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Microsoft Trying To Patent a 'Magic Wand'

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the also-patenting-bag-of-holding dept.

theodp writes "Newly-disclosed USPTO documents show that Microsoft is seeking patent protection for a 'Magic Wand,' a device with various gizmos and sensors that can manipulate and interact with its environment, including video and holographic images, while using biometrics to connect with the user. 'Even the most pragmatic individual,' explains Microsoft, 'would have trouble arguing against the merits or utility of, say, a magic wand that actually worked to control or communicate with objects or components in an associated nearby environment.' No doubt. The inventors include CXO/CTO J Allard, and Sr. Researcher Andy Wilson."

6 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. It's called a Wii-mote! by jholder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wonder if they get into trouble with Nintendo.

    --
    -- John
    1. Re:It's called a Wii-mote! by Z00L00K · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And all other remote controls that already exists and has existed since "deity-knows-when".

      Even the director's wand at an orchestra is a form of remote. But not very advanced in itself.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    2. Re:It's called a Wii-mote! by hey! · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, it's more than a wii-mote. The question is how much more than the sum of the additions? I think that's a critical question.

      I'm wary of any kind of kitchen-sink approach to inventing. An invention should somehow be more than the sum of its parts, otherwise where's the originality? If you said, take a wii-mote and add this one specific element and now something qualitatively new becomes possible, then you'd have a good argument that you invented something. If you say, take a wii-mote and add everything you can think onto it, and gee, it does more than the original wii-mote, that's not very creative.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  2. It's called a universal remote by kawabago · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's time Microsoft stopped inventing things that already exist!

  3. Re:Sure, they can patent a magic wand, by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Insightful
    but they still can't use it to make Vista disappear.

    Maybe.

    But their magical marketing team has managed to transmogrify a thinly veiled facelift of it into the widely hyped Windows 7.

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  4. Re:OT: Paid by word? by acohen1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I was a co-inventor on a recent patent application and I can attest that pretty much all patents are written this way to make them as precise and robust as possible. Sometimes these phrases like "a collection of sensors" might refer specifically to a prior description or figure. Anyway, this is totally typical, and no the lawyers are not paid by word.