Digital Commons Network^™

Webpage Hiding For Anti-Flickering Synchronous Script Loading, Brian Kuhn, Dimitrios Dimitropoulos, Bing Chen, James Wogulis

Defensive Publications Series

This document describes a technique for eliminating webpage flickering during A/B testing, also known as split or bucket testing, without delaying webpage load times. An asynchronous-hide snippet embedded into a webpage hides the whole webpage during the asynchronous loading of an A/B testing tools’ optimization scripts. A snippet includes an end-of-hiding function to unhide the webpage, a timer to remove the function, and a globally accessible data structure to identify other scripts or clients. A separate endHide function invoked on start-up implements an un-hiding protocol, ensures snippet availability and script registration, marks the data structure to indicate the script hiding …

Image Acquisition And Processing For Fire Preparation, Heidi Lewis, Christopher Rollings

Defensive Publications Series

Described are systems, methods, computer programs, and user interfaces for image location, acquisition, analysis, and data correlation. Results obtained via image analysis are correlated to non-spatial information.

Keywords associated with the present disclosure include: image acquisition, satellite imagery drone imagery, fire preparation, firebreak, water defense.

Autofocus Analysis: Latency And Sharpness, Adam Hampson, Edward Chang, Katrina Passarella, Jonathan Phillips, Brett Frymire, Honglei Wu

Defensive Publications Series

In this study a new camera testing method is introduced to determine and analyze the autofocus latency of cameras. This analysis allows for objective comparison and tuning of autofocus algorithms in order to deliver both sharp images and the optimal user experience with a camera. Given images taken in variable illuminance conditions with different methods of focus reset, along with high-speed recordings of the camera viewfinder throughout the reset and capture, machine vision is used to extract three different types of latencies:

• The first latency is the autofocus time, which is measured from the end of the focus reset to …

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Method For Control Of A Cooling Fan In A Camera Recording System For Reduced Vibration, Matthew Valente

Defensive Publications Series

A system and method are disclosed for reducing vibration from a camera cooling fan and thereby preserving high image quality. The system uses one or more accelerometers to provide feedback on vibration intensity and frequency that are used as input to control the fan. The fan may be switched at variable speed by a controller receiving inputs from a temperature sensor. The accelerometer(s) would measure the vibration in the camera structure at important locations such as the camera lens that would be sent to a computer or processor connected to the fan controller. The system would extract the vibration characteristics …

Replay Real World Network Conditions To Test Cellular Switching, Weihua Tan, Vijay Thurimella, Jeffrey Palm, Michael Rowland

Defensive Publications Series

A system and method for capturing real-world conditions for designing test cases for testing of network switching algorithms is disclosed. Two devices working on different communication networks are taken while commuting from home to office or vice versa. Different real-world conditions like time, network type: e.g. LTE, 3G, etc. signal strength, location, device state, e.g. moving or stationary etc. are continuously captured on the way. These pieces of information are captured by an app installed on the respective devices. It is feasible to capture additional information that a test case designer is interested in. In the end, the device will …

Improving Audio Conditions Of Audio And Video Conferences, Sara Basson, Dimitri Kanevsky

Defensive Publications Series

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a system for improving audio quality in video conferencing or teleconferencing involving a small digital figure or a robot associated with a microphone which is remote-controlled by participants. The robot automatically detects poor audio quality that interferes with intelligibility. Using automatic speech recognition, the robot processes and interprets incoming speech at the microphone to establish pre-determined acceptable levels of accuracy in audibility. The system enables participants to signal the robot when experiencing difficulty in understanding the discussion during the course of the meeting. The robot then demonstrates the level of difficulty through gestures in a number …

Two Stacked Pxietm Cards In 1u, Kevin Conn, Harvey Edward White Jr.

Defensive Publications Series

PXI^TM/PXIe^TM is an open-standards based platform that is popular for high-end test and measurement. One issue is combining enterprise-class computing with PXIe test and measurement cards in a compact 1U enclosure. This article discloses a means to install four single-width, 3U PXIe cards in a 1U, rack-mountable enclosure.

