Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Oliver M C Williams

Michael Isard

Frank David McSherry

Paul Ronald Barham

A graphical representation of data may be displayed along with a horizontal axis and a vertical axis. A user may define a region in the graphical representation using a zoom tool. If the defined region intersects with either of the horizontal or vertical axes, a single axis zoom may be performed according to the defined region rather than a conventional zoom. A single axis zoom may include maintaining the domain of either the horizontal or vertical axes, while zooming in at the intersected axis of the defined region.

Single axis zoom

Given that a differentially private mechanism has a known conditional distribution, probabilistic inference techniques may be used along with the known conditional distribution, and generated results from previously computed queries on private data, to generate a posterior distribution for the differentially private mechanism used by the system. The generated posterior distribution may be used to describe the probability of every possible result being the correct result. The probability may then be used to qualify conclusions or calculations that may depend on the returned result.

Probabilistic inference in differentially private systems

A system for providing augmented reality detects foreground occluders in an image of a video stream. One or more virtual objects are then rendered appropriately with respect to the occluders. Location information associated with the image is used to retrieve a three dimensional representation of the location where the image was taken. Features that are expected to appear in the image based on the three dimensional location but that cannot be located are used to determine regions of the image that are likely to include foreground occluders. Pixels in these regions are used to train a color model that classifies pixels as either part of the background of the image or part of one or more foreground occluders. The pixels in the image are classified using the model, and one or more virtual objects are rendered so that they appear behind any foreground occluders.

Determining foreground regions and background regions in an image

An image may be received, a portion of which corresponds to a surface of an object, such as a book, a CD, a DVD, a wine bottle, etc. The portion of the image that corresponds to the surface of the object is located. The portion of the image is compared with previously stored images of surfaces of objects to identify the object. A record of the object is created and added to a library. The record of the object may comprise the image of the object, the portion of the image which corresponds to the surface of the object, and/or the received image itself. The record may comprise an indicator of a location of the object.

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Oliver M C Williams