Michael L Craner, Age 63115 Rising Hill Ln, Chester Springs, PA 19425

7099400, Aug 29, 2006

Jan 22, 2003

10/348877

Fuji Yang - Holmdel NJ, US
Michael L. Craner - Exton PA, US

Agere Systems Inc. - Allentown PA

H04L 25/34
H04L 25/49

375287, 375294

Multiple-level phase amplitude (M-PAM) clock and data recovery circuitry uses information from multiple phase detectors to generate one or more data sampling clocks that are optimized for each of the data slicers. One possible 4-PAM implementation includes 3 data slicers, 3 edge slicers, 3 phase detectors, and a single VCO. The phase detector outputs are combined (e. g. , via weighted voting, weighted average, minimum error, and/or minimum variance) to determine an optimized phase estimate for the clock used to sample the data at all three data slicers. Another 4-PAM implementation similarly includes 3 data slicers, 3 edge slicers, 3 phase detectors, and a single VCO. The mid-amplitude edge slicer and phase detector are used in combination with the VCO to generate a central phase while a multiple-tap delay line provides N phase variants before and after the central phase. Information from the non-mid-amplitude edge slicers and phase detectors is used to choose a phase from among the phase variants that best suits the other data slicers. In yet another implementation, a single edge slicer, single phase detector, and single VCO is used to generate a key clock which is used by the edge slicer to track the symbol timing.

7643408, Jan 5, 2010

Mar 31, 2004

10/815123

Gary W. Atkinson - Freehold NJ, US
Michael L. Craner - Exton PA, US
Ramesh Nagarajan - Somerset NJ, US

Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. - Murray Hill NJ

H04L 1/22

370217, 370238, 398 2

A restoration path planner minimizes cost while meeting restoration-time constraints of a network by reducing the worst-case number of cross-connections that must be performed in a network in the event of a single element failure. The planner involves optimization that identifies primary and restoration path plans for demands within the network such that the worst-case number of cross-connections at any node within the network is minimal and/or bounded. Embodiments further constrain the cost of the path plan. In one embodiment, restoration time is bounded and cost is relaxed until a solution is found. In another embodiment, the restoration time bound is relaxed to a limit while path plans and their costs are stored. These plans can later be chosen amongst for the desired balance of cost and restoration time. At least one approach to minimization of network cost involves maximizing sharing within restoration path plans.

7765235, Jul 27, 2010

Dec 29, 2005

11/323984

Thomas Day - Superior CO, US
Michael L Craner - Exton PA, US

Rovi Guides, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

G06F 7/00

707795, 707913, 725 55, 725 86, 386 46

The invention manages resources and resolve conflicts when locally recording multimedia assets from a variety of sources in multimedia delivery systems. Local and system resources such as storage, tuners, and bandwidth are considered when alternative sources for assets are available (e. g. , VOD). Rather than record assets locally, if equivalent assets are available via alternative sources, the recordings are deferred and a pointer to the equivalent asset is stored in lieu of the asset itself. When a user selects a multimedia asset for playback, an “on demand” or alternative source session is started for the asset associated with the pointer. Before the expiration date of the alternative source equivalent of the multimedia asset, it may be downloaded and recorded locally. The system may automatically determine based on various factors, such as transmission bandwidth, latency, and DRM, whether to store assets or pointers.

7962942, Jun 14, 2011

Feb 28, 2006

11/365787

Michael L Craner - Exton PA, US

Rovi Guides, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

H04N 7/173

725 88, 725102, 725134

Systems and methods for rewinding a video to a point before the video was first viewed. Video transmitted by a media source is cached by a remote server. Upon a trick-play request for the video, the server generates a rewind stream that includes the video that was transmitted by the media source before the user started to view the video. Upon receiving the rewind stream, the user's equipment may cache the rewind stream in a rewind buffer and rewind or play from the rewind buffer. The server may also generate and transmit a forward stream of the video that the media source has not yet transmitted. The user's equipment may cache the forward stream in a forward buffer. To perform trick-play operations with the video, the user's equipment may migrate the playback of the video to the rewind and forward buffers and rewind or fast-forward the video from the buffers.

