Hand-held Patents (Class 382/313)
  • Patent number: 11919044
    Abstract: The present invention is related to methods and systems for collected item information for stored items. In one embodiment, a networked food storage system comprises a first sensor configured to read information from item tags coupled to items, wherein the items are stored or intended to be stored in a storage unit. A data store is configured to store food preferences for at least a first user. Instructions, stored in computer readable memory, are configured to: cause a first user interface to be displayed to the first user via which the first user can request a meal suggestion; retrieve preference information for the first user from computer readable memory; retrieve information read from at least a first item tag; and provide a meal suggestion based at least in part on preference information for the first user and item tag information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Freshhub LTD.
    Inventors: Fabio Zsigmond, Sion Douer, Geraldo Yoshizawa, Frederico Wagner
  • Patent number: 11861874
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus, an imaging control method, and an imaging control program are provided. A digital camera includes an imaging element including a first light-receiving region in which a pixel group including focal point detection pixels is arranged and a second light-receiving region in which a pixel group not including the focal point detection pixels is arranged, and a system control unit, in which the system control unit performs a recording imaging control of causing the imaging element to perform imaging in a first exposure time period and a display imaging control of causing the imaging element to perform imaging by setting an exposure time period of the second light-receiving region as the first exposure time period and setting an exposure time period of the first light-receiving region as a second exposure time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Hideaki Kokubun
  • Patent number: 11853841
    Abstract: A portable tracking device including a substantially rectangular base unit. A display screen, a video camera, a keypad, a pair of lights, an activation control, a video control, a bar code scanner, and a camera control are disposed on the base unit. The pair of lights includes a first light and a second light. The bar code scanner is configured to scan the barcode of each of a plurality of tags. The first light of the pair of lights is configured to activate when a user scans the barcode of one of the plurality of tags a first time. The first light of the pair of lights is configured to deactivate and the second light of the pair of lights is configured to simultaneously activate when the user scans the barcode of one of the plurality of tags a second time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Inventor: Michael Lamar LaBou
  • Patent number: 11687172
    Abstract: An electronic pen cartridge includes a pen tip that is configured to protrude outside of an electronic pen electronic pen casing through an opening of the electronic pen casing, an electronic circuit that transfers signals to a position detecting sensor, and a first connector that is joined to a second connector disposed in the electronic pen casing. The first connector includes plural terminals insulated from each other, and each of the terminals is electrically connected to the electronic circuit. The first connector and the second connector are joined through insertion of a fitting protrusion of a first one of the first connector and the second connector into a fitting recess of a second one of the first connector and the second connector in an axis center direction of the electronic pen casing, and circular annular conductor contacts are included in the first connector or the second connector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: Wacom Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masamitsu Ito, Hidetaka Takiguchi
  • Patent number: 11671431
    Abstract: The emergency response system and property reporting system provide a unique property identifier accessible at a property outside of a building or other structure. A user scans the property identifier with a mobile computing device to identify the property. The mobile computing device transmits the property ID and user authentication data to the server to authenticate and authorize the user. The server provides the user with the requested property data if the server authorizes the access by the user. The server also notifies a property contact that a user has scanned the property identifier of the property.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Inventors: Marion Kelly Walker, David Lee McClure
  • Patent number: 11526218
    Abstract: A pen input device is provided, including a housing including a front opening and a rear opening; a pen input generator including a pen tip disposed in the front opening, the pen input generator generating a position signal and a pen pressure signal of the pen input device; a battery; a PCB; a support on which at least a part of the pen input generator, the battery, and the PCB are disposed; a conductive member electrically connecting the PCB and the battery; a buffer disposed in the rear opening; and a polymer that fills in an inner space of the housing. The support includes a support plate extended in a direction toward the rear opening from the front opening of the housing, and a first partition, a second partition, and a third partition, which protrude from the support plate and are sequentially spaced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Inventors: Dongwoo Kim, Minsoo Kim, Siho Kim, Jiwoo Lee
  • Patent number: 11527017
    Abstract: An editing system may dynamically and intelligently determine which data points to remove, replace, and/or modify from a point cloud space so that more features, color information, and/or detail of the point cloud are preserved after decimation. The system may receive data points that are distributed in space, and may select one or more elements of the data points on which to base the decimation. For instance, the system may decimate a first subset of the data points by a first amount based on a first difference in values defined for the one or more elements of the first subset of data points, and may decimate a different second subset of the data points by a different second amount based on a second difference in values defined for the one or more elements of the second subset of data points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: Illuscio, Inc.
