Patents Issued in May 1, 2018
  • Patent number: 9959580
    Abstract: In particular embodiments, a method comprising, by one or more computing devices, identifying, at a client device, one or more objects or references to the one or more objects embedded in a structured document displayed to a first user, accessing a social graph to determine if one or more second users having an association with the first user have accessed any of the one or more identified objects, and modifying, for at least one of the one or more identified objects, the structured document displayed to the first user to indicate that the at least one or more identified objects has been accessed by one or more second users.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Judd Richter, Matthew William Kelly, Austin Haugen
  • Patent number: 9959581
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for a property management system that runs on a smartphone and allows users to identify and track information on one or more properties and to receive property updates from the server. Systems and methods are also disclosed that use the orientation of and images captured by a smartphone camera to identify a facet of an object and to determine its pitch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Eagle View Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Chris Pershing
  • Patent number: 9959582
    Abstract: According to aspects of the present invention, methods, systems, and media are provided for creating, storing, and using an interactive hierarchical arrangement of technical elements useful for conducting efficient patent infringement and similar analysis. The hierarchical arrangement of technical elements is adapted to be displayed on a user-engageable computer display in a manner that allows a user to select and de-select particular technical elements. Methods and systems include storing records of technical elements in hierarchical relationships, which elements are correlated to specific patent claims during an annotation process. The hierarchical arrangement of technical elements is displayed so as to indicate genus-species relationships among the technical elements, while the stored correlations are used as a basis to perform highly efficient claims-based patent analysis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: ClearstoneIP
    Inventors: Jesse D. Sukman, Joseph R. Aliperti, Gabriel S. Sukman
  • Patent number: 9959583
    Abstract: A user selection of one or more of a plurality of content is received. The selected content is encrypted by a first encryption key that is remote and unknown to the distribution server. Payment information associated with the user selection is also received and verified. The selected content from is retrieved from a remote database. The first encryption key corresponding to the selected content to decrypt the encrypted content corresponding to the user selection is obtained. Decryption is performed by a hardware-based engine of the distribution server that is isolated from a host processor of the distribution server. The content corresponding to the user selection is encrypted according to a second encryption key that is known to the distribution server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated
    Inventors: David L. Blankenbeckler, William Almon, Jr.
  • Patent number: 9959584
    Abstract: A system includes one or more processors to receive a representation of a document from a client computing device, the document comprising one of a scanned document, a faxed document, and an electronic document, determine a document type of the document based at least on the representation of the document, index the document using a classification and index processing engine based on the document type, the document type comprising at least one of a plurality of document types used by an electronic health record (EHR) system, extract index data from the document based on the document type using the classification and index processing engine, and match the document with a patient from a database of the EHR system using the index data when the classification and index processing engine successfully indexes the document and extracts index data from the document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Document Imaging Systems Corp.
    Inventors: Kevin C. Frank, Patrick J. Karpen
  • Patent number: 9959585
    Abstract: Methods, devices, and systems for conducting a checkless cash access settlement are provided. In one embodiment, a cash advance method includes the following: a customer initiates a cash access transaction via a cash access system; the customer receives authorization or denial; the customer provides identification and the financial card to a cashier or attendant; the cashier or attendant validates the customer's identity, retrieves the transaction information, and completes the cash advance application; the application prints a non-negotiable instrument, such as a transaction receipt; the customer signs the receipt confirming the transaction with a physical receipt or electronic capture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Everi Payments Inc.
    Inventors: Craig Potts, Richard Beer
  • Patent number: 9959586
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes a system, method, and computer program for encoding and decoding a unique signature for a user in a video file, wherein the digital signature is substantially invisible to the viewer of the video, easy to detect during the coding process, does not require specialized equipment for playback of the video, and is resilient to transcoding, video editing, and high compression encoding. A numeric digital signature is converted into a binary number. The binary number is then divided into sequences, where sequence includes a subset of data bits from the binary number. Each sequence is also associated with a sequence ID that enables the data bits in the sequence to be later combined in the correct order to recreate the binary number. A watermark is created for each of the sequences and embedded within suitable areas of a color channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: GoAnimate, Inc.
