Patents Issued in January 12, 2016
  • Patent number: 9235858
    Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for locally searching a search string in network content. A user accesses network content through a client device and enters a search string through the client device. Once the local search is performed on the network content by a client application or a search application through a network, the result would be encoded and displayed for the user to view. Furthermore, a content modifying application modifies the content of one or more network contents or pages based on the stored local search data. The content modifying application may also make recommendations as to what information should be included in the network content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Sachin B. Singh, Martin C. Eitreim
  • Patent number: 9235859
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for obtaining image feature data of an image are disclosed herein. A color histogram of the image is extracted from the image, the extraction of the color histogram including performing one-dimensional sampling of pixels comprising the image in each of a first dimension of a color space, a second dimension of the color space, and a third dimension of the color space. An edge map corresponding to the image is analyzed to detect a pattern included in the image. In response to a confidence level of the pattern detection being below a pre-defined threshold, extracting from the image an orientation histogram of the image. And identify a dominant color of the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: eBay Inc.
    Inventors: Anurag Bhardwaj, Wei Di, Muhammad Raffay Hamid, Robinson Piramuthu, Neelakantan Sundaresan
  • Patent number: 9235860
    Abstract: A system and method for guiding consumers through category-based transactions leads consumers through the creation of registries or shopping lists by displaying a group of items in a series of categories, and selecting one or more of the items within the categories. A user's progress in creating the registry may be displayed in a persistent menu bar that remains displayed on an interface as the user advances from one category to another. The systems and methods may be utilized by one or more users to create an electronic baby registry or wedding registry, to prepare for any event, or to enhance any category-based shopping experience at an online marketplace.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Lisa M. Boucher, Viplav S. Mishra, Sarah M. Richards, Natalie J. Rendon
  • Patent number: 9235861
    Abstract: A system that enables a wireless point-of-sale transaction. In one embodiment the system comprises an account module, an account selection module, a display, an input interface, and a wireless transmitter. The account module stores account information corresponding to a plurality of payment accounts. The account selection module selects a payment account from the plurality of payment accounts as a default payment account for a wireless point-of-sale transaction based on one or more predetermined criteria. The display displays the default payment account to a user. The input interface enables the user to accept the default payment account by the account selection module. The wireless transmitter that wirelessly transmits payment information to a point-of-sale device, wherein the payment information comprises account information associated with the default account when the default payment account is accepted via the input interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: David Benjamin Esplin, Jill Andrews Esplin
  • Patent number: 9235862
    Abstract: Methods and systems for providing financial and/or board member information in a secured manner to members of boards of directors of companies and others through a publicly-available widely disseminated network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Thomson Reuters Global Resources
    Inventors: Gregory Radner, Eric C. Prussman, Michael W. Stevens, Danh Dang, Nicole Bahlin, Rebecca Cho Khurana, Neeraj Jain, Robert Coran, Jeron Paul, Carmine Zinni
  • Patent number: 9235863
    Abstract: A social networking system generates a friendship page that displays social graph data common to two or more social networking system users. A user requests the page by identifying two or more social networking system. The social networking system obtains social graph data common to the identified social networking system users and generates a friendship page containing that social graph data. The obtained social graph data may include interactions between each of the identified user and/or social networking system objects with which each of the identified users has interacted. Examples of the types of social graph data may include photos, videos, communications, content items, events, locations, friends, family members, biographical data, and location data. The friendship page may be displayed to the requesting user in a web browser or in a native application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventor: Wayne Kao
  • Patent number: 9235864
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes systems, methods, and mediums configured to create a conversational email message. A computing device is configured to transmit an outgoing message from a sender to a plurality of recipients and create a conversational message by combining the outgoing message with a chronological listing of reply messages received from any of the plurality of recipients or the sender in response to a conversational email indicator. A memory device is configured to store the outgoing message or any of the reply messages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Fund 79 LLC
    Inventor: Joon Maeng
  • Patent number: 9235865
    Abstract: A method, system, and medium are provided for using social information to determine influencers amongst a group of subscribers subscribing to services offered by a wireless-service carrier. A group of subscribers is identified, and a level of social-connectedness for each subscriber is determined based on cliques shared by pairs of subscribers and common friends shared by pairs of subscribers. An overall influence score is generated for each subscriber based on the level of social-connectedness. A set of subscribers is identified as having high influence scores; the set of subscribers comprises influencers. Incentives are provided to the set of subscribers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Sprint Communications Company L.P.