    Inventors: Max Good, Nicholas Frank Hammerle, Kevan Spencer Barsky
  • Patent number: 11416697
    Abstract: A handheld code reader may include a main structure, a handle extending from the main structure, and a trigger configured to be pulled by a finger of a user holding the handle. The code reader may further include a conductive element, an antenna configured to sense an inductive change caused by the trigger moving the conductive element, and electronics in electrical communication with the antenna, the electronics configured to determine when the inductive change is indicative of a user selecting to activate a pre-trigger aiming function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: DATALOGIC IP TECH S.R.L.
    Inventors: Simone Stefanini, Mauro Pecorari, Davide Gavioli, Roberto Moschini
  • Patent number: 11320799
    Abstract: For equipment tutorial review audit, a processor synchronizes a plurality of equipment tutorials to a mobile device. Each equipment tutorial corresponds to an equipment instance of a plurality of equipment instances of specific equipment and each equipment instance corresponds to an equipment reference code. The processor receives a first equipment reference code for a first equipment instance at the mobile device. The processor retrieves a first equipment tutorial of the plurality of equipment tutorials that is indexed to the first equipment reference code at the mobile device. The processor displays the first equipment tutorial on the mobile device. In addition, the processor records a review of the first equipment tutorial by an operator to an audit report.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jimi Michalscheck, Kelly Michalscheck
  • Patent number: 11138426
    Abstract: According to some embodiments, systems and methods are provided, comprising receiving a document at a template module; determining a pair of pixel coordinates for one or more data entry fields in the received document; determining whether the received document matches a stored template based on the determined pair of pixel coordinates; generating a first template when the received document does not match the stored template; applying one or more rules associated with one of the stored template and the first template to the received document; extracting one or more data elements from the received document based on the application of the one or more rules; and returning the extracted one or more data elements. Numerous other aspects are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: SAP SE
    Inventors: Venkatakrishnan Padmanaban, Sabirhusain Patel, Mahalingam Vanniappan, Bing Liu, Nishant Pounikar, Daniel Bednarski, Andrew Dotson
  • Patent number: 11039023
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a generation unit and a determination unit. In a case where the determination unit determines that a second processing button has been generated, the generation unit generates a fourth processing button for executing a new plurality of processes in which a process corresponding to a third processing button among a plurality of processes is replaced with a process corresponding to a first processing button.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Mikihiko Kamekawa
  • Patent number: 11015992
    Abstract: A load sensor unit according to an aspect of the present invention includes an operating part movable forward and backward in a first direction; a load sensor that has a pressure receiving part and outputs a signal according to a load received in the first direction by the pressure receiving part; a linking part that has one end part linked to the operating part and an other end part that causes the pressure receiving part to operate and is movable forward and backward in the first direction in synchronization with the operating part; and an elastic member that gives biasing force to the other end part of the linking part and gives an initial load to the pressure receiving part through the other end part. This can prevent a load sensor from being broken by an overload with a simple configuration and fully demonstrate detection accuracy of the load sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: ALPS ALPINE CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hisanobu Okawa, Eiji Umetsu
  • Patent number: 10971152
    Abstract: An imaging control method includes acquiring a device identifier of an imaging device; acquiring voice information; performing information comparison on content data included in the voice information based on the device identifier; analyzing the voice information to identify control information in response to the content data including matching information that matches the device identifier; generating a control command based on the control information; and transmitting the control command to the imaging device to control the imaging device to capture an image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Dan Wu
  • Patent number: 10965863
    Abstract: Apparatuses, methods, systems, and program products are disclosed for changing settings based on a fingerprint. An apparatus includes a fingerprint sensor, a processor, and a memory that stores code executable by the processor. The memory stores code executable by the processor to detect a fingerprint using the fingerprint sensor. The memory stores code executable by the processor to determine that an actively executing application comprises a setting associated with the detected fingerprint. The memory stores code executable by the processor to change the setting for the actively executing application associated with the detected fingerprint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: Lenovo (Singapore) PTE. LTD.
    Inventors: Russell Speight VanBlon, Robert James Kapinos, Scott Wentao Li, Robert James Norton, Jr.
