Posts in Technology & Innovation

The current struggle for video gaming supremacy is being fought among the eighth generation of consoles, featuring the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One and the Nintendo Wii U. The seventh generation finished up much more evenly than the sixth generation, which was dominated by the PS2; the seventh-generation Wii sold about 100 million units, while the Xbox 360 and PS3 each sold around 80 million units. The PS4 shares many of the computing features available through the Xbox One, including a 500GB hard drive, wireless Internet connectivity, 4K video support, gigabit Ethernet and more. Some issues with faulty HDMI ports were experienced by users during the initial rollout, but the extension of online services through the use of the PlayStation App and the availability of other third-party services like Netflix has turned the video game console from a toy into a computing device for lifestyle enjoyment. With some rumor that Sony is interested in developing virtual reality headsets for use with the PS4, it’s clear to see that there’s still plenty of research and development that continues to be pursued in the area of gaming and home entertainment consoles.

Microsoft’s Xbox, and the generations of consoles which followed, may not have conquered the market for the software giant based in Redmond, WA, but they have eked out a significant place for the company in the video game industry. In today’s brief history of the Xbox, we take a look at how and why this technology developed in the first place and what helped it to achieve success in a high tech field that was already dominated by other major technology firms… The Xbox and the innovations it incorporates are revolutionary and it’s impact on gaming and entertainment in the home is undeniable. The potential future uses for Kinect outside of the video game industry are exciting and extraordinarily promising, perhaps particularly the various robot implementations that could lead to things like remote surgeries.

Throughout 2014, stories of major data breaches and hacking incidents have dominated the mainstream media. Customers of major corporations like Target, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Neiman Marcus have been the targets of malware, phishing schemes and other malicious acts of cyber crime within the past year. As a result, hackers have gained access to private information pertaining to tens of millions of financial accounts…. During 2013, there were a total of 7,577 patent applications filed with the USPTO in the field of cybersecurity. The vast majority of these patent applications are coming from the United States, with the most filings coming from the states of California, New York and Texas. The top five companies filing patents within this field were IBM, Symantec, Google, Microsoft and Samsung.

Many of the technologies we discuss in more detail below pertain to railway and other vehicular technologies. A few patent applications discuss improvements to electrical utility systems, including one technique for monitoring plant activity near electrical grid components to identify exactly when to clear vegetation away from power lines. The strong patent portfolio enjoyed by General Electric enjoyed a number of important additions in recent weeks. Some of the most intriguing that we saw today involve medical innovations, including systems for the synchronization of imaging data collected during a procedure to better guide a medical professional during a procedures. We’re also sharing a patent protecting a useful technology for locating defects in an underground cable to ensure consistent delivery of electrical utilities. Gas turbines and another innovation regarding railway tech is also explored more deeply in today’s column.

The Australian Full Federal Court recently handed down its decision in Research Affiliates LLC v Commissioner of Patents. The decision is an important addition to Australian case law concerning the patentability of business methods and software. Judges Kenny, Bennett, and Nicholas ruled that the Appellant’s claimed computer implemented method for generating an index for use in securities trading was unpatentable as an abstract idea. The Court held that “[t]he claimed method in this case clearly involves what may well be an inventive idea, but it is an abstract idea. The specification makes it apparent that any inventive step arises in the creation of the index as information and as a scheme. There is no suggestion in the specification or the claims that any part of the inventive step lies in the computer implementation.

As humans, all of our greatest dreams and biggest fears about technology seem to be provoked by the stirring topic of robotic technologies. Robots have the potential to eliminate a great amount of monotonous work, provide assistance to human workers and serve in highly specialized environments, like hospitals or factories. At the same time, people can be concerned with how this technology will change daily life and worry about increasing isolation among humans or the loss of a job as a result. Even major names in technology development have showed signs of being spooked by robotics. In a talk given at a technology symposium held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called robots the “biggest existential threat” to the human race, even arguing for national and international regulatory oversight on artificial (AI) development.

While there can be disingenuous arguments made about the abstractness of a media product or a sponsor message, who in their right mind could ever even suggest that “an Internet website” is abstract? Is “an Internet website” abstract? Is the “general public” abstract? Is a consumer abstract? Contemplate these questions as you, a member of the general public continues to read this article on this Internet website! We apparently have jumped the shark and turned the law of software patent claims into a useless, ridiculous philosophy assignment that asks whether something that clearly exists doesn’t exist. So are you, a consuming member of the general public who reads Internet websites real, or are you abstract?