    Inventors: Hui Zang, Yi Wang, Phyllis Reuther
  • Patent number: 9235866
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method and system for analyzing a social network, the method comprising: segregating, by a processor, the social network into a plurality of groups of users, wherein each group of users has a unique identity in the social network; mining, by the processor, data from a group of users of the plurality of groups of users; identifying a plurality of social variables from the data, wherein the plurality of social variables comprises at least one of a number of users, connections of the users, interactions of the users, affinity of the users, or posts by the users; equating a social variable of the plurality of social variables with a thermodynamic variable of a plurality of thermodynamic variables; determining quantitative values of the plurality of thermodynamic variables based upon the plurality of social variables; generating a virtual thermodynamics system based upon the quantitative values for analyzing the social network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Tata Consultancy Services Limited
    Inventors: Pratik Kumar Mishra, Dinesh Pothineni, Aadil Rasheed
  • Patent number: 9235867
    Abstract: Various embodiments relating to managing media delivery are disclosed. In one embodiment, a first request is received from a first device associated with a first account to obtain a first media content item. The first request may include an identifier indicating that the first request is an automatic request or a manual request. Information for obtaining the first media content item is sent to the first device. A second request is received from a second device associated with the first account to obtain a second media content item. The second request may include an identifier indicating that the second request is a manual request. Information for obtaining the second media content item is sent to the second device, such that obtaining the first media content item on the first device temporally overlaps obtaining the second media content item on the second device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Vincent Bellet, Manuel Millot, Damien Auroux, Aaron Greene
  • Patent number: 9235868
    Abstract: A method and system to permit the creation of “parent” accounts within a school system's data transmission system which are associated with a parent's child or children who are students in the system. A parent account is capable of creation and access by various levels within the hierarchy of the system and is associated with one or more schools within the community being serviced by the entity providing the servers and community generation implementation engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Cricket Media, Inc.
    Inventors: John Irving, Marcello Bursztein, Steve Mulligan, Patrick Lajeunesse, Pierre Killeen
  • Patent number: 9235869
    Abstract: A method and system for tracking goods is provided wherein the system is a transnomic code system. The transnomic code system includes a prescriber interface, a pharmaceutical interface, a pharmacy interface and a management server that communicate via communication mediums, such as an electronic prescribing switch and the Internet. The transnomic code is a dynamic code that includes a tracking code and one or more information sets, wherein each information set includes a read header and extensible content. The transnomic code is assigned to a product, such as a pharmaceutical product. The system allows for adding information sets to the transnomic code at any point during the life-cycle of a product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Inventors: Eric Greenman, Bo E. H. Saxberg
  • Patent number: 9235870
    Abstract: A system and method for documenting evidence. Investigators are provided a mobile client device enabling them to document evidence directly at a crime scene. Documentation is provided to an evidence gathering module which collects the documentation and stores it to an evidence database. Once the investigation is complete, a chain of custody document is generated. Documentation is time and date stamped and each documented item of evidence is linked to the particular investigator that documented it. The mobile client device provides automated location and environmental data, reducing error and overhead for the investigator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: SCENEDOC INC.
