Apple Patents 'Buy Stuff Wirelessly, Skip Lines' Tech

An anonymous reader writes "Apple is looking to patent a process that will save customers the hassle of waiting to order a cup of coffee at a local Starbucks. Even better: The technology would let you jump the line of those ordering in person. 'Customers might tap a button to order their favorite drink, say a double-shot mocha, as they stroll up to the nearest coffee shop. When the drink is ready go to, the device--such as an iPhone--would chime or blink to let the thirsty one know it's time to scoop up the order at the counter. The patent puts Apple's partnership with Starbucks in a new light. The technology promises to morph Apple from the business of simply selling gadgets and music and movies that can be played on those devices into an intermediary in all kinds of exchanges.'"

Comments

Obvious patents

[WillRobinson]

I think this is an obvious patent. Wish I would have decided to be a lawyer instead of a technical person. My retirement would be much better.

Re:Obvious patents

[Sparks23]

It's not quite the same thing. The example given by another poster of Japanese cellular phones (which can function as something akin to credit cards, train passes, and generally do the sorts of things our wireless providers are not yet dreaming of) is more accurate.

What I find sad is less specifically that Apple's patenting this and more that we've come to a situation where companies HAVE to try and patent anything they do in litigational self-defense, lest they end up like RIM with the endless stream of "Your Blackberry infringes on our never-used patent, you pay us money now!" lawsuits they suffer. Half of the meaningless patents we see these days are for protecting some process, specifically so that someone ELSE doesn't patent it and try to sue you. (And probably the other half are specifically being patented in hopes that eventually someone will have actionable infringement and can be sued.)

This totally misses the point of what the patent system was intended for, and absolutely nobody wins. But the fact that the patent system is fundamentally broken at this point is not exactly news...

dumb idea

[ILuvRamen]

There's one problem though. If customers did it that way then they wouldn't get to act like a douche at the counter about the staff getting their 10 word drink correct nor would they get to feel all special ordering a 10 word drink out loud. One of my college teachers used to work at a Starbucks and trust me he said, "People really are like that. Every one of them." They don't want convenience and speed, they wanna walk in and act like the most self important dick in the world and pretend they're rich by spending like $8 on a coffee. If you take that away, they'll stop coming!

Re:Unbelievable

[ajs]

Repeat after me: any patent which is summarized by a reporter relates in no way to the actual patent. Unless you've read the entire patent or at least ALL of the claims, you have no idea what the patent is about. Typically I can find at least 3 ways to summarize even really good and innovative patents that would make people pick up their pitchforks and torches. It's just too easy to do, and it turns out that it gets Slashdot some extra readership. :-/

It's just a freakin' reservation system

[davidwr]

This is obvious, let me count the ways.

In the 1980s, I could walk up to an ATM machine, tap a few buttons, and order airline tickets. This put me ahead of the people standing in line at the ticket counter.

Today, I can walk up to a kiosk and order movie tickets, which puts me ahead of those waiting in line.

Decades ago, I could call a restaurant and reserve a table, putting me ahead of those who were in line to tell the waiter that they needed a table.

Re:It's just a freakin' reservation system

[Leftist Troll]

No, no, this is completely different from any of those things. Now you'll be using Apple products and services, so it will all be inherently much better in a magical way that can't be described using pathetic human words.

Re:Overly specialized and mostly useless

[Russ Nelson]

My dad wouldn't do that, because he's dead. Anyway, being dead, he wouldn't be caught dead in a Starbucks.