Pricing Airline Optional Services, Stavros Macrakis, Michael Leen, Daniel Burkhard

Defensive Publications Series

A pricing system receives a request for a price of one or more optional services for a flight. The pricing system determines, for each ATPCO S5 record (“S5 record”) associated with each corresponding requested optional service, whether the S5 record comprises a formula table. If the pricing system determines that the S5 record does not comprise a formula table, the pricing system identifies ATPCO S7 records (“S7 record”) associated with the S5 record and sequentially evaluates pricing conditions stipulated by each of the S7 records until finding a first S7 record comprising a pricing condition that is satisfied by the …

Shipping Or Storing A Plastic Milk Jug On Its Side To Contain Leakage, Michelle D’Arpino, Prateek Khanna, Abhijeet Dudi

Defensive Publications Series

A merchant agent obtains a plastic jug including liquid contents and secures an absorbent material to the cap or rim of the jug using an adhesive material to create a secured plastic jug. The liquid contents of the secured plastic jug may be milk, juice, or other liquid, aqueous solution, colloid solution, beverage, solvent, or chemical. For example, the secured plastic jug comprises a standard jug of milk. The merchant agent may store the secured plastic jug on its side or otherwise ship the secured plastic jug on its side. The merchant agent may ship the secured plastic jug on …

Shopping Expedition Planner, Sajid Siddiqi, Philip Henderson

Defensive Publications Series

A shopping system generates a shopping route based on a wish list of a user, shopping route preferences, and location information received from a plurality of merchant systems, and inventory information. The shopping system determines one or more offers associated with the shopping route and combines the offers with the shopping route.

Auto-Selection Of Package Delivery Location Based On Estimated Time Of Delivery, Tuna Toksoz, Tutku Gulkaya, Thomas Price

Defensive Publications Series

A delivery location for a specific package delivery is chosen based on an estimated order fulfillment time, an estimated shipping time to each of several possible locations, and history of successful deliveries (or a user preference) during various time windows.

Securing Automatic Package Delivery Through Building Call Box System, Thomas Price, Anurag Agrawal

Defensive Publications Series

A user places an order for delivery in a building that uses a telephone-based call box

system installed at the common door or gate to the building. When the order is placed, the user selects an option to authorize automatic delivery of the package and grants an ecommerce application authorization to temporarily intercept phone calls from the user’s building call box system. The user computing device application communicates the authorization to the account management computing system, which stores the user’s authorization and manages the delivery process. Upon receipt of a delivery update, an application on a delivery computing device transmits …

Executable Knowledge Base For Virtual Chat System, Wen-Ying Yang, Rui Han, Ding-Jun Chen, Xun Wang, Yuan-Chun Liao

Defensive Publications Series

A virtual chat system enables the end user to interact with knowledge base by chatting with a virtual assistant. Besides knowledge article, a virtual assistant can also perform automation flows such as restart a virtual machine, reset the password for a PC. In many virtual chat systems, AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language) is used to train the virtual agent to interact with human beings. It is also possible to integrate knowledge system and automation flow system with AIML interpreter to quickly empower virtual assistances with various domain knowledge. The disclosure provides a method to convert or link an automation flow …

2u Tray Placement To Support 8 Gpus With Hard Drives, Shou-Jen Yang, Tung Sim Chai, Minh H. Nguyen

Defensive Publications Series

In rack-mounted computer systems, there is a need to package equipment efficiently. A technique is disclosed which enables 8 GPUs with hard drives to be placed in a 2U size rack node in a manner which provides easy service access.

National Electric Code Compliant Integrated Rack Ladder, John Franz, Chris F. Felcman

Defensive Publications Series

As rack power and processor densities increase, the rack heights are forced into racks taller than 42U in height. Within these tall rack systems, it is difficult for the average height operator to reach components mounted in upper positions. Even more critical is access to power safety breakers, if these are placed above the 2 meter National Electric Code specification. Access to ladders in factories and data centers is not convenient, and often times not safe. Disclosed is a technique for integrating a ladder into the rack which benefits the operator and improves safety.