    Inventors: Tang Fei Yu, Omar Rabbolini
  • Patent number: 9959587
    Abstract: Signal processing devices and methods estimate a geometric transform of an image signal. From a seed set of transform candidates, a method applies a seed transform candidate to a reference signal. For each candidate, update coordinates of reference signal features are identified in the image signal and provided as input to a least squares method to compute an update to the transform candidate. At the end of the process, the method identifies a geometric transform or set of top transforms based on a further analysis of correlation, as well as other results. Phase characteristics are exploited in the process of updating coordinates. The geometric transform is used to facilitate extracting embedded digital messages from the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
    Inventors: Ravi K. Sharma, John D. Lord, Robert G. Lyons, Osama M. Alattar, Jacob L. Boles
  • Patent number: 9959588
    Abstract: An object (e.g., a driver's license) is tested for authenticity using imagery captured by a consumer device (e.g., a mobile phone camera). Corresponding data is sent from the consumer device to a remote system, which has secret knowledge about features indicating object authenticity. The phone, or the remote system, discerns the pose of the object relative to the camera from the captured imagery. The remote system tests the received data for the authentication features, and issues an output signal indicating whether the object is authentic. This testing involves modeling the image data that would be captured by the consumer device from an authentic object—based on the object's discerned pose (and optionally based on information about the camera optics), and then comparing this modeled data with the data sent from the consumer device. A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
    Inventor: Geoffrey B. Rhoads
  • Patent number: 9959589
    Abstract: An image driving device includes a determining unit, and image processing unit, and a memory. The determining unit determines whether an input image is a moving image or a still image, and may be synchronized with an internal clock different from an external clock. The image processing unit may image-process at least one frame but less than all frames of the input image when the input image is determined to be a still image. The image processing unit may output the at least one image-processed frame as first image data, and the memory may store the first image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jong-kon Bae, Won-sik Kang, Yang-hyo Kim, Jae-hyuck Woo
  • Patent number: 9959590
    Abstract: Embodiment described herein combines a caching system with special cache flushing methods aimed at reducing thread divergence across a group of threads in a thread group, in order to synchronize branching paths taken by different threads executing on the same graphics processor execution unit, One embodiment provides for a graphics processing apparatus comprising graphics execution logic to execute one or more threads of a graphics shader program; an occluder cache to store input occluder node data for adaptive graphical effects logic of the graphics shader program; and compression logic to compress input occluder node data stored in the occluder cache. The occluder node data, in one embodiment, includes occlusion data for use with adaptive shadowing or transparency logic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Filip Strugar, Axel Mamode
  • Patent number: 9959591
    Abstract: A head mounted display is worn on the body of a user before use and includes an image display unit that transmits an outside scene and displays an image in a visually recognizable manner along with the outside scene and a camera that performs image capturing in directions of sight lines of the user. A control section of the head mounted display includes an image generation section that generates a display image from a captured image from the camera and an image display control section that causes the image display unit to display the display image generated by the image generation section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kaori Sendai, Atsunari Tsuda, Masahide Takano
  • Patent number: 9959592
    Abstract: A method performed by a physical computing system, the method includes disabling a display refresh process of a video controller of the physical computing system if no active display device is connected to the physical computing system. A physical computing system includes a video controller comprising a rendering engine and a display refresh controller; a memory controller connected to a memory; and a display controller to determine whether an active display device is connected to the physical computing system; in which a display refresh process performed by the display refresh controller is disabled when no active display device is connected to the physical computing system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
    Inventors: Sze Hau Loh, Theodore F. Emerson
  • Patent number: 9959593
