Filed under: Wireless, Networking

The same folks who brought us fire-proof plastic, air guitar clothing, and wireless air hockey apparently delivered a lot more of the WiFi technology we all utilize daily than was previously recognized. Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization has won a landmark case against Buffalo Technology, “under which it could receive royalties from every producer of WLAN products worldwide.” US patent 5487069 — which “encompasses elements of the 802.11a/g wireless technology that is now an industry standard” — was granted to the body back in 1996, and has subsequently been utilized in seemingly every piece of wireless kit ever since. Considering their recent victory, CSIRO’s pending cases against Intel, Dell, Microsoft, HP, and Netgear definitely have roots now, and if judges continue to rule in the Aussies’ favor, the big boys could be shelling out “hundreds of millions of dollars” in back pay to cover their wrongs. Ruh roh.

[Thanks, Phil]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Remember that Apple patent that we eyed back in early September? You know, the one that patented the merging of various electronic devices into a single gadget? Well, it’s back and better than ever before — it’s an update to U.S. patent application Serial No. 11/367,749, and is entitled “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device.” So how’s this patent different from the last time? It’s not, really, but it provides a fair bit more detail written in that cryptic legalistic prose that we’ve come to know and love; it describes and displays the new interface, which may include various triggers along the edge of the bezel: “By way of example, the visual guides 180 in FIG. 4 include ‘Menu,’ ‘Power,’ ‘Left,’ ‘Select,’ ‘Right,’ etc. It will be appreciated that the visual guides 180 and their arrangement depicted in FIG. 4 are only exemplary. More or fewer visual guides 180 may be provided, and the size of the visual guides 180 can be larger or smaller than the scale depicted in FIG. 4.” Further, there’s a new portrait and landscape option described, handy for viewing photos or watching episodes of “Lost” while on the bus. But even the music-playing core of the iPod will get a makeover, coming in with an on-screen time slider, volume control, and other options that seem to be user-defined and customizable. We’ve still got questions as we did last time concerning prior art, but perhaps these newer details fill in the gaps. All in all, it would appear that the true video iPod (with possible cell phone or GPS add-ons) is still on the drawing board at this point, and it remains to be seen how these illustrations translate into reality. We’ve got some more patent diagrams of that portrait/landscape view and of the new “now playing” interface on the flip side, hot off the patent filing presses.

[Via MacNN]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Networking

If you haven’t heard of a Triple Play yet — you know, where some service provider tries to shove TV, internet and phone service onto one pretty little contract for supposed cost savings and convenience to you — then we applaud you for your apparent skill at avoiding the incessant advertising of such services from the major media companies. Unfortunately, it seems the US Patent Office possesses just such a skill, since they’ve granted a patent to Cisco Technology for the concept of “providing integrated voice, video, and data content in an integrated service.” Now, Cisco did apply for this patent way back in 2000, before the idea had quite gotten so pervasive, but we’re still a bit miffed that something this common-sensical can be patented at all. No word yet on what Cisco plans to do with the patent, but there are a whole lot of “infringing” services out there that they could potentially go after if the mood strikes. Luckily, Cisco has some pretty neat ideas of their own for a Triple Play network offering listed in the patent, so we’ll remain cautiously optimistic — safe underground, of course, in our tin-foil shielded bunker.

[Via Slashdot]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Way back in April a jury agreed with TiVo that EchoStar willfully infringed upon TiVo’s patent for a “multimedia time-warping system.” Then crickets for the last 4 months as the two battled it out in both the court of public opinion and at a bench trial where TiVo requested a permanent injunction against the provider of the DISH Network. Well, the ruling is in and EchoStar must pay TiVo an initial award of about $90 million and must disable all infringing DVR functionality within, oh, 30 days — we’re talking switching off the DVR functionality of four million users. Ouch! Oh, and EchoStar can’t sell new boxes, either. Is it just us or does little TiVo seem to be extra smiley this morning?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in, via Zatz Not Funny]

Update: EchoStar is definitely going to attempt to stay the injunction (they’d be fools not to) — more on that as it develops!