  • Patent number: 10866997
    Abstract: The presently disclosed inventive concepts are directed to systems, computer program products, and methods for intelligent screen automation. The inventive techniques include: identifying first and second sets of elements within one or more images of a user interface, where each of the first set of elements is independently selected from: vertical lines, horizontal lines, and rectangular elements, and each of the second set of elements is independently selected from: radio buttons, icons, and textual elements. The methods also include determining one or more logical relationships between the textual elements and non-textual elements of the image; building a hierarchy comprising some or all of the first set of elements and some or all of the second set of elements in order to form a tree-based data structure representing functionality of the user interface; and outputting the tree-based data structure to a memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: KAPOW TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Vadim Alexeev, Benjamin De Coninck Owe
  • Patent number: 10853640
    Abstract: This disclosure relates generally to document processing, and more particularly to extracting information from hand-marked industrial inspection sheets. In an embodiment, the system performs localization of text as well as arrows in the inspection sheet, and identifies text that matches each arrow. Further by identifying machine zone each arrow is pointing to, the system assigns corresponding text to the appropriate machine zone; thus facilitating digitization of the inspection sheets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Tata Consultancy Services Limited
    Inventors: Gaurav Gupta, Swati, Monika Sharma, Lovekesh Vig
  • Patent number: 10842002
    Abstract: Head-mounted accessories for surgeons and medical/dental practitioners are equipped with no-touch, hands-free controls. A voice-activated headlamp includes a controller operative to send a signal to control a light source in accordance with a voice command received through an integrated or remote microphone. The voice command and control may be speaker-dependent or speaker-independent, and the head-mounted unit may include an interface to a computer for voice-command training or other purposes. The head-mounted unit includes a memory for storing the voice commands. The invention may be used to control other medical/dental accessories such as a head-mounted video camera, in which case the controller is further operative to at least turn the video camera ON or OFF. More preferably, a controller is additionally operative to control the focus or zoom of the video camera in accordance with a voice command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Inventor: Byung J. Chang
  • Patent number: 10740807
    Abstract: Provided herein are systems and methods for transmitting an offer between users based on an interaction of a first user with an image representing a good/service to be offered. A user device system includes a list of potential recipients and a list of items and one or more hardware processors. The system receives a selection of one or more of the potential recipients as displayed on a display of the system. The system displays images representing at least some of the list of items that the first user can offer to a second user. The system processes an input received on the display in connection with a first image of the set of images as a request by the first user to offer the item represented by the first image to the second user and then transmits the request to the transaction service provider system over a network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: PAYPAL, INC.
    Inventor: Saumil Ashvin Gandhi
  • Patent number: 10699145
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for using augmented reality to assist in capturing data from a document are described. The method may include capturing, with a camera of a mobile device, an image of a first region of a document. The method may also include determining, by a processor of the mobile device, a dimension of the first region relative to the document. The method may also include rendering, in a display of the mobile device, an image of the document in an augmented reality scene with a first augmented reality overlay rendered over the first region of the image of the document and a second augmented reality overlay rendered over a second region of the document, the first region and the second region being different regions of the document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: OMNISCIENCE CORP.
