Bizarre Patents
Pet Toilet-Like Water Disk and Food Storage
One pet-friendly inventor patented "a device for watering pets, e.g., a dog or cat." The device, he helpfully noted, "has the general shape of a toilet."
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7671871 | Graphical user interface for color correction using curves To make an intuitive interface for curves for color correction, a particular color is selected, such as gray, and the effect of each curve on pixels of that color may be displayed as a background image for the curve. A background image also may indicate a color to w... | 03/02/2010 |
| 7669129 | Graphical user interface for providing editing of transform hierarchies within an effects tree Transformation hierarchies and effects trees may be defined in the same user interface by treating animated transformations as another type of time-varying data stream. Effects operators in the effect tree are provided with an input to receive a transformation. The ... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7668901 | Methods and system using a local proxy server to process media data for local area users Methods and system are disclosed to minimize inefficiencies for local area users to share and access data. A local proxy server operates in conjunction with a central server. Local area users can post or store (“store”) data, e.g., media data, on the local proxy... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7660947 | Computer system and process for transferring multiple high bandwidth streams of data between multiple storage units and multiple applications in a scalable and reliable manner Multiple applications request data from multiple storage units over a computer network. The data is divided into segments and each segment is distributed randomly on one of several storage units, independent of the storage units on which other segments of the media ... | 02/09/2010 |
| 7623754 | Motion picture recording device using digital, computer-readable non-linear media A digital media recorder including a video camera digitizing circuitry and a digital computer readable and writable random access medium, such as magnetic or optical disk, in which sequences of digital still images are stored directly on the recording medium. Audio ... | 11/24/2009 |
| 7587062 | Watermarking A structured watermark may be embedded in data by applying an irregular mapping of variations defined by the structured watermark to frequency domain values representing the data. In particular, the frequency domain representation of the data comprises an ordered se... | 09/08/2009 |
| 7562099 | Graphical user interface for a media management system for communicating quality, source and accessibility information for media data and media objects A media management system communicates to a user the availability of media data at different qualities (such as compression quality or resolution), or from different channels, that originated from one or more sources. Given a selection of media objects, whether a se... | 07/14/2009 |
| 7555557 | Review and approval system The review and Approval system of the present invention advantageously provides computer implemented access for a reviewer to digital content for the purpose of reviewing and approving the digital content. The system is capable of communication with an editing syste... | 06/30/2009 |
| 7545957 | Analyzing motion of characteristics in images In calculating motion between two images, a single channel image may be generated for each image based on measurement of a desired characteristic of those images. Given a desired characteristic (such as edge strength or edge magnitude) in an image, a function measur... | 06/09/2009 |
| 7532807 | Combined editing system and digital moving picture recording system A moving picture recording device includes a random-access, computer-readable and writable storage medium to provide non-linear access to recorded clips. The device provides digital capture of both video and audio information. Multiple data paths are provided to all... | 05/12/2009 |
| 7512885 | Graphical user interface for navigating and displaying relationships among media data and metadata An editing system has a graphical user interface that shows media/metadata and metadata/metadata relationships and allows a user to navigate a graph defined by these relationships. Using this graphical user interface, a user may determine, for example, which masterc... | 03/31/2009 |
| 7487309 | Computer system and process for transferring multiple high bandwidth streams of data between multiple storage units and multiple applications in a scalable and reliable manner Multiple applications request data from multiple storage units over a computer network. The data is divided into segments and each segment is distributed randomly on one of several storage units, independent of the storage units on which other segments of the media ... | 02/03/2009 |
| 7467244 | Connecting a computer program and a peripheral device using a first communication protocol through an interconnect using a second communication protocol A device and method for electronic data conversion is provided. Data according to IEEE 1394 format and protocol is received and converted to USB format and protocol and supplied to a system configured to receive data according to USB format and protocol. ... | 12/16/2008 |
| 7433519 | Bitstream format for compressed image data It is desirable to provide a bitstream format for compressed data that would allow multiple processors to access and decompress different parts of the data in parallel. Compressed images are usually defined in terms of macroblocks that have a width less than the ima... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7432936 | Texture data anti-aliasing method and apparatus Computer-implemented methods of pre-filtering texture data and methods of generating a filter control for pre-filtering texture data for generating a graphics image are disclosed. The disclosed methods include determining encoded pre-filter characteristics represent... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7403561 | Fixed bit rate, intraframe compression and decompression of video High quality intraframe-only compression of video can be achieved using rate distortion optimization and without resizing or bit depth modification. The compression process involves transforming portions of the image to generate frequency domain coefficients for eac... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7397474 | Restricting smoothing operations on a three-dimensional geometrical primitive according to a surface normal Smoothing operations on a three-dimensional geometrical primitive, such as a mesh, are restricted by filtering the set of smoothing vectors to apply a user-selected restriction to the set of vectors. The user-selected restriction limits the set of smoothing vectors ... | 07/08/2008 |
| D565553 | Audio peripheral for a music production system | 04/01/2008 |
| D565030 | Audio peripheral with handle for a music production system | 03/25/2008 |
