USPTO: TV + IM = Microsoft Patent
from the how-is-this-non-obvious-to-those-skilled-in-the-art? dept
theodp writes "From the patent issued Tuesday to Microsoft for its 'invention,' Multimode interactive television chat: 'the television content being displayed is a show and the Internet content is chat from a chat room corresponding to the television show.'" This is yet another in a long line of patents that are simply about combining two obvious things (like "wireless" and "email").Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Prestel anybody?
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OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
Microsoft has been working on Interactive TV before 90% of the world knew what an internet was.
While there have been a few bad patent grants.. there are clearly more uncreative people who can only spend time pretending the inventiveness of others is silly. Get a Life!
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Re: OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
>note ... except we had paper and glue for
>decades and no one saw it.
Except that the patent wasn't on the idea of a sticky note, it was for the particular glue (I think the manufacturing process, IIRC) that makes it possible to stack the things, stick 'em on stuff and remove them again without being too sticky. That part is was decidedly non-obvious - so much so, that I believe it was discovered entirely by accident.
Geez, haven't you seen "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion"?
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Re: Re: OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
This is my recollection as well. The glue for sticky notes is actually a "failed" experimental result an effort to make a regular glue that hardened fast.
I seem to recall a nineties era music video channel that would dedicated a space for user submited comments. I think they thought of them as dedications, but the principle is much the same.
Also, I was in Germany a year or so ago and saw some sort of TV channell that ran a slow sort of video game where people actually chatted. ... I wish I could remember more about either.
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Re: Re: OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
Actually, the adhesive was discovered by Dr. Spence Silver by accident in 1968, but the ultimate purpose was discovered (more or less) on purpose in the 1970's by 3M employee Art Fry who was looking for a way to mark the pages in the church hymnal each week without damaging the book itself (he was a choir member). He had seen Silver's demonstrations of the reusable, non-marking, no residue adhesive. It took until 1980 to work out the details for manufacturing and marketing, but the rest, as they say, is history.
References from 3M and MIT.
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Re: OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
Regarding the sticky notes: got to get the right kind of adhesive, thatsticks but doesnt dry or stick too much to the other note. Got to pick the right width of adhesive to work with that length of glue but be convenient for people to grab and rip off. Got to pick the right color of canary yellow. Got to convince people that they need this product--i cant remember the last time i ever used one, i certainly dont care about them--and then get them into the public consciousness and turn them into a successful business enterprise.
You got to do all these things before you make your million. You dont get your million--and neither did however many people thought of the same thing during a bull session--just by thinking of it.
Patent or copyright or whatever you want all the individual elements that took costly science and r&d to create, I'm not arguing with that. But a stroke of genius should not be patentable. This kind of lightning always strikes twice. Several times, in fact, before it hits someone with the means and motive to make something out of it.
Its not a good idea until someone has made it economically productive. Millions of ideas are had every day and most are bad. They could all be patented, if we were jerks about it, and then when someone realized how to make good on our bad ideas we'd profit for doing essentially no work.
Heres what you do with all your hot stuff ideas: tell people. Maybe someone will make it and the world will be richer. I give that someone permission in advance to use any hot ideas I've spread around.
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Re: Re: OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
thanks
phil
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Re: OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
Microsoft has the bank, they've always taken the best ideas from the marketplace and made them theres. They want to own everything technology. They have the bank to do it. And who could afford to sue them anyway.
The whole situation has been and still is very lame.
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Re: OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
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Re: Re: OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
Maybe you dont disregard them, but then I don't consider you part of the internet community. Much like I do not view roaches in my bedroom as cohabitants.
I am telling you this because I am in a good mood and feeling charitable today. Get a clue.
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Re: OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
Hey Anonymous Coward you don't speak for me - or anyone else but yourself...
...and I do not disregard anyone's comments when they say microcrap or micro$oft or microshaft or microsucks.
Its out-of-touch faux intellectuals like you that make things so boring. You may find a more a more welcome reception at a BBS connected by 56k modem.
T
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Re: Re: OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
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Re: OK This Patent Bashing is getting stupid
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Dinosaur tactics
Fostered a culture of "it barely works, but sell it anyway" software development? Like to use intimidation tactics to generate sales? Why not add a portfolio of unenforceable patents to your soon-too-be-extinct company, Mr. Gates?
I have a patent on the concept of breathing air into your lungs in order to live - but I am too lazy to enforce it on all living mammals.
