Microsoft Patents Interactive Entertainment

An anonymous reader writes "Embedded-Watch is carrying a story regarding the award of patent number 6,571,390 to Microsoft. The patent would seem to cover pretty much any implementation of a video-on-demand system that you (or at least I) can think of. Read for yourself to decide whether this patent either is not original work or is blatantly obvious to the most casual observer. The patent could certainly be invalidated by the courts on either point, but that'd take a fight in court that won't be cheap."

Comments

big surprise...

[double_plus_ungod]

... from the people who wanted exclusive rights for the common word "windows"

Re:big surprise...

[Anonymous Coward]

...just as Pepsi would undoubtably chase a company makeing "Bepsi cola" or whatever.

I wonder if a Cola-flavored brown liquid named "Poopsie" would sell...

Quick!

[appleLaserWriter]

Someone patent the Blue Screen of Death. Then you can cross license with Microsoft!

Hmm..

[grub]

Who will patent "Superfluous Patents" first and start hurling lawsuits; SCO or MS?

I fully expect that MS will be sued

[rock_climbing_guy]

I fully expect that MS will be sued for infringing on Amazon's patent on patenting obvious things with tons of prior art.

Damn, VOD users will have to pay higher fees!

[sulli]

... both of them.

This is a fraud

[Anonymous Coward]

This is definitely a fraud. I doubt the patent is even from Microsoft. You can see an obvious error, if you refer to figure 4. See the button labeled '78' 'Choices?' See the problem? We all know no Microsoft interface would ever feature a button labeled 'choices.'

I would believe it's a Microsoft interface if figure 4 consisted of the single button labeled '76' that took up the whole screen.

Re:Adult Content Industry?

[spinlocked]

I wonder what Bill's name would be if he appeared in one of Flynt's works?

Billy Longhorn.

From the article...

[ebh]

A casual observer might question whether Microsoft's patent is anything original, especially since most cable systems offer movies on demand along with viewer program guides. However, the patent inspectors employed by the U.S. government apparently felt Microsoft's work was original.

Then the inspectors were given bananas and spent the rest of the night swinging in trees by their prehensile tails.

And in related news . . .

[CaptainStormfield]

The popular geek-news site Slashdot has applied for a patent on alarmist patent stories. One anonymous editor was quoted as saying: "What can we say -- overstating the scope of a patent makes for good news -- it keeps the nerds coming back!"

Re:Blatantly obvious? Grammar nitpick

[Motherfucking Shit]

Something cannot be "blatantly obvious." "Blatant," by definition, is "Offensively obvious." Thus, saying something is "blatantly obvious" is the equivalent of saying it is "offensively obvious obvious." It's like saying "PIN number," or "UPC code."

I take it you'd prefer "patently obvious" instead? :)

Re:Adult Content Industry?

[maxpublic]

We already know that one: Microsoft!

Max

yah sure

[drfrog]

i mean
come on
intereactive entertainment is older than spin the bottle

Prior "Art"

[bobdehnhardt]

Hell, I was ordering porn^H^H^H^H"art films" in motels back in the 80's....

Re:WRONG

[sql*kitten]

Read claim 1, the patentable feature is dealing with scroll rates and adding/removingfor a number of listings in a VOD environment. This is not a patent for VOD itself there are several hundred existing patents for that.

I'm guessing you're new around here. Slashbots don't bother to read articles; they just see the words "Microsoft" and "patent" on the same page and start frothing at the keyboard.

I've said it a hundred times on here, you can't patent an idea, only the specific implementation of an idea. Patents are all about what seem like minor details, but are actually things that are important, and they've all got very vague, general names. S'why you have to read 'em before commenting.

Re:It's been done before...

[jdray]

They charge a buttload and everyone is constantly throwing lawsuites around..

Are lawsuites collections of lawsuits that are filed together and interact? America, I think we have a new word!

USP doesn't care about prior art

[jabbadabbadoo]

The software department of the U.S. patent office is a joke, and I doubt prior art has stopped anyone eager enough from getting a patent.

After all, someones once patented a XOR cursor routine (patent #4,197,590)

You may be amused, or horrified, by some of these software patent examples. It appears that Europe is not really that much better, something the Patent Horror Gallery explicates.

So Be Aware: If my karma drops below good, I may issue a patent for a system that karmafies people and then sue the hell out of OSDN ;-)

Is that the US patent office or is it my ass hole?

[devhen]

I can't tell. I think everyone that ever worked for the US patent office is going to hell... could be wrong but i'm pretty sure...

Re:Thinking logically...

[jdray]

...the controller was the only thing in my room.

That sounds really bleak. Where did you sleep?

:P

Re:It's been done before...

[BrynM]

lawsuite (n):The space in which a lawyer has an office, usually part of a building containing many such offices; see also law firm (the feel of a lawyers perky breast), legalese (the effort to get a lawful patent), litigate (a fence for holding back rabid IP lawyers) and miscarriage-of-justice-den

Re:Adult Content Industry?

[fred_sanford]

he'd never make it in the pr0n industry. no one will want to work with him if they can't ensure that's he's secure and safe from viruses :)

Whew!

[LittleGuy]

Headline: Microsoft Patents Interactive Entertainment

*me sweats bullets*

Summary:The patent would seem to cover pretty much any implementation of a video-on-demand system that you (or at least I) can think of.

* me breathes sigh of relief *

For a moment, I though M$ finally had the means to patent the sexual act.

Yet another

[jstark383]

www.theonion.com/onion3311/microsoftpatents.html

Re:Is that the US patent office or is it my ass ho

[The Master Control P]

Depends... Which one churns out more shit? That's the USPTO.

Re:WIMP

[beta21]

For a minute there I thought you meant Weakly Interacting Massive Particle

Acronym: WINDOWS

[X-wes]

When
I
Need
Downtime,
Operate
Windows
Server

Re:registrering common words

[Gleng]

Will
Install
Needless
Data
On
Whole
System

(not mine...I forget where that one comes from)

Re:registrering common words

[netwiz]

Most
Applications
Crash
If
Not
The
Operating
System
Hangs

heh...