Celebrity Inventors
Comic actor Danny Kaye received patent D166,807 for the co-design of "Blowout Toy or the Like". It's similar to one of those toys that unravels when you blow into at a birthday party except Kaye's has three blowouts going in different directions, not just one.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8185297 | Personalized traffic reports A method and system are disclosed for providing personalized traffic reports. A personalized traffic report is a relatively short, audio-visual presentation that includes an audio narrative by an announcer describing the traffic conditions along a user's selected ro... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8182348 | Method for comparing performances on remotely located courses A method and system are disclosed for comparing the performance of a participant in an event that includes movement along a course to another performance. The performance by the participant is monitored. Using a geographic database that represents the area in which ... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8176027 | Spatial index for data files A method and system of managing computer data files are disclosed. Each computer data file on at least one data storage device is associated with at least one physical geographic location. Alternatively, the location may be an actual physical geographic location, a ... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8155882 | Method of collecting information for a geographic database for use with a navigation system A method for operating a navigation system computes a pedestrian route for travel by a pedestrian. A request for the pedestrian route between a first location inside a building and a second location inside the building is obtained. A geographic database associated w... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8134478 | Data mining in a digital map database to identify community reported driving hazards along roads and enabling precautionary actions in a vehicle Disclosed is a feature for a vehicle that enables taking precautionary actions in response to conditions on the road network around or ahead of the vehicle. User reports of hazardous conditions along roads are obtained and analyzed to identify reports that pertain t... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8117041 | Method of using map data that has been organized for affinity relationships A method is disclosed for providing guidance to a destination with a computing system that uses geographic data indexed by affinity relationships. A user specifies a municipality of relatively greater importance that is located nearby the desired actual destination.... | 02/14/2012 |
| 8116598 | Location-referenced photograph repository A photograph repository system includes data storage for storing photographs in the form of digital data files and a search feature that provides for searching for photographs by location and optionally by other search criteria. In one embodiment, a photograph repos... | 02/14/2012 |
| 8099466 | System and method for vote-based, interest specific collaboration regarding location of objects Systems, devices, and methods of generating location information for an object of interest are disclosed. The location information is based on dynamic input from one or more members of an interest group associated with the object. The input from the one or more memb... | 01/17/2012 |
| 8099237 | Open area maps Systems and methods associated with an open area map are disclosed. For example, one method comprises obtaining an image of a layout. The layout represents a real-world area in which a person moves about. A grid is applied on the image. The grid includes tiles that ... | 01/17/2012 |
| 8086071 | System and method for revealing occluded objects in an image dataset Disclosed are a system and method for identifying objects in an image dataset that occlude other objects and for transforming the image dataset to reveal the occluded objects. In some cases, occluding objects are identified by processing the image dataset to determi... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8078572 | System and method for updating a geographic database using satellite imagery A reporting program and system for updating a master copy of a geographic database is disclosed. According to the method and system, reports are obtained that relate to data contained in a geographic database. Satellite images of the geographic locations represented... | 12/13/2011 |
| 8026835 | Data mining in a digital map database to identify traffic signals, stop signs and yield signs at bottoms of hills and enabling precautionary actions in a vehicle Disclosed is a feature for a vehicle that enables taking precautionary actions in response to conditions on the road network around or ahead of the vehicle, in particular, a traffic light, stop sign or yield sign located at the bottom of a hill. A database that repr... | 09/27/2011 |
| 8019537 | Method of collecting information for a geographic database for use with a navigation system A method for operating a navigation system computes a pedestrian route for travel by a pedestrian. A request to calculate the pedestrian route from an origin to a destination and a walking preference for the pedestrian route identifying a feature of the pedestrian r... | 09/13/2011 |
| 8014937 | Method of creating a virtual traffic network A computer-implemented method of creating a virtual traffic network includes inputting map data representing a road system, inputting flow data related to traffic flow on the road system and integrating the map data and the flow data to produce a virtual traffic net... | 09/06/2011 |
| 8010284 | Geographic database including data indicating wireless coverage and method and system for use thereof Wireless coverage data are associated with a geographic database that contains data that represent a road network in a geographic region. The wireless coverage data indicate areas within the geographic region in which navigation-related services or data from a navig... | 08/30/2011 |
| 8010227 | Navigation system with downloadable map data A system and method are disclosed for providing geographic data to end users' mobile units from a remotely located navigation services provider so that navigation functions can be provided locally on the mobile units. The navigation services provider determines one ... | 08/30/2011 |
| 8009061 | Data mining for traffic signals or signs along road curves and enabling precautionary actions in a vehicle Disclosed is a feature for a vehicle that enables taking precautionary actions in response to conditions on the road network around or ahead of the vehicle, in particular, a traffic light or stop sign located along a curved section of road. A database that represent... | 08/30/2011 |
| 7990284 | Providing sponsorship information alongside traffic messages A method and system for providing sponsorship information to a user of a traffic message receiver is disclosed. Sponsorship messages are sent to the traffic message receiver and include data to be stored in the memory of the receiver. The transmission of the sponsor... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7987186 | Method and system for wavelet-based representation and use of cartographic data Cartographic data is represented using wavelet coefficients. Specifically, a cartographic shape point database consisting of shape points and nodes stored on a per geographic feature basis is converted to a cartographic wavelet database consisting of wavelet and sca... | 07/26/2011 |