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a unified system/graphics memory and a memory controller. The memory controller is operative to receive client data access requests associated with one or more clients and a central processing unit (CPU) data access request associated with a CPU, to a plurality of memory channels for accessing the unified system/graphics memory. The memory controller is operative to provide access to the plurality of memory channels, in parallel, by the CPU and at least one client of the one or more clients. The memory controller is operative to prioritize the CPU data access request to the unified memory over the client data access requests to the unified memory and control the plurality of memory channels to access, in parallel, data for the CPU and data for the at least one client based on a request of the client data access requests and the CPU data access request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: ATI Technologies ULC
    Inventors: Milivoje Aleksic, Raymond M. Li, Danny H. M. Cheng, Carl K. Mizuyabu, Anthony Asaro
  • Patent number: 9959594
    Abstract: A method includes fusing at least three images together into a single fused image, wherein at least one of the three images includes a binary-pattern representation image. A system includes an image processing system (100) that combines an anatomical image, a functional image and a binary-pattern representation image into a single image. A computer readable storage medium encoded with computer executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor of a computer, cause the processor to combine an anatomical image, a functional image, and a binary-pattern representation of a different functional image into a single image such that the anatomical image and the functional image are visible in interspaces between binary points of the binary-pattern representation of the functional image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventor: Raz Carmi
  • Patent number: 9959595
    Abstract: Determining three-dimensional structure in a road environment using a system mountable in a host vehicle including a camera connectable to a processor. Multiple image frames are captured in the field of view of the camera. In the image frames, a line is selected below which the road is imaged. The line separates between upper images essentially excluding images of the road and lower images essentially including images of the road. One or more of the lower images is warped, according to a road homography to produce at least one warped lower image. The three-dimensional structure may be provided from motion of a matching feature within the upper images or from motion of a matching feature within at least one of the lower images and at least one warped lower image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: MOBILEYE VISION TECHNOLOGIES LTD.
    Inventors: Harel Livyatan, Oded Berberian, Barak Cohen, Gideon Stein
  • Patent number: 9959597
    Abstract: A method of generating super resolution image data includes receiving original image data of a low resolution at an image processing device, performing motion compensation on the original image data using a current frame of image data and at least one previous frame of image data and at least one future frame of image data as reference frames, generating motion vectors, applying noise reduction to the current frame of image data and the reference frames to produce noise reduced, current frame image data, and generating a current frame of super resolution image data using the noise reduced, current frame image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: PIXELWORKS, INC.
    Inventors: Guodong Liu, Junhua Chen
  • Patent number: 9959598
    Abstract: Disclosed is an operation method of an electronic device. The operation method may include: acquiring a shared image from an image resource file; acquiring an auxiliary image by using a difference between the image resource file and the shared image; and generating a particular image based on the shared image and the auxiliary image. An operation method of an electronic device is not limited to the above method, and other embodiments are possible within the same or similar scope as the present disclosure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Wook-Hyun Jeong, Jeong-Hyeon Choi
  • Patent number: 9959599
    Abstract: A system for enhancing an image includes a cadence detection process that detects a cadence of a series of frames, a scene cut detection process that detects a scene cut of the series of frames, and a noise monitoring process that detects noise in the series of frames based upon the cadence detection process. The system also includes a temporal filtering process temporally filtering the series of frames wherein the temporal filtering is modified based upon the scene cut detection process and the noise monitoring process, and a spatial noise reduction process reducing spatial noise in the series of frames wherein the reducing spatial noise is modified based upon the modified temporally filtered frames and the noise monitoring process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc.
