
Jeff Bezos’ new patent envisions tablets without processors, batteries - sk2code
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/03/jeff-bezos-new-patent-envisions-tablets-without-processors-batteries/
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luu
Isn't it odd that this is patentable? One day, long before this patent
expires, all of the technology needed for this will be commonplace, and the
idea will be obvious to any four year old.

I've heard that the point of patents is to incent innovation, but it's hard to
see how that's happening here. It's not the case, as with pharmaceutical
research, that R&D resources had to be spent to generate the idea, demonstrate
its efficacy, and prove its safety. That will be needed for the technology
required to implement this, but, this patent actually reduces the incentive to
spend R&D resources on the technology necessary to implement it!

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Zimahl
It's very odd. At this point Bezos is patenting something that (probably)
doesn't exist in the hopes someone does build it or his team can build it.

It would be like someone realizing that we could send out electrical signals
from a transmitter and catch them on a receiver. What would the radio guys
have patented? They actually built a radio, the patent is for a broad idea.

If anyone brings this to fruition this should be invalidated. Someone must've
patented wireless electric transmission decades ago (maybe even Tesla?) and
having wifi for the content is even less special.

EDIT: typo.

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ChuckMcM
This is what annoyed me about this patent as well, its like saying "Dibs!" if
someone can build this thing, we own it! Seriously? I'd write more but I'm
busy writing up patents on Phase Conduits and Deflector arrays.

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arethuza
Actually, using patents in that way seems to have a long history - Feynman
mentions something about having his name on a patent for nuclear powered
aircraft in "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman".

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maximilianburke
At that time Feynman was filing patents on behalf of the government during
wartime when there were other concerns than wildly trying to grasp any
possible market. I would guess that the government was trying to ensure that
individuals and corporations would not be in a position to obtain a monopoly
on an invention that could gain the US a tactical/strategic advantage in the
war.

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georgemcbay
Ah, the good old days, when the government would simply abuse the existing
legal process to screw the little guy instead of just declaring a new process
by fiat ala NSL/executive order/etc when it suits them.

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bdfh42
To quote the post

"Transferring power and data wirelessly to displays as described in the patent
is currently infeasible"

So you can get a patent on something you actually have not invented? Just
something you would like to invent - or perhaps prefer that someone else
invents so you can then milk them for royalties.

The world has truly gone crazy.

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silverlight
I completely agree. We can argue all day long about whether or not things like
software patents are good. But I think the very minimum bar to file a patent
should be "we actually made a prototype of this that does what we're
claiming."

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Cakez0r
At the very least, it's perfectly reasonable to expect schematics for how a
prototype could be built.

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acgourley
It is supposed to be good enough that someone "skilled in the art" could build
it after reading the patent.

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chrischen
That probably means that the concepts you describe have to be common knowledge
to those skilled in the art... basically a commodity. But what is described in
this patent is unfeasible and whoever discovers the implementation could be
only one of few who could do it.

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chrischen
"Transferring power and data wirelessly to displays as described in the patent
is currently infeasible..."

So when someone does the actual work of figuring out the hard part of this
idea... they won't be able to use it because of this patent?

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SoftwareMaven
_Transferring power and data wirelessly to displays as described in the patent
is currently infeasible..._

No, our patent system isn't broken _at all_. Whereas the patent system was
made to ensure knowledge was transferred, now the people _getting_ the patents
don't even have to know how to build something.

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grabeh
Interesting that claim 1 appears to have been cancelled for some reason,
perhaps due to being insufficiently clear. That's generally the broadest claim
so clearly the USPTO saw fit to narrow the patent down to an extent, just not
as greatly as would seem appropriate, at least from the other comments on this
thread.

It's also a continuation and claims priority from two existing applications,
although unfortunately, documents are not available for those applications, at
least from the system I use which is generally fairly comprehensive[1]

[1][http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDo...](http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=US&NR=2013069865A1&KC=A1&FT=D&ND=6&date=20130321&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_EP)

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ianstallings
Good news everyone. I just patented a way to float to work on a cloud of
rainbows.

