Microsoft recently received a patent covering enhanced TV by streaming an interactive layer in conjunction with the broadcast content. One of many video related patents that they hold, actually. While the Nintendo Wii has brought us one step closer to point-and-click TV without much of a word being uttered about its potential and Joost soaks up the glory of being an innovative new TV platform, behind the scenes over the past decade, Microsoft and others have been building systems to deliver rich, interactive media experiences for your TV. → Read More
Sony has so many creative options. Case in point, while working on motion sensing camera image stabilization, Sony discovered a way to use the camera’s sensors to scroll the camera’s display around a stored image. This concept is kind of like the recently covered motion sensing tablet. This technology sparks some promising [suggestive] thoughts of applications for the other platforms, like the PSP which also appears to be under development. → Read More
With the news of Microsoft Surface announced, we found detail behind how the technology might work. During the Popular Mechanics interview, Microsoft noted that the display uses a series of IR sensors to detect objects on the surface providing controls of objects. A recently published Microsoft patent application provides further insight (and images) on how these sensors work. → Read More
Target Technologies has filed a patent suit against Sony stating that its Blu-ray technologies infringe on a Target Technologies patent covering Sony’s use of a less corrosive and less costly Silver based alloy layer for its Blu-ray discs. Target Technologies has a series of related patents dating back to filings in June 1998 covering the use of metal alloys for the reflective layer of an optical storage disc. Did Sony know about Target Technologies patents? → Read More
Nokia received a newly issued patent covering a laptop-style device with two touch screens and a removable keyboard. Nokia shows in this patent its development breadth towards the convergence of laptops and cell phones and has created this concept to smartly attain a smaller device size with improved functionality. → Read More
took far less resource and time to develop than that. Without a doubt, the KSR v. Teleflex Supreme Court decision has changed the patent landscape that we at PatentMonkey.com operate in. Without delving into a position piece on the pro’s of IP ownership, we now ask the question, “So what does this all mean?” → Read More
Dennis Dilbeck, a Netflix subscriber, filed a class action lawsuit claiming that Netflix controlled the online DVD rental market by leveraging fraudulently obtained patents making for an unusual patent-based anti-trust case filed earlier this year (recently made public) which is consistent with Blockbuster’s counter suit against Netflix. Dilbeck presents a case that Netflix withheld critical prior art from the Patent Office during review that would have invalidated two patents which it has since used to bully competitors with “sham litigation”. → Read More
A fact about innovation is that ideas that are tried fail much more often than they succeed. Frequently, a team can shut down a dead project long before anyone in the market knows it was even attempted. In the case of companies like P&G that patent protect concepts as they are being market tested, some cleaning up becomes necessary after the fact. → Read More
Vonage is fighting possible bankruptcy, need for a new CEO and investor frustration. While the potential for it to escape Verizon’s litigation grip has some hope, a more radical step by an aggressive buyer could just be the trick. Vonage has appealed its loss to Verizon on patent infringement. The Supreme Court’s ruling on patent obviousness has begun to change the patent landscape providing a lot of potential help, but may come too late in respect to Vonage’s request. While workaround measures make sense, some out of the box thinking given these new circumstances could prove to yield a brand savvy, risk-taking investor a solid windfall. → Read More
, TiVo describes use of an encryption key technique that has so many possible combinations that the ability to crack it could take billions of years of number crunching. TiVo has developed technology to create a link between a host and a local hard drive using an encryption key to lock down any access by you, the user, unless the code can be correctly identified. This concept builds upon the commonly used technique of a Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) that are created with so many possible combinations “that 1 trillion UUIDs have to be created every nanosecond for 10 billion years to exhaust the number of UUIDs.” → Read More
After covering Motorola’s multi-layer LCD solar display, Ericsson’s recently issued patent adds a feature in yet another direction: a multiple layered display. Ericsson has thought up a number of applications to fit more onto that tiny screen by layering the information. Apple may be the company to do something like this justice, and after the jump you’ll see just how much work has already been done. → Read More
, Verizon revealed a means for using not only time for call routing it currently offers, but also a name recognition routing system. Knowing your Mom wants to be sure you are safe, this is just the technology to be sure she reaches you. → Read More
Nokia recently received a patent covering a new phone interface by using a frame that can be rotated and a series of input controls around a display that changes what the buttons control based on triggering the frame’s rotation spring (e.g. from letters to numbers) Nokia appears to have developed this interface using a display and changeable letter or number options to provide users a more flexible and efficient data entry option. Nokia looks to be trying to take a page out of Apple’s long lasting iPod design by trying to simplify a phone interface by doing more with less. → Read More
. The court unanimously ruled that the federal appeals court that handles patent cases had given too much power to developers of trivial technological improvements. “Granting patent protection to advances that would occur in the ordinary course without real innovation retards progress,’’ Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court. → Read More
uncovered a Sony application on using your body to transit a signal. Well, Sony has even more out of the box thinking for body transmitting wireless headphones by even more signals rocking through your body. → Read More
At the Ocean Tomo live auction last week, US Patent 6618593 sold for $2.6 million to an anonymous buyer making it a record for the purchase of a patent in a live auction. Billed as a patent to bridge the online into the real world, the patent’s main claim covers the use of mobile location information in conjunction with online information. This is a broad application which provide a location-based boost to gaming as well as networking sites like MySpace or upstart mobile IM players like Twitter. → Read More
Cell phone battery life has been one of the top problems since its inception. Motorola was there at the beginning, and is at least exploring smart solutions. Motorola recently received a patent for combining an LCD screen and a solar cell on a wireless device. While the cost of such a concept makes the iPhone seem like a bargain, the concept of having a display that also can have a dual purpose of receiving light for recharging the battery makes a lot of sense. → Read More
Barry Bonds will tell you: if you don’t take swings, you don’t hit home runs. In innovation, the same thing is rings true — you have to keep swinging until you hit a home run. In honor of Fitness Week, we’ll take a look at some of the leading fitness players, like Nike and Adidas, in terms of patented technology, and take a look into just how many swings they’re taking. The leaders and the rest of the pack after the jump. → Read More
. While there are many other players with location based technologies in this field, the fact that a carrier like Cingular has some innovations and is looking to add value to its new Apple relationship holds a bit of promise. With the growing geography + mobile, IM, blogging field developing with Twitter and Outside.in, these technologies are also feeling quite timely for launch. → Read More
Olympus has consistently launched pretty hot concepts and has kept their innovation track strong with 76 patents so far in 2007. Would getting into digital display eye wear be that much of a stretch from their experience in digital cameras? Well, they have been thinking about it. Actually, Olympus hasn’t been the only ones dabbling in this nascent area. → Read More
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