Amazon Patents Counting Book Pages To Figure Out Unnumbered Page Numbers
from the doing-the-math dept
theodop writes "The USPTO has issued Amazon a brand spanking new patent for Determining Page Numbers of Page Images, a process which the e-tailer explains involves 'extracting all numbers that are exactly one different than a number found on an adjacent page'." Basically, they've figured out a way to look at pages in a book and see if some of the pages don't have numbers, and then use basic addition and subtraction to figure out what the actual number of those pages are. This isn't particularly complicated. Why should one company get a patent for it?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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Are you kidding me?
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Just got my new patent!
I am gonna be rich! lol
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Finally!
/sarcasm
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Most patents are defensive in nature.
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Re:
The problem is that they patented something that people have been doing for a long time. Amazon patented "counting" and "addition". You don't see a problem with that?
You don't see a use for counting? Or addition? Good for you.
Well, great. Maybe I'll defensively patent a novel combination of cylinders and inclined planes, and defensively sue all screw and bolt manufacturers.
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Re:
Darn. I wanted to answer that question for you...but then I finished reading your post.
Most patents are defensive in nature.
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I did this to my text books...
STOP HANDING OUT PATENTS LIKE THEY ARE PAMPHLETS!
I can see it now, the world will become much like a giant magic the gathering game. People will carry a small bundle of patents with them everywhere they go for personal protection. When someone sues you for walking on their patented "floor" you can whip out your "air" patent and wait for them to suffocate...
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So much for that.
Well, crap. I've been doing that since I was in grade school, but since it's been patented I'll have to stop or Amazon will sue me.
Yeah, I realize I'm being absurd, but this patent is absurd. Since when have basic thought processes involving adding or subtracting 1 from a number been patentable.
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i know you're still on your patent rant....
but given what the supreme court just ruled regarding obviousness.... i think this falls under their ruling...
i'm really hard-pressed to figure out how this isn't obvious to a reasonable person skilled in the art of reading...
peace
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aaah...but..
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Yoda holds patents
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can you patent math?
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0: 25 pages in it?
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Re: can you patent math?
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I'm not necessarily saying it's not obvious, but it's not as obvious as you're making it out to be
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I don't see much use to the patent so how could they keep someone else from using it?
And your example is my point, most patents are defensive in nature, more to keep others from keeping you from using something rather than to keep others from using it.
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Not hate. More like blistering sarcasm toward what I perceive to be really stupid ideas.
I'm not sure what you mean here. If a patent has no real use (e.g. a self-tipping hat) then there's no problem. If a patent has obvious use in every walk of life (e.g. basic math) then there is a huge problem.
No, my example does not support your point. Anyone who tries to patent screws (or basic math) should be put in stocks and the patent examiner who allows it should be fired.
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Because, as we all know; government is always good at making things better.
Hmm, is there a patent on sarcasim?
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Not yet, but thanks to your post, someone will probably "defensively" file a preemptive patent, and then no one will be allowed to use sarcasm without a license. Gee, thanks a lot. [forks over the money to cover the fine for posting the previous sentence without a license]
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edit...
So, while spotting series and guessing they are page numbers is part of it, spotting gaps between series is another part. Both of those ideas still seem obvious.
What doesn't is "merging the most reliable sequences together to bridge gaps". How, from a big pile of unnumbered pages, and with no other information, do you spot which ones are meant to go where?
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