If our era is the next Industrial Revolution, as many claim, AI is surely one of its driving forces.
– Fei-Fei Li
AI is no more limited to sci-fi movies. The endeavor to replicate or simulate human intelligence in machines has made AI mainstream in the last decade. As a result, AI has left a lasting impact on all our lives. From being a figment of our imaginations to becoming an intrinsic part of our every day, the AI revolution is real and is here to stay.
We looked back at 2020 and put together a list of the top 20 inventors of Artificial Intelligence.
- Sarbajit Rakshit
An Application Architect and seeker of solutions, Sarbjit Rakshit, is an IBM Master Inventor with a degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology.
Source – Forbes
He was awarded 163 US patents in 2019, the highest ever awarded to a citizen of India in a single year. His patent portfolio contains 359 patents in Artificial Intelligence globally, belonging to 271 unique patent families.
The most valuable patent in Sarbajit’s portfolio is US20160070439A1 – Electronic commerce using augmented reality glasses and a smartwatch. This patent family is the most cited (47 times) by companies Ariadne’s Thread (USA) Inc., Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc, Siemens Ag, Ebay Inc, and Lucyd Ltd.
Source – US20160070439A1
Source – Verdict
Before we look at the rest of the list, here’s a fascinating insight. 11 of the top 20 AI inventors are either currently at StradVision or have worked there previously. Ten of these inventors are co-inventors on a patent. Not just any patent; it’s their most cited patent. Let’s find out what StradVision does and their most cited patent.
StradVision is a fairly new company, founded in late 2014. Their goal is to bring powerful and safe ADAS (Advanced driver-assistance systems) & self-driving technology to the masses. StradVision’s technology utilizes a novel perception algorithm allowing autonomous vehicles to reach the required level of safety, accuracy, and driver convenience. This is achieved through safe & reliable real-world object detection, tracking, segmentation, and classification. In addition, they have an auto-labeling system that produces training data with minimal human input and a semi-supervised learning-based training tool, enabling autonomous vehicles to detect and perceive environments in real-time.
Source – StradVision
The most cited patent for these ten inventors is US10169679B1. The patent is for – “Learning method and learning device for adjusting parameters of CNN by using loss augmentation and testing method and testing device.
Source: StradVision
Yongjoong Kim, Woonhyun Nam, Sukhoon Boo, Myungchul Sung, Donghun Yeo, Wooju RYU, Taewoong Jang, Kyungjoong Jeong, Hongmo Je, Hojin Cho are co-inventors of the said patent.
The said patent family has been cited 27 times by companies Didi Res America Llc, Stradvision Inc, and Beijing Didi Infinity Technology. The patent’s geographical coverage extends to the United States, China, Japan, and Korea.
- Wooju Ryu
Wooju Ryu is a Korean inventor with a master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Pohang University of Science and Technology.
Source: Twitter
He is presently an Algorithm Engineer at StradVision and works in Deep Learning, Computer Vision, ADAS, Text Recognition and Automatic Driving. He has been associated with Intel, Olaworks, and Samsung as a Senior Researcher between 2007 and 2016.
His patent portfolio consists of 831 patents in the AI domain globally, which belong to 267 unique patent families.
- Woonhyun Nam
Woonhyun Nam is a Korean inventor with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Computer Science and Engineering from the Pohang University of Science and Technology.
Source: ResearchGate
He is presently the Director, Lead of Algorithm Engineering at StradVision, Inc. His work profile is deeply seated in AI, with him being responsible for engineering, researching, investigating, and deploying algorithms across company products and services.
His portfolio consists of 826 patents in the AI domain globally, which belong to 266 unique patent families. Most of his inventions are in the field of Instruments Technology.
- Hongmo Je
Hongmo Je is a Korean inventor with a Computer Science degree from the Pohang University of Science and Technology.
Source: Crunchbase
Presently, he is the CTO of Stradvision and leads the RnD Integration/Engineering Team developing camera-based perception SW stack for ADAS/Autonomous Driving applications. He was previously the Engineering Manager at Intel and the head of RnD at Olaworks.