    Inventors: Anustup Kumar A. Choudhury, Christopher Andrew Segall, Mark DeNies
  • Patent number: 9959600
    Abstract: Disclosed are a motion image compensation method and a device, and a display device. The motion image compensation method comprises: acquiring a first image corresponding to a pre-motion picture and a second image corresponding to a post-motion picture; dividing the first image and the second image respectively into several image blocks; performing computations on any pair of mutually corresponding image blocks in the first image and the second image based on a phase correlation method; performing edge detection on the first image and the second image respectively; and according to a preset condition, acquiring, from the at least one displacement vector, a displacement vector matched with a transformation between the edge feature patterns within the pair of mutually corresponding image blocks as a displacement vector corresponding to the pair of image blocks during a motion compensation process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hong Wang, Chengqi Zhou
  • Patent number: 9959601
    Abstract: Disclosed is a distortion rectification method, comprising: taking a wide-angle photograph using a camera of a terminal; determining distortion regions and non-distortion regions in the wide-angle photograph; obtaining a target distortion region selected by a user; dividing the target distortion region into M grid regions of a first pre-set size, wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to one; and respectively preforming distortion rectification on the M-grid regions of the first pre-set size. Also disclosed is a terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.
    Inventor: Yuanqing Zeng
  • Patent number: 9959602
    Abstract: An image processing device and a radiography apparatus each include a pixel selection unit configured to select pixels of an image based on pixel values of pixels of the image obtained by capturing an image of a subject, and a subtraction processing unit configured to subtract, from the image, a line artifact extracted using a profile in predetermined direction and is based on the pixels selected by the pixel selection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Tsuyoshi Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 9959603
    Abstract: The present application discloses a method and a device for image processing. The method comprises: performing facial recognition on an image to be processed; determining a skin area to be processed in a facial area according to detection results; determining the locations of skin blemishes in the skin area to be processed; removing the skin blemishes in the facial area according to the determined locations of the skin blemishes in the skin area to be processed to obtain a processed image. The method and the device for image processing can modify people's skin in an image automatically, that is to say, both light-colored blemishes and obvious problems on the skin are removed. In contrast to the solutions for removing skin blemishes manually in various existing APPs for skin beautification, the method provided by the present application provides a better experience for users.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Beijing Cheetah Network Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Guangsheng Xu, Jian Ma, Dingpan Li
  • Patent number: 9959604
    Abstract: The processing of RGB image data can be optimized by performing optimization operations on the image data when it is converted into the YCbCr color space. First, a raw RGB color space is converted into a YCbCr color space, and raw RGB image data is converted into YCbCr image data using the YCbCr color space. For each Y-layer of the YCbCr image data, a 2D LUT is generated. The YCbCr image data is converted into optimized CbCr image data using the 2D LUTs, and optimized YCbCr image data is generated by blending CbCr image data corresponding to multiple Y-layers. The optimized YCbCr image data is converted into sRGB image data, and a tone curve is applied to the sRGB image data to produce optimized sRGB image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: GoPro, Inc.
    Inventors: Ying Chen, Sumit Chawla, Elizabeth Torres Edwards, Kartheek Chandu, Bo Ding
  • Patent number: 9959605
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus acquires a first image generated by image capturing, stores data about an image restoration filter that is used for an image restoration process and corresponds to a first F-number, stores interpolation data corresponding to each of a plurality of second F-numbers different from the first F-number, which relates to an interpolation proportion in an interpolation process, and generates, when an image capturing F-number as the F-number for the image capturing is one of the second F-numbers, a second image by performing for the first image a correction process that includes the image restoration process and the interpolation process, by using the image restoration filter corresponding to the first F-number and the interpolation data corresponding to the image capturing F-number.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akimitsu Yoshida
  • Patent number: 9959606
