Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays

Oh Barry Fox, does a week ever go by when you don't find a great patent or two? Today the intrepid Mr. Fox manages to dig up an application by consumer-darling Apple for an LCD display embedded with thousands of microscopic image sensors that would allow users to video-conference while looking straight into the "camera." Data accumulated by the individual sensors would be stitched into actual images using special software, which will probably be bundled into future versions of iLife. Since the patent specifies almost as many sensors per screen as there are pixels, some of those sensors could have different focal lengths, with a defacto zoom lens created by switching between them. Apple goes on to suggest portable uses for the technology, such as employing the displays in cellphones and PDAs, so you can add another item to the list of features we'll be expecting from the iPhone and Newton 2.0 when they finally hit stores.

[Via New Scientist]

Filed under: Portable Audio

We thought the matter had been resolved earlier today when our President credited the government with developing the technology that led to the iPod-filled world we live in today, but now another claimant has come forward in an attempt to recoup his "rightful share" of a billion dollar DAP market he may have helped create. British inventor and furniture shop manager Kane Kramer is currently consulting lawyers to see what, in any, recourse he has to enforce patents he filed in 1981 for an iPod-like device but which he subsequently lost control of due to reported boardroom coup. The patents, which describe a  three-and-a-half-minute-capacity digital audio player with a screen and central navigation controls, eventually became part of the public domain after Kramer's company dissolved and he was unable to raise the money required for renewing them across 120 countries. Kramer, who is most definitely aware of the riches he lost out on, says that the runaway success of iPods specifically and DAPs in general surely makes him "the world's biggest failure."

Filed under: Home Entertainment

In a move that would surely delight advertisers but enrage consumers, Philips is trying to patent a method for flagging digital TV content to not only prevent viewers from changing the channel during commercials in live broadcasts, but to actually lock out fast-forwarding capabilities during ads in recorded programs as well. Even worse, the patent specifically applies to the already widely-deployed Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) middleware system standard, meaning that many Europeans' current TVs would be susceptible to these Orwellian controls. Since the US version of this platform, OCAP, is largely based on the MHP architecture, it's not a stretch to imagine such flagging being applied to American sets as well. Although we're certain that a workaround would be developed if Philips' evil plan ever actually materializes, just the thought of our DVRs going impotent is enough to fill us with fear and trepidation.

[Via New Scientist]

Filed under: Cellphones

hspace="4" border="1" align="right" alt="" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/goodfellow.jpg" />Back in the
early 80s a man by the name of Geoff Goodfellow had an idea: to relay electronic mail from Arpanet to his alphanumeric
pager. He published his concept on an Arpanet mailing list in 1982 (he called his piece "Electronic Mail for
People on the Move"), and went on to found RadioMail in the early 1990s — a wireless email service (surprise,
surprise). After working with such small clients and partners as Ericsson, Motorola, and RIM, Goodfellow left the biz
in 1996 and moved to Europe. But he was contacted in early 2002 by James H. Wallace Jr., a lawyer of patent-holding
firm NTP, who thoroughly researched Goodfellow’s contributions to
wireless communications as they were gearing up to take on Research In
Motion. In fact, Wallace once introduced Goodfellow thusly: "Geoff’s the inventor of wireless e-mail. My
client patented some of its implementation workings." The New York Times seems to think Goodfellow’s prior art
should have been disclosed during the RIM / NTP dispute, but wasn’t; that Goodfellow should have been available as a
fact witness, but wasn’t. So why has no one ever heard of the talented Mr. Goodfellow? Because NTP paid him close to
$20,000 for "consulting" in 2002, which included several sessions with NTP’s lawyers in noteless meetings, as
well as a contract and NDA that essentially barred him from discussing the case while it proceeded. You’ll have to read
the Times profile for the full story, but whether or not NTP acted ethically (or illegally), or preyed on Goodfellow’s
disdain for patents or his free-market attitude isn’t exactly making the bad taste in our mouths from href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/rim-ntp-settle-for-612-million-finally/">the settlement taste any better.

