Bruce A Leak, 624201 Page Mill Rd, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022

6473099, Oct 29, 2002

Oct 30, 2000

09/703172

Phillip Y. Goldman - Los Altos CA
Bruce A. Leak - Los Altos CA
Andrew T. McFadden - Sunnyvale CA

WebTV Networks, Inc. - Mountain View CA

G09G 500

345749, 709217

Systems and methods for providing an automatic software upgrade over a satellite link. A server automatically downloads software updates over a satellite link to a client after such upgrades become available at the server. The download may be designated as mandatory or non-mandatory. Thus the download may be automatically performed or alternatively may prompt a user at the client to decide whether to accept the upgrade. The download eliminates the need for the client to be actively communicating with network infrastructure for the download to occur and enables the download to take place during low traffic time. Furthermore, the download requires little or no input from a user at the client.

6539407, Mar 25, 2003

Nov 21, 2000

09/717977

Stephen G. Perlman - Mountain View CA
Bruce Leak - Palo Alto CA

WebTV Networks, Inc. - Mountain View CA

G06T 500

707513, 345428

A method and system are provided for reducing flicker of an image defined in HTML format for display on a television monitor. When an image is retrieved from a server by a user browser system that uses a television monitor and a dedicated computer system to display HTML documents, analysis is performed on the image to determine whether the image exhibits a tendency to interlace flicker if such an image were to be displayed unmodified on the television monitor. If the analysis indicates that the image would exhibit a tendency to interlace flicker, the dedicated computer system identifies a flicker reduction filter that reduces the interlace flicker. The dedicated computer system applies the filter to the images before it is displayed on the television monitor. Otherwise, the dedicated computer system displays the image as retrieved from the server without flicker reduction filtering.

6668378, Dec 23, 2003

Jun 30, 1999

09/345247

Bruce A. Leak - Los Altos CA
Daniel J. Zigmond - Carnation WA
Dean J. Blackketter - San Francisco CA

WebTV Networks, Inc. - Mountain View CA

H04N 716

725136, 725135, 725139, 725 51

Interactive television content can be classified as either disconnected content or as connected content. An interactive television system involves some receivers that cannot establish connections to the Internet and therefore cannot properly process triggers to connected content. The system also involves other receiver units that can establish connections to the Internet and can process triggers to connected content. A trigger in accordance with the invention involves a âconnected content/disconnected contentâ attribute that identifies the trigger as either a trigger to disconnected content or a trigger to connected content. Receiver units that cannot process triggers to connected content can therefore use the attribute to identify triggers to such connected content and can then ignore such triggers, while those receiver units that can process triggers to connect content can use those triggers to make the desired Internet connection.

7174562, Feb 6, 2007

Dec 20, 1999

09/467851

Bruce A. Leak - Los Altos CA, US
Daniel J. Zigmond - Carnation WA, US
Dean J. Blackketter - San Francisco CA, US

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

H04N 7/173
H04N 7/16

725110, 725135, 725136, 725139

An interactive television system includes “connected” receiver units capable of establishing bi-directional connections to remote information stores, such as Web servers, and “disconnected” receiver units unequipped to make such connections. The system supports the use of broadcast triggers that include connectivity values indicating whether an information resource identified by a trigger refers to “connected content” or “disconnected content. ” The term “connected content” refers to information resources that require bi-directional connections to remote information stores; the term “disconnected content” refers to information resources, such as a locally stored program guide, that do not require such bi-directional connections. Disconnected receiver units identify and reject connected-content triggers by examining connectivity values broadcast as part of triggers. Thus, content providers can broadcast connected-content triggers to connected and disconnected receiver units without interrupting disconnected receiver units with links to inaccessible content.

7394967, Jul 1, 2008

Jun 27, 2002

10/186215

Peter J. Potrebic - Calistoga CA, US
Bruce A. Leak - Los Altos CA, US
David J. Cheng - Cupertino CA, US
Shannon B. Vosseller - San Francisco CA, US
Marcus Tai-Tong Aiu - Palo Alto CA, US

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

H04N 5/76
H04N 7/00
H04N 5/00

386 46, 386125

A recorded content management system determines when recorded content maintained in a television-based entertainment and information system has been watched by a viewer. When a segment or percentage of the recorded content for a particular program is displayed for viewing, it is determined whether the program has been watched so that the recorded content, or a portion of the recorded content, can be queued for deletion, or maintained for additional viewing.

7523399, Apr 21, 2009

May 8, 2001

09/851402

Andrew T. McFadden - Cupertino CA, US
Phillip Y. Goldman - Los Altos CA, US
Bruce A. Leak - Palo Alto CA, US

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

G06F 9/445

715748, 715740

Systems and methods for obtaining and maintaining operable and updated versions of software on a client, which may be a set-top box or a personal computer. A server automatically downloads software updates over a satellite link to a client after such upgrades become available at the server without requiring interaction with a user. Similarly, corrupted software is automatically replaced by the client first automatically detecting if a corrupted state exists in local software or data using a checksum technique. If such corruption is found, the client automatically connects over the Internet to a server that contains a replacement for the corrupted program or data. The client then automatically receives a download of the program or data from the server.

7568214, Jul 28, 2009

Jul 16, 2004

10/893518

Bruce A. Leak - Los Altos CA, US
Daniel J. Zigmond - Menlo Park CA, US
Dean J. Blackketter - San Francisco CA, US

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

H04N 7/173

725110, 725135, 725136, 725112, 725 97

An interactive television system includes “connected” receiver units capable of establishing bi-directional connections to remote information stores, such as Web servers, and “disconnected” receiver units unequipped to make such connections. The system supports the use of broadcast triggers that include connectivity values indicating whether an information resource identified by a trigger refers to “connected content” or “disconnected content. ” The term “connected content” refers to information resources that require bi-directional connections to remote information stores; the term “disconnected content” refers to information resources, such as a locally stored program guide, that do not require such bi-directional connections. Disconnected receiver units identify and reject connected-content triggers by examining connectivity values broadcast as part of triggers. Thus, content providers can broadcast connected-content triggers to connected and disconnected receiver units without interrupting disconnected receiver units with links to inaccessible content.

7826847, Nov 2, 2010

Jul 13, 2007

11/777950

Steve Roskowski - Los Gatos CA, US
Bruce Alan Leak - Los Altos Hills CA, US

Carrier IQ, Inc. - Mountain View CA

H04W 36/00

455436, 455440, 4554321, 455433

Generating neighbor lists. A set of devices are provisioned to report on neighbor lists and visibility of sectors. Each device in the set of devices generates event data that includes the neighbor list from a sector, other sectors visible while using the neighbor list, and/or sectors visible to the device if the call was dropped or lost. The event data can be recorded or stored by the device or forwarded to a server immediately or at a later time. The event data of each device is received at and recorded by a management system. The management system can derive recommended neighbor lists for each sector in a wireless network based on the cumulative event data received from the set of devices operating in the network.