Hongmo Je’s patent portfolio consists of 824 patents in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) domain globally which belong to 264 unique patent families. In addition, he holds 256 patents in the Instruments domain.
- Donghun Yeo
Donghun Yeo is a Korean inventor with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Computer vision from Pohang University of Science and Technology.
Source: NIST
Yeo is presently a Senior Researcher at the Hana Institute of Technology. Previously, he was an algorithm engineer at StradVision.
Yeo’s patent portfolio comprises 824 patents in the Artificial Intelligence domain globally, belonging to 264 unique patent families. A significant chunk of his portfolio consists of innovations in Instrument Technology (255).
- Myungchul Sung
Myungchul Sung is a Korean inventor with a master’s degree in Computer Science Engineering from the Pohang University of Science and Technology. He is an Algorithm Engineer at StradVision.
He holds 824 patents in the Artificial Intelligence domain globally, which belong to 264 unique patent families. However, the most significant chunk of his patent portfolio is innovations in the Instruments Technology domain, amounting to 255.
- Yong-Joong Kim
Yong-Joong Kim is a Korean inventor with a master’s degree in Computer Science from Yonsei University. He is presently an algorithm engineer at Stradvision. In the past, he has been a researcher at the Pohang University of Science and Technology and an IT coordinator at the National Institute for International Education. In addition, he has interned at the MARG Lab at Seoul National University.
- Taewoong Jang
Taewoong Jang is a Korean inventor with a bachelor’s degree in Physics & Math who graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Pohang University of Science and Technology. He was an Algorithm Engineer at StradVision and is now a Software Engineer at Coinone.
He holds 824 patents in the Artificial Intelligence domain globally across 264 unique patent families. The majority of his patent portfolio (255 patents) are innovations related to Instruments Technology.
- Kyungjoong Jeong
Kyungjoong Jeong is a Korean inventor who is an Algorithm Engineer at Stradvision. He graduated from Ulsan University as an Electrical Engineer as the Dean’s Honoured Graduate. He has previously been at Samsung Techwin and a Researcher at POSTECH, where he earned his Master’s degree. Deep Learning, Computer Vision, and Machine Learning are his research interests.
Kyungjoong Jeong’s patent portfolio has 824 patents in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) domain globally, belonging to 264 unique patent families. 255 of these patents are innovations in the field of Instruments Technology.
- Hojin Cho
Hojin Cho is a Korean inventor with a degree in Computer Science Engineering and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Image Processing, Computer Graphics, and Computer Vision from the Pohang University of Science and Technology. He is an Algorithm Engineer at StradVision.
His portfolio consists of 824 patents in AI belonging to 264 unique patent families, of which 255 are in the sub-domain of Instruments Technology.
- Sukhoon Boo
Sukhoon Boo is a Korean inventor associated with StradVision Inc. His portfolio consists of 824 patents in AI belonging to 264 unique patent families, of which 255 are in the sub-domain of Instruments Technology.
- Hak-Kyoung Kim
Hak-Kyoung Kim is a Korean inventor and an algorithm engineer affiliated with Stradvision Inc.
His portfolio consists of 758 patents in Artificial Intelligence globally, belonging to 251 unique patent families. In addition, he has 242 innovations in the domain of Instruments Technology.
The most valuable patent in Hak-Kyoung Kim’s portfolio is US10229346B1 – Learning method, learning device for detecting object using edge image and testing method. This is his most cited patent, having been cited 13 times. The patent’s geographical coverage is in the United States, China, Korea, and Japan.
Source – US10229346B1
- Kye-Hyeon Kim
Kye-Hyeon Kim is a Korean inventor with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Computer Science (Machine Learning) from the Pohang University of Science and Technology.
Currently, he is the Chief Research Officer at Superb AI Inc. He has previously been associated with StradVision as an Algorithm Engineer, SK Telecom as a Research Scientist, and Intel and Samsung as a Senior Software Engineer.
He holds 754 patents in the Artificial Intelligence domain globally, which belong to 251 unique patent families. However, the most significant chunk of his innovations is in the realm of Instruments Technology (242).
The most valuable patent in his portfolio is US10229346B1, the same as Hak-Kyoung Kim. They are co-inventors with a few more inventors on this patent.