| 7978232 | Photograph location stamp A camera includes a feature that associates meaningful information with a photograph to indicate where the photograph was taken. The camera includes equipment that determines a physical position associated with an image. An application uses geographic data to determ... | 07/12/2011 |
| 7970749 | Method and system for using geographic data in computer game development A system and method are disclosed for facilitating development of computer games that depict or represent actual, real world geographic areas as part of the play scenarios of the games. A source database contains data that represent geographic features in a region i... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7967678 | Computer game development factory system and method A system and method are disclosed for facilitating development of computer games that depict or represent actual geographic locales or imaginary locales as part of the play scenarios of the games. A computer game factory system includes inventories of map data produ... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7949464 | Method of operating a navigation system to provide parking availability information A method of operating a navigation system includes obtaining a destination location and identifying a parking facility proximate said destination location. The method further includes transmitting a parking message including a determined parking availability. The de... | 05/24/2011 |
| 7924173 | Electronic navigation system and method The invention provides a system for providing geographic information. The system includes a mobile unit having a first geographic database and a base unit having a second geographic database that is more up-to-date than the first geographic database. The base unit r... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7921136 | Method and system for using geographic data for developing scenes for entertainment features A system and method are disclosed for facilitating development of scenes for entertainment features, such as motion pictures or television shows, that depict or represent actual, real world (or imaginary) geographic areas. A source database contains data that repres... | 04/05/2011 |
| 7912638 | Method of collecting information for a geographic database for use with a navigation system A method for operating a navigation system computes a pedestrian route for travel by a pedestrian. A request to calculate the pedestrian route from an origin to a destination and a walking preference for the pedestrian route identifying a feature of the pedestrian r... | 03/22/2011 |
| 7904598 | Remote radio spectrum information acquisition A scanner system provides real-time remote acquisition of a scanner's audio signals and visual display, and real-time remote control of scanner operations, including settings and functions. The scanner system may be used to gather information in a regional market by... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7901292 | Method for comparing performances on remotely located courses A method and system are disclosed for comparing the performance of a participant in an event that includes movement along a course to another performance. The performance by the participant is monitored. Using a geographic database that represents the area in which ... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7894986 | Method and system for forming a keyword database for referencing physical locations An improved method and system for specifying physical locations when using applications run on navigation systems or other computer platforms that provide navigation- or map-related functions. When requesting a navigation- or map-related function from such an applic... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7859535 | Displaying traffic flow data representing traffic conditions An article of manufacture for displaying traffic flow data representing traffic conditions on a road system includes creating a graphical map of the road system which includes one or more segments. The status of each segment on the graphical map is determined such t... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7856310 | Method of developing traffic messages A method is disclosed for developing traffic messages. The method obtains traffic data indicating collected traffic speeds at various locations on a road network. Traffic messages are developed from the traffic data. The method obtains ground truth data indicating g... | 12/21/2010 |
| 7855659 | Providing sponsorship information alongside traffic messages A method and system for providing sponsorship information to a user of a traffic message receiver is disclosed. Sponsorship messages are sent to the traffic message receiver and include data to be stored in the memory of the receiver. The transmission of the sponsor... | 12/21/2010 |
| 7835858 | Method of creating a virtual traffic network A computer-implemented method of creating a virtual traffic network includes inputting map data representing a road system, inputting flow data related to traffic flow on the road system and integrating the map data and the flow data to produce a virtual traffic net... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7828655 | Application programming interface for geographic data in computer games A computer game depicts or represents actual or imaginary geographic locales as part of the play scenarios of the games. The computer game uses a map database that contains data that represent geographic features, such as roads, in a locale. A game engine program pr... | 11/09/2010 |
| 7818124 | Method of operating a navigation system using images A method of operating a navigation system determines a route between an origin and a destination and provides a photographic image showing a geographic area through which the route passes. The photographic image is obtained from a geographic database, and the photog... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7814106 | Geographic database organization that facilitates location-based advertising A method of facilitating delivery of advertising to users of mobile computing platforms is disclosed. A geographic database contains data entities that represent geographic features, such as roads, located in a geographic region. Advertising zones are defined within... | 10/12/2010 |
| 7805442 | Method and system for representation of geographical features in a computer-based system Cartographic data is represented using polynomial splines. To improve representation accuracy and reduce storage requirements, a database storing data points (shape points and nodes) is converted into a database of spline control points. The spline control points ar... | 09/28/2010 |
| 7805317 | Method of organizing map data for affinity relationships and application for use thereof An affinity relationship index and a method for using it are disclosed. The affinity relationship index captures, for any given place name, an affinity to one or more potentially more important place names. Each such more important place subtends an affinity domain ... | 09/28/2010 |
| 7805239 | Method of operating a navigation system to provide parking availability information A method of operating a navigation system includes obtaining a destination location and identifying a parking facility proximate said destination location. The method further includes providing historic parking availability information for the identified parking fac... | 09/28/2010 |
| 7801904 | Navigation system with distributed computing architecture A system and method for providing geographic data to end users' computing platforms. A server maintains downloadable geographic data that are organized into pre-computed parcels that correspond to pre-determined sub-areas into which the entire geographic region serv... | 09/21/2010 |