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a method for acquiring a histogram, wherein the method for acquiring a histogram includes the following steps: acquiring luminance data of pixel points of a dynamic video image; and performing separate statistical processing on frequencies of first luminance data with the minimum luminance value and second luminance data with the maximum luminance value in the luminance data, to draw a first histogram corresponding to the luminance data after the statistical processing. The present invention further discloses a method for dynamically adjusting luminance and an image processing apparatus. The present invention can embody features of image quality more accurately and more comprehensively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: SHENZHEN TCL NEW TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD
    Inventors: Peng He, Dong Wen
  • Patent number: 9959607
    Abstract: Aspects provide automatic verification of graphic rendition of JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data by using a baseline JSON file to render data values of a baseline data set into a baseline graphic presentation that meets a boundary condition requirement for displaying the data values. The baseline data set data values are rendered into a baseline graphic presentation that is stored into a local file system and used to render data values of a second set of data of a back end server data warehouse data into a new graphic presentation, which is compared to the stored baseline graphic presentation on a pixel-by-pixel basis. In response to the pixel-by-pixel comparison indicating a difference in display of boundary condition requirement values, the stored baseline JSON file is revised into a revised baseline JSON file that renders the data values of the second data set into a revised new graphic presentation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: ADP, LLC
    Inventors: Tista Das, Sachin V. Havaldar, Laiyuan Liu
  • Patent number: 9959608
    Abstract: In a computer-implemented method and system for capturing the condition of a structure, the structure is scanned with a three-dimensional (3D) scanner. The 3D scanner generates 3D data. A point cloud or 3D model is constructed from the 3D data. The point cloud or 3D model is then analyzed to determine the condition of the structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY
    Inventors: James M. Freeman, Roger D. Schmidgall, Patrick H. Boyer, Nicholas U. Christopulos, Jonathan D. Maurer, Nathan L. Tofte, Jackie O. Jordan, II
  • Patent number: 9959609
    Abstract: Image capture systems including a moving platform; an image capture device having a sensor for capturing an image, the image having pixels, mounted on the moving platform; and a detection computer executing an abnormality detection algorithm for detecting an abnormality in the pixels of the image immediately after the image is captured by scanning the image utilizing predetermined parameters indicative of characteristics of the abnormality and then automatically and immediately causing a re-shoot of the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Pictometry International Corporation
    Inventors: Frank Giuffrida, Stephen Schultz
  • Patent number: 9959610
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for detecting substrate misalignment (i.e., position displacement error) and/or substrate support misalignment. According to certain aspects, a method for detecting a misalignment of an object in a processing system is provided. The method generally includes obtaining a first image of the object, determining first values associated with pixels in at least one region of the first image, calculating at least one of a center of gravity value of the pixels in the at least one region or an average weight of the pixels in the at least one region, and detecting a misalignment of the object based on at least one of the calculated center of gravity or average weight of the pixels in the at least one region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Leonid M. Tertitski, Schubert S. Chu, Shay Assaf, Kim R. Vellore, Zhepeng Cong
  • Patent number: 9959611
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for manufacturing a single crystal, the method includes: photographing an image of a boundary portion between the single crystal and a melt by a camera during a single crystal pull-up process according to a Czochralski method; comparing at least one pixel included in a left side region with respect to an extension line of a pull-up shaft of the single crystal and at least one pixel included in a right side region with respect to the extension line; and determining an abnormality in a luminance distribution of the image from a result of the comparing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: SUMCO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Ken Hamada
  • Patent number: 9959612
