Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Patents Whacking Your Phone To Silence It
another random user writes with news of a patent application from Microsoft that details a method for silencing your phone by giving it a whack. "There are a variety of circumstances under which it may be desirable to quickly control a device without having to interact with a traditional user interface. For example, often mobile device users forget to set their mobile devices in a silent or vibrate mode and the device rings or makes sounds at an inopportune moment." And yes, 'whack' is the technical term used in the patent (20120231838): "receiving information indicative of acceleration of the mobile communications device; determining correlation between the information indicative of acceleration of the mobile communications device and exemplar whack event data; and based at least on the correlation, controlling an audio signal of the mobile communications device." This method is not recommended for controlling the audio output of animals or children.
goes only to show how broken the Patent system is.
Talk about an obvious use for a g-force sensor...what's next? Somebody patenting using a screwdriver for a chisel or to open paint cans?
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
And it's been around for a while. You hit the phone to silence the alarm and do the snooze action. I would think it qualifies as prior art.
It done controls the audio output on my woman!
Prior art city: hitting an alarm clock. If Americans are so intelligent, why have such an outrageously dumb patent system? It's meandering stories for profit rather than any reward for innovation these days...
That might be Microsoft's "must have" feature!
I can see the commercials now... "This phone is whack! Boyeee!"
So your zune squirts and your WP8 device whacks off.
Microsoft. What will they think of next?
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
My Nokia 6600 fold already had this feature for years. You just tap it twice and it silences alarms and calls. And shows the current time on the front panel. Where's the actually new stuff in this patent because everything else seems like an obvious extension to that?
The mafia has been whacking people for decades to silence them.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
1. The three stooges "Shut up you numbskull" patent
2. The whack dat nois - e boid patent
3. The void-your-manufacturer-warranty inoportune phonecall patent
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
As long as they don't Patent dropping annoying phones in a glass of water, I think there might be some prior art on that one.
I stopped thinking I was unique when I found out everyone else was to. So does that make me the average user???
Or an idea from Nokia which that shameless Redmond stooge Elop had claimed for Microsoft?
these patents are stupid they are more about patenting a VERB than any actual schematic or plan for something. Next up: Microsoft patents whacking off. That's right every time you stroke the one-eyed monster you owe microsoft a royalty check because they thought of it first.
The simple alarm clock that every one whacks in the morning. Except the clock is more durable.
> goes only to show how broken the Patent system is.
... means it has been inflicted upon the world, and is hampering innovation everywhere. Even Google has spoken against it, but big companies are forced into a position where they must spent millions on stupid patents (which shouldn't hold up in court) just to get into a better bargaining positions against the patent trolls and Apples of the world.
Patents are supposed to be novel, useful and not obvious. This patent seems obvious. According to a law lecturer, the mere fact the USPTO has granted a patent doesn't mean you have a valid patent: It also has to be tested in the courts. Only if it is upheld does this mean you have a valid patent.
The problem is this system is easily exploited. A USPTO examiner is supposed to eliminate patents which fail the above tests, but you can overwhelm a USPTO examiner just by giving them a lot of documentation. I have seen this done. It's easier for the examiner just to grant it and let the courts figure it out. The problem is as we saw in the Apple v Samsung case the jury assumes just because the USPTO has granted the patents they *are* valid. It's also expensive: It costs about $2M to attack or defend a patent and takes a lot of employee time when they could be working instead. In the US even if you successfully defend a patent attack you usually don't get your legal fees reimbursed, so that $2M is gone forever. This will send a smaller businesses broke. Is that really good for innovation?
Microsoft's patent here seems obvious and should have never been granted. The same goes for the intuitive tablet / smart phone operations which Apple patented: Give one of these devices to anyone who hasn't used one before and they quickly figure out which gestures work. The "intutive" nature of this means it is by definition obvious.
The US patent system... now forced down the world's throat thanks to aggressive lobbying of foreign governments by US diplomats bringing shiny beads and mirrors
But make no mistake: The USPTO is the patent troll's friend. Not just due to their lazy examinations, but because they have also increased fee to discourage people from asking for bogus patents to be re-examined. That was the reason they gave when they did this: they are trying to make less work for themselves caused by their own sloppiness in the first place!
The only solution: Tell your congressman and senator to stop this madness now and that there will be consequences at the ballot box if they don't. A tall ask, but they are the only people with the power to change it.
It works for my libido.
...but can they really patent that?
