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Inventor(s)
Robert J. Hall

Assignee
AT&T Corp

Application
No. 208446 filed on 1998-12-10
US Patent Issued on February 15, 2000

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6026396-descript ion.html

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

"In accordance with the principles of the present invention, an automatic moderator for electronic mail help lists is provided which builds and supervises a knowledge base of queries and responses. The automatic moderator is a list agent computer program (hereinafter, simply "list agent") which provides information for a list of people interested in a certain subject matter."

"To avoid loss of effectiveness of such help lists, it would be desirable to build a knowledge database of queries and responses and provide an automatic moderator to formulate responses to queries from, for example, new users. In this manner, old list members would not have to answer repetitive questions and would be encouraged to stay subscribed to the help list.

An early system for providing automated question answering was Eliza, described in Communications of the ACM, 9, 1966, at pages 36-45 by J. Weizenbaum, in his article "ELIZA-A Computer Program for the Study of Natural Language Communication Between Man and Machine." It is believed that Weizenbaum and others pioneered a shallow natural language understanding based on pattern matching against a user's input and then generating responses based on pattern-action rules. It successfully fooled some people into thinking a human was answering their questions."

Festo does good work. They're an industrial automation company, and they do demos like this for promotional purposes. Check out their videos on YouTube.

The innovation here is not "fluidic muscles". It's their piezoelectric proportional valves. It's been possible for years to do precision control of pneumatics. Twenty years ago, "Pneumatic Valves, Inc." in Palo Alto was doing control like that. But older proportional valves were big and expensive, with a voice coil actuator on the end of a spool valve. Festo has miniaturized the technology with their piezoelectric valves.

Pneumatic systems have traditionally been either force actuators or devices driven to a limit stop. Fine position control was the domain of hydraulics. This is changing. For pneumatic systems, if the valves can be brought close to the actuator, the valves are fast, position sensors are used, and the control system is well designed, the system becomes quite controllable. That's what Festo is demonstrating here.

You can also do some things with pneumatics you can't do well with electrical drive, such as create springs with variable spring constants. Muscles can be usefully modeled as spring-damper systems, where the spring constant, zero point, and damping constant are all controllable. This can be emulated with electrical actuators, but emulating a spring in software requires high-powered actuators and loses energy. Legged running work needs something like a variable spring, and pneumatics are currently the closest thing to muscles available.

A die in the context of integrated circuits is a small block of semiconducting material, on which a given functional circuit is fabricated. Typically, integrated circuits are produced in large batches on a single wafer of electronic-grade silicon (EGS) through processes such as lithography. The wafer is cut into many pieces, each containing one copy of the ciruit. Each of these pieces is called a die.

There are three commonly used plural forms: dice, dies, and die.

A die in the context of integrated circuits is a small block of semiconducting material, on which a given functional circuit is fabricated. Typically, integrated circuits are produced in large batches on a single wafer of electronic-grade silicon (EGS) through processes such as lithography. The wafer is cut into many pieces, each containing one copy of the ciruit. Each of these pieces is called a die.

There are three commonly used plural forms: dice, dies, and die.

OK, First off the whole idea of using a hydraulic motor in a car is not new. http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6098738-descript ion.html

Second, they don't make a claim that its "Perpetual motion", just that it doesn't have a gasoline engine.

What they are talking about is a battery powered electric motor driving a hydraulic pump which then drives the transmission and wheels. A variation of this was patented in 2000 (see link), but the basic concept has been around for much longer.

It works better when the hydraulic motor is bolted directly to the differential and there is a pressure tank in the system to recover energy when braking. The advantage of this kind of set up is the electric or combustion motor runs at a constant RMP/load setting, which is when they are most efficient. The combustion motor can also be a multi-fuel(gasoline, LPG, NG, ethanol, etc.) or diesel.

The guys in the articles or the writer just didn't mention that the batteries will need to be recharged eventually

Since the Bios only knows how to read the first sector, it has no problem with moving from MBR to GPT. GPT disks can have a protective MBR that allows them to boot with a Bios.