System And Method For Maintaining Consistent Container-Specific Counters In A Distributed Eventually Consistent Storage System Containing Billions Of Objects/Files, Dhanwa Thirumalai

Defensive Publications Series

Conflict-free replicated data types, CRDTs, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict-free_replicated_data_type) are used to maintain consistent metadata/counters (file-share/folder/container-specific space used, iops served etc..) in an eventually consistent system. These counters need to be strongly consistent (compared to the user data) since they will be used management actions like user billing, quota enforcement. For the client-initiated data path, a straightforward application of CRDTs suffices, each proxy that serves a client request stores the counter under a key corresponding to the node on which the proxy runs.

For system maintenance, a distributed system can generate background writes/deletes that are often duplicates and separated over a period of …

Excursion Sensing On The Surround Of An Acoustic Transducer, Chad Seguin, Michael Asfaw

Defensive Publications Series

A device to monitor vibration excursion of speakers is disclosed. The device primarily uses a vibration sensor attached to the speaker suspension (surround). The sensor is overmolded onto the spider of the speaker. Both the sensor transducer and the acoustic transducer can use the -ve terminal as ground while voltage output of the sensor is monitored from the sensor +ve terminal. The surround moves together with the voice coil, which may or may not be attached to a former. The vibration sensor can be made of a PVDF coated thin piezo sensor or can be made of a flex sensor. …

System And Method For Authenticating A Speaker Across The Surfaces Of A Security System, Daniel Raffel

Defensive Publications Series

A system and method are disclosed of authenticating a user to a security system based on voice recognition. The method could be implemented in a system including a user with a smartphone device at a security access system connected to a Cloud-based authentication server. The method matches a spoken voice picked up locally by the access system to a registered account on the server. The server could have another registered hardware device such as a smartphone or tablet locally connected to the security system using a mechanism such as Bluetooth, WiFi, etc. that is used to identify the user. The …

A Wiki For Ideas, Dimitri Kanevsky, Mikhail Leder, Sara Basson

Defensive Publications Series

A system and method of creating a web portal ideas can be recorded is presented. Each idea page is collaboratively edited, evaluated and managed using a system similar to Wikipedia. Each idea will have a list of applications to go with it. The system could also be provided with tools to track if the idea is known anywhere, either on demand or as a configurable notification. The website would not guarantee originality of entries, but will have mechanisms to check for prior art. If the creator of an idea wants to implement that idea they would be responsible for ensuring …

Optimized Time Management And Scheduling For Users, Daniel Klein

Defensive Publications Series

Disclosed herein is a mobile intelligent scheduling system and method that integrates events, historical conditions and auxiliary data into a series of reminders and automated actions. The system optimizes the entire timeline to meet a set of goals, rather than focusing on a single event, condition or reminder. The system accesses and aggregates schedule information and creates a calendar flow for users that works backward in time and integrates multiple events and conditions. The system alerts or reminds the user with appropriate text messages and integrates the historical data to arrive at optimized time schedules. Alternatively, the system could automatically …

System Of Digital Navigation For Visually-Impaired User, Christopher Gray

Defensive Publications Series

A system is disclosed for navigating a digital space (such as a virtual view of a street) by a visually-impaired user. The visually impaired user may access the system using a stereophonic audio system. The system is configured to generate an audible ping from the user’s location in a panoramic image that is configured to reach the user's ears based on the geometry of the image defined in a depth map. The system provides visualization on preview of the location for a visually-impaired user who practices echolocation, in a similar way as offered to sighted users. The method for digital …

Inline Voice Commands In Word Processor, Georges Rotival, Victoria Fritz, Kelly Moran, Shawn Lauriat, Kirti Agarwal

Defensive Publications Series

Invoking a command in a word processor typically involves a break in the flow of writing. For example, if a user wants to insert a table into a document that she is editing, she has to execute an operation such as pressing a key combination, performing a mouse movement, or a gesture to invoke a command. Such breaks in flow causes a loss of productivity. Further, performing such movements may be difficult for users with motor disabilities. This disclosure describes techniques that enable a user to issue voice commands without a break in the flow of writing.