    Abstract: Methods for characterizing atmospheric turbulence along an optical path from a laser transmitter to a laser receiver can include the steps of counting the number of laser speckles at the receiver imaging plane, and then finding Fried's parameter r0 using the counting result to characterize the turbulence along the path. Before counting speckles, images at the receiver image plane can be preprocessed by capturing the images. The captured images at the image plane can then be blurred and a threshold can be chosen so that only certain pixels in the image are further processed. The thresholding can be via Otsu's methods or via variants of a Gaussian fit. Kostelec's method can then be used to count speckles in the portions of the image that have made it through the thresholding step. Other counting methods could be used. Fried's can then be found using the speckle count.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: The United States of America, as Represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Galen D. Cauble, David T. Wayne
  • Patent number: 9959613
    Abstract: This specification discloses an optical processing head including a light guide portion that guides, to a process surface, a ray for processing. The light guide portion is further configured to guide, to the process surface, a ray for inspection different in wavelength from the ray for processing. The optical processing head further includes an inspection portion that inspects the state of the process surface based on reflected light of the ray for inspection reflected by the process surface. With the optical processing head, the state of the process surface can be easily inspected even during optical processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH ASSOCIATION FOR FUTURE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
    Inventors: Hiroshi Ohno, Takashi Obara, Yuji Sasaki, Mitsuo Sasaki, Kazuyuki Masukawa
  • Patent number: 9959614
    Abstract: A first concentration range, which is a concentration range of a region of interest, and an output concentration range are determined in an input image. A compression table for compressing a dynamic range of the input image is generated on the basis of the first concentration range and the output concentration range. The first concentration range is changed at a predetermined ratio with respect to the changed output concentration range to determine a second concentration range. A new compression table is generated on the basis of the changed output concentration range and the second concentration range. The dynamic range of the input image is compressed using the new compression table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Keigo Nakamura, Tomoyuki Takahashi
  • Patent number: 9959615
    Abstract: A system and method for detecting pulmonary embolisms in a subject's vasculature are provided. In some aspects, the method includes acquiring a set of images representing a vasculature of the subject, and analyzing the set of images to identify pulmonary embolism candidates associated with the vasculature. The method also includes generating, for identified pulmonary embolism candidates, image patches based on a vessel-aligned image representation, and applying a set of convolutional neural networks to the generated image patches to identify pulmonary embolisms. The method further includes generating a report indicating identified pulmonary embolisms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Arizona Board of Regents on Behalf of Arizona State University
    Inventors: Jianming Liang, Nima Tajbakhsh
  • Patent number: 9959616
    Abstract: Disclosed are a cost-effective light source device that can eliminate highlights or hotspots and reduce halo phenomenon on resistor surface and a method for reading resistor value with computer vision, in which an image of a body of a resistor is extracted through irradiation by an annular light source and reflection by a replaceable diffuse reflection hood such as paper box, paper bowl, or paper cup inside pasted with white paper and extraction by an image extraction device, followed by a series of image processing operations conducted by a control unit to calculate a disposition angle of the resistor in an image. Luminous elements on opposite axial ends of the resistor are activated, according to the disposition angle, for illumination, while luminous elements on opposite lateral sides of the resistor are shut down so that a clear color resistor image can be obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: YUAN ZE UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Yung-Sheng Chen, Jeng-Yau Wang
  • Patent number: 9959617
    Abstract: A medical image processing apparatus and a breast image processing method thereof are provided. The processing method at least contains but not limited to the following steps. At least one slice of breast image is obtained. Mammary glandular tissue in each breast image is detected through a mammary glandular tissue detector. The mammary glandular tissue detector is based on texture characteristic analysis. Therefore, the embodiments of the present disclosure would assist density analysis of the mammary glandular tissue and efficiently reduce false positive of computer-aided detection. In addition, based on a result of the density analysis of the mammary glandular tissue, the embodiment would further determine lactation yield and present density diagrams of mammary glandular tissue of left and right breasts. A breast region may also be separated from the breast image based on rib information according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: TAIHAO MEDICAL INC.