    Inventors: Alex Kottoor, Adrian Markie Bubalo, Kamil Sebastian Salagan
  • Patent number: 9235871
    Abstract: A method and system for a command processor for efficient processing of a program multi-processor core system with a CPU and GPU. The multi-core system includes a general purpose CPU executing commands in a CPU programming language and a graphic processing unit (GPU) executing commands in a GPU programming language. A command processor is coupled to the CPU and GPU. The command processor sequences jobs from a program for processing by the CPU or the GPU. The command processor creates commands from the jobs in a state free command format. The command processor generates a sequence of commands for execution by either the CPU or the GPU in the command format. A compiler running a meta language converts program data for the commands into a first format readable by the CPU programming language and a second format readable by the GPU programming language.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: OXIDE INTERACTIVE, LLC
    Inventor: Daniel Kurt Baker
  • Patent number: 9235872
    Abstract: An image processing device (10) includes: a representative pixel value storage unit (12) which selects one of plural sub-pixels as a representative sub-pixel, and store, into a representative pixel value storage area, a representative pixel value which is a pixel value of the representative sub-pixel; and a sub-pixel value storage unit (13) which stores, into a sub-pixel value storage area, pixel values of sub-pixels other than the representative sub-pixel, wherein the sub-pixel value storage area stores one or more sets corresponding to N number of pixels, the one or more sets each including a pixel position and a pixel value of each sub-pixel other than the representative sub-pixel of a pixel at the pixel position, N being a natural number smaller than a total number of the plural pixels in the unit of processing for an edge determination unit (11).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masato Yuda, Naoki Ootani
  • Patent number: 9235873
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for rendering complex artwork using tile-based caching. The artwork is divided into one or more sets of separately rendered tiles. Each tile is progressively rendered at a particular scale level and stored in a cache. When the clip region or scale level is changed by the user, tiles in the cache that provide a so-called best rendering of the artwork in the clip region at the requested scale or zoom level are selected. The selected tiles can be displayed in the clip region while the artwork is rendered at the requested scale level. The best rendering includes the tile or tiles that are more completely rendered than other tiles in the cache, or if multiple tiles are as completely rendered as others, the best rendering includes the tile or tiles that are rendered at a scale level closest to the requested scale level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated
    Inventor: Gordon Dow
  • Patent number: 9235874
    Abstract: High quality upscaling and denoising are required in mobile imaging devices that do not contain high quality lenses. Such is also required in order to scale up standard-definition video content for display in high-definition television screens. The disclosed method uses contextual information obtained during upscaling and/or denoising of frames. Relevant correspondences between patches within a frame and between frames, are detected, managed and exploited. The correspondence information is simultaneously used and updated while video frames are being processed. Two approaches may be used: 1. keeping, searching for and updating a database of useful patches, by adding frequently visible similar patches, aggregating high-frequency, low-noise information associated with the similar patches, and removing less-observed patches; 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: German Voronov, Shai Litvak, Tomer Yanir, Leonid Brailovsky
  • Patent number: 9235875
    Abstract: Systems, methods and computer readable media for image enhancement using learned non-photorealistic effects. In some implementations, a method can include obtaining an original image. The method can also include analyzing the original image to determine one or more characteristics of the original image. The method can further include selecting one or more filters based on the one or more characteristics and applying the one or more filters to the original image to generate a modified image. The method can include causing the modified image to be displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Sergey Ioffe, Hui Fang
  • Patent number: 9235876
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided to reduce noise in thermal images. In one example, a method includes receiving an image frame comprising a plurality of pixels arranged in a plurality of rows and columns. The pixels comprise thermal image data associated with a scene and noise introduced by an infrared imaging device. The image frame may be processed to determine a plurality of column correction terms, each associated with a corresponding one of the columns and determined based on relative relationships between the pixels of the corresponding column and the pixels of a neighborhood of columns. In another example, the image frame may be processed to determine a plurality of non-uniformity correction terms, each associated with a corresponding one of the pixels and determined based on relative relationships between the corresponding one of the pixels and associated neighborhood pixels within a selected distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: FLIR Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Nicholas Högasten, Malin Ingerhed, Mark Nussmeier, Eric A. Kurth, Theodore R. Hoelter, Katrin Strandemar, Pierre Boulanger, Barbara Sharp