- John M Ganci Jr
John M Ganci Jr is an American inventor affiliated with IBM. His patent portfolio has 223 patents filed globally which belong to 145 unique patent families. In addition, he holds 102 patents in the Instruments Technology domain.
John M Ganci Jr.’s most cited patent is US20160070439A1, the same as Sarbajit Rakshit. They are co-inventors on this patent with a few others.
- Craig Trim
Craig Trim is an American inventor with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer and Information Sciences from Cal Poly Pomona and a Master of Science, MS, Data Analytics from Capella University.
Source – TheOrg
He is currently with Causality Link as a Senior Engineer. His past experiences include being at IBM as a Lead Data Scientist and Dristi as a CTO.
Trim’s patent portfolio consists of 223 patents in the AI domain, belonging to 144 unique patent families. In addition, he holds 116 patents in the Instruments Technology domain.
Craig’s most cited patent is US20160070439A1. Craig is a co-inventor on this with Sarbajit Rakshit, John Gangci, and a few others.
- Corville O Allen
Corville Allen is an American inventor with a degree in Computer Science, Mathematics from Lona College. He has 17 years of experience in Enterprise Software Development, including web-based software, Application Server infrastructure, Business Application Integration, and Cognitive Systems. He is a Senior Technical Staff Member and Master Inventor, a 5-time North Carolina Inventor of the Year at IBM.
Source: IBM News Room
His specialties include Application Integration, API Development, Agile Methodologies, SDLC, WebSphere, Connectivity, and Architecture.
His patent portfolio consists of 232 patents belonging to 142 unique patent families. In addition, he holds 120 patents in the domain of Instruments Technology.
Allen’s most valuable patent is US9369488B2 – Policy enforcement using natural language processing. The said patent family has been cited 119 times by the company Onetrust Llc. The patent’s geographical coverage extends to the United States and China.
The core idea of the patent is to automatically identify if the user is violating the “terms of use” policy for devices like computers. For example, the user may attempt to use the device camera to photograph an object within a physical location governed by the term of the use policy document. Based on the procedure disclosed in the patent, the user’s computing device may take appropriate action, e.g., policy enforcement, restricting or disabling functionality, alerting or warning the user to non-compliance, or the like.
- Martin G Keen
Martin Keen is an American inventor with a degree in Computer Science from Southampton Solent University. He has been associated with IBM as a Technical Content Creation Leader & Video Production Leader.
Source: The Marketplace Podcast
Martin is an IBM Master Inventor and was conferred the Honorary award in 2016 by IBM. He holds over 200 patent applications, specializing in big data, cognitive systems, mobile devices, and predictive analytics. In addition, Martin is a Technical Content Creator Leader, including developing dozens of published books. He is also a Videographer and Video Production Lead specializing in corporate video creation and online learning course development.
His patent portfolio has 201 globally filed globally belonging to 138 unique patent families. In addition, he holds 90 patents in the domain of Instruments Technology.
The most valuable patent in Martin Keen’s portfolio is US9473819B1 – Event pop-ups for video selection. The patent family has been cited 16 times by companies IBM, Sony Interactive Entertainment Llc, Amazon Tech Inc, and Dish Network Llc.
Source – US9473819B1
- Jeremy Fox
Jeremy Fox is an American inventor with a BBA, Computer Information System degree from the University of Texas at El Paso. He has been associated with IBM since 2001. As a result, he has been accorded the title of Master Inventor at IBM.
Jeremy has also served as the IBM Commerce IDT Chair for over three years.
His patent portfolio consists of 128 patents in AI globally, belonging to 110 unique patent families. In addition, 68 patents have been filed in Instruments Technology.
The most valuable patent in Jeremy Fox’s portfolio is US9826500B1 – Preventing driver distraction from incoming notifications – cited 8 times by Nocell Technologies Llc.