Read – Reuters coverage
Read – EchoStar’s response

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Nokia, GSM, CDMA, Misc

Apparently, Qualcomm was serious when they asked Nokia to halt sales of GSM phones in the US a few weeks ago, triumphantly announcing that the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has now gotten in on the action. The ITC is looking into whether Nokia is in violation of the six patents Qualcomm claims them to be, presumably some of the same CDMA-related patents that have come up several times before – patents that Nokia licenses for its CDMA handsets, but GSM and UMTS devices (which apparently tread on the same patent work) are not covered by the agreement. With Nokia potentially phasing out its CDMA business citing (in part) unfair licensing terms with Qualcomm, they don’t exactly have the option of going the same route on the GSM front, so this battle looks set to play out to the bitter end. Meanwhile, we’re going to start hoarding N93s in case things go south in a hurry.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Networking

Move over Verizon, ’cause Klausner Technologies wants a crack at the telecommunication whipping boy du jour, Vonage. In yet another claim of patent infringement, Klausner, a patent holding company with 25 VoIP voicemail patents to its name, is seeking $180 million in damages and royalties to compensate the suffering endured by their private investors. This, after failing to convince Vonage to sign a licensing deal back in January like they did with Time Warner in April for the technology behind AOL Voicemail. And just in case you’re taking odds on who’ll sue whom next, Vonage just announced that it had acquired three unrelated VoIP patents for the compression of packetized digital signals allowing them to go after, and collect licensing fees from competitors like Motorola, Time Warner, Qwest, Sprint, and you guessed it, Verizon. Oh what a tangled web we weave.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Sony Ericsson, Misc

Instead of having two separate screens on a flip phone—one larger inside and one smaller outside—this patent allows one larger screen to rotate to be displayed both on the inside and outside. This means possibly having the screen auto swivel so you can see the same UI when the phone is closed as you do when it’s open. It may allow you to dial just from the contact list when the phone’s closed, instead of having to flip open the phone to make a call.

The upside is that you can keep your phone closed more often, but it exposes the screen to the elements. Sony Ericsson is also shooting at a broad target with this patent:

“The mobile terminal of the present invention is not so limited and may find utility in other electronics devices and applications…a Personal Communications System (PCS) terminal that may combine a cellular telephone with data processing, facsimile and data communications capabilities; internet/intranet access devices; organizers; a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) that can include a radiotelephone, pager, internet/intranet access, Web browser, organizer, calendar and/or a global positioning system (GPS) receiver; wristwatch keypad devices; and a conventional laptop and/or palmtop receiver or other computer system that includes a display.

It’ll be interesting to see what develops. – Jason Chen

Patent Application [USPTO via Mobile Scraper via Mobile Mentalism]

Filed under: Multimedia, RIM

After reading United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0146140, re-reading it, and reading it yet again, we’re still having trouble busting through the patent-speak to make heads or tails of what exactly RIM is trying to get at in the 2004 filing. To quote, the patent covers a digital camera and “and a wireless control apparatus. The digital camera wirelessly transmits the digital signal to the wireless control apparatus. The wireless control apparatus includes a display device, such as an LCD, for displaying a displayed image based on the digital signal.” The best we can figure is that RIM is looking to use a BlackBerry to control a digital camera, or possibly to use another device to control the camera within a future RIM device. Either way, we’re a little confused about the value of the feature (self portraits, maybe?), but it does jive with what RIM’s been saying lately, and as they say in the patent world — file now, ask questions later.

[Via BBHub]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Nokia, Misc

Here’s a patent filing from the creative minds at Nokia that’ll appeal to both the security industry and the paranoid among us. Apparently, with a little elbow grease, bubble gum, and duct tape, engineers have been able to take your standard induction coil used for hearing aid compatibility and give it the functionality of a close-range metal detector. At least, that was the intent of Nokia’s patent filing back in 2004. Of course, we’ve seen enough phone patents come and go to know that the odds we’ll see this in a shipping product any time soon are low, so in the meantime, keep your distance from knife-wielding baddies, m’kay?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Gaming

Filed under: Portable Audio

In a move that comes as a complete surprise considering the history between their two companies, Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo has reportedly telephoned Apple CEO Steve Jobs to officially withdraw his firm’s pending lawsuits and congratulate Mr. Jobs on the iPod’s overwhelming victory in the marketplace. Yeah right, like that really happened; actually, the bad blood between the world’s number one and two DAP manufacturers continues to flow unabated, with Wednesday seeing Creative move one step closer to the permanent cease and desist order it’s seeking against the iPod, thanks to a probe intiated by the US International Trade Commssion. The ITC agreed to look into’s Creative’s complaint that several iPod models violate its Zen patents, which was the impetus for Apple filing two countersuits of its own. A ruling on the complaint is not anticipated for at least twelve months, during which time we can expect Apple to sell a lot more digital audio players than Creative, who will probably have to shift even more of its R&D budget to the overworked legal department.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Nokia, GSM, Misc