    Inventor: William Bertrand
  • Patent number: 10699550
    Abstract: Styli for generating alert notifications to prevent unintentional marking of interactive devices are disclosed. A disclosed stylus includes a housing and a processor. The housing is to interchangeably receive a physically marking nib and an electronic marking nib. The processor is carried by the housing. The processor is to determine a received nib is the physically marking nib. The processor is further to determine a distance between the stylus and an interactive device satisfies a threshold. The processor is further to generate an alert notification based on the received nib being the physically marking nib and the distance between the stylus and the interactive device satisfying the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Neill Thomas Kapron, Scott Michael Fehringer, Jeffrey Edward Leaming, George Hristov Gueorguiev, Andrew Stone Cifala, Ken Ogden, Lauren M. Domingo, Bruce E. Blaho, Fred Charles Thomas, III
  • Patent number: 10679209
    Abstract: An electronic wallet system that protects payment accounts, identification and other personal information found within a typical wallet with a secure electronic vault (first) device that can be part of a physical wallet, insert to a wallet, or in other embodiments, wearable/portable devices. A unique biometrically enabled multi-factor authentication process ensures only owners of the information can copy the information to the device or retrieve it thereafter. Authenticated users may then select payment, identification, medical or virtually any private information via touch display or voice command on the vault or on another (second) device that operates in conjunction with the vault. The second device comprises, for example, a programmable card with dynamic magnetic stripe, cell phone, or other wearable technology, that initiates and processes a payment and/or transfer of private information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Garmin International, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles David Tunnell, Justin Mitchell, Gino Pereira, Jacob Zurasky
  • Patent number: 10463961
    Abstract: Methods of interacting with a mixed reality are presented. A mobile device captures an image of a real-world object where the image has content information that can be used to control a mixed reality object through an offered command set. The mixed reality object can be real, virtual, or a mixture of both real and virtual.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: NANT HOLDINGS IP, LLC
    Inventor: Ronald H. Cohen
  • Patent number: 10306267
    Abstract: A compression system for compressing a video received from an imaging device, the compression system including a transformation estimation device configured to estimate, based on pixel transformations between a first frame and a second frame of the video, a transformation matrix, an encoding device configured to encode the second frame as an increment with the first frame based on the transformation matrix generated by the transformation device, a compression device configured to compress the increments into compressed data, and a reconstruction device configured to reconstruct the first frame and the second frame using the transformation matrix generated by the transformation estimation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chung-Ching Lin, Sharathchandra U. Pankanti, John R. Smith
  • Patent number: 10248652
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and apparatus of providing a visual writing aid are provided. In one example embodiment, a method includes obtaining data descriptive of a first set of information, wherein the first set of information is presented in a first language. The method includes determining a translation of the first set of information to a second language. The method includes presenting a visual representation of the translation of the first set of information in the second language via a display device. The method includes obtaining data descriptive of a second set of information. The second set of information includes a transcription of at least a portion of the first set of information in the second language generated via a mobile writing device. The method includes determining whether the second set of information corresponds to the visual representation of the translation of the first set of information in the second language.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Vinay Venkataraman, Eric Aboussouan, David Frakes
  • Patent number: 10055641
    Abstract: A method comprising receipt of visual information from a camera module, determination that the visual information comprises visual information indicative of a printed document that is being read by a user, determination of a printed document identifier that identifies the printed document based, at least in part, on the visual information, determination that the printed document identifier corresponds with a historical printed document record, retrieval of at least one printed document interaction attribute associated with the printed document identifier from the historical printed document record, and causation of rendering of information indicative of the printed document interaction attribute is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY
    Inventor: Praveen Krishnan
  • Patent number: 10037322
    Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for tracking documents in a computing environment, including documents stored locally on computing devices. A monitoring module stored on a computing device may determine that a user is trying to open a document stored locally on the computing device and communicate a signature associated with the document to a document tracking system. A document tracking system may compare the signature with a set of stored signatures to see if the document corresponds to a document already being tracked. If the document is not being tracked already, the document tracking system may upload the document into the system, send a link to a newer version or determine one or more actions to be performed on the document based on the signature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: Open Text SA ULC
    Inventor: Simon Dominic Copsey
  • Patent number: 10002613
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for determining hotword suitability. In one aspect, a method includes receiving speech data that encodes a candidate hotword spoken by a user, evaluating the speech data or a transcription of the candidate hotword, using one or more predetermined criteria, generating a hotword suitability score for the candidate hotword based on evaluating the speech data or a transcription of the candidate hotword, using one or more predetermined criteria, and providing a representation of the hotword suitability score for display to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Andrew E. Rubin, Johan Schalkwyk, Maria Carolina Parada San Martin
  • Patent number: 9984055
    Abstract: Provided are a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a display control program, an image display apparatus and a display control method. The apparatus includes a touch panel configured to receive a handwriting input and display a document and handwriting information in a display area thereof. The display control program, when being executed by a processor of the apparatus, causes the processor to perform the following processes. The processes includes: operating the touch panel to display a document and handwriting information in the display area; and in response to detecting an operation onto the document, controlling display of the handwriting information by using a first display mode or a second display mode. The first display mode is a mode to display the handwriting information with being associated with the document. The second display mode is a mode to display the handwriting information with being associated with the display area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventor: Masafumi Aikawa
  • Patent number: 9922667
    Abstract: Various embodiments relating to detecting at least one of conversation, the presence and the identity of others during presentation of digital content on a computing device. When another person is detected, one or more actions may be taken with respect to the digital content. For example, the digital content may be minimized, moved, resized or otherwise modified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Arthur Charles Tomlin, Dave Hill, Jonathan Paulovich, Evan Michael Keibler, Jason Scott, Cameron G. Brown, Thomas Forsythe, Jeffrey A. Kohler, Brian Murphy
  • Patent number: 9401159
    Abstract: A device may include a display and logic. The logic may be configured to receive a selection of a first control action associated with an application stored in the device, provide a number of choices associated with the first control action, and receive a word or a phrase to use as a voice command corresponding to the first control action, wherein the word or phrase is selected from the choices. The logic may also associate the word or phrase with the first control action, receive voice input from a user, identify the voice input as corresponding to the word or phrase, and perform the first control action based on the identified voice input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2016
    Assignee: SNAPTRACK, INC.