  • Patent number: 9235877
    Abstract: A method of operating an electronic device for image interpolation is provided. The method includes estimating a direction of pixels using a plurality of filters respectively corresponding to a plurality of angles, correcting the direction of the pixels using a direction of neighboring pixels, determining whether the direction estimation has an error according to a direction distribution of the neighboring pixels, and when the direction estimation is determined to have error, correcting the error in the direction estimation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignees: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Chung-Ang University Industry-Academy Cooperation Foundation
    Inventors: Min-Kyu Park, Joon-Ki Paik, Won-Seok Kang, Han-Sae Song, Young-Sam Yu, Jae-Hwan Jeon, Young-Kwon Yoon, Yong-Gu Lee
  • Patent number: 9235878
    Abstract: The invention described here provides a novel method of preventing the loss of focus and range of colors when digital image files are expanded to a larger size. Unlike interpolation algorithms and algorithms using Fourier analysis to create new pixels, the present system uses a combination of pseudo-randomizing functions and user controlled edge detection to enhance edges initially softened by expansion using interpolation algorithms. The resulting images can be optimized to provide a superior approximation to what would be an accurate photographic representation at the larger image size. Furthermore, the flexibility in edge detection sensitivity allows the operator to strongly mitigate the structural artifacts produced by lossy compression algorithms such as the jpeg system and sampling errors widespread in very small images. As a result files as small as 200 kilobytes can be effectively expanded to 250 or even 500 megabytes in many cases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Inventor: Allen Gene Hirsh
  • Patent number: 9235879
    Abstract: Embodiments of apparatuses, systems, and methods for a temporal hole filling are described. Specifically, an embodiment of the present invention may include a depth-based hole filling process that includes a background modeling technique (SGM). Beneficially, in such an embodiment, holes in the synthesized view may be filled effectively and efficiently.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sun Wenxiu, Oscar C. Au, Lingfeng Xu, Yujun Li, Wei Hu, Lu Wang
  • Patent number: 9235880
    Abstract: A method and camera are used for optimizing the exposure of an image frame in a sequence of image frames capturing a scene based on level of motion in the scene. Based on image data from a plurality of image sensor frames, regions of the scene are determined including different level of motion. Image frame regions for the image frame are determined, wherein an image frame region corresponds to at least one region of the scene. The exposure of the image frame is optimized by emulating a region specific exposure time for each image frame region by producing each image frame region using image data from a number of image sensor frames. The number of image sensor frames used to produce a specific image frame region is based on the level of motion in the at least one corresponding region of the scene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: AXIS AB
    Inventors: Per Kannermark, Andreas Nilsson
  • Patent number: 9235881
    Abstract: An embodiment of the invention provides an apparatus and a method. An intensity gradient between first and second optical image data of an optical image produced by an optical scanning device is determined. The first optical image data is a first optical image pixel and the second optical image data is a second optical image pixel. An intensity gradient image comprising a plurality of intensity gradient image pixels is determined, each intensity gradient image pixel representing the magnitude of an intensity gradient. One or more anomalies in the optical image in dependence on the magnitude of the intensity gradient being greater than or equal to a threshold value is identified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Optos PLC
    Inventor: David Clifton
  • Patent number: 9235882
    Abstract: A method for detecting a dust spot (16) in a digital image (10) includes the steps of determining (226) an expected dust spot configuration (344) of the dust spot (16) in the image (10); applying (228) a statistic order filter to a value channel of an HSV color space of the image to generate a filtered value for each pixel being evaluated (349), the filtered value being based upon the expected dust spot configuration (344); and comparing (230) the filtered value to an actual color space value of a plurality of pixels (348) in the digital image (10) to generate (232) a binary image (350). In one embodiment, the method can also include the step of comparing (234) the binary image (350) to the expected dust spot configuration (344) to determine a probability of the presence of the dust spot (16) in the digital image (10).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Radka Tezaur
  • Patent number: 9235883