| RE40107 | Video/audio transmission system and method The invention is a data pipeline system which synchronizes the display of digitized audio and video data regardless of the speed at which the data was recorded on its linear medium. To do this, the video data is played at a constant speed, synchronized by the audio ... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7336264 | Method and system for editing or modifying 3D animations in a non-linear editing environment A non-linear editing (NLE) system for editing and/or modifying 3D animation information comprises elements represented by clip objects which can be positioned and/or manipulated relative to a time line. The elements can comprise conventional 1D (audio) or 2D (video)... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7280117 | Graphical user interface for a keyer A keyer is provided with a graphical user interface that helps a user visualize the relationship between the key and the image to be processed using that key. A color space swatch is processed by the keyer using the defined key. The output of the keyer as applied to... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7266241 | Secondary color modification of a digital image An ellipsoid chroma region of a chroma plane may be defined to specify a range of chromas for which a secondary chroma modification is to be applied, and to determine an output chroma for each chroma of the chroma plane based on the ellipsoid chroma region. Further,... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7233327 | Subdividing rotation in a character using quaternion interpolation for modeling and animation in three dimensions Subdividing rotation between two poses in three dimensions may be accomplished in three parts. First, data defining the two poses is obtained from the animation or modeling interface. Second, a path associated with the two poses is determined. Third, using quaternio... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7230641 | Combined editing system and digital moving picture recording system A moving picture recording device includes a random-access, computer-readable and writable storage medium to provide non-linear access to recorded clips. The device provides digital capture of both video and audio information. Multiple data paths are provided to all... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7194676 | Performance retiming effects on synchronized data in an editing system A retiming function that defines a rampable retiming effect is used to generate new audio and video samples at appropriate output times. In particular, for each output time, a corresponding input time is determined from the output time by using the retiming function... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7176915 | Subdividing rotation in a character using quaternion interpolation for modeling and animation in three dimensions Subdividing rotation between two poses in three dimensions may be accomplished in three parts. First, data defining the two poses is obtained from the animation or modeling interface. Second, a path associated with the two poses is determined. Third, using quaternio... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7176917 | Visual programming interface for a three-dimensional animation system for defining real time shaders using a real-time rendering engine application programming interface A visual programming interface allows an artist to create real time shaders using a tree of shader nodes. Each shader node represents an operation that can be performed in real time through the real time rendering engine. The visual interface allows the arbitrary co... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7165219 | Media composition system with keyboard-based editing controls Method and apparatus for selecting samples for presentation on an output device, such as a display or speaker, from a sequence of stored media samples, such as audio or video information. Position information is received from a pointing device, such as a mouse, and ... | 01/16/2007 |
| 7151542 | Manipulation of motion data in an animation editing system The problem of editing motion data can be solved by providing a way to specify control points (herein called “handles”) along the path of the motion data and to describe the motion data as a combination of layers of information describing the motion in relations... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7145567 | Bitstream format and reading and writing methods and apparatus therefor Image data having a bit depth of m bits, where m is not a power of two, may be divided into two parts for storage. The first part is the n most significant bits, where n is a power of two. The second part is the k least significant bits, where k=m−n and k | 12/05/2006 |
| 7124366 | Graphical user interface for a motion video planning and editing system for a computer A graphical user interface for a computer-assisted motion video editing system directs a user through the process of editing a video program. The graphical user interface may also enables a user to plan a video program. Alternatively selectable interfaces within a s... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7111115 | Computer system and process for transferring multiple high bandwidth streams of data between multiple storage units and multiple applications in a scalable and reliable manner Multiple applications request data from multiple storage units over a computer network. The data is divided into segments and each segment is distributed randomly on one of several storage units, independent of the storage units on which other segments of the media ... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7103231 | Interpolation of a sequence of images using motion analysis Two images are analyzed to compute a set of motion vectors that describes motion between the first and second images. A motion vector is computed for each pixel in an image at a time between the first and second images. This set of motion vectors may be defined at a... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7081900 | Graphical user interface for color correction A graphical user interface facilitates color modification of a sequence of segments of moving images on a display of a general purpose computer. The graphical user interface may include a three-image display. The three image display may include a first region on the... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7069296 | Method and system for archiving and forwarding multimedia production data Methods and system are disclosed for archiving and forwarding multimedia data. A server can receive multimedia data for a project from any number of users. The server can archive or store the multimedia data in a database for later access. The server can distribute ... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7060916 | Knob design for a rotary encoder A rotary encoder of a control surface has a display. The display includes a ring of light emitting elements, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), in the control surface around the shaft and knob of the rotary encoder. The rotary encoder has a shaft that rotates abo... | 06/13/2006 |
| 7046251 | Editing system with router for connection to HDTV circuitry A non-linear editor is connected to video processing equipment through a serial digital video interface to edit high definition (HD) television video data. The non-linear editor includes a randomly accessible, computer-readable and re-writeable storage medium that s... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7043058 | Correcting motion vector maps for image processing Visibie artifacts in images created using image processing based on motion vector maps may be reduced by providing one or more mechanisms for correcting the vector map. In general, the set of motion vectors is changed by selecting one or more portions of the image. ... | 05/09/2006 |
| D515095 | Computer peripheral | 02/14/2006 |