and on the parameter values; and provide for updated display of the second element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2023
    Publication date: September 7, 2023
    Inventors: Emily Cho, Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin
  • Patent number: 11740758
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for presenting participant reactions within a virtual working environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Brandon Francis, Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin
  • Patent number: 11736717
    Abstract: Systems and methods herein describe a video compression system. The described systems and methods accesses a sequence of image frames from a first computing device, the sequence of image frames comprising a first image frame and a second image frame, detects a first set of keypoints for the first image frame, transmits the first image frame and the first set of keypoints to a second computing device, detects a second set of keypoints for the second image frame, transmits the second set of keypoints to the second computing device, causes an animated image to be displayed on the second computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Sergey Demyanov, Andrew Cheng-min Lin, Walton Lin, Aleksei Podkin, Aleksei Stoliar, Sergey Tulyakov