Synchronized Chat Notifications, Christopher Wren

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure presents a system and a method to generate or control synchronized notifications in co-located devices. The method is implemented via suitable software such as an app. The method assumes that the devices have clocks that are synchronized (at least at a human-perceptual-scale), and are therefore likely on the same network. In this case, the server assigns a date certain to the notification data received and the app simply waits until that time to execute the notification. The method ensures that the notification sounds will all emit at very similar times. A device that experiences network delays would be …

Geo-Restricted In-Video Annotations, Justin Lewis, Joseph Cohen

Defensive Publications Series

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for video annotation that allow a content creator to specify whether a video annotation appears or changes based on the viewer’s geolocation to provide relevant content. The system uses four core components viz. video annotation editing tool, annotation storage mechanism, video metadata serving system and conversion mechanism. When a user clicks on media in a client application to view a video, the conversion mechanism converts the profile data of the user into geographic data using GPS or other methods. The metadata server then applies the geographic restrictions (step F) and shows the video with …

Method And Apparatus For Improved Cumulative Yield Of On-Package Voltage Regulator Assembly, Gregory Sizikov, Woon Seong Kwon, Xin Li, Shuai Jiang, Lung-Yang Ying

Defensive Publications Series

In high-power application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), multiple voltage regulator ICs are required on the package to provide the required power to the ASIC. These underfill components on package are not reworkable and manufacturing flaws cannot be fixed, thus having a negative impact on the overall package yield. A system and method are proposed here to increase the package yield on ASICs by placing redundant voltage regulator ICs in addition to the multiple voltage regulator ICs operating in parallel on a semiconductor package. The redundancy ensures that the overall system in the package would be functional even with certain limited flawed …

Identifying Real-World Places In Books By Geolocation, Kathleen Warnock

Defensive Publications Series

A method and application are proposed which will provide the users of an e-book reading device an assistive contextual experience referencing their immediate geolocation. The app will provide an alert service to the user when he is at or near a location depicted in novels, literary nonfiction or other literature. A pop-up appearing in the app shows quotes from the pertinent section of a book, and may include a photo, illustration, or a link to purchase the book. This ability to view a list of books or book excerpts in which the location is depicted provides the booklover an assistive …

Video Conference Voting System, Gabriel Diniz De Faria

Defensive Publications Series

A system and method for voting via video conference are disclosed. The system is organized by meeting IDs, voting is done by joining a meeting ID to vote on a matter. The system is implemented via an application interface. When voting, each participant will move from the “Waiting” to the “Voted” section in the current task interface, without revealing what they voted for. Participants can click an eye icon to peek at what other people have voted, after voting. Once voting is done, a checkmark is clicked by a participant, which reveals the scores in bar graph style. The system …

Tooltip For Automated Conversion Of Data In Electronic Form, Peter Schiller

Defensive Publications Series

Disclosed herein are a system and a method for a calendar tooltip that includes the designation of significant dates for filling electronic forms with numerical information. The application visually differentiates the significant dates with a highlight app or by some other tool. The servers may process the information given by the user, and a database resolves the given date to a standard format. An assistive tooltip or annotation acts as a feedback mechanism to alert the user about the conversion. Thus, the system may perform smart interaction, and users may discern significant dates without relying on separate apps and services.

Method Of Password Entering And Storing, Dimitri Kanevsky, Marcel Yung

Defensive Publications Series

A system and method are disclosed in which a user adds random characters or produces random gestures while s/he enters a password/pin. The password/pin input string becomes a combination of substrings--some of which are part of the valid password string and some of which consist of random characters or gestures. The correct password characters are then easily detected by a security password extracting system that matches characters in the correct password string to those that appear in the garbled string. The method disclosed can be performed with touchscreen gesture passwords, security questions, voice passwords or similar security lock. The method …

Smart Local Map Displays With Integrated Localized Advertisements And Extended Applications To Users’ Devices, Ryan Shea, Ben Miller

Defensive Publications Series

A technique is provided for providing local advertisements and maps to users. An example display device broadcasts advertisements to users in the vicinity of the device. When a user interacts with an example interactive display device, the image on display changes from an advertisement to an interactive local map. An example interactive display device shows users directions to products, places, or events that have been advertised on the device and allows the user to receive or download the directions and information to the user’s personal device so that the directions or map can be used offline or away from the …