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."

Comments

Full of shit

[Nazi Pope]

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.

Color Kinetics patent issues

[GodBlessTexas]

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?

A bit about multi-color LED lighting

[maggard]

For those out of the loop on this...

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.

Interesting Colr Kinetics LED patent history

[Mononoke]

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.