    Abstract: A mask has an inspection region virtually divided by a plurality of stripes. A position error-correcting unit is disposed on a stage in a region different from the mask, formed with patterns divided virtually by the plurality of stripes. A first deviation amount acquiring circuit acquires a first deviation amount from the optical image and the reference image of the position error correction unit. A second deviation amount acquiring circuit acquires a second deviation amount. A position correcting circuit corrects a positional relationship between the mask and the position error correction unit based on the first deviation amount, and obtains a fluctuation value of position coordinates of each pattern in the inspection region of the mask based on the second deviation amount and corrects the position coordinates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Takafumi Inoue, Nobutaka Kikuiri, Ikunao Isomura
  • Patent number: 9235884
    Abstract: An inspecting apparatus is provided which inspects whether or not a liquid absorbent particulate is deposited with a predetermined deposition pattern on an absorbent sheet-like member, the absorbent sheet-like member having a continuous web and a plurality of absorbent bodies, the continuous web being transported along a transport direction, the absorbent bodies being formed on one surface of the continuous web in a spaced apart manner in the transport direction, each absorbent body including the liquid absorbent particulate as a main material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Unicharm Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshikazu Ogasawara, Miwa Iida
  • Patent number: 9235885
    Abstract: A system capable of inspecting an article for defects, the system including: a patch comparator, configured to determine with respect to each of a plurality of reference patches in a reference image a similarity level, based on a predefined patch-similarity criterion and on a source patch defined in the reference image; an evaluation module, configured to rate each inspected pixel out of multiple inspected pixels of the inspection image with a representative score which is based on the similarity level of a reference patch associated with a reference pixel corresponding to the inspected pixel; a selection module, configured to select multiple selected inspected pixels based on the representative scores of the multiple inspected pixels; and a defect detection module, configured to determine a presence of a defect in the candidate pixel based on an inspected value of the candidate pixel and inspected values of the selected inspected pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Applied Materials Israel Ltd
    Inventors: Moshe Amzaleg, Nir Ben David Dodzin, Vered Gatt, Yair Hanani, Efrat Rozenman
  • Patent number: 9235886
    Abstract: A method for testing an organic pattern including: forming an organic pattern on a test substrate through a mask; acquiring a test image by photographing a predetermined test area of the test substrate; and checking whether an edge of the organic pattern displayed to the test image goes over an edge of a virtual test figure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Eui-Gyu Kim, Dae-Sik Jang
  • Patent number: 9235887
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for classifying possibly vulnerable plaques from sets of DCE-MRI images includes receiving a set of MRI slice images obtained at respectively different times, where each slice image includes voxels representative of at least one region of interest (ROI). The images are processed to determine the boundaries of the ROIs and the voxels within the identified boundaries in corresponding regions of the images from each time period are processed to extract kinetic texture features. The kinetic texture features are then used in a classification process which classifies the ROIs as vulnerable or stable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignees: Elucid Bioimaging, Inc., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Trustees of Boston University, The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
    Inventors: Andrew Buckler, Anant Madabhushi, James Hamilton, Shannon Agner, Mark Rosen
  • Patent number: 9235888
    Abstract: A second form of image data is determined from a first form of image data of an examination object in a radiological imaging system. A set of a defined plurality of input pixels in the image data of the first form is determined. In addition, a set of target form parameters of a target form model with a defined plurality of target form parameters is prognostically determined by way of a data-driven regression method from the plurality of input pixels. The number of target form parameters is smaller than the number of input pixels. The second form of image data is determined from the set of target form parameters. There is also described a method in radiological imaging for determining the geometric position of a number of target objects in a second form of image data and an image processing workstation for determining a second form of image data from a first form of image data as well as an imaging device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventors: Anna Jerebko, Michael Kelm, Michael Suehling, Michael Wels
  • Patent number: 9235889
    Abstract: Systems, apparatus and methods for collecting, storing, processing, reconstructing, and interpreting raw scan data from a medical diagnostic imaging scan. Raw data after a scan such as a Computed Tomography (CT) scan is sent to a raw scan database system and image reconstruction system, where image volumes are reconstructed using software from the software bank and sent to a data management system. Raw scan data generated once by a scanner is continuously used at later times to reconstruct images of the patient without having to perform additional patient scans.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignees: University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc., iTomography Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Frenkel, Alexander Katsevich, Igor Frenkel
