Microsoft Patents Module-Based Smartphone

edumacator writes "It seems Microsoft is working on an interesting concept for smartphones, or maybe they are just adding to their patent war chest. From the article: 'A recent Microsoft patent describes a smartphone with a slide-out section that can house one of several modules, including a QWERTY keyboard, a gaming pad, a second display or a battery pack. Even better: The modules work wirelessly when they aren't docked in the smartphone's slider. Another useful way the modular smartphone concept could be used: The keyboard can be used as a controller while the smartphone acts as a TV-connected media hub.'"

Comments

Handspring Visor

[HomerJ]

Didn't Handspring--now defunct--already do this like 12 years ago? There were all sorts of devices for their PDAS, including a GSM module.

Re:Handspring Visor

[Hamsterdan]

The name for that interface was Springboard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springboard_Expansion_Slot

in an ironic way, also the name of the homescreen in iOS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpringBoard

Quick, someone tell Handspring to sue Apple :)

Re:Handspring Visor

[Anthony Mouse]

Didn't Handspring--now defunct--already do this like 12 years ago? There were all sorts of devices for their PDAS, including a GSM module.

When has that stopped anybody before? The lawyers will just try to find one little thing which is different and claim that it's new and patentable.

A decade ago we got a million patents that said something like "that thing everybody knows about, but on the internet." Now we're going to get a million patents that say something like "that thing everybody knows about, but on a mobile device." Because hey, adding that extra element lets you try to claim that nobody has ever done it before. And the patent office is profoundly lax in issuing rejections for obviousness.

This is a case in point: Making a computing device modular? Who could have ever thought of that? (People in the 1950's, that's who.) But you throw in "it's a phone too" and you've got yourself a patent application, apparently.

Wait, wait, wait.

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you just suggest that Microsoft is creating wireless batteries for smartphones?

Prior art?

[Lisias]

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/16/view/5578/modu-modular-mobile-phone.html

(and this is just the first link of a google search...)

Re:Prior art?

[SmlFreshwaterBuffalo]

(and this is just the first link of a google search...)

That's the problem. They did a search on Bing and didn't find anything.

Re:Prior art?

[icebraining]

Prior art still exists, it just has to be published. From the act:

A person shall be entitled to a patent unlessâ"

â(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention; or

â(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date[3] of the claimed invention.

The thing is that before when two inventors claimed the same patent, you'd go to court and try to find private documents, witnesses, etc. to prove you had invent it first. Now, if you didn't publish the work publicly, it's the file date that counts.
This has you can see saves a bunch of time; whether it's more or less fair is arguable.