Patents by Inventor William Dolan

William Dolan 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: 20070043553
    Abstract: Filtering techniques are applied to extract, based on apparent fluency in a target language, relatively accurate training data based on the output of one or more translation engines. The extracted training data is utilized as a basis for training a statistical machine translation system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2005
    Publication date: February 22, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: William Dolan
  • Patent number: 7175038
    Abstract: A device for preventing removal of a lid from a container. The device has a cover with a top which is adapted to fit over a lid of a container and an engagement means consisting of an upper continuous cylindrical wall and a lower section of integral and flexible leg segments. Each leg segment has a lateral portion or rib for engaging a neck part of the container to prevent removal of the cover from the container. Retaining means in the form of three independently rotatable locking rings prevent disengagement of the engagement means from the container. The deice is used on a typical drinking bottle with a screw on cap to prevent removal of the cap thereby maintaining hygiene and safety aspects of the liquid contents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2007
    Assignee: Safe & Sound Bottles, Pty. Ltd.
    Inventor: Denis William Dolan
  • Publication number: 20060204432
    Abstract: Recovering sulfur from a gas stream containing hydrogen sulfide by oxidizing the gas stream to convert the hydrogen sulfide in the gas stream to sulfur oxide, and thus form a sulfur oxide enriched gas stream. The sulfur oxide enriched gas stream is contacted with a solid, sulfation resistant adsorbent bed at relatively low temperatures to extract the sulfur oxides and retain them as sulfur compounds, thus forming a sulfur oxide depleted gas stream. The adsorbent bed is then contacted with an inert or reducing gas stream to reduce the retained sulfur compounds to sulfur and/or sulfur dioxide and thereby form an enriched sulfur and/or sulfur dioxide bearing stream. The elemental sulfur is recovered and/or the sulfur dioxide bearing stream may be recycled to the Claus unit for further conversion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2005
    Publication date: September 14, 2006
    Inventors: William Dolan, John Byrne, Michael Mitariten, Kenneth Butwell, Alfonse Maglio
  • Publication number: 20060200765
    Abstract: A document summarizer for word processors is described. In one aspect, a document is accessed for summarization. Using a phase summarizing process, a sentence-based summary of writings of the document is constructed from the writings. A file associated with the document is located. The sentence-based summary is inserted into the file such that the sentence-based summary is before an opening paragraph of the document. The file is saved to non-volatile memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2006
    Publication date: September 7, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ronald Fein, William Dolan, John Messerly, Edward Fries, Christopher Thorpe, Shawn Cokus
  • Publication number: 20060191410
    Abstract: A pressure swing adsorption process for the separation of nitrogen and/or CO2 from natural gas utilizes two separate pressure swing adsorption stages, the first containing a hydrocarbon-selective adsorbent and the second containing a nitrogen- and/or CO2-selective adsorbent. In the process, the product stream from the first pressure swing adsorption unit contains a natural gas stream having a reduced hydrocarbon content and the product stream from the second pressure swing adsorption unit is a natural gas stream having a reduced nitrogen and/or CO2 concentration. An intermediate pressure stream containing methane from the second pressure swing adsorption unit is used to desorb the hydrocarbons from the first pressure swing adsorption unit. The C3+ hydrocarbons can be separated as liquids from the methane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2005
    Publication date: August 31, 2006
    Inventors: William Dolan, Michael Mitariten
  • Publication number: 20060106594
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method is disclosed for applying a given paraphrase alternation pattern to an input string. The method includes generating a language model and applying the language model to determine how to apply the given paraphrase alternation pattern to the input string.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2004
    Publication date: May 18, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Brockett, Eric Breck, William Dolan
  • Publication number: 20060106592
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method is disclosed for determining whether to apply a given paraphrase alternation pattern to an input string. The method includes generating a context model and applying the context model to determine whether the given paraphrase alternation pattern can be applied to the input string so as to preserve meaning.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2004
    Publication date: May 18, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Brockett, Eric Breck, William Dolan
  • Publication number: 20060106595
    Abstract: A system is disclosed for selectively applying a paraphrase alternation pattern to a textual input. The system includes a pattern identification component for processing a collection of data and identifying a plurality of potentially applicable paraphrase alternation patterns. A context model provides an objective frame of reference in which to compare one or more of the plurality of potentially applicable paraphrase alternation patterns to the textual input to determine whether the pattern can be applied without changing meaning. A language model provides a principled basis for determining the boundaries of the text segment to be modified.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2004
    Publication date: May 18, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Brockett, Eric Breck, William Dolan
  • Publication number: 20060085180
    Abstract: A method translates a textual input in a first language to a textual output in a second language. An input logical form is generated based on the textual input. When a plurality of transfer mappings in a transfer mapping database match the input logical form (or at least a portion thereof) one or more of those plurality of matching transfer mappings is selected based on a predetermined metric. Textual output is generated based on the selected transfer logical form.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Publication date: April 20, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Arul Menezes, Stephen Richardson, Jessie Pinkham, William Dolan
  • Publication number: 20060053001
    Abstract: A system is configured to provide writing assistance within a monolingual input environment based on statistical machine translation techniques typically utilized to translate from an input language to a different target language.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2005
    Publication date: March 9, 2006
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Brockett, William Dolan
  • Publication number: 20050125404
