Centurion+ Patent Holders as of April 23, 2024

Welcome to the 23rd of April 2024: Our goal is to celebrate the patent holders who have reached noteworthy milestones in their fields this week.

Imran A Chaudhri

Mr. Chaudhri is a British-American designer, who is the Chairman & President of Humane Inc., a company he co-founded along with his wife, Bethany Bongiorno. He is known for creating user interface and interaction designs for the iPhone. While at Apple from 1995 to 2017, he was a designer on products including the Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch, AirPods, and HomePod.

Patent №: 11966579 (April 23, 2024) – Devices, methods, and graphical user interfaces for messaging. An electronic device shows a messaging app interface with a conversation between users and a current version of a message. It indicates when the current version is revised. Upon a request to view message versions, it displays a UI with the current and previous versions of the message.

Ye-Kui Wang

Scientist at ByteDance.

Mr. Wang received a B.S. degree in industrial automation from the Beijing Institute of Technology in 1995, and a Ph.D. degree in information and telecommunication engineering from the Graduate School in Beijing, University of Science and Technology of China, in 2001.

Ye-Kui is currently a Principal Scientist with Bytedance Inc., San Diego, CA, USA. His earlier working experiences and titles include the Chief Scientist of Media Coding and Systems at Huawei Technologies Company Ltd., San Diego, the Director of Technical Standards at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and the Principal Member of Research Staff at Nokia Corporation.

His research interests include video coding, storage, transport, and multimedia systems.

Patent №: 11968407 (April 23, 2024) – Tile based addressing in video coding. A video coding method involves receiving a bitstream with image data in slices. It identifies top left and bottom right tile IDs for the first slice, determining its boundaries. Then, it decodes the first slice to generate a reconstructed image based on those boundaries.

Patent №: 11968384 (April 23, 2024) – Signaling of slice types in video pictures headers. Devices, systems, and methods for digital video coding, particularly for signaling slice types in video picture headers, are discussed. One method involves converting a video with slices into a bitstream conforming to a format rule. If all slices in a video picture are I slices, P and B slice-related syntax elements are omitted from the picture header according to the format rule.

Patent №: 11968405 (April 23, 2024) – Signalling of high level syntax indication. A video processing method converts a video to a bitstream adhering to a format rule. This rule determines if a first flag is signaled at the beginning of a picture header, indicating whether the picture is an intra random access point (IRAP) or a gradual decoding refresh (GDR) picture.

Patent №: 11968403 (April 23, 2024) – Transform skip based residual coding. One method involves converting a video with video blocks to a bitstream based on a rule. This rule determines inclusion of a first syntax element in a slice header, indicating whether transform skip based residual coding is disabled for a slice. Inclusion of this element is selectively determined by a second syntax element in a sequence parameter set indicating if a transform skip mode is enabled for the video block.

Patent №: 11968402 (April 23, 2024) – Constrains for high level syntax elements. A method involves converting a video to a bitstream based on a format rule. This rule determines the presence of a syntax element in a sequence parameter set (SPS) based on a general constraint flag value.

Patent №: 11968400 (April 23, 2024) – Video coding bitstream extraction with identifier signaling. A video coding mechanism is described where an extracted bitstream results from a sub-bitstream extraction process from an input bitstream with sub-pictures. The extracted bitstream contains only a subset of the sub-pictures from the input. A flag is set in the extracted bitstream to indicate the presence of sub-picture information. Sub-picture IDs for the subset are obtained from the flag, and the subset is decoded based on these IDs.

Patent №: 11968375 (April 23, 2024) – Scaling window in subpicture sub-bitstream extraction process. Described are embodiments for video processing, covering coding, decoding, and transcoding. One method involves converting a video with subpictures to a bitstream, following a rule. This rule specifies that parameters for a scaling window for a subpicture are determined from syntax elements during a subpicture sub-bitstream extraction process.

Thomas Wiegand

Executive Director at Fraunhofer HHI / Professor at TU Berlin.

Mr. Wiegand is a German electrical engineer who substantially contributed to the creation of the video coding standards.

