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BountyQuest CEO Patenting Lighting Toilet Water
theodp writes "Charles Cella, CEO of the widely-hyped Jeff Bezos and Tim O'Reilly funded patent reform vehicle BountyQuest, has filed for a number of patents since BountyQuest's demise, including one that covers illuminating water in a toilet bowl (see FIG. 7). Cella's co-inventors include principals of Color Kinetics, which has come under fire for strong-arm patent tactics and whose Board colorfully likens its IP to nuclear weapons."
This guy is full of
shit
Have a read down the list below. If this patent is granted, we will all be
taking dumps in the dark.
The items in question:
57. A method of providing illumination for a toilet, comprising: providing a
light system with a plurality of LEDs and a processor for controlling a color of
light from the LEDs; and disposing the light system in connection with a toilet.
58. A method of claim 57, wherein disposing the light system comprises disposing
it on the seat of the toilet.
59. A method of claim 57, wherein disposing the light system comprises disposing
it in the toilet bowl.
60. A method of claim 57, wherein disposing the light system comprises disposing
it in a rack above the toilet bowl.
61. A method of claim 57, wherein disposing the light system comprises disposing
it in connection with an odor control facility.
62. A system for providing illumination for a toilet, comprising: a light system
with a plurality of LEDs and a processor for controlling a color of light from
the LEDs; and a toilet, wherein the light system is disposed to illuminate a
portion of the toilet.
63. A system of claim 63, wherein the light system is disposed on the seat of
the toilet.
64. A system of claim 63, wherein the light system is disposed in the toilet
bowl.
65. A system of claim 63, wherein the light system is disposed in a rack above
the toilet bowl.
66. A system of claim 63, wherein the light system is disposed in connection
with an odor control facility.
Investigate Rumsfeld, Tenet for Torture
Just try patenting the illumination of plumbing fixtures. I work for a lighting company. One of our main clients is a plumbing fixture manufacturer whose name begins with K.
We light commodes, suanas, showers, baths, and faucets all day long, and we won't stop anytime soon.
See you at the National Homebuilders Show.
(FYI, colors you will never see in our displays illuminating commodes or tubs: yellow or red. Think about it.)
It attached to the seat lid and shined a light into the bowl to provide a "lights out" target for stand-up pee-ers to aim at.
I saw this at least 5 years ago.
Also, Japan is so far ahead of the US for toliet automation -they haves seats/toliets that have lights, sprayed perfumes, measure blood pressure, urine sugar, fecal blood, spray water on your ass after you're done, etc, etc, etc.
It looks as if Color Kinetics is about to have much, if not all, of their IP portfolio ruled invalid because of a plethora of existing prior art from as far back as the 1970's. All of this has come to light (no pun intended) after their lawsuit with Super Vision International. With that in mind, I don't now how to take this one. Is this a stupid patent that just injures Color Kinetics IP case more, or are they serious? Wouldn't the existing LED based technology that is used to illuminate pools be considered prior art, i.e. the Boca Flash products?
Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...
LEDs emit light, directly or indirectly, only on a few narrow wavelengths. Therefore unless you're looking for just those few colors you're going to have to do mixing of multiple LEDs to get intermediate shades.
Complicating things further is that not all wavelengths are emitted equally strongly, and also that the human eye doesn't perceive all color equally strongly. This isn't a case of RGB, or CMY, it's a few off-variations of differing intensities.
Therefore to produce a specific shade, say Corporate Logo Color, Pantone #22578, isn't a no-brainer. The same is true for visually smoothly fading from shade to shade, it's not just a matter of turning down Bank A and turning up Bank B. Instead some calculations need to take place to make it all look decent, and that is the space where Color Kinetics has got their patents.
BTW, for those interested, Color Kinetics makes a home product series, "Sauce". These are night-lights & light bulb replacements that can be set to strobe, flicker, cross-fade in different ranges, etc. They're pricey at US $10-20, are available at many toy stores, and tend to crap out after a year or two of use (the blue goes.)
I use mine in my bathroom as a ever cross-fading night light, also set to one shade or another on on an empty white living room wall to 'punch it up'. I've friends who use their's for mood lighting in their bedroom.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
It is valid prior art only if you published your research into peeing into the pool in a renowned and accesible publication on sanitation.
I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
Probably because the "patent on patents" joke appears in every single patent discussion. Redundancy isn't limited to submission.
I also expect to see lots of "I patent using patents to get licensing fees". Always funny.
Color Kinetics has a long history of overly broad patent schemes. Some were so bad that a their competitors in the LED lighting field were forced to form an alliance to combat the CK's over-reaching patent strategies.
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Lawyers & politicians haven't been doing much new and innovative that might be stopped by patent. That's one of their many problems.
perhaps instead of small ip hoarding companies such as eolas suing microsoft, they should go after their customers - the US government. This would be much better for all involved (except microsoft, who it would hurt the same, prehaps more). hopefully the us goverment would get off their arse and get rid of software patents and supid patents in other fields.
http://inventionshowcase.com/jlhome.htm
Err...Mythbusters busted that myth. See the "Peeing on the third rail" episode. Apprarently, the urine stream is not solid, but rather made up of droplets after a certain distance. Informative!
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!