8079044, Dec 13, 2011

Apr 10, 2006

11/401654

Michael Craner - Exton PA, US

Rovi Guides, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

H04N 7/16
H04N 7/10
H04N 7/025

725 28, 725 30, 725 34

Systems and methods for searching for available assets permitted by parental controls are disclosed. Search results may include assets similar to a reference asset, which may be an asset the user has requested, but which is locked by parental control settings in force on the user equipment. Assets may be ranked according to their similarity, or relevance, to the requested asset, and they may be accessed directly from the search results. Systems and methods for accessing edited or censored versions of the requested asset are also disclosed. An edited content source may store multiple versions of certain assets available in the media system. The appropriate version of the asset may be accessed and presented to the user automatically depending on the user's parental control settings.

8095951, Jan 10, 2012

May 8, 2006

11/430516

Gerard Kunkel - Yardley PA, US
Jon P. Radloff - Castle Rock CO, US
Michael D. Ellis - Boulder CO, US
Michael L. Craner - Exton PA, US
Rajeshwari B. Iyer - Erie CO, US
Andrzej Jakubowski - Lakewood CO, US

Rovi Guides, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

G06F 3/00
G06F 13/00
H04N 5/445

725 38, 725 37, 725 39, 725 52

Systems and methods for a video scan are provided. The scan may be dynamically interactive and a function of characteristics of the programs in the scan (e. g. , commercial breaks or the end of a program approaching) The scan may simultaneously display multiple scan windows for a plurality of programs, for example in a scan wizard. The scan wizard allows the user to simultaneously view a scan window and an information panel, select criteria for the scan from a criteria panel, and control the scan using a scan control panel. The scan may allow the user to record a program displayed in the scan without interrupting the scan (e. g. , by using an additional tuner). The scan may display, within the scan interface, trick-play functions for appropriate scanned programs (e. g. , recorded, cached and on-demand programs). The user may select and perform trick-play functions for a scanned program without exiting the scan mode.

8127329, Feb 28, 2012

Aug 11, 2008

12/189386

Gerard Kunkel - Yardley PA, US
Jon P. Radloff - Castle Rock CO, US
Michael D. Ellis - Boulder CO, US
Michael L. Craner - Exton PA, US
Rajeshwari B. Iyer - Erie CO, US
Andrzej Jakubowski - Lakewood CO, US

Rovi Guides, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

G06F 3/00
G06F 13/00
H04N 5/445

725 41, 725 37, 725 39, 725 40, 725 43, 725 44

Systems and methods for a video scan are provided. The scan may be dynamically interactive and a function of characteristics of the programs in the scan (e. g. , commercial breaks or the end of a program approaching) The scan may simultaneously display multiple scan windows for a plurality of programs, for example in a scan wizard. The scan wizard allows the user to simultaneously view a scan window and an information panel, select criteria for the scan from a criteria panel, and control the scan using a scan control panel. The scan may allow the user to record a program displayed in the scan without interrupting the scan (e. g. , by using an additional tuner). The scan may display, within the scan interface, trick-play functions for appropriate scanned programs (e. g. , recorded, cached and on-demand programs). The user may select and perform trick-play functions for a scanned program without exiting the scan mode.

8160426, Apr 17, 2012

Oct 12, 2007

11/974259

Michael L. Craner - Exton PA, US
Robert A. Knee - Lansdale PA, US

Rovi Guides, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

H04N 5/76

386292, 386291, 386295, 386296, 725 44, 725 46, 725 50

Systems and methods for managing the storage of recordings in a recording device in which the recordings were requested by several users are provided. Each user may be assigned a storage space limit defining the amount of storage space each user is entitled to use. In some embodiments, the storage space limit may be flexibly increased to take advantage of extra space available from other users. The system may intelligently borrow space from other users to limit the risk that a requested recording is canceled due to unavailable storage resources. In some embodiments, the system may jointly allocate a recording to several users who commonly requested a recording. The system may also set aside space in the recording device that is saved exclusively for a particular user. In some embodiments, the recording device may allocate the storage resources based on the usage of the recordings.