Of course, that means that all x86 OSs would need to support GPT, and Windows doesn't.

But it can be done.

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6978363-claims.h tml

I think you can do it in an easier way than this patent incidentally.

If you wanted, you could roll out Windows Vista++ with support for GPT and all the other OSs would probably get dragged along.

Why would someone file a patent for calibrating and improving the accuracy of barometric altimeters with GPS-derived altitudes then?

Try nearly 24,000 http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/search-results.h tml?search=microsoft&imageField2.x=0&imageField2.y =0.

Even in the 70 patents on the first page of that listing, it's easy to find patents Linux might infringe upon. Check this one out;

If anyone had any doubt about Microsoft deliberately obtaining patents in order to harass competitors, garbage like this should dispel them. You don't spend $5,000 to get a patent like that in order to defend yourself. Its only value is as a FUD tool.

then the creators went and filed this patent: http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7103914.html.

Am I wrong in thinking this is another overly broad patent good only to intimidate others who want to innovate in the realm of secure computing with Linux interop?

Regards.

It's an excellent idea in some ways. Not too hard to find Microsoft's patents:

The problem is that with these agreements Microsoft is creating an interlocking mesh of agreements intended to prevent newcomers entering the market and to stifle small players. For a patent-invalidating wiki to succeed, you'd also need to go after Microsoft's partners - Novell, Xandros, LG, etc etc

It might be worth doing anyway just to show how ridiculous most of these patents are, but I suspect it'll be too late to save FOSS as we know it.

No, those are not the problems you're looking for.

There are roughly 1,400 (Patent Storm Search) Microsoft patents covering OS kernels. Microsoft says Linux is infringing 45 of them. A quick look through those patents will bring up gems like Patent 6711625, found on the first page of results;

"The method of the invention enables a procedure to handle a large data file, wherein the procedure has a fixed, limited allocation of memory that is less than the size of the data file. The method segments the large data file into one or more subfiles, wherein each subfile is of a datasize that does not exceed the limited allocation. Thereafter, the method sequentially activates the procedure to operate upon each subfile, until all subfiles have been processed.

No, those are not the problems you're looking for.

There are roughly 1,400 (Patent Storm Search) Microsoft patents covering OS kernels. Microsoft says Linux is infringing 45 of them. A quick look through those patents will bring up gems like Patent 6711625, found on the first page of results;

"The method of the invention enables a procedure to handle a large data file, wherein the procedure has a fixed, limited allocation of memory that is less than the size of the data file. The method segments the large data file into one or more subfiles, wherein each subfile is of a datasize that does not exceed the limited allocation. Thereafter, the method sequentially activates the procedure to operate upon each subfile, until all subfiles have been processed.

Perhaps the most interesting and disturbing development in surveillance is gait detection systems. While a disguise will prevent facial recognition from working, and not saying anything will prevent lip reading from doing its job, there are systems being tested and deployed that can identify an individual by the way they walk (their gait). There are so many ways to positively identify people that implantable chips won't be necessary before long.

huh.. my link disappeared...? and i cannot edit the comments i "own" :-1

no i have to reply to myself...
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7095411-claims.h tml

Doesnt stop the patent office granting them :) http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7028023.html Linked lists have been around for decades and now its only patented in 2006. I suggest everybody flood the patent office with prior art patents, You will be supprised how many get granted, then you have right to claim money and while you hold that money (dont spend it), earn interest on it then when the patent is revoked, you simply pay the money back :) But youve made moeny. Everybody should flood the system until breaking point by doing it. They are, so why dont you do it too. In effect, slashdot it.