  • Patent number: 9235890
    Abstract: Briefly, the disclosure describes embodiments of methods or apparatuses for processing, such as smoothing, a set of labeled measurements at a variety of scale levels. In one or more non-limiting embodiments purely for illustrative purposes, relatively fine details of labeled measurements may be displayed utilizing a relatively low-scale map, such as a map showing individual towns and/or villages. For display utilizing a relatively higher scale map, such as a map showing larger geopolitical areas, for example, relatively fine details may be omitted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Adam Rae, Bart Thomee
  • Patent number: 9235891
    Abstract: A system and method for predicting disease outcome by analyzing a large, heterogeneous image by a boosted, multi-field-of-view (FOV) framework, based on image-based features from multi-parametric heterogeneous images, comprises (a) inputting the heterogeneous image; (b) generating a plurality of FOVs at a plurality of fixed FOV sizes, the method for generating the plurality of FOVs at a plurality of fixed FOV sizes comprising dividing simultaneously, via the computing device, the large, heterogeneous image into (i) a plurality of FOVs at a first fixed FOV size from among the plurality of fixed FOV sizes; and (ii) a plurality of FOVs at a second fixed FOV size from among the plurality of fixed FOV sizes; (c) producing simultaneously for the heterogeneous image a combined class decision for: (i) the plurality of FOVs at the first fixed FOV size, and (ii) the plurality of FOV s at the second fixed FOV size.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
    Inventors: Anant Madabhushi, Ajay Basavanhally
  • Patent number: 9235892
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a method of standardizing a digital radiographic medical image, including obtaining a digital radiographic image of a variable attenuation plate to provide at least one reference value of at least one image characteristic, such as optical density and contrast, and standardizing the digital radiographic medical image against the reference values. Also provided are methods for comparing two or more radiographic images including standardizing the images against at least one reference value of at least one image characteristic obtained from a digital radiographic image of a variable attenuation plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Inventor: Donald A. Soboleski
  • Patent number: 9235893
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to the field of image processing technologies and particularly to a method and device for determining an image offset and a storage medium. A method according to an embodiment of the disclosure includes: dividing equally an acquired target image into a number M*N of first sub-areas and dividing equally an acquired image to be aligned into a number M*N of second sub-areas; determining an area offset between each first sub-area and a corresponding second sub-area; and determining an image offset between the target image and the image to be aligned according to the determined multiple area offsets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: HISENSE MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Bing Li
  • Patent number: 9235894
    Abstract: A method for determining correspondences between a first and a second image, comprising the steps providing a first image and a second image of the real environment, defining a warping function between the first and second image, determining the parameters of the warping function between the first image and the second image by means of an image registration method, determining a third image by applying the warping function with the determined parameters to the first image, determining a matching result by matching the third image and the second image, and determining correspondences between the first and the second image using the matching result and the warping function with the determined parameters. The method may be used in a keyframe based method for determining the pose of a camera based on the determined correspondences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Metaio GmbH
    Inventors: Selim Benhimane, Daniel Ulbricht
  • Patent number: 9235895
    Abstract: The invention is directed to detecting a boundary position between a foot and a lower leg of a person in an image acquired by an imaging unit, the boundary position being a substantial boundary part, in a lower limb, between the foot, which is a part from a malleolus to a tip part, and the lower leg; detecting a feature quantity that makes it possible to classify a ground and a part other than the ground in the image; setting, in a peripheral region around the boundary position, a plurality of local regions having positional information and/or direction information relative to the boundary position, and determining whether each of the local regions is the ground or the part other than the ground by using the feature quantity unique to the ground; determining a foot region from the local region determined as the part other than the ground; and estimating a direction of the foot of the person from the local region classified as the foot region and from the information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Taishi Ueda, Ryosuke Nakamura, Azusa Amino