    Inventors: Ruey-Feng Chang, Rong-Tai Chen, Hsin-Hung Lai, Hong-Hao Chen
  • Patent number: 9959618
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes: a detecting unit configured to detect images of interest including regions of interest that are estimated as an object to be detected, from a group of a series of images acquired by sequentially imaging a lumen of a living body; a global similarity calculating unit configured to calculate a global similarity that is a similarity between regions including at least regions other than the regions of interest, between the images of interest different from one another; an image-of-interest group extracting unit configured to extract an image-of-interest group including identical regions of interest, in accordance with comparison between a threshold and the global similarity or a determination parameter based on the global similarity; and a representative image extracting unit configured to extract a representative image from the image-of-interest group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Makoto Kitamura, Yamato Kanda
  • Patent number: 9959619
    Abstract: Provided are an apparatus for processing a medical image, and a method of processing a medical image by using the apparatus. The apparatus includes: an image obtainer that receives a first image obtained by photographing an object; and an image processor that calculates a scaling factor for adjusting a magnification of the first image based on statistic information corresponding to the object and generates a second image to be displayed by normalizing a size of the object by applying the calculated scaling factor to the first image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: SAMSUNG MEDISON CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Jun-sang Yoo
  • Patent number: 9959620
    Abstract: Methods and systems for registering three-dimensional (3D) CT image data with two-dimensional (2D) fluoroscopic image data using a plurality of markers are disclosed. In the methods and systems, a lateral angle and a cranial angle are searched for and a roll angle is computed. 3D translation coordinates are also computed. The calculated roll angle and 3D translation coordinates are computed for a predetermined number of times successively. After performing the calculations, the 3D CT image data is overlaid on the 2D fluoroscopic image data based on the lateral angle, the cranial angle, the roll angle, and the 3D translation coordinates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: COVIDIEN LP
    Inventor: Nicolas J. Merlet
  • Patent number: 9959621
    Abstract: Embodiments disclose a device for testing biological specimen. The device includes a sample carrier and a detachable cover. The sample carrier includes a specimen holding area. The detachable cover is placed on top of the specimen holding area. The detachable cover includes a magnifying component configured to align with the specimen holding area. The focal length of the magnifying component is from 0.1 mm to 8.5 mm. The magnifying component has a linear magnification ratio of at least 1. Some embodiments further include a multi-camera configuration. These embodiments include a first camera module and a second camera module arranged to capture one or more images of the first holding area and the second holding area, respectively. The processor may perform different analytic processes on the captured images of different holding areas to determine an outcome with regard to the biological specimen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Bonraybio Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Cheng-Teng Hsu, Hsuan-Yu Huang, Chih-Pin Chang, Kuang-Li Huang, Yu-Chiao Chi
  • Patent number: 9959622
    Abstract: Technology related to an apparatus and method for supporting a diagnosis of a lesion is provided. The apparatus includes a standard image determiner to determine, as a standard image, an image where a region of interest (ROI) is detected among a plurality of images received from an image collecting device, a candidate image extractor to extract one or more candidate images with respect to the determined standard image, a comparison image selector to select one or more comparison images for supporting a diagnosis of the ROI from the one or more candidate images, and an interface to provide a user with an output result of the standard image and the one or more selected comparison images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
    Inventors: Ha Young Kim, Hye Jin Kam, Ye Hoon Kim
  • Patent number: 9959623
    Abstract: A method comprising causing display of a map information representation that represents map information, the map information comprising physical object information that characterizes a physical object, the map information representation comprising a physical object representation that represents the physical object, receiving information indicative of an annotation, generating an association between the physical object information and the annotation, identifying a portion of the physical object representation that is a face representation of the physical object based, at least in part, on the association between the physical object information and the annotation, generating an annotation representation that illustrates the annotation as a texture on a polygon, the polygon corresponding with the face representation, and causing display of the annotation representation in relation to the face representation is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: HERE Global B.V.