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res0nat0r
"The network is the computer." - John Gage of Sun Microsystems.

This looks like a newer version of a thin client. See the Sun Ray from '99:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Ray>

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nsns
Wireless terminals?

Logical conclusion: If you can patent a vision, without actually inventing it,
then anyone can manufacture it afterwards, provided he/she doesn't _envision_
it in the process.

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jpxxx
So by "without processors or batteries" we mean "with a processor and a
battery". Check.

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goldfeld
So is he getting a patent on paper? How novel.

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bsbechtel
I just skimmed the article, but regardless the validity of the patent, this is
where the tech world is going. When everything is connected to the cloud and
all communication is ultra-fast, all you need is a device that can accept user
input and output, and transfer it to a base station that processes the data.
All computational functions and display data will be stored and transferred
wirelessly.

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cube13
So we've gone full circle to mainframe computing.

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atirip
I should be patenting living to 130 years old. All the 129 years old in the
future would pay to my grandson through their wrinkled noses.

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nmcfarl
To heck with that, Wikipedia says the verified oldest person is alive and 115.
I say you patent living to 116, and start collecting checks next year if old
Jiroemon Kimura, is that lucky / unlucky.

* or you could skip verified and go with 123, but why wait?

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efnx
This seems like a repetition of the many terminals to one mainframe pattern.
That said, companies like eink and pervasivedisplays already have 'epaper
kiosks' that mimic this pattern with a transmitter acting as a middle man
between your computer (or whatever generates the image) and the screen.

[edited for clarity]

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gfunk911
Obviously the patent is stupid.

But the idea is great, I've had this repeatedly. I carry around at minimum 2
devices that are mostly redundant. It's wasteful.

I'd like one "base device" (today it would probably be a higher-powered
version of your phone) and several satellite devices.

A big screen that my phone snaps into or talks with is #1 on my list

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Falling3
Like the PadFone?

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toddmorey
Does anyone else remember the Smart Displays that Microsoft tried to
popularize around the time of the TabletPCs? They didn't have wireless power,
but that certainly wasn't because no one has ever entertained the idea. They
did rely on the processing power of a PC, though.

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SeanDav
Congratulations to Amazon for inventing the dumb terminal. Clearly this is an
original idea. /sarcasm

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ebbv
Not only is this not possible right now it's also a dumb idea.

So now instead of having one device that's easily portable to anywhere you
want to go, you have the device plus a base station that you have to carry
around. Oh boy! What an improvement!

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dhimes
My guess is that the base station will power many devices and be located such
as routers are now. So, for instance, an office may have a base station that
powers its employees' devices as they wander from room to room.

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ebbv
What about using it in the car? What about using it in a restaurant? A hotel
room?

Are you really telling me that the Amazon base stations are going to be
ubiquitous?

It's a bad design.

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dhimes
Just because it doesn't work in a car doesn't make it a bad design. Television
doesn't work in most cars, but people still buy them.

Something doesn't have to solve every use case to be useful.

FWIW, I tend to agree with you. I think the better problem to solve would be
to have electrical energy generative/storage devices. But I've been wrong
about these things in the past so I try to second-guess myself.

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ebbv
Except this is meant to supplant a design that DOES work in the car, that's
why it's stupid.

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meepmorp
Badly phrased headline - there is no patent, yet.

This is just an application. One which, with enough public input and
complaining, will hopefully never be granted.

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chenster
Seriously? How could he file patent for technologies don't even exist? That's
like trying to patent things appeared in a sci-fi movie.

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negativity
So, kind of like TV, minus the plugs or batteries.

(...and maybe VCRs that prevent you from dubbing VHS to VHS)

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Payrovk
This sounds like Doctor Who's psychic paper.

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tokipin
pretty sure this has prior art in Avatar