  • Patent number: 9235896
    Abstract: A method for recognizing a target in a sonar image, the method comprising: normalizing a sonar image; using/defining multiple test objects; rotating each test object between multiple positions; using a projection of each test object in each position as a template, so that multiple templates are provided for each test object, each template corresponding to a different rotational position; applying the multiple templates for the multiple test objects to the normalized image; and creating at least one feature vector for the image for use in target recognition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Seebyte Limited
    Inventor: Oliver Daniell
  • Patent number: 9235897
    Abstract: A stereoscopic image generating device includes: a correction parameter calculating unit that calculates correction parameters based on a plurality of pairs of feature points corresponding to the same points on the object, from the first image and a second image photographing the object; a correction error calculating unit that, for each pair of feature points, corrects the position of the feature point on at least one image, using the correction parameters, and calculates the amount of correction error; a maldistribution degree calculating unit that finds the degree of maldistribution of feature points; a threshold value determining unit that determines a threshold value such that the threshold value is smaller when the degree of maldistribution increases; and a correction unit that, when the amount of correction error is equal to or lower than the threshold value, corrects the position of the object in the images using the correction parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Norihiro Kakuko, Teruyuki Sato
  • Patent number: 9235898
    Abstract: A camera array, an imaging device and/or a method for capturing image that employ a plurality of imagers fabricated on a substrate is provided. Each imager includes a plurality of pixels. The plurality of imagers include a first imager having a first imaging characteristics and a second imager having a second imaging characteristics. The images generated by the plurality of imagers are processed to obtain an enhanced image compared to images captured by the imagers. Each imager may be associated with an optical element fabricated using a wafer level optics (WLO) technology.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Pelican Imaging Corporation
    Inventors: Kartik Venkataraman, Amandeep S. Jabbi, Robert H. Mullis
  • Patent number: 9235899
    Abstract: A process generates lookup tables for estimating spatial depth in a scene. The process identifies subsets of illuminators of a camera system that has a 2-dimensional array of image sensors and illuminators in fixed locations relative to the array, and partitions the image sensors into a plurality of pixels. For each pixel, and for each of m distinct depths from the respective pixel, the process simulates a virtual surface at the respective depth. For each of the subsets of illuminators, the process determines an expected light intensity at the pixel based on the respective depth. The process forms an intensity vector using the expected light intensities for each of the distinct subsets and normalizes the intensity vector. For each pixel, the process constructs a lookup table comprising the normalized vectors corresponding to the pixel. The lookup table associates each normalized vector with the depth of the corresponding simulated surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: GOOGLE INC.
    Inventors: Ghulam Ahmed Kirmani, Andrea Colaco, Dongeek Shin
  • Patent number: 9235900
    Abstract: Systems in accordance with embodiments of the invention can perform parallax detection and correction in images captured using array cameras. Due to the different viewpoints of the cameras, parallax results in variations in the position of objects within the captured images of the scene. Methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention provide an accurate account of the pixel disparity due to parallax between the different cameras in the array, so that appropriate scene-dependent geometric shifts can be applied to the pixels of the captured images when performing super-resolution processing. In a number of embodiments, generating depth estimates considers the similarity of pixels in multiple spectral channels. In certain embodiments, generating depth estimates involves generating a confidence map indicating the reliability of depth estimates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Pelican Imaging Corporation
    Inventors: Florian Ciurea, Kartik Venkataraman, Gabriel Molina, Dan Lelescu
  • Patent number: 9235901
    Abstract: A method for locating one or more interproximal tooth regions in a digital tooth image. The method can be executed at least in part on data processing hardware. The method includes generating the digital tooth image from a fluorescence image of one or more teeth and a reflectance image of the one or more teeth, so as to combine image data from the fluorescence and reflectance images. The digital tooth image has intensity values for pixels corresponding to the one or more teeth and background. The method identifies one or more tooth regions by processing the digital tooth image and locates the one or more interproximal tooth regions according to the one or more identified tooth regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Carestream Health, Inc.