Source – MyPolice #LeaveThePhoneAlone
Don’t we agree – those smartphone notifications while driving can be dangerously distractive? Jeremy Fox’s thought process behind this patent is quite appreciable. His ingenious idea to adjust the intensity of notification alerts based on the driving conditions is remarkable. For example: changing a loud beep to just a vibration alert for a particular type of notification. A few examples of conditions include driving:
- in fair/poor/good weather
- during day/night
- familiar/unfamiliar route
- Yasuaki Yamagishi
Yasuaki Yamagishi is a Japanese inventor currently Senior Research Scientist at Sony Corporation.
His patent portfolio consists of 614 patents belonging to 104 unique patent families. In addition, he has 99 patents in the domain of Electronics Communication Techniques.
His patent US10178148B2 – Content supply device, content supply method, program, and content supply system – is his most cited (13 times), by Sony Corporation, Saturn Licensing LLC. The patent’s geographical coverage extends to the United States, Brazil, India, China, and Russian Federation.
- Joydeep Ray
Joydeep Ray is an American inventor with a master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a Graphics Architect at Intel Corporation. He has previously been associated with AMD as an MTS Design Engineer, Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation as a Technical Representative in CPU Sub-committee, Carnegie Mellon University as a Research Assistant, and IBM as a Design Engineer.
Ray’s patent portfolio has 293 patents in the Artificial Intelligence domain globally, belonging to 84 unique patent families. In addition, 77 inventions are related to instruments belonging to the Instruments Technology domain.
His patent US10108850B1 – Recognition, reidentification, and security enhancements using autonomous machines – is his most valuable. It has been cited 10 times and has geographical coverage in the United States and China.
Let’s Sum it Up
It was interesting to note that most inventors among the top 20 AI inventors across the globe are Korean. 12 out of 20 are either working at StradVision or have worked at StradVision in the past. It’s intriguing to know what StradVision is up to. There is a commonality in many of these inventors’ most cited patents. It’s the object recognition in a video.
| Inventor | Country of Origin | Present Place of Work | Past Places of Work |
| Sarbajit Rakshit | Indian | IBM | N/A |
| Wooju Ryu | Korean | StradVision Inc. | Intel, Olaworks, Samsung |
| Woonhyun Nam | Korean | StradVision Inc. | N/A |
| Hongmo Je | Korean | StradVision Inc. | Intel, Olaworks |
| Donghun Yeo | Korean | Hana Institute of Technology | StradVision Inc. |
| Myungchul Sung | Korean | StradVision Inc. | N/A |
| Yong-Joong Kim | Korean | StradVision Inc. | N/A |
| Taewoong Jang | Korean | Coinone | StradVision Inc. |
| Kyungjoong Jeong | Korean | StradVision Inc. | Samsung Techwin |
| Hojin Cho | Korean | StradVision Inc. | N/A |
| Sukhoon Boo | Korean | StradVision Inc. | N/A |
| Hak-Kyoung Kim | Korean | Stradvision Inc. | N/A |
| Kye-Hyeon Kim | Korean | Superb AI Inc. | StradVision, SK Telecom, Intel and Samsung |
| John M Ganci Jr | American | IBM | N/A |
| Craig Trim | American | Causality Link | IBM, dristi |
| Corville O Allen | American | IBM | N/A |
| Martin G Keen | American | IBM | N/A |
| Jeremy Fox | American | IBM | N/A |
| Yasuki Yamagishi | Japanese | Sony Corporation | N/A |
| Joydeep Ray | American | Intel Corporation | Advanced Micro Devices Inc., IBM |
What kindled your interest in this article? Are you currently working on any AI projects?
Since you were interested in this article, we wish to share an AI-based initiative. It’s called Patent Quality through Artificial Intelligence. The initiative is focused on inventors, and the core value that drives the initiative is “Prior Art Search for Everyone.” At PQAI, we studied patent rejection stats. We observed that most patents receive 102/103 type rejections. This means the invention described in the patent is either not new or obvious based on a combination of one or more previous inventions/literature. Unfortunately, many inventors apply for patents without a thorough prior art search. Usually, this is because there is a lack of budget or patent searching skills. Also, it’s challenging to search for non-patent literature while performing a prior art search. These reasons triggered an urge to develop an inventor-friendly prior art search engine. And what better than AI to turn to for help?
If you feel the pain inventors go through on receiving a patent rejection, we urge you to join the initiative and contribute the best way only you can!
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