A look into the recently published patent applications assigned to Dow from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Organization shows us that GMOs and herbicides have been a major area of focus for Dow and Dow AgroSciences, its chief subsidiary in agricultural chemical engineering. Plastics used for packing fragile items or for providing a barrier between soil and building foundations in construction projects. The patent portfolio of Dow has also been increasing recently, incorporating chemical engineering innovations designed for a wide range of industrial sectors. One patent protects a method of developing fragrances for laundry detergents which evaporate less quickly, helping clothes to retain a fragrance for a longer period of time. Oil-in-water emulsions were the focus of a number of patents which we decided to share today, including one discussing a herbicidal composition for agricultural uses. Another patent we noticed protects a topically-applied pharmaceutical drug designed to treat bacterial infections or acne rosacea.

The spurts and starts of wearable technology in recent days are reminiscent of that earlier period of smartphone development. We’ve all heard that wearable gadgets are a major part of the future of computing, but most of the consumer world is still waiting for a product that can appeal to the masses. Google Glass was released with a lot of hype earlier this year, for example, but it hasn’t reached a wide consumer base. A high price tag and an unfashionable look have been cited by some as reasons why the product hasn’t seen the sort of sales expected. Developers of wearable technology haven’t exactly figured out the secret to commercial success with these products as of yet, but the time in which they will is soon coming.

Neighborhood-aware networks, which can provide digital services to many homes within the same neighborhood, are the focus of a few filings. Qualcomm is also seeking to protect both an electronic scale with conversion table software and a pair of headphones with a novel technique for overcoming popping and clicking noises when plugging the headphone connector into an audio port. The strength of Qualcomm’s patent portfolio is a major reason why this company is so successful internationally. Most of the patents recently issued to this corporation protect various mobile device innovations, including the use of an inclinometer to detect the incline of a device display and adjusting the way an image is rendered to improve the view relative to the incline. Gesture-based financial transaction completed across mobile devices, as well as methods of providing location information on indoor environments, have also been protected for Qualcomm through patents issued over the past few weeks.

The most recent patent applications published show that development of electric and hybrid electric vehicles are prominent among all three. Some of these patent applications describe novel applications of known energy generation and storage technologies, including air batteries and solar cells, to automobile environments. Self-driving cars manufactured by Toyota will benefit from a technology designed to improve the accuracy of determining a car’s actual location on the road. These three corporations each have strong patent portfolios which have increased in recent weeks and we took special notice of a couple of patents issued in the field of fuel cell technologies. Honda has earned the right to protect an indoor vehicle that drives in response to the tilting motion of a seated rider. We also feature two patents directed towards safety systems which are designed to provide warnings to drivers in response to potential road hazards.

Digital communications systems, including cloud-based methods of presenting technical manual information to car owners, are featured in a number of these patent applications. A trio of Ford patent applications discuss technologies for identifying occupants and drivers in a vehicle. Other patent applications that we discuss today feature collision safety systems, including one system for establishing voice communications with vehicle occupants after an accident. The patent portfolios of all of the Big Three automakers have increased in recent weeks and many of these new additions protect improvements to hybrid electric vehicles; some innovations in this field are discussed below. In-vehicle text messaging systems are the focus of a few other patents that we explored today. We also were piqued by a patent protecting a system of contacting persons via a vehicle telematics units to resolve missing persons cases.

IPWatchdog attends the USPTO Innovation Festival at the Smithsonian Nation Air and Space Museum.

DuPont is a company responsible for many impressive industrial and commercial innovations, and our latest survey of patent applications published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office bears this fact out. We explored a couple of patent applications that discuss novel methods of creating fuel from biomass materials, especially those materials that don’t draw from the food supply. Transparent conductive materials, ink-jet inks with better pigment stability and a whipping agent for frozen sorbet are other technological advances which are discussed below. This corporation benefits from a strong patent portfolio and we’ve chronicled the addition of several important patents to DuPont’s intellectual property portfolio today. More food production innovations are reflected here, including a patent protect a better method for obtaining betaine from sugar beets for the production of molasses. Plastics production, including dielectric films for capacitors, are explored in more detail below. We also profile inventions involving relief printing methods for corrugated cardboard as well as another innovation for producing ethanol from biomass.