    Abstract: A system is utilized for determining a relationship between first and second textual inputs. The system identifies constituents in the first textual input, having predetermined characteristics indicative of usefulness in determining the relationship. The relationship is then determined based on the constituents identified. The constituents can be eliminated from the first textual input, weighted in the first textual input, or simply annotated in one of a variety of ways.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2004
    Publication date: June 9, 2005
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Simon Corston-Oliver, William Dolan, Hisami Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20050125429
    Abstract: A system is utilized for determining a relationship between first and second textual inputs. The system identifies constituents in the first textual input, having predetermined characteristics indicative of usefulness in determining the relationship. The relationship is then determined based on the constituents identified. The constituents can be eliminated from the first textual input, weighted in the first textual input, or simply annotated in one of a variety of ways.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2004
    Publication date: June 9, 2005
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Simon Corston-Oliver, William Dolan, Hisami Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20050114294
    Abstract: A system is utilized for determining a relationship between first and second textual inputs. The system identifies constituents in the first textual input, having predetermined characteristics indicative of usefulness in determining the relationship. The relationship is then determined based on the constituents identified. The constituents can be eliminated from the first textual input, weighted in the first textual input, or simply annotated in one of a variety of ways.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2004
    Publication date: May 26, 2005
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Simon Corston-Oliver, William Dolan, Hisami Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20050102614
    Abstract: The present invention obtains a set of text segments from a cluster of different articles written about a common event. The set of text segments is then subjected to textual alignment techniques to identify paraphrases from the text segments in the text. The invention can also be used to generate paraphrases.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2003
    Publication date: May 12, 2005
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Brockett, William Dolan, Christopher Quirk
  • Publication number: 20050091243
    Abstract: A system is utilized for determining a relationship between first and second textual inputs. The system identifies constituents in the first textual input, having predetermined characteristics indicative of usefulness in determining the relationship. The relationship is then determined based on the constituents identified. The constituents can be eliminated from the first textual input, weighted in the first textual input, or simply annotated in one of a variety of ways.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2004
    Publication date: April 28, 2005
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Simon Corston-Oliver, William Dolan, Hisami Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20050065777
    Abstract: The present invention can be used in a natural language processing system to determine a relationship (such as similarity in meaning) between two textual segments. The relationship can be identified or determined based on logical graphs generated from the textual segments. A relationship between first and second logical graphs is determined. This is accomplished regardless of whether there is an exact match between the first and second logical graphs. In one embodiment, the first graph represents an input textual discourse unit. The second graph, in one embodiment, represents information in a lexical knowledge base (LKB). The input graph can be matched against the second graph, if they have similar meaning, even if the two differ lexically or structurally.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2004
    Publication date: March 24, 2005
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: William Dolan, Michael Barnett, Stephen Richardson, Arul Menezes, Lucretia Vanderwende
  • Publication number: 20050060139
    Abstract: A system is utilized for determining a relationship between first and second textual inputs. The system identifies constituents in the first textual input, having predetermined characteristics indicative of usefulness in determining the relationship. The relationship is then determined based on the constituents identified. The constituents can be eliminated from the first textual input, weighted in the first textual input, or simply annotated in one of a variety of ways.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2004
    Publication date: March 17, 2005
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Simon Corston-Oliver, William Dolan, Hisami Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20050043936
    Abstract: A system is utilized for determining a relationship between first and second textual inputs. The system identifies constituents in the first textual input, having predetermined characteristics indicative of usefulness in determining the relationship. The relationship is then determined based on the constituents identified. The constituents can be eliminated from the first textual input, weighted in the first textual input, or simply annotated in one of a variety of ways.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2004
    Publication date: February 24, 2005
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Simon Corston-Oliver, William Dolan, Hisami Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20050027826
    Abstract: An integrated system for monitoring a deployed product on a movable platform, gathering data about the deployed product, and disseminating the data about the deployed product is disclosed. The system includes a server located on the movable platform capable of communication with the server from a remote location. The server communicates with a source of data about the deployed communicates with a source of data about the deployed product. The system further includes a portal onto which data gathered by the server may be downloaded and with which one can upload information to the server. The server may be connected to an existing PC test port of a controller pre-existing onboard the deployed product to easily retrofit existing machines to be web-enabled.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2004
    Publication date: February 3, 2005
    Inventors: David Loda, Campbell Kennedy, Michel Paquet, William Dolan, Richard Poisson, Bjorn Stickling, Enzo Macchia, Samad Qadri
  • Publication number: 20030075932
    Abstract: A device for preventing removal of a lid from a container. The device has a cover with a top which is adapted to fit over a lid of a container and an engagement means consisting of an upper continuous cylindrical wall and a lower section of integral and flexible leg segments. Each leg segment has a lateral portion or rib for engaging a neck part of the container to prevent removal of the cover from the container. Retaining means in the form of three independently rotatable locking rings prevent disengagement of the engagement means from the container. The deice is used on a typical drinking bottle with a screw on cap to prevent removal of the cap thereby maintaining hygiene and safety aspects of the liquid contents.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2002
    Publication date: April 24, 2003
    Inventor: Denis William Dolan