    Inventors: Jiayong Yan, Wei Wang, Liangliang Pan, Victor C. Wong
  • Patent number: 9235902
    Abstract: Contact-less remote-sensing crack detection and/quantification methodologies are described, which are based on three-dimensional (3D) scene reconstruction, image processing, and pattern recognition. The systems and methodologies can utilize depth perception for detecting and/or quantifying cracks. These methodologies can provide the ability to analyze images captured from any distance and using any focal length or resolution. This adaptive feature may be especially useful for incorporation into mobile systems, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or mobile autonomous or semi-autonomous robotic systems such as wheel-based or track-based radio controlled robots, as utilizing such structural inspection methods onto those mobile platforms may allow inaccessible regions to be properly inspected for cracks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
    Inventors: Mohammad R. Jahanshahi, Sami Masri
  • Patent number: 9235903
    Abstract: An image processing system and method of operation includes: a source image having source pixels; a homogeneity image module for forming a homogeneity image having homogeneity pixels each with a homogeneity value indicating the local homogeneity of source pixels of the source image; a watershed image module, coupled to the homogeneity image module, for forming a watershed image having watershed segments with a segment weight, the watershed image formed by segmenting the homogeneity image, and for merging one of the watershed segments with another of the watershed segments both having the segment weight less than or equal to a segment threshold; a contour map module, coupled to the watershed image module, for forming a segmentation contour map having boundaries of the watershed segments formed by merging the watershed segments; and a composite image module for forming a composite image with the segmentation contour map for display on a device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Bi Song, Ming-Chang Liu
  • Patent number: 9235904
    Abstract: An object detector includes a bottom-up object hypotheses generation unit; a top-down object search with supervised descent unit; and an object re-localization unit with a localization model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: NEC Laboratories America, Inc.
    Inventors: Xiaoyu Wang, Yuanqing Lin
  • Patent number: 9235905
    Abstract: A system including a source display, externally updatable, an image compression algorithm database, a network connection, and a frame transfer engine. The algorithm database comprises a plurality of image compression algorithms. The frame transfer engine is configured to receive a plurality of updates made to the source display, store at least some of the updates in a queue, and select, based on a bandwidth of the network connection, a size of the update, and sizes and times of updates currently present in the queue, an image compression algorithm in the algorithm database for current transfer over the network connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: OLogN Technologies AG
    Inventors: Sergey Ignatchenko, Dmitri Ligoum
  • Patent number: 9235906
    Abstract: A method is provided that utilizes a parallel processing system to determine whether different geometries intersect each tile in a map hierarchy. The method receives a description of a geometry and an identification of a tile in a tile tree. The method utilizes an available processing unit to determine whether the geometry intersects the tile. When the geometry intersects the tile and the tile has child tiles, the method stores several task descriptions that can be assigned to any processing units in the parallel processing system. Each task description includes the description of the portion of the geometry that overlaps the tile and an identification of one of the child tiles of the tile. The method then assigns each of the tasks to an available processing unit to continue down the tree hierarchy to determine whether each child tile intersects a portion of the geometry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guillaume A. Carbonneau, Vincent Dumont
  • Patent number: 9235907
    Abstract: A system and method is provided for reducing partial scan reconstruction artifacts in sinogram data acquired as a series of sets of partial-scan projection views, each set of projection views extending over an angular range of less than 360 degrees. A full-scan sinogram matrix for each of the sets of projection views in the series is created and each set of partial-scan projection views is stored in a respective full-scan sinogram matrix to create an array of full-scan matrices having respective empty spaces not filled by partial-scan projection view data stored therein. The empty spaces are filled in each of the full-scan sinogram matrices using the partial-scan projection view data stored therein and an image of the subject is reconstructed from the full-scan sinogram matrices having the empty spaces filled using the partial-scan projection view data stored therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Inventors: Juan C. Ramirez Giraldo, Cynthia H. McCollough