Posts Tagged: "Google"

Social media has been getting a lot more serious about the business of breaking news to a massive online readership. In the middle of September, Facebook launched a new service called Signal which provides a platform for the discovery and curation of news content in a way that helps journalists see which items are trending. For Google in particular, the news content sector of the Internet is likely one where it hopes to challenge Facebook more vigorously. In July, Facebook pulled ahead of Google as a source of news content for readers obtaining their news online.

The patent portfolio of Boston Dynamics is small but it does cover some very intriguing innovations in the field. The company holds six patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, two of which protect jumping technologies that may contribute to some functioning of the Sand Flea. U.S. Patent No. 8849451, issued under the title Hopping Robot, protects a robot with a chassis, a motive subsystem that maneuvers the chassis, a hopping actuator including a rearwardly extending foot which is attached to the chassis for launching a robot and a separate leg pivotable to pitch the chassis upward at a selected launch trajectory angle. This technology, developed to overcome issues in robotic components suffering damage when the unit lands, is definitely on display in the Sand Flea video, and diagrams attached to the patent grant confirm this.

In June, authorities in France served a formal notice to Google that it must delete certain links from it’s Google.com domain on a legal basis known as ‘the right to be forgotten.’ The right to be forgotten is implicated when an individual contacts a search engine company, such as Google, asking for a search result to be de-listed, essentially taking it out of their available search results. The provider assesses whether the privacy issue at stake has enough merit to de-list the link. If they don’t, the individual then has another avenue to take with a regulatory agency which may overturn the search engine provider’s decision.

Google recently announced that it would be undergoing a major corporate restructuring, folding itself into a new corporation called Alphabet Inc. The move has been marketed as a means by which Google can remain more innovative insofar as it allows Larry Page and Sergey Brin to continue to make technological bets that have long odds while affecting search engine revenues less. Aside from the Internet division, there are as many as 80 other divisions where it is hoped that R&D development will continue while they grow into services with the billion+ level of users claimed by Google’s Internet services. This article takes a look at some of those divisions and how they stand to gain.

Google is giving away patents to small-ish tech firms who apply and agree to join the License or Transfer (LOT) Network. Google retains a license to the patents, which can only be asserted defensively and asks the participant stay in the LOT Network for 2 years or the patents revert back to Google. Also, Google gives the participant access to browse Google’s “inorganic patent portfolio” (i.e., acquired from third parties) with an eye towards selling and licensing more patents to the participant.

Self-driving cars were also the focus of a couple of utility patents we discovered during our most recent survey of Google’s technological innovations. A system for switching a vehicle in and out of a self-driving mode more easily is at the center of U.S. Patent No. 9075413, titled Engaging and Disengaging for Autonomous Driving. The patent protects a method of receiving a request to switch a vehicle from a manual driving mode to an autonomous driving mode, determining if the vehicle’s location is within a preapproved area or lane for autonomous driving and generating a set of tasks that a driver must complete, if necessary, before a car can enter an autonomous mode.

The first ever CES Asia took place between May 25th and 27th in Shanghai, China. The inaugural industry event showcased the many different technologies that will be entering China’s consumer market in the coming months and years. The three-day exposition was the first Chinese technology trade show coordinated with the Consumer Electronics Association since 2012. More than 200 companies came from 15 countries to display emerging consumer technologies from knockoff versions of Google Glass to home cinema technologies. The forecasts for the Chinese consumer market for emerging technologies would give any technology developer reason to believe that nothing but fair weather awaits them in that country.

The mainstream media has been aflame over a recently unveiled Google innovation which poses an Orwellian challenge to family privacy in the eyes of some critics. A patent application published May 21st by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office describes a smart toy developed by Google which can respond to a child’s voice or gestures. Some of the creep factor inspired by this invention might simply be the result of Google’s ability to create products which naturally ingratiate themselves with users. For instance, the patent application cites the benefits of the anthropomorphic device taking on a “cute” and “toy-like” form, specifically where it comes to attracting the attention of young children.

Judge McKeown rejects Garcia’s copyright claim, explaining, “Innocence of Muslims is an audiovisual work that is categorized as a motion picture and is derivative of the script. Garcia is the author of none of this and makes no copyright claim to the film of the script. Instead, Garcia claims that her five-second performance itself merits copyright protection.” During litigation, the Copyright Office found Garcia’s performance was not eligible for copyright.

Intel recently introduced the world to the Compute Stick, a palm-sized device with an HDMI plug offering two gigabytes of memory, 32 gigabytes of storage space and runs Windows 8.1 as operating software; another version of the Compute Stick which will release in June offers an Ubuntu OS. This stick computer comes standard with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and a 64-bit quad-core CPU, supporting processing power comparable to tablet computers. A quick look at Intel’s intellectual property in this area shows us that the company had long been considering the use of television displays as remote screens for computer systems.

If patents are so bad and Google has to spend so much money lobbying to weaken the patent system, why is the company simultaneously buying patents and racing to quickly patent their own original innovation? There seems to be a disconnect between what Google says and what they do. Could it be possible that Google has taken such strong anti-patent positions in an attempt to drive down the market for software patents so they can continue to collect patents at steep discount? That would be quite troubling, but there is no question that as Google rhetoric against the patent system has increased so to has their taste for patents

Google announces its response to the Patent Troll issue they call the Patent Purchase Promotion.

Netflix raised a lot of ire in recent weeks when it negotiated a sponsored data agreement with two Australian ISPs. Those sponsored data agreements, which ensure that a certain amount of bandwidth is devoted to Netflix customers, was accused of running afoul of the very precepts of net neutrality for which the company lobbied here at home. From an innovation standpoint, if Netflix isn’t forced to pay for the bandwidth that it takes up, Netflix has no incentive to innovate a solution to the bandwidth problem that it has created for itself.

Google has recently received a patent on a method of giving a robot a personality, and in the Summary of the Invention the company explains: ”The robot may be programmed to take on the personality of real-world people (e.g., behave based on the user, a deceased loved one, a celebrity and so on) so as to take on character traits of people to be emulated by a robot” Thus, the claims on the Internet that Google has created a robot that takes on the personality of a deceased loved one, seem grounded in fact, which itself is a little surprising.