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Amazon's Patent-Pending Price Checks
theodp writes "On Thursday, the USPTO revealed that Amazon is back at the patent trough, this time for a System and method for obtaining information relating to an item of commerce using a portable imaging device. Sounds an awful lot like ScoutPal, which drew raves from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, doesn't it?"
System and method for obtaining information relating to an item of commerce using a portable imaging device.
;-)
So... they took a picture?
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
What about those handheld barcode scanners that have been used in stores for ages?
STOCK BOY: "No problem...I'll just go scan one of the other cans."
Amazon.com stormtroopers burst from the ceiling tiles and decapitate our poor hero.
Once again those with deep pockets go forth and argue a case for something that has existed under another name or description, but not functionality. I think that is where the Patent Office falls down: the wording of applied patents.
It is in the practical examples and application of the descriptions that make "prior art." With sufficiently trained researchers (and sufficient numbers of said people... or bots??!!?) these types of applications and patents will be minimised at the door, and eventually even less will be brought in since it will be known that thorough checking will be done.
For every present, there is a past
Between you all get upset, please note that this is an application, as in Amazon drafted it and sent it to the USPTO but they havent looked at it yet. It's not the same as a granted patent.
You can send in an application for "...a method of wiping your arse comprising the step of utilizing paper in a back and forth rubbing motion" and that application would also be published.
I assume it's mostly meant to retrieve data on the current special offers for the particular item. Usually, scanning the barcode will give you price information, even without hitting some "3rd party" database. But if store X has a special on item Y, then it might be worth it to travel across town and buy it from there.
It seems like the logical evolution of systems like Froogle. Only this one would be much more personal and probably more local, not to mention tied to brick and mortar storefronts rather than online storefronts.
It does seem awfully like the thing mentioned in the news article for finding used book prices, though. Someone ought to look into that.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
Fun and useful information here:
http://malfeasance.50megs.com/
The title is broadly descriptive of the technology. The claims, especially the independent claims, tell you what Amazon are actually seeking protection for.
I also note it is pending, so any criticism of the USPTO should be withheld until it is granted and it can be determined what prior art was considered in examination and what scope of protection (if any) has been granted.
Weren't there some stupid dots in the name of this thing?
C:ue: C:a:t
Or something???
Anyone who boycotts a company based on your calling them a "traitor" is an idiot.
I've built a system for a retail shop that enables users to get price, availability information etc. from a server to a hand held device through WLAN. The same device can also be equipped with an GPRS adapter so users could go to another shop to check the prices against their own. This would not require a modification of the software, since the software doesn't care (in fact, does not even know) if the network is WLAN or GPRS.
So the whole patent boils down to the idea of doing it. There is IMO no technical invention behind that.
So, kicking the shopper (not customer) out of the store is fine - they were not going to buy anything anyway. Not when they find out that the same article is 20% less down the street at Wal-Mart. More information does not equal an empowered consumer. It just pushes the decisions the way that benefit some merchants.
If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
Prior Art: Delicious Library
chown -R us ~you/base
So, first people in academia do this. Then, there are several shareware applications, some using bar code readers, some using cell phone cameras. Then a company like ScoutPal figures it out. And finally, Bezos sees it and patents it.
Well, let them waste their money: that patent is worthless. It's a testament to technological incompetence at Amazon. It is also something that will become a generic features of cell phones anyway.
Yes, the patent would be a pain to defeat against in court if it ever came to that. But the prior art is clear; in fact, it's better than one-click: one-click was so trivial that nobody had bothered writing it up academically, but this application has been published multiple times.
Some well-funded players have an interest in just outright owning everything. I think they would very much like for us all to get tired of hearing about it.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
How about a reverse /. effect, in which not one of its subscribers ever uses Amazon? I wonder how much that would effect their servers/business, especially if it got picked up by the popular press. These people need to be stopped. I sure don't order books from them anymore.
We could call it Zero Click Ordering, and apply for a patent...
Is the road to wealth really to just watch sience fiction movies and read SF books and patent every gadget that looks cool? Even if you dont have the faintest idea about how to produce it you can get a patent and you can reap the benefits as soon as someone manages to make a product out of the idea, even if the idea is a century old. Even worse is that if you take an old idea and stick it onto another old idea you magically have a patent, even if you just combined two things like a catalouge and a ordering form in the back pages. I dont see how you could patent that. Still, in the online world you could patent something jsut like that.