 Since 2014, Thomson Reuters named Wiegand in their list of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” as one of the most cited researchers in his field.

Wiegand is a Professor at the Technical University of Berlin and executive director of the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, Berlin, Germany. 

Since 2020 he is a Principal Scientist at the Berlin Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data (BIFOLD)

Patent №: 11968399 (April 23, 2024) – Video codec allowing sub-picture or region wise random access and concept for video composition using the same. Described are video codec concepts enabling more efficient video composition/merging and gradual decoding refresh. These concepts enhance effectiveness in tasks like composition/merging complexity.

Patent №: 11968348 (April 23, 2024) – Efficient multi-view coding using depth-map estimate for a dependent view. Rather than coding the reference view before the dependent view, a more efficient approach is to estimate the dependent view’s depth map by warping the reference view’s depth map. Also, improving motion vector prediction quality for the dependent view can be achieved by adding motion vector candidates from co-located blocks of the reference view with minimal overhead.

Huaning Niu

Wireless system engineer at Apple.

Niu received her B.E. degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1997, her M.S. degree from the Chinese Academy of Science in 2000, and her Ph.D. degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, in 2004, all in electrical engineering.

Before joining Apple, she worked on Wi-Fi and 60-GHz technology at Samsung Research America and Intel.

Patent №: 11968715 (April 23, 2024) – Methods of CCA for frequencies between 52.6 GHz and 71 GHz. The system performs clear channel assessment (CCA) before transmitting on a channel. It includes omnidirectional CCA with power thresholds based on factors like the number of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) or transmit (Tx) antennas used.

Patent №: 11968574 (April 23, 2024) – 5G new radio (NR) network controlled small gap (NCSG). A UE in a 5G system conducts measurements during a network-controlled small gap (NCSG), comprising interruption lengths (VIL1 and VIL2), a measurement period (ML), and a repetition period (VIRP).

Raghuveer S Makala

Managing Director, Integrated Materials Solutions, Memory (DRAM & 3D NAND).

Technology leader with proven track record in developing and delivering innovative unit process solutions for 3D NAND memory, across several nodes. Expertise in concept & feasibility studies, as well as leading cross-functional teams to deliver timely integrated solutions for high volume manufacturing. Strong background in Materials Science & Engineering coupled with an execution focus to bridge gaps between lab to fab, and bring cutting-edge technologies into products.

Patent №: 11968834 (April 23, 2024) – Three-dimensional memory device including discrete charge storage elements with laterally-protruding profiles and methods of making thereof. A three-dimensional memory device has insulating and conductive layers stacked alternately over a substrate, with memory openings extending vertically through them. Lateral protrusions exist at levels of the conductive layers, and memory opening fill structures are situated within these openings.

Patent №: 11968826 (April 23, 2024) – Three-dimensional memory device with metal-barrier-metal word lines and methods of making the same. A 3D memory device has alternating insulating and conductive layers with memory openings extending through them. Memory opening fill structures within these openings contain vertical semiconductor channels and memory films. Each conductive layer includes a tubular metallic liner in contact with the fill structure’s outer sidewall segment, an electrically conductive barrier layer, and a metallic fill material layer.

Kuntal Dey

Technology R&D Senior Principal, Accenture Technology Labs, Bangalore, India.

Mr. Dey received a B.E. and M.Tech. degrees in computer science and engineering from Jadavpur University, West Bengal, India, and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, respectively, and is pursuing a Ph.D. degree in information technology from IIT Delhi.

He worked in VERITAS India and Microsoft India, respectively, after earning his M.Tech. degree, and since 2007 has been a part of IBM Research India, where he is a Senior Research Engineer.

Kuntal is an IBM Master Inventor and an IBM Academy of Technology member. He also works closely with the student community in India, introducing them to the world of research

Patent №: 11966453 (April 23, 2024) – Ordering annotation sets for machine learning.
A method involves receiving an annotation set for a machine learning model containing multiple data points relevant to the model’s task. Total weights are determined for the data points based on ordering constraints representing different data classes and their relative priorities.