    Inventors: Mats Gustafsson, Julian Charles Hope
  • Patent number: 9342516
    Abstract: Annotations can be automatically added to a media presentation during playback of the presentation without a user having to manually interact with the playback device. The playback device determines whether an annotation is to be added to the media presentation based on characteristics of voice input received at the device, such as voice input signal strength or variances in the voice input signal strength. Characteristics of video input received at the device can be used to determine whether a user is speaking to the computing device as well. The device can handle a new annotation overlapping an existing annotation by either removing the existing annotation or by shifting the existing annotation until there is no more overlap. A media presentation can comprise multiple annotation tracks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Joseph H. Matthews, III, Udiyan Padmanabhan, Jannes Paul Peters
  • Patent number: 9286551
    Abstract: An image capturing unit includes a sensor section that images a predetermined range including a subject; a reference chart section that is imaged by the sensor section with the subject; and an illumination light source that illuminates the subject and the reference chart section. The illumination light source is arranged at a position where a mirror reflection region that mirror reflects light entering from the illumination light source to the sensor section is outside a region of the subject and the reference chart section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Suguru Yokozawa, Nobuyuki Satoh, Yasuyuki Suzuki, Masato Kobayashi, Yuichi Sakurada, Mamoru Yorimoto, Tatsuhiko Okada, Daisaku Horikawa, Masahiro Shigemoto, Kazushi Takei, Hideaki Suzuki, Satoshi Iwanami
  • Patent number: 9241082
    Abstract: Scanners built in display devices that can be controlled to have a moment of see-through either entirely or on a specified portion are described. During the see-through moment, a scanning object (e.g., a currency bill) placed against the display is scanned, hence on-screen scanner. An exemplary such display device is a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). Without affecting the display functions of an LCD device, an image sensing module is provided with light sources. By controlling the liquid crystals in the LCD unit, the reflected light from an object placed against the LCD device to be imaged is projected onto an image sensor (or array) to generate an image of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2016
    Inventor: Darwin Hu
  • Patent number: 9201664
    Abstract: A method for users to give commands directly in computer software, is involved with the user interface for software in computers and computing systems. The present invention put forth a method for users to give commands directly in computer software through use of a command input module, a command dictionary or database with synonyms, a user command dictionary or database, a command search engine and a dynamical command execution module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Inventor: Xuezhi Zhang
  • Patent number: 9195907
    Abstract: The invention is a method for omnidirectional recognition of recognizable characters in a captured two-dimensional image. An optical reader configured in accordance with the invention searches for pixel groupings in a starburst pattern, and subjects located pixel groupings to a preliminary edge crawling process which records the pixel position of the grouping's edge and records the count of edge pixels. If two similar-sized pixel groupings are located that are of sizes sufficient to potentially represent recognizable characters, then the reader launches “alignment rails” at pixel positions substantially parallel to a centerline connecting the center points of the two similarly sized groupings. A reader according to the invention searches for additional recognizable characters within the rail area, and subjects each located pixel grouping within the rail area to a shape-characterizing edge crawling process for developing data that characterizes the shape of a pixel grouping's edge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: Hand Held Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Andrew Longacre, Jr.
