Device For Splitting The Bill At A Restaurant Now Patented
from the thanks,-IBM dept
You may recall just a few months ago that a "showcased" Google spreadsheet for splitting the bill got some basic math wrong. After we pointed it out, Google Phd.'s apparently got to work and figured out how to properly split a bill. Perhaps part of the problem was that they didn't have a newly approved US patent (found via Slashdot) from IBM on the basic concept of splitting the bill. The patent is actually for a device at a restaurant table, where multiple patrons can input how much they want to pay and the device keeps track to make sure the entire bill is paid. As the patent notes, earlier inventions allowed patrons to pay at the table. What was new about this patent, was the splitting of the bill part. The USPTO had originally rejected the patent, but that so-called "final rejection" was just overruled.
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Filed Under: patents, splitting the bill
Companies: ibm
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*ZING!*
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Stupid
Many restaurants enforce a large mandatory tip for groups... if they are going to be doing that, work for it instead of being lazy and making only one bill for a table.
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Re: Stupid
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bill splitting, 4th grade word problem.
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poor Mikey
He also writes with his ass
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What troubles me in this instance is who is running IBM? I rather doubt its Board of Directors and senior executives see this and other similar inventions as an integral part and consistent with its business plan.
Personally, were I the General Counsel for IBM I would be asking the more fundamental question "You spent money out of our budget for what?!?!?!?"
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What will they think of next...?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/03/supersonic_storm_squelch/
And the madness continues...
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Re: What will they think of next...?
I think you would need many more than two jets to accomplish their stated task.
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Why do we allow this stupidty
Then, when it was shared why no one wanted to serve them, and they discussed their million dollar invention around an IHOP dinner table.. "This great idea, we must patent it"?
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Re: Why do we allow this stupidty
What? Are? You? Trying? To? Say?
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