    Inventors: Joseph Mays, Craig Barnes, Desiree N. Sauter
  • Patent number: 9959624
    Abstract: An in-vehicle system for identifying turn-only and shared turn lanes and identifying turn rules according to visual indicia captured from turn signs. An image apparatus configured to obtain image data including graphic data and/or text data from a roadway sign, as well as street light image data for an intersection on the roadway. The image data may be processed to detect a graphic image and/or text from the image data relating to the roadway sign. Street light image data may also be captured and processed to determine a street light status. An identification module may determine rules for turning on the intersection of the roadway based on the processed image data relating to the roadway sign, wherein the identification module is further configured to determine if the turn on the roadway is allowed based on the determined street light status.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignees: Volkswagen AG, Audi AG
    Inventors: Kaushik Raghu, Schmidts Beatrix
  • Patent number: 9959625
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for fast, robust and efficient BA pipeline (SfM) for wide area motion imagery (WAMI). The invention can, without applying direct outliers filtering (e.g. RANSAC) or re-estimation of the camera parameters (e.g. essential matrix estimation) efficiently refine noisy camera parameters in very short amounts of time. The method is highly robust owing to its adaptivity with the persistency factor of each track. The present invention highly suitable for sequential aerial imagery, particularly for WAMI, where camera parameters are available from onboard sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Gunasekaran Seetharaman, Kannappan Palaniappan, Hadi Ali Akbarpour
  • Patent number: 9959626
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a three-dimensional depth perception method and apparatus with an adjustable working range. The method comprises: setting a working range mode from the external or by an adaptive adjustment, projecting encoded patterns into a corresponding working range by adjusting a driving current of a laser pattern projector driving circuit, adjusting a receiving camera focal length and a baseline distance, collecting a sequence of projected encoded images and feeding them into a depth perception module that adjusts control parameters for image preprocessing based on the working range mode, selecting, from a group of reference encoded images in coincidence with the working range mode to perform block-matching-based disparity computation and depth computation to the inputted encoded image sequence, and outputting a depth image sequence. A three-dimensional depth perception apparatus with an adjustable working range is implemented based on the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Inventors: Yanhui Zhou, Chenyang Ge
  • Patent number: 9959627
    Abstract: A three-dimensional shape parameter computation system and method for computing three-dimensional human head shape parameters from two-dimensional facial feature points. A series of images containing a user's face is captured. Embodiments of the system and method deduce the 3D parameters of the user's head by examining a series of captured images of the user over time and in a variety of head poses and facial expressions, and then computing an average. An energy function is constructed over a batch of frames containing 2D face feature points obtained from the captured images, and the energy function is minimized to solve for the head shape parameters valid for the batch of frames. Head pose parameters and facial expression and animation parameters can vary over each captured image in the batch of frames. In some embodiments this minimization is performed using a modified Gauss-Newton minimization technique using a single iteration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Nikolay Smolyanskiy, Christian F. Huitema, Cha Zhang, Lin Liang, Sean Eron Anderson, Zhengyou Zhang
  • Patent number: 9959628
    Abstract: A method and system for using one or more sensors configured to capture two-dimensional and/or three dimensional image data of one or more objects. In particular, the method and system combine one or more digital sensors with visible and near infrared illumination to capture visible and non-visible range spectral image data for one or more objects. The captured spectral image data can be used to separate and identify the one or more objects. Additionally, the three-dimensional image data can be used to determine a volume for each of the one or more objects. The identification and volumetric data for one or more objects can be used individually or in combination to obtain characteristics about the objects. The method and system provide the user with the ability to capture images of one or more objects and obtain related characteristics or information about each of the one or more objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Inventors: Christopher M. Mutti, Daniel L. Lau, John P. Coates
  • Patent number: 9959629
    Abstract: Provided herein are methods and systems for managing spatiotemporal uncertainty in image processing. A method can comprise determining motion from a first image to a second image, determining a latency value, determining a precision value, generating an uncertainty element based upon the motion, the latency value, and the precision value, and rendering the uncertainty element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Help Lighting, Inc.
    Inventors: Marcus W. Dillavou, Phillip Corey Shum, Barton L. Guthrie, Mahesh B. Shenai, Drew Steven Deaton, Matthew Benton May
  • Patent number: 9959630
    Abstract: Systems and methods for viewing a scene depicted in a sequence of video frames and identifying and tracking objects between separate frames of the sequence. Each tracked object is classified based on known categories and a stream of context events associated with the object is generated. A sequence of primitive events based on the stream of context events is generated and stored together, along with detailed data and generalized data related to an event. All of the data is then evaluated to learn patterns of behavior that occur within the scene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: AVIGILON PATENT HOLDING 1 CORPORATION
    Inventors: Wesley Kenneth Cobb, Ming-Jung Seow, Tao Yang