Prior to the BlackBerry / NTP proceedings, we wouldn’t have taken these sensational lawsuits very seriously, but it looks like Qualcomm has every intention of getting Nokia to take notice in their ongoing patent dispute. We recently reported that Qualcomm had asked for a halt to sales of Nokia’s GSM models in Great Britain; now they’re doing the same in the US, filing a lawsuit with the US International Trade Commission to that effect. The suit covers six CDMA patents in total that affect GSM, GPRS, and EDGE; we’re guessing that number includes the two patents named in the UK lawsuit, which Nokia claims are covered under a licensing agreement currently in effect between the companies. Meanwhile, a veritable who’s-who of the wireless world — Nokia, Ericsson, TI and others — are ganging up on Qualcomm in Europe, alleging unfair licensing practices on its WCDMA property. Normally we’d expect a quagmire like this to be tied up in the world’s legal systems for years, but the pressure might be on to resolve this one with all haste as Nokia’s licensing agreement with Qualcomm expires early next year anyway.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Portable Audio

It seems that Apple may have plans for incorporating the iPod into your workout other than just the integration with Nike sneakers, as a newly released patent shows that the company has invented a method of adjusting the pace and style of music playback while you exercise. Incorporated into a model called the iPod Sport, perhaps, this technology would use an accelerometer to gauge the pace of a person's workout, and encourage them to "take it to the max" by either increasing the tempo of a particular song (though hopefully not to the point where all your tunes sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks) or automatically changing to a faster-paced track. This is all well and good, but how about throwing in some Bluetooth while you're at it, cause the wire dangling from that runner's head in the illustration has got to go.

[Via Unwired View]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It doesn’t take the intellect of a US Senator to notice that there’s something wrong with our patent system, but it looks like those Senators might finally do something about it. Nothing has even made it out of committee yet, so the actual passage of a patent reform bill still seems quite far off, but there is definite talk going on in Washington as to what patent reform would look like, and there seems to be enough common ground for some good to come of it. The leaders of an intellectual property panel within the Senate’s Judiciary Committee had a hearing Tuesday to discuss ideas for new patent legislation, and it was well attended by panelists from tech, pharmaceutical, biotech, independent inventors, academics, and finance. There was plenty to say, and it seems most agree that there needs to be a new system to allow challenges to patents shortly after they’re approved in order to avoid costly litigation later on. Tech and financial service companies are also pulling for a second “window” to allow them to dispute patents once a patent infringement suit is filed, something that would’ve probably aided RIM in their recent fight. Not everyone else is so hot about this idea, so we’ll see if this makes it into the final legislation, but it seems any action towards reform would be helpful at this point, so we’ll take what we can get.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung

Just when you thought that cellphone form factors had been pushed to the very limit of reality and pocket bulge, Samsung pushes it a little bit further. They’ve just been rewarded a patent for a “sliding-clamshell” design, claiming to beat the respective limits of clamshells (small screens), and sliders (size and screen damage). To us it looks like they’ve managed to adopt all the bulk of a slider and then wrapped a chunky clamshell around it, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. When open the device can serve as a gaming device or just a big ass handset, and when closed the corrugated hing wraps around the bulky screen to keep it safe and warm. With as much crap as we give this thing, we’d still love to see it in action, but we’re not quite ready to buy a man purse or two just to carry it around.

[Thanks, Allen]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Portable Audio

Oh, this is going to get good. Turns out Apple sued Creative for patent infringement the very same day that Creative filed suit against Apple. We're guessing Apple had a suit waiting in the wings just in case Creative tried to pull something, because a Creative spokesman said that "Creative proactively held discussions with Apple in our efforts to explore amicable solutions," and that "at no time during these discussions or at any other time did Apple mention to us the patents it raised in its lawsuit." There's no word as to what the patents refer to, but it sounds like they cover stuff outside of the "Zen Patent" realm if Creative didn't know about them. This surprise attack is at least a minor win for Apple legal, but we're sure Creative's team won't go down without a fight, so grab the popcorn and prepare to enjoy the beauty of modern day patent law.