Here

Why can't these computer people stop infringing on our patents? http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5905990.html >"A computer file system, particularly adapted to UNIX operating systems, for transparently allowing access to and modification of >snapshot objects, i.e., files, directories, and symbolic links. The file system creates a mountpoint directory and dynamically >searches the computer system to find a requested file object, manifesting a representation of the requested file object in the >mountpoint directory if it is found. If an earlier representation of the requested file object already exists (in the mountpoint >directory), then any further requests for the file object are directed to the earlier representation. Searching can be performed >along a viewpath having two or more independent search paths, including those based on an object name, or based on an object name >extension. The binding file translation is done entirely within the kernel to speed up processing, as well as minimize the overhead >required to establish mountpoints across different machines. "

With 2 beacons with angle (and depth) information it could determine its position without knowing the speed of sound in water (time * speed = distance), since the distance between the two beacons is known.

If additional beacons with known positions where placed then with 3 beacons the sub could also triangulate its position without angle information and without sending a ping.

Systems like this already exist:
http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/184601.html

Using a GPS underwater exists too:
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6807127.html
http://www.longbeachdive.com/und-water-gps-product s.htm

Add a modem
Sonar communication (sonar modems):
http://www.benthos.com/acoustic-telesonar-modems-u ndersea-sub-sea.asp

And a directional receiver (antenna)... to determine angle...
(just needs two fast enough receivers + processing a known distance apart
(think ears). probably also not new technology .

Essentially its a slight variation on sonar triangulation
It goes back to basic trig...

This isn't that new and it sounds more like patent trolling to me...

But that's just based on a few minutes of googling and some back of the envelope trig,
not the opinion of a qualified expert... and I might be wrong...

Amusingly, the website referenced by the original article could be prior art. Scroll down to the bottom and note the links for "Browse by Inventor" and "Browse by Date". Looks like a "computerized list that may be traversed in at least two sequences" to me.

This very same examiner (John Breene) has also granted patents #6944634 (file caching) and #6745181 (query based search).

This very same examiner (John Breene) has also granted patents #6944634 (file caching) and #6745181 (query based search).

This very same examiner (John Breene) has also granted patents #6944634 (file caching) and #6745181 (query based search).

The only "questionable" part is this mystery semiconductor that conducts electrons a lot better than it conducts heat.

Their patent on the solid state energy converter mentions that they have been experimenting with indium antimonide (InSb).
They also hold a patent for a way to make N-type semiconducting diamond, which may hint to where they're heading with this (or not.)

The only "questionable" part is this mystery semiconductor that conducts electrons a lot better than it conducts heat.

Their patent on the solid state energy converter mentions that they have been experimenting with indium antimonide (InSb).
They also hold a patent for a way to make N-type semiconducting diamond, which may hint to where they're heading with this (or not.)

New cat toy! I can't wait to give this to my cat. Not so fast...

In the 90s I saw a demo of a single-pane eyeglass-free steroscopic display, made by Dimension Technologies in Rochester NY. Here's one of their patents: http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6040807.html

At the time, CRTs with LCD shutter glasses were cheaper, and better for screen size and resolution. But the eyeglass-free feature was remarkable.

I see the company is still around and still markets 2D/3D displays. http://www.dti3d.com/content/view/22/89/

Thank you very much, but it wasn't my intention to troll specifically on the oil industry and the 100 mpg carburetor, but goes to show that sitting on patent is a viable business decision.

The U.S. Patent database has numerous entries for enhancements of fuel mixtures.

Too many to list there but the earliest and the latest of patents shows that fuel-mixture enhancement patent being sat on is still alive and well.

I do recall several Ph.D. economic papers from years back that sitting on patent HAS BEEN and CONTINUES to be an economic cost-effective business practice.

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5718983.html
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5673220.html

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5718983.html
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5673220.html

If you think that is patent abuse, then please check the US patent 5283943 (you can check more details here http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5283943.html/
i'll paste a brief resume of it nevertheless:

"A system for assembling multiple component products, comprising: an
assembly machine which assembles products using components retrieved
from a plurality of compartments located at a corresponding plurality
of locations, each compartment located according to a type of
component stored within; a component identifier that identifies the
type of component stored in each compartment by analyzing indicia of
the components or component compartments; and at least one location
indicator, responsive to the component identifier, for producing an
indication signal of the corresponding location of each component
compartment or component after the type of component has been
identified."

and no, unfortunately this isn't a joke