I really honestly cant see how a patent system like this can help the US in the long run. The incentive to produce is substantially lowered and replaced with people who just litigate and patents obvious ideas. Theese people dont contribute a dime to the community since all the money they touch is fictional for a fictional service in a highly abstract market.
HTTP/1.1 400
> System and method for obtaining information relating to an item of commerce using a portable imaging device.
So now if you want to browse around a store with those portable imaging devices in your head you will have to pay Amazon for the priviledge!
What next? An organic pump like system for circulating a nutrient and oxygen transpoting liquid in a living organism
Did Amazon's lawyers even bother to look at the prior art here?
http://www.neom.com/Neomedia Technologies has just about every patent you could think of related to taking pictures of bar codes and getting information sent back to your phone.
Their http://paperclick.com/demo.jspPaperclick demo shows just a fraction of what they've got patented.
They enforce their patents too. In the past few months both http://www.neom.com/press_releases/2005/20050629.j spVirgin and http://www.neom.com/press_releases/2005/20050712.j spAirClic have settled by doing licensing deals. That doesn't happen with weak patents. Further, Neomedia has protection in something like 15 other countries besides http://www.neom.com/press_releases/2005/20050524.j sp.
I would be really surprised if Amazon gets anything here, though just recently (as in the last day or so) a higher court upheld a lower court's verdict http://www.mobilecents.net/juryaward.asp of $128 million to the company that holds the patent for prepaid wireless cards! (as if that wasn't obvious).
It makes you wonder if the same people that let me get through the airport security with a five inch metal corkscrew (accidentally)- the TSA - are also pulling shifts at the USPTO.
-Stitch
"there is no "I" in B-O-R-G"
There is no "I" in B-O-R-G.
BookFinder4u
You should write up your idea and submit it to the US patent office.
"I liked the idea so much, that I stole it!"
After reading the parent, the abstract made so much sense. Here's why:
- portable imaging device = eye balls
- first entity = cashier
- second entitiy = clerk's helper (stock boy in parent)
Here's the scenario. I walk up to a cashier at a local Stop-n-Rob. I look at a pack of condoms, the cashier sees them, as does the helper. No pointing, no talking, just scanning and capturing the image. Since there's no tag on the items, the helper goes to the back and checks the price for the condoms. The cashier then rings them up and offers cigarettes (as a pop-up ad). Next time I stop by, this time with my girl-friend, I bring up a soda, along with other snacks, to the counter. The cashier rings it up, and offers condoms, only because of the previous transaction. At the same time, the Feds jump me for DMCA violations. The Stop-n-Rob is closed down and made into an Starbucks where people could browse Amazon via Wi-Fi.Big companies seem to do patent-cybersquatting. They just register whatever they could think of hoping that someone someday will fall under their vague patent.
I believe this is defeated by Denso's QR Code which was developed in 1997. It is a 2D barcode that is typically scanned by taking a photo with your cellphone or similar handheld device, and pushing a single button. The photo is decoded by the scanner into presumably an URL, and the resulting page is accessed and displayed. Alternatively you can store arbitrary data in it to the size of the symbol, i.e. a serial number or manufacturing date. It was created in 1997 it seems. In Japan it is now common in most phones and is often seen in magazines and on billboards. I don't see how Bezos can help but be embarrassed by this sort of thing. When he started out he used to be a straightforward kind of guy..
symbol has patents that faaar precede both Amazon and scoutpal on linking scanners (various kinds including red laser based) and displays with all kinds of wireless technologies including cellphones/wifi/... DUH. back to your corners, you both lose.
I don't think I understand what you're trying to say. It seems to me that better information does empower the consumer, but that for some political reason you don't like what the consumer might do with that power. In addition, better information for the consumer in a competitive market pushes profits down toward i*K, that is, the interest rate times capital. It limits the profits of all merchants much more than does the status quo.
Can someone please point out where besides the original poster we are getting Amazon into this. I have checked through the published application and see nothing that directly references the assignment of this application to Amazon.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."