T
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Three uses for a patent
b) (aggressive patents) you are a mid-size or large technology company, and are developing a new hot product on some bleeding edge technology. Only, the idea is so minimal that you are afraid that, by technical sophistication alone, you will not be able to hold a significant part of the market and that competitors will be fast to implement and deliver a product that is just as good and possible better than yours. So you file a patent and prevent anyone to work in the field, or ask the competitors for compensation.
c) (defensive patents) you are a large/very large technology company, who is sick and tired to pay small, mid-size and largish failing companies for parassite and/or aggressive patents, and thus decide that, regardless of obviousness, you will patent every single stupid idea that you are going to put in a product, just because it's cheaper this way. Once you have the patent, you know you will never really enforce it, because the court will immediately find the obviousness of the patent. Yet, you still ask for it because you will prevent other companies to sue you.
Now ask yourself: where do you place Microsoft in this arena? Of course this is a defensive patent: Microsoft has enough strength to place a product and have it sell regardless of competition and actual technological sophistication: just look at PowerPoint, which is by far a weak product, and yet through mechanisms other than patent litigation has become the de facto standard for presentations.
So, now, cool down. Nobody will come after you if you create a good product mixing up video shows and chats. But you won't be able to ask money to Microsoft for the idea.
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Re: Three uses for a patent
Dude, are you serious? Do you know how many companies Microsoft has shut down by enforcing their patents? Are you aware of their blackmail tactics to force Dell to sell ONLY Windows computers?
T
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What's your thoughts on this:
http://www.paulgraham.com/softwarepatents.html
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Re:
Mike,
What's your thoughts on this:
http://www.paulgraham.com/softwarepatents.html
I actually wrote about that last month. You can read it here:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060331/1233221.shtml
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Follow the money
Now that it's businesses getting most patents, be it pharmceuticals or computer code, they resort to the "shotgun effect" and patent every little thing and see which one makes money. (some may refer to this as some other kind of effect in which 'something' is thrown at a wall to see what sticks).
MS is just playing by the new rules. The world is a quickly changing place. You can be in the race, or stand on the curb and wave, but don't criticize a competitor for trying to win if you're not willing to race.
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obviously never watched MTV
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Re: TV+IM
1. In a device having a graphical user interface and a display capable of displaying video signals and chat communications in frames on the display in any of a plurality of selectable display modes, each of the display modes defining the relative positions and sizes of the display frames, a method comprising:
receiving a video signal at the device;
receiving at the device one or more chat communications corresponding to the video signal;
displaying the video signal and the one or more chat communications on the display in a first display mode, such that the video signal is displayed in a first frame that has a corresponding size and position on the display, and such that the one or more chat communications are displayed in a second frame that has a corresponding size and position on the display;
displaying in the second frame a link to a second display mode that is different than the first display mode, such that when the link to the second display mode is selected, the second frame displays the one or more chat communications with at least one of a different frame size or a different frame position than was used by the second frame in the first display mode, and while still displaying the video signal in the first frame; and
displaying a link to a third display mode within the second frame when the second frame is displayed in the second display mode, and such that when the link to the third display mode is selected, the second frame displays the one or more chat communications with at least one of a different frame size or a different frame position than was used by the second frame in both the first and second display modes, and while still displaying the video signal in the first frame.
--
A TV showing a video which has message text on it, like the MTV example, would not infringe because the TV does not separately receive the chat and TV signals and combine them into a framed display where the viewer can pick among different modes of displaying the TV vs the chat.
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Re: Re: TV+IM
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3M
>note ... except we had paper and glue for
>decades and no one saw it.
I believe it was indeed a result of a failure. One scientist was attempting to make a super sticky adhesive... he clearly failed. Another scientist sang in a choir and was frustrated that the little pieces of paper stuck in his song book always fell out. He remembered the "failure" of a fellow scientist and got the idea to put that glue on paper and bam, post-it notes were born.
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Prior Art
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Re: Prior Art
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umm
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If I hear you chatting in the stalls, I'm gonna sue!
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Prior Art
Proving that Microsoft produced it before Network Computer/Liberate would be quite interesting, but possible since Microsoft bought WebTV (ostensibly to kill it).
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Do you think this patent is for an "obvious" thing?
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9059
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Re:
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prior art
It's a document I published involving the overlay of text (including
chat) over video streams from independent servers.
Microsoft - I await your licensing call :)
Regards,
Dean Collins
Cognation Pty Ltd
+1-212-203-4357
+61-2-9016-5642 (Sydney in-dial).
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