[Via iLounge]

• Motorola Q to launch exclusively with Verizon Wireless
• Nokia's E50 business class quad-band cellphone
• Sony Ericsson's W850 Walkman tri-band GSM/UMTS slider
• M2Z Networks pitches free national wireless broadband to FCC
• Sony Ericsson's W710 Walkman quad-band GSM/EDGE clam for sportos
• Sony Ericsson's Z710 and Z550
• Samsung plans fuel-cell-powered cellphones
• Vodafone Japan to become Softbank Mobile
• LocaModa's cellphone-controlled mannequin
• Muze and MobileVideoNet launch Bluetooth broadcasting system
• NYC police warn of cellphone guns

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We can call it the real-time audio obscenity mask, or we can call it the autobleep, the cursekiller, whatever. The point is Microsoft's patented a unique system for bleeping out (actually just munging or silencing) combinations of phonemes it identifies as obscenities in audio streams without making use of time shifting, or otherwise requiring manual human intervention to make sure the FCC doesn't stick  them with some harsh fines. Would this theoretical system be able tell the difference between the real f-bomb and funk, or even homonym swears like those synonyms for a donkey and female dog? You know the ones. Tell you what, let's put it to work on a satellite radio hip-hop station or an old George Carlin record and see how we do.

[Via Ars Technica]

Filed under: Culture, Motorola

We've seen a slew of cellphones designed for use by senior citizens, but they always tend to be big, bulky, and/or rather unstylish -- what if Grandpa is a little hard of hearing, but still wants to impress the hunnies on the shuffleboard court with his handset? Well Motorola may have a solution for the fashion-conscious senior by way of a patent application it just filed, which envisions an audio processor for regular cellphones that boosts the volume if being used by a member of the AARP crowd. Even better, the phone would be able to automatically detect when it was being used by an elderly individual, thanks to speech recognition software that analyzes the tone and pace of the speaker's voice. We used to laugh at the Boost Mobile commercials featuring those hip senior posses, but if this Moto patent is any indication, a world of RAZR- and SLVR-sporting old folks may be right around the corner.

[Via Mobiledia]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

href="http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/apple_files_patent_for_wireless_ipod_with_ringtones_micro_browser"> vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="right" alt="" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/05/Apple-patent-phone.jpg"
/>Time for another peek into the Apple patent
catalog for some gool ol’ speculation into that mysterious product pipeline which Steve Jobs called the “ href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/27/apple-has-media-center-contender-in-the-works/">best I’ve ever seen in my
life.” This time, a patent titled “reservation of digital media items” filed waaay back in December
2004 (but only published this week on the USPTO website) has broken free. Like the filing for the href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/04/apple-patents-audio-user-interface/">audio interface seen yesterday, this
patent again describes a system relying on the relative computing strength and fast network access of a PC / Mac
working together with a second, portable wireless device. This time however, the “portable wireless device”
is used to browse and then tag an item of interest from an “online media store” with the PC / Mac then being
used to purchase or preview the tagged item at a later time. The patent specifically references eBooks and ring tones
as some of the items of interest for download by a cellphone or wireless PDA. Now, If you’re a believer then this is
just further confirmation of that oft rumored and href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/22/benq-confirms-iphone/">all but href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/19/morgan-stanley-analysts-claim-apple-is-at-work-on-iphone/">confirmed href="http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/30/did-zander-just-confirm-the-apple-iphone/">iPhone. Or perhaps it’s just
insight into an extension of that crippled Moto
partnership. We don’t know. However, these filings do give some insight into Apple’s views on the continued importance
of synchronization between future portable devices and the PC/Mac digital hub.

