Patents by Inventor William Blank

William Blank 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: 8971810
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides for systems and/or methods for a dynamic range wireless access point to initiate deliberate and/or selective communications with one or more wireless devices over a short range radio path. One embodiment of an access point system comprises a processor that transfers one or more wireless devices to a long range radio path once a transition condition has been met. In another embodiment, an access point system may affect transactions between user/customer's smart devices and a commercial place of business where the access point system and the smart devices initiate communications when the smart devices are deliberately placed within the proximity of the access point antenna and/or the smart devices are brought within the vicinity of the access point antenna such as by passing through the entrance or exit to the place of business.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Jeffrey Herron, Gerald DeJean, II, Darko Kirovski, Miller Abel, Craig Brenner, William Blank
  • Publication number: 20140247822
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides for systems and/or methods for a dynamic range wireless access point to initiate deliberate and/or selective communications with one or more wireless devices over a short range radio path. One embodiment of an access point system comprises a processor that transfers one or more wireless devices to a long range radio path once a transition condition has been met. In another embodiment, an access point system may affect transactions between user/customer's smart devices and a commercial place of business where the access point system and the smart devices initiate communications when the smart devices are deliberately placed within the proximity of the access point antenna and/or the smart devices are brought within the vicinity of the access point antenna such as by passing through the entrance or exit to the place of business.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2014
    Publication date: September 4, 2014
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey Herron, Gerald DeJean, II, Darko Kirovski, Miller Abel, Craig Brenner, William Blank
  • Publication number: 20070208930
    Abstract: A novel microprocessor interface circuit is described which can alternately emit and detect light using only an LED, two digital I/O pins and a single current limiting resistor. This technique is first applied to create a smart illumination system that uses a single LED as both light source and sensor. We then present several devices that use an LED as a generic wireless serial data port. An important implication of this work is that every LED connected to a microprocessor can be thought of as a wireless two-way communication port. We present this technology as a solution to the “last centimeter problem”, because it permits disparate devices to communicate with each other simply and cheaply with minimal design modification.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2006
    Publication date: September 6, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: William Blank, Robert Atkinson
  • Publication number: 20050254662
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method and system for automatic calibration of an acoustic system. The acoustic system may include a source A/V device, calibration computing device, and multiple rendering devices. The calibration system may include a calibration component attached to each rendering device and a source calibration module. The calibration component on each rendering device includes a microphone. The source calibration module includes distance and optional angle calculation tools for automatically determining a distance between the rendering device and a specified reference point upon return of the test signal from the calibration component.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2004
    Publication date: November 17, 2005
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: William Blank, Kevin Schofield, Kirk Olynyk, Robert Atkinson, James Johnston, Michael Van Flandern
  • Publication number: 20050093876
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for variable source rate sampling in connection with image rendering, which accumulate and resolve over all samples forward mapped to each pixel bin. In accordance with the invention, the textured surface to be rendered is sampled, or oversampled, at a variable rate that reflects variations in frequency among different regions, taking into account any transformation that will be applied to the surface prior to rendering and the view parameters of the display device, thus ensuring that each bin of the rendering process receives at least a predetermined minimum number of samples. A variety of image processing applications are contemplated wherein variable rate source sampling, and accumulation and resolution of forward mapped point samples can be applied, ranging from 3-D graphics applications to applications wherein images recorded in a recording/storage environment are mapped to the arbitrary requirements of a display environment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2004
    Publication date: May 5, 2005
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: John Snyder, John Whitted, William Blank, Kirk Olynyk
  • Publication number: 20050035973
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for variable source rate sampling in connection with image rendering, which accumulate and resolve over all samples forward mapped to each pixel bin. In accordance with the invention, the textured surface to be rendered is sampled, or oversampled, at a variable rate that reflects variations in frequency among different regions, taking into account any transformation that will be applied to the surface prior to rendering and the view parameters of the display device, thus ensuring that each bin of the rendering process receives at least a predetermined minimum number of samples. In one embodiment, the sampling rate is variably set such that each bin is assured to have at least one sample point. In another embodiment, a tiling approach to division of the surface is utilized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2004
    Publication date: February 17, 2005
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: John Snyder, John Whitted, William Blank, Kirk Olynyk