  • Patent number: 8989498
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a system stores a plurality of contents in a storage medium, each content includes handwritten data including stroke data corresponding to strokes which are handwritten, image data corresponding to the strokes, and retrieval information for retrieving the handwritten data. The system provides, upon receiving a retrieve request including a character string from a terminal, to the terminal either the handwritten data in the content corresponding to first retrieval information, the first retrieval information corresponding to the character string from among retrieval information of the plurality of contents, or the image data in the content corresponding to the first retrieval information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Aiko Akashi
  • Patent number: 8970923
    Abstract: A scanning device has a controller which is configured to judge whether the scanning device is to be operated in a conveyed sheet scanning mode in which the controller controls a conveying unit to convey a sheet and control the scanning unit to scan images on the sheet being conveyed, or in a held sheet scanning mode in which the sheet stationarily held by a sheet table is scanned, to display functions related to the conveyed sheet scanning mode on a display unit in a first prioritized manner when the controller judges that the scanning device is to be operated in the conveyed sheet scanning mode, and to display functions related to the held sheet scanning mode on the display unit in a second prioritized manner when the controller judges that the scanning device is to be operated in the held sheet scanning mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masayoshi Oosaki
  • Patent number: 8964260
    Abstract: A scanner including an automatic document feeder includes a communication interface unit to perform a communication with an external printer; a scan operation performing unit to perform a scan operation; an automatic feeding unit to automatically feed scan-target documents to the scan operation performing unit; and a controller to control the scan operation and a scan speed, wherein when the communication interface unit receives a request speed for a scan operation from the external printer, the controller adjusts a feeding interval between the scan-target documents that are fed from the automatic feeding unit, so that the scan operation is performed at the received request speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Byung-jun Sung
  • Patent number: 8942481
    Abstract: Disclose embodiments include an image processor for feature detection comprising a single non-planar chip containing a plurality of integrated sensing and processing resources across two or more layers adapted to capture image frames and extract image features. In a particular embodiment, the non-planar chip is a three dimensional CMOS integrated circuit (3D CMOS IC) with vertical distribution of sensing and processing resources across two or more vertical integrated circuit layers. The 3D CMOS IC implements two or more feature detectors in a single chip by reusing a plurality of circuits employed for gradient and keypoint detection. Feature detectors include a scale invariant feature transform detector (SIFT), a Harris-based feature detector, and a Hessian-based feature detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2015
    Assignees: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Universidad de Sevilla
    Inventors: Manuel Suárez Cambre, Víctor Manuel Brea Sánchez, Fernando Rafael Pardo Seco, Ángel Rodríguez Vázquez, Ricardo Carmona Galán
  • Patent number: 8917428
    Abstract: Disclosed is an image reading controller including an output unit that outputs plural control signals for controlling turning on and off of a light emitting unit of an image reading unit including the light emitting unit and a light receiving unit on respective transmission paths, the plural control signals satisfying at least one of a first condition that respective transmission paths are separated from each other by a predetermined distance or more and a second condition that types of the respective transmission paths are different from each other; and a controller that controls turning on and off of the light emitting unit on the basis of the plural control signals output from the output unit and input through the respective transmission paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuaki Shintani
  • Patent number: 8903201
    Abstract: A system and method for processing an image of a document is disclosed. The method includes receiving at least one predetermined document parameter of the document. An image of the document is previewed on a display using a camera. The display provides a visual indication of a defect in the image based on the preview. A processor proposes a procedure to minimize the defect in the image. A user adjusts the camera in response to the proposal. The processor processes the image of the document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2014
    Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew D. Blasczak, Alan J. Epshteyn, Mehaboob Kumbalakkuzhiyil, Bruno Vande Vyvre, Michelle X. Wang
  • Patent number: 8897567
    Abstract: A color determination unit determines color information of a light-emitting body of an input device. A transmitter unit communicates the determined color information to the input device. A recording unit records a history of the color information determined by the color determination unit. A color candidate determination unit determines one or more candidates of emitted color of the light-emitting body, using the color information recorded in the recording unit. An acknowledging unit acknowledges from the user a command to determine a candidate of emitted light, and the color determination unit determines the color information of the light-emitting body accordingly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2014
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventor: Yoshio Miyazaki
  • Patent number: 8897510
