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Cingular Patents the Emoticon?
massysett writes "Mobile phone carrier Cingular Wireless may have managed to get a patent on the emoticon. The patent describes a system for selecting a displayable icon to indicate the mood or emotion of the user. It also covers text-based emoticons, 'so presumably sending :) via an SMS - if selected via a dedicated or softkey, would be a breach of the patent in future.'" My response? >:/
Prior art!
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
They can stick that patent in their (_|_).
http://religiousfreaks.com/They really need to beef up their standards for patent review. Stuff like this should never even get through. People shouldn't have to spend money battling these patents in court. I think cingular should be fined for even submitting a patent which is quite obviously not novel, and just an attempt to patent something that's already used everywhere in order to squeeze money out of others
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
This patent will conflict with Despair.com's registered trademark, won't it?
You know, it looks like it's another one of those “we're doing X, but on the internet” patents, except this time it's on a phone.
I thought that I had lost all hope in the patent system some time ago, but I just lost more.
Activating an emoticon from tapping one key is NO different then activating something via a single Macro key, which has been used in applications and games for ages.
Writing a series of symbols out to be displayed as an emoticon is also soemthing that has been performed for ages.
Seriously, when will this patent frenzy of stupidity end?
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
"There Is No Emoticon For What I Am Feeling!"
The article, even the summary, clearly indicates all they are patenting is the process of using a smiley on the phone/sending it. They are NOT patenting the smiley, that's just an inflammatory headline used to create negative response.
I always though /. was suposed to be Cmdr Taco pissed off and standing on his head, cause, he's only got one eye ya know.
-Rick (Just Kidding!)
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
At first, my reaction was :O but I'm guessing a lot of us are >:( but as world government bodies are getting tired of the US patenting everything from berries to sounds :^o we sign in their general direction with our tongue firmly in cheek :p
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. - Peter F. Drucker
if(!toilet_paper) roll.replace(new roll);
US utility patent numbers have sequential numbers and are currently in the 6 million range. Application numbers have a year (2006) and a serial number within the year (15812).
Okay, everyone take a deep breath. Though the original post says this is a patent, it is not. It is a patent application. Anyone can file whatever they want, and it will get published as a patent application in 18 months. ANYTHING. I could write something up for "kissing up to my boss" and it would get published. This application has yet to see an examiner, who will in all likelihood reject it pretty much as quickly as you all have based on a slew of prior art out there. Check back in two or so odd years to see if this issues or not. Link to the full text... http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=P TO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2F srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220060015812%22.PGN R.&OS=DN/20060015812&RS=DN/20060015812
19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman :-)
:-)
:-(
From: Scott E Fahlman
I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:
Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use
Both pre-date the WWW, which pre-dates text messaging over the phone. In fact, technically, dial-up IS text messaging over the phone. Anyone who used an ANSI art drawing tool or a macro key on their terminal emulator back in the 1200 bps modem days could define macros to generate emoticons. So the only possible basis for this that I can see is the fact that it's over the phone or if they substitute special characters for the emoticon text (i.e., an actual happy face for :) ).
Every single previous platform for text messages has developed the capability for emoticons, and the special characters have already been done by various IM services like Yahoo, MSN, and PHPBB. Also, the mechanism for implementing this feature is the same across all platforms: byte substitution. The technique is platform independent, and therefore the platform can't be used as a basis for non-obvious part.
We are the 198 proof..
This just published and is years from becoming a patent. This is just a laundry list of claims that they want, not that they will get.
You can see it here: http://appft1.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html/
Cingular has not received any patent such as the article describes. The number that appears in the article, US2006015812, is actually a publication number for a U.S. patent application. The application itself can be found on the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office's web site.
Not only is this only an application for a patent, and not only has this application not yet been granted, but the PTO hasn't even examined it yet. (You can look up the status of the application yourself using PAIR.)
Cingular is not going to wind up with a patent that will stop you from using smileys in you text messages. In fact, on a quick read, the claims and specification appear to discuss ways to make it easier to insert emoticons in your text, not the mere use of emoticons. And the patent examiners, despite what you may have heard, are pretty tough about claims like this, too.
In short, it looks like the writer of the article dropped the ball here, not the U.S. Patent Office.
The patent referenced is for the process of sending the emoticon. More specifically, there would be a way insert the way someone is feeling via a special button, or some other method other than saying "I'm feeling happy". Typing in ":)" doesn't even fall into this patent since that's just typing in characters. But if T-Mobile came out with phones that had smiley-faced buttons that inserted a smiley face while typing an SMS, then that could violate this patent.
TFA had a bogus number.
Check the actual patent out.
HCG 50a = 2MASX J11170638+5455016
11h17m06.4s +54d55m02s
It hasn't been stamped. It is just an application.
Did they even look at it?
They are looking at it.
Do we have any recourse or any way to fire these morons?
They haven't done anything.
Why in the name of all that is holy did this GET patented?
It isn't patented.
Patents are out of control... I'm just wondering if anyone has any input on how the hell they get by with this bullshit.
This headline, summary, and post represent the very worst of slashdot. A blatantly wrong headline and summary are posted that just coincidentally happen to inflame the commenters, who immediately posture and condemn without knowing any more about the subject than the misleading headline. A correction, if it is ever made, is already off the front page, and all these geeks who sincerely believe themselves to be rational and intellectually superior go off believing a complete falsehood, because it validates their beliefs.
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
There is no emoticon for what I'm feeling!
"they are patenting is the process of using a smiley on the phone/sending it."
Actually, now that I think of it, your interpretation makes the patent seem worse.
Here's why...
If they got a patent on emoticons, you could justify it by saying "The patent examiner never heard of emoticons, ah ha!"
Instead, this indicates they knew about emoticons and felt that sending an emoticon was sufficiently unique that it deserved patent protection. In otherwords, the examiner was so stupid that they thought that emoticons had been invented, but never sent to anyone before. What were they thinking? Emoticons were first used on BBS's over the phone, but never sent? Huh?
Do you see?
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
An hot news story that makes the outrageous inducing claim that Cingular has just patented the Emoticon appears to be untrue, since the US Patent office shows no such listing for the claimed Cingular patent. But that's not to say it's not outrageous :-0 since in fact AT&T, some guy in kirkland WA, and a dozen others have patented the emoticon or aspects of it. Perhaps most galling is that the patents actually use the word "emoticon" to describe what they are patenting. They of course don't actually patent the emoticon itself but the act of entering an emoticon into multi-media, sort of like patenting the one-click patent versus patenting, say, commerce. Is this one of the whackiest patents ever :-p
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.