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Filed under: Messaging, RIM

Back in the early 80s a man by the name of Geoff Goodfellow had an idea: to relay electronic mail from Arpanet to his alphanumeric pager. He published his concept on an Arpanet mailing list in 1982 (he called his piece "Electronic Mail for People on the Move"), and went on to found RadioMail in the early 1990s -- a wireless email service (surprise, surprise). After working with such small clients and partners as Ericsson, Motorola, and RIM, Goodfellow left the biz in 1996 and moved to Europe. But he was contacted in early 2002 by James H. Wallace Jr., a lawyer of patent-holding firm NTP, who thoroughly researched Goodfellow's contributions to wireless communications as they were gearing up to take on Research In Motion. In fact, Wallace once introduced Goodfellow thusly: "Geoff's the inventor of wireless e-mail. My client patented some of its implementation workings." The New York Times seems to think Goodfellow's prior art should have been disclosed during the RIM / NTP dispute, but wasn't; that Goodfellow should have been available as a fact witness, but wasn't. So why has no one ever heard of the talented Mr. Goodfellow? Because NTP paid him close to $20,000 for "consulting" in 2002, which included several sessions with NTP's lawyers in noteless meetings, as well as a contract and NDA that essentially barred him from discussing the case while it proceeded. You'll have to read the Times profile for the full story, but whether or not NTP acted ethically (or illegally), or preyed on Goodfellow's disdain for patents or his free-market attitude isn't exactly making the bad taste in our mouths from the settlement taste any better.

Filed under: Handsets, Palm

align="right" src="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2006/04/palmtxbandw.jpg" alt="" />Could your next Treo sport
a black-and-white screen? Well, of course not all the time, but MobileRead has dug up a patent filed by the PDA and
smartphone manufacturer that would throttle a device’s screen down from Palm IIIc-style backlit color to Palm V-style
monochrome when battery power drops below a certain threshold. While the idea doesn’t seem all that innovative, Palm’s
"unique" take on this switcheroo would have the device prompt users to drop the color, and then automagically
reinstate it when some of that sweet, sweet juice was added. It’s great to see that Palm is trying to squeeze every last
drop out of their products — the screen switch could alleviate power consumption by as much as 75% — but we’d prefer
them to focus that zeal on other areas, like, say, allowing our Treos to actually make a phone call when the battery is
still 25% full.

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Filed under: Culture

As anyone who’s visited Seattle or Portland or portions of northwest Europe can tell you, all the clouds and gloom can get a little depressing. Those head doctors, they have a term for the effect a lack of sunshine has on your physiology: SAD, or seasonal affective disorder. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel for sufferers, however — one that doesn’t require light-box therapy (see: right) or moving to Bermuda. According to the mysteriously unavailable US patent application US 2006/0183516, it would appear someone intends to whip up a phone with 370-450nm LEDs on its face that would light up when the phone is active, providing its user with happy-making simulated light that would ease the symptoms of SADness. (Think of it as the anti-Sergeyphone.) Bonus: LEDs on the 370-450nm wavelength supposedly also supposedly reduce the effects of acne — a one-two knockout for teenagers living with SAD, zits, and growing up in particularly depressing regions of this island Earth.

[Via Textually]

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Filed under: Samsung, Misc

As if Samsung wasn’t already building a reputation for dubious, if not illicit activities in the market, they’re now about to undergo investigation by the US International Trade Commission at the behest of Ericsson, which claims that the US sale of at least some of their handsets is illegal based on a patent licensing deal that expired at the end of last year. It’s a little convoluted, but it seems that the outcome can have only a few results: Ericsson withdraws their claims (not likely), Samsung withdraws the offending devices from the US market (not likely), Ericsson’s patents are not found to be applicable in this instance (possible), or Samsung settles and pays royalties (the likeliest of scenarios). We’ll let you know how it turns out as Sam and Eric have at it.

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