    Abstract: The computational resources needed to perform processes such as image recognition can be reduced by determining appropriate frames of image information to use for the processing. In some embodiments, infrared imaging can be used to determine when a person is looking substantially towards a device, such that an image frame captured at that time will likely be adequate for facial recognition. In other embodiments, sound triangulation or motion sensing can be used to assist in determining which captured image frames to discard and which to select for processing based on any of a number of factors indicative of a proper frame for processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2014
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth M. Karakotsios, Kah Kuen Fu, Volodymyr V. Ivanchenko, Mingjing Huang
  • Patent number: 8897605
    Abstract: Embodiments include a method, a manual device, a handheld manual device, a handheld writing device, a system, and an apparatus. An embodiment provides a device. The device includes an imaging circuit operable to acquire digital information encoded in a hand-formed analog expression marked on a surface by a handheld writing device. The device also includes a translator circuit operable to decode the digital information. The device further includes a correlation circuit operable to generate a signal indicative of the decoded digital information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2014
    Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, LLC
    Inventors: Alexander J. Cohen, B. Isaac Cohen, Ed Harlow, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A. Levien, Robert W. Lord, Mark A. Malamud
  • Patent number: 8891113
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus capable of communicating with an electronic pen at least includes a communication section for obtaining, from the electronic pen, electronic pen data including multiple pieces of position information obtained by detecting a position detection mark printed on a hand-writing sheet by the use of the electronic pen; a language analysis section for analyzing the electronic pen data, identifies one or more hand-written images defined by the multiple pieces of position information, and creates intermediate data that defines the arrangement of objects including respective hand-written images; an image processing section for rasterizing the intermediate data to create bitmap data; and a printing section for conducting printing based on the bitmap data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2014
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Yoshinori Tanaka, Koji Shakushi, Mitsuru Okuzawa
  • Patent number: 8873875
    Abstract: In one or more embodiments, a framework is provided in which image decoding can be delayed based on heuristics, and later initiated based on a use type associated with the image or the likelihood that the image is going to be used. For example, a use history and priority system can enable images that are currently being rendered and/or are likely to get rendered to be decoded before images that have a history of being downloaded but never used. Accordingly, by decoupling image download from image decoding, CPU resources and memory can be more efficiently utilized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2014
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Cenk Ergan, Rafael V. Cintron, Samuel R. Fortiner, Prabhakar Marnadi, Sandra G. Roberts, Kedar Sanjeev Hirve
  • Patent number: 8873892
    Abstract: A handheld scanner incorporates vision software to allow the handheld scanner to be trained for OCR. The handheld scanner can include a user interface to allow a user to associate an image of a mark with electronic data for the mark. The user interface, along with a range finder, can also be used to influence variables that affect the quality of an image scan, thereby improving the quality of results for the image scan and/or decode process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2014
    Assignee: Cognex Corporation
    Inventors: James A. Negro, Carl W. Gerst, III
  • Patent number: 8867106
    Abstract: A system and method for interactive printed media are disclosed in which a mobile or wearable computing device has an application that captures an image of a piece of printed media and associates a link to the piece of printed media using a backend component to make the piece of printed media interactive. The system and method may be used to generate a piece of printed media that is interactive that may be sent to third parties or to make an existing piece of printed media interactive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Inventor: Peter Lancaster
  • Patent number: 8868537
    Abstract: A system of one or more computing devices is utilized for, among other purposes, creating a template-driven search interface and conducting searches thereon. In an embodiment, the system comprises: a template repository; search templates in the template repository, the search templates comprising at least: field specification data that specify search interface fields for obtaining search input data, and query specification data that specify how to generate structured queries based on the search input data obtained for the one or more of the search interface fields; a search field generator that generates search fields indicated by the field specification data; a template loading module, coupled to the template repository, that identifies available search templates in the template repository; and a search interface generator, coupled to the search field generator and template loading module, that generates different search interfaces depending on which template is selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: Palantir Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Caitlin Colgrove, Gregory Martin, Javier Campanini
  • Patent number: 8854702
    Abstract: An image reading apparatus includes a touch panel that outputs a press position pressed by a finger as coordinate information in a sub-scanning direction, the finger being placed on the surface of the touch panel, a CCD that takes an image of the finger placed on the touch panel from the rear side of the touch panel in a main-scanning direction, and outputs an image signal, and a motor that moves the CCD in the sub-scanning direction so as to follow a rotational movement of the finger based on the movement amount detected by the movement detection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2014
    Assignee: NEC Engineering, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tetsuichiro Yamamoto