Patentseed

In Microsoft’s patent application 11/940,093, multiplayer game refers to multiple players on a single gaming console and TV set.  What if you need to know something that the other players shouldn’t?  Well, one method of keeping that information secret is by providing a list of questions on the screen.  You secretly select which question to ask, and the answer will be provided to you via the screen or by vibrating your game controller.  This works particularly well if all of the questions have YES/NO answers.  Just be sure you remember which question you asked, otherwise you could find yourselves playing detectives with no criminals!

Tired of having a single display on your laptop?  Attaching an LCD monitor is an option, but defeats the mobility of your laptop.  Dell provides some relief with the current patent application. 

The patent application illustrates an ExpressCard with an LCD display on its face.  When inserted into the laptop, the display on the ExpressCard is made visible to the user through a window in the laptop chassis.  Do we smell a hint of Microsoft Sideshow?  However, because it’s on the inside of the laptop, it doesn’t completely work the way Microsoft Sideshow is intended to.  Apparently, it designed for use in tandem with your primary display.  It’ll be up to individual applications to figure out how best they can use this secondary display.

Dell’s patent application 11/936,895 is for a lighting control framework, which creates a standardized way for software applications to control lighting attached to your computer, laptop, DAP, and the like.  As Dell states, “the lights may be used by a variety of applications for a variety of purposes such as, for example, gaming environments, ambience, video accompaniment, audio accompaniment, and/or a variety of other purposes known in the art. The lights may be utilized by software to change states of the lights. The changing of states may include, for example, turning on, turning off, changing color, changing brightness, and/or a variety of other state changes known in the art.” 

So the next time you’re fragging, it may be complemented by flashing white lights.  Or perhaps you can enjoy some ambient lighting the next time you’re ready to get cozy with your word processor.

Google is always getting smarter.  Expect them to know the sentiment of a company, product, and you soon.  “Sentiment is generally measured as being positive, negative, or neutral.”  Knowledge of sentiment is valuable data, especially to a CMO and Wall Street analysts.  But how can a machine determine sentiment?  One good way is Google’s patent application 11/844,222. 

Today, sentiment is calculated based on identifying positive and negative words expressed in a document about a particular entity.  This however doesn’t capture the full story.  For example, while “low power” may be a negative word for electric cars, it would be a positive word for laptops.  And that same “low power” might mean little to nothing if the entity were a restaurant. 

Google’s answer is to produce a “domain-specific sentiment classifier for classifying sentiment expressed by documents in a specified domain.”  By doing so, Google can more intelligently generate a sentiment score.  If Google can get this right, it will be a golden tool for good PR companies and a thorn in the side for bad PR companies.

In a financial rut?  Well, why not ask your facebook network for some financial support?  Or better yet, does a friend owe you money?  Then what better way to get paid than by announcing it on Facebook?  Okay, perhaps we’re citing misuses for eBay’s “Payment Processor” social network application as mentioned in patent application 11/935,139.   We’re sure there are advantages to using a “Payment Processor” application within a social network.  Anyone care to throw in their two cents?

But we do like eBay’s sense of humor.  Being bitten by a zombie should take the shock out of seeing a $350,000 request for payment from your buddy.

LG appears to be a fan of the cameras that rotate and their recently filed patent application (12/263,259) is no exception.  The patent application covers a camera with a touchscreen, wireless communication, and a camera that “rotates in a perpendicular direction to the longitudinal direction of the terminal body.”  As you can see from the drawing, this could very well be a smartphone.

We’re happy to see that Dell is working on making laptops cooler, without increasing the bulk.  Patent application 11/933,671 is titled “Gas Assisted Thixotropic Molded Chassis For Cooling A Computer Chassis.”  We’ll try our best to describe this in plain English.  It looks like Dell’s patent application allows them to make the housing portion with a “reinforcing rib including a cylindrical cross-section.”  The rib section is a pathway for water cooling.  So it would appear that Dell is fabricating a housing and cooling passage together.  They form this “in a novel manner in that the gas assist molding process has not been used with the thixotropic molding process. This is because the thixotropic magnesium molding has less of an issue with cosmetic sink that plastic injection molding, which commonly is used with a gas assist.”  And the thixotropic magnesium is not chilled, thus can be expelled from the housing portion resulting in the formation of the elongated passageway.  Got that?

We’re suckers for sci-fi concepts, so when we see the word “holographic”, we’re immediately sold. And it’s usually even more newsworthy when the patent applicant is Microsoft. Unfortunatley, patent application 11/935,549 did disappoint a little. The patent application discloses a method and system for a virtual meeting, where holographic images are used. The novelty appears to be the ability to control whether a particular holographic image is privately viewable or publicly viewable. Here’s an example Sony provides:

“Based on the private setting, user A as a virtual image within the meeting space will not be viewable by user B. The user or invitee virtual image privacy or public setting can be useful in a situation in which a superior wants to monitor a meeting without changing or affecting meeting flow or user demeanor. Thus, user A, user B, user C, and speaker X can be monitored within the virtual meeting space by a boss in order to gain a real and uninfluenced insight on the virtual meeting and/or users invited thereto.”

Simply put, your virtual meeting may be monitored for quality purposes.

Sony apparently doesn’t think so. Rather than having just static images, Sony aims to bring “moving images” (i.e., video). It’s not clear exactly how they plan on presenting this data to end-users, but Sony’s patent application 11/935,098 reveals how they plan on capturing the “moving images” and associated meta-data. The idea of comparing an area throughout time (day vs. night, different seasons, different years, etc.) is discussed. The patent application states: “In this fashion, a user of the geographical map service may also see a video recording made on a certain location or a number of locations during different seasons.” Not sure how video is an advantage here though. The application goes on to state: “Moreover, if the recording is made from a vehicle in motion, the user of the service interested in getting driving instructions from the interactive map service may also get a much better idea about how to drive…” We’re not completely sold.  Good luck Sony.

Imagine a candy bar cellphone that you unfold to become a palmtop.  This idea, brought to you by Palm, Inc. (patent application 12/266,041) allows you to have a decent sized palmtop computer and cellular telephone in one device.  Palm states that by “utilizing flexible display technology, both a PDA and a cellular telephone are incorporated into one device.”  The key here is undoubtedly the flexible display technology. 

The parent patent application of this was filed way back in 2004.  So it seems Palm has been working on this concept for quite sometime now.  Anyone seen a prototype?  With the Palm Pre currently in the limelight, it may be a while before we see this product (if ever).