[Via href="http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-6068654.html?part=rss&tag=6068654&subj=news">c|net News]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

href="http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=Apple.AS.&OS=AN/Apple&RS=AN/Apple"> align="right" src="http://www.weblogsinc.com/common/images/6561346367956546.JPG?0.2684996035331422" alt="" />Another
day, another Apple patent filing. This time, Apple
calls dibs on an “audio user interface for computing devices.” Nothing new right? Afterall, we’ve had audio
assisted navigation for years. The system described however, uses the relative power of a host system to auto-generate
audio tags from text strings which can then be played by a hand-held device such as an “MP3 player, mobile phone,
or PDA.” Still not following? Ok, imagine a system whereby your PC or Mac automatically converts the metadata
stored on your iTunes Music Store purchases — you know, song or video title, artist, album, episode, etc — into audio
tags which are then synch’d to your video iPod, href="http://www.engadget.com/search/?q=iphone">iPhone, or href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/29/apple-virtual-keyboard-patent-quite-resembles-a-umpc/">Apple handheld via
iTunes thereby allowing you to find and play your favorite song, playlist, whutevah without ever looking at the device
and straining your eyes. And
since this could likely be a software only enhancement to existing Apple ‘ware, implementing it could be just be a
free, point-release upgrade away… hear that display-less href="http://www.engadget.com/2005/01/11/the-apple-ipod-shuffle/">Shuffle owners?

[Via href="http://www.unwiredview.com/2006/05/04/apples-ipod-audio-interface/">Unwired View, Thanks Staska]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Software, RIM

You know, it has been a bit RIM-patent-fiasco-free around these parts lately. But no worries, since Visto has decided to whip up a bit (more) patent trouble of their own. Fresh off a victory over Seven Networks regarding the same four patents that they claim RIM is infringing, and already mired in legal fights with RIM competitor Good Technology and Microsoft, Visto is looking for more, and they think they can get a payout from RIM. Visto wasn't clear as to what RIM technology is infringing on their patents, but they do mention "Visto's intellectual property serves as the basis for this industry's birth." Quite the strong words when going up against RIM, who had a slight influence on the birth of the wireless email industry if our memory serves us right. RIM believes that the Visto patents are invalid, and that Visto's victory over Seven Networks was in regards to a different type of technology than RIM's. Their patents are also dated before Visto's, but there's really no telling where this could go after the fiasco the NTP case turned out to be. We'll keep you posted.

Filed under: Cellphones

You know, it has been a bit RIM-patent-fiasco-free around these parts lately. But no worries, since Visto has decided to whip up a bit (more) patent trouble of their own. Fresh off a victory over Seven Networks regarding the same four patents that they claim RIM is infringing, and already mired in legal fights with RIM competitor Good Technology and Microsoft, Visto is looking for more, and they think they can get a payout from RIM. Visto wasn't clear as to what RIM technology is infringing on their patents, but they do mention "Visto's intellectual property serves as the basis for this industry's birth." Quite the strong words when going up against RIM, who had a slight influence on the birth of the wireless email industry if our memory serves us right. RIM believes that the Visto patents are invalid, and that Visto's victory over Seven Networks was in regards to a different type of technology than RIM's. Their patents are also dated before Visto's, but there's really no telling where this could go after the fiasco the NTP case turned out to be. We'll keep you posted.

Filed under: Culture, Motorola

Motorola knows what a pain it can be to hire a consultant every time you need to get your Feng Shui-on at a new location, so they're trying to patent a method for measuring chi levels right from your cellphone. In order to provide the user with the greatest amount of must-have qi, phones equipped with this tech would use nearly every available sensor -- and one dedicated one -- to develop an accurate overview of the environment: the camera is used for evalulating color saturation and spacial relationships, the GPS reciever for determining proximity to "undesirable" sites, the microphone for gauging ambient noise levels, and even the radio for measuring AM/FM transmission strength from the nearest towers. Since no Feng Shui reading would be possible without knowing which direction the main wall of the building faces, the Moto patent also calls for the inclusion of a "three-dimensional Hall-effect sensor" that would measure the strength of electromagnetic fields to deliver digital compass readings. While this all seems a bit complicated, software would take care of most of the hard work, essentially allowing the user to snap a few photos and sit back as the phone's sophisticated chi engine leads him/her to a harmonious balance.

[Via Unwired View]

Filed under: Handsets, RIM

It's not exactly the sexiest patent application we've seen, and its October 4th 2004 filing date doesn't sound very promising, but RIM has recently has had a patent published by the USPTO in reference to an automatic call volume adjustment feature. Groundbreaking, we know, but the tech is supposed to -- you guessed it -- adjust call volume automatically based on the level of noise in your environment. As simple as it sounds, we sure wouldn't mind this functionality in a handset, Blackberry or not, but we can't imagine this feature headlining any marketing material, so we'll be lucky to know when we do have it. Other than the fact, of course, that we might actually be able to hear who we're talking to.