
Bank of America Patent Application #20140229239 – “Face Retirement Tool” - Magicstatic
https://www.google.com/patents/US20140229239
======
teraflop
"Computer program code/computer-readable instructions for carrying out
operations of embodiments of the present invention may be written in an object
oriented, scripted or unscripted programming language such as Java, Pearl,
Smalltalk, C++ or the like."

Searching for the phrase "java pearl smalltalk" reveals that BoA has been
copy-and-pasting the same text into a number of other patent applications
without proofreading it.

~~~
ndonnellan
"...unscripted programming language..."

Is that like impromptu programming?

~~~
logicallee
No, but you just assigned a name to a programming paradigm that has been on my
mind for ten years.

 _EDIT: since two of you asked. it 's not a big deal, just that you should be
able to use "it", "this" or "that" with your IDE and interactively
(unscripted, or impromptu) get it to name your long variables. Likewise for
what you mean by functions and so forth. Then you could say somethinhg like,
"Siri, double the value before you pass it to the function, then take what it
returns and if it is greater than zero...."

and it should be able to make some guesses as to which C++ block you meant.
(i.e. present you 4-8 variations or interactively ask you, "Did you mean if
the first value is greater than zero, or if the value the function returns is
greater than zero?" Then after all that your impromptu session is not saved,
only the one you ended up selecting is.

It's sort-of like Googling for code, but with the difference that the machine
makes all sorts of different guesses, and you just pick the one you mean.
(When you Google for code you're doing practically the same thing, entering a
tree where you descend first by which link you click in the search results,
and next by which answer you select on the page...)

I still think it must be faster than typing, but until there is an
unscripted/impromptu programming environment we'll just have to wait to
see...._

~~~
klipt
> "Siri, double the value before you pass it to the function, then take what
> it returns and if it is greater than zero...."

y = 2x; if (y>0)...

Seems way faster to type (or say), and much less ambiguous than using "it",
"this" or "that" ;-)

~~~
logicallee
_y equals sign 2x semicolon if open parentheses y greater than zero close
parantheses, open braces..._

of course it seems easier to _you_ , after you've taken the time to learn a
language and know the syntax by heart. Now do the same thing in a language and
framework whose features you want to use but which you haven't learned yet.

------
patio11
[http://faceretirement.merrilledge.com/](http://faceretirement.merrilledge.com/)
<\-- you can play with it here.

~~~
sergiotapia
Stuck for me on: "Photo aging in progress. Please stand by..."

~~~
tomtomau
Forever young

------
pwg
Title should be changed - this is not a patent, this is a published
application.

Note the second line of the table of data on the google page:

    
    
        "Publication type	Application"
    

It could, someday, after being examined, become a patent, but it is not yet a
patent.

------
aerovistae
I remember SEEING this in action on their site. It was VERY quickly taken
down. It was absolutely horrible-- a bit scary and felt like nothing more than
a gimmick, seemed really unprofessional. Something you would expect to see on
Newgrounds long before a world-class banking website.

------
kristopolous
The background on this:
[http://www.dangoldstein.com/papers/Hershfield_Goldstein_et_a...](http://www.dangoldstein.com/papers/Hershfield_Goldstein_et_al_Increasing_Saving_Behavior_Age_Progressed_Renderings_Future_Self.pdf)

~~~
mturmon
I am bemused. I viscerally don't like it, but I can't justify the magnitude of
my distaste. The paper quotes Proust with a straight face. But then there is
also the happy/sad slider of Figure 4. Major whiplash.

It's a combination of extreme, even admirable, erudition and a very hokey
experimental setup designed to quantify the obvious.

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asah
IANAL but this screams "business method" patent, i.e. unlikely to get issued:
[https://www.google.com/search?q="business+method"+patent](https://www.google.com/search?q="business+method"+patent)

aside: IMHO it's a great idea!!! hats off, BofA!

~~~
RedLeg
IAAL. Yep, it has been initially classified by the USPTO as belonging to class
705, which is for business methods.

------
dikaiosune
I guess John Wick owes some license fees.

Who comes up with these descriptions? I can't possibly imagine what "face
retirement" means, and even after reading the description it's not a _whole_
lot clearer.

~~~
anigbrowl
As in 'we help you face retirement,' I suppose. I on the other hand,
immediately thought of the _Blade Runner_ sense of the word. Probably a good
thing I don't have webcam installed and won't be gunning for my future self as
a result.

------
maxmcd
From purely a product standpoint, this seems like quite a depressing tool.

~~~
Idiocracy
I came back here to check on this comment (since it was an empty comment,
that's why I prompted you with "why")

And in doing so I saw the rather nice (entirely unlike the passive aggressive
nature of reddit) notice to read the approach to comments.

Two points I liked: Upvote what is substantial. Make substantial comments.
What would have been better is "consider using the word 'because' in your
comments", because people don't (see what I did there?)

But then I saw something I didn't like. The whole "what you would say face to
face". You know why? Some idiot tried to use what I suspect is this very
"rule" as a fallacy for a comment I made on reddit.

The people running this have some ideas, but they are half baked.

------
RedLeg
Title is misleading. It's not a patent, rather it's a published patent
application. But, yeah, it's dumb...

~~~
mkoryak
why is it dumb? There has been studies about how people make better decisions
about the future if they can see their future self, otherwise people treat
their future self as "some other dude/gal".

as if your future self is "another person" that can deal with whatever
happens, and its really not much of your concern.

~~~
RedLeg
I respect your opinion and don't question the alleged research. But, I
personally can't imagine being persuaded to invest in an IRA based on a
gimmicky face aging tool. See aerovistae's above comment on the real world
application.

------
sbanjo
Looks like it was launched a few years ago, according to this press release -
wonder how it is doing/how many images Bank of America has saved of people.
[http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/press-release/consumer-
ban...](http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/press-release/consumer-
banking/merrill-edge-launches-face-retirement)

------
eridal
This is already a free app on the Android store, I'll bet my wage that there
are tons in iOS ecosystem as well.

are they really filling patents based on the work of these free ad-supported
apps' developers?

Seems like thinking to create a troll patent is not even required!

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cheriot
The hard part of long term planing is making it immediate enough to act now...
and getting sued over a ridiculous patent seems like a resume builder.

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monochromatic
Not actually a patent (at least, not yet). This is a pre-grant publication of
a patent _application_.

------
thomasfoster96
So what's going to happen to the several dozen 'age my face' apps on the App
Store?

~~~
teraflop
Unless they also include "retirement tools", nothing.

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swasheck
was expecting a nick cage movie sequel ... all i got was this retirement
patent.

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andrewchambers
New Zealand has gotten rid of software patents, seems like a good idea.

~~~
arfar
It's not as clear cut as that. It's just down to the wording of your claims as
to whether your invention is software or not. The question that needs to be
asked is whether the claimed invention involves the production of some
commercially useful effect.

If so, then even if it's using software to achieve that, it will be
patentable.

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fu9ar
I hate this more than these words can convey.