STAMPED and APPROVED!
I wonder if engineers at companies like Microsoft have informal competitions to see who can get the most wacky patent accepted.
There are many examples I have seen on TV shows clear back in the 70's. But this is the first one I could find on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYr4-vtBBRo
Oh, you want to use that phone again later? :-)
Can I patent throwing a mobile device against a wall to silence it?
So them rats in the F.B.I. thought they had us when they taped us about wackin; someone to silence him. Be wes got our sources and wes pay good dough for our snitches inside the F.B.I. So now wes got this cool patent on wackin to silence, and whats our lawyers call "Plausible Deniability". Suck it Feds, we're Microsoft, yous can't touch us!
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
my windows 5 phone just has a easy to find physical button that requires nothing more than a press of the thumb
they patent a sensor that responds to a whack? Fine. They patent the idea of whacking the phone? Not fine. Patents are supposed to cover IMPLEMENTATIONS, not ideas.
If no one has patented this idea yet, I am going to file a "Kick the damn smartphone to silence it" patent !
It's mine, and Microsoft better don't try to grab that from me !!!
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
or should I patent that before Ballmer does?
This is an elegant use for an accelerometer. Obvious? Now it is after they said it. But imagine being able to punch your pocket to shut your phone up. Really the guy that came up with this needs more than the $1 he will get from Microshaft for the patent.
The game.
Fun fact: Windows Phones already have a feature where if the phone is ringing and you pick it up (say, to see who's calling) and put it back down, the phone recognizes this and turns down the volume of the ringing for that call. Found that out by accident. Heh.
Beating an electronic device to death makes perfect sense to users of ME and Vista. This falls under a common sense patent. This must be a defensive patent before the new OS comes out given their history of every other release sucking. I'm still waiting for them to announce the "AX Back Up System". The hard drive backs up before you take an ax to it!
AlarmDroid has an option to enable snooze mode by:
* flipping the phone around
* shaking it
This sounds pretty similar to silencing a device by whacking it, nest'ce pas?
Nothing new there then.
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hLiKoBbYLjs/TT7zNz7j9pI/AAAAAAAAALY/uEpnCsMWzfw/s1600/vintage-ck-clapping-monkey-w-cymbals_270672956315.jpg
HTC lets you do this already by flipping your phone. Both are just a motion sensor output value linked to operating state.
It is a good thing we have a provision in our patent law to not allow for the patenting of the obvious. Who would ever have thought of hitting something to make it quiet!!! DOH!
"Sorry, I couldn't make it in to work yesterday... My phone flew off my nightstand when I went to turn off the alarm."
I can't wait.
1984 The Karate Kid: "Whacks on, whacks off"
I think Mr Miyagi's prior art...
I'm going to patent kicking the phone to make the vibrator thingy cause the phone to smack the other persons head hard.
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
... is amazing.
"Microsoft's patent here seems obvious..."
Really? well, I don't know about the inner workings of all cell phones, but I've yet seen a model that I can silence with a single instant button touch or one that uses an accelerometer to transmit a single clear command to the phone. -- Others may come up with examples which is great. Third parties can now (or soon) file with the USPTO to put prior art not considered by the examiner into the official record. This is a very recent change and I don't recall the details. It may be active just for business patents right now, but eventually all patent apps will be included and this one likely won't be examined before that rule is opened to all patents. So prep your arguments now! In any case the mere existence of accelerometers probably would not constitute obviousness which seems to be the main point being made by most.
"...and should have never been granted"
Well, it hasn't. This is only an application published 18 months after filing. With the current backlog in the USPTO, it won't be examined for another 2 years.
There is massive prior art in the public domain on this one so the patent is not valid. People have been whacking their devices, including phones, for thousands of years. One of the complaints about modern phones is they are too fragile to whack. Sure, MS can make one more rugged to take a whack and stop talking but that's not a non-obvious patentable idea. That's just a minor incremental improvement.
Patent rejected.
...has always had this feature. They're just migrating it to mobile devices
(but to be fair, the Windows feature usually required the deployment of a sledge-hammer).
Even Moses whacked his tablets, much to his gods annoyance, since he just got his hands cleaned of the pot clay...
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
I am going to patten a phone being aware when the majority of other phones around it is in silent mode, and then the phone will put itself into silent mode automatically. No more worries about being the idiot whos phone goes off in the theater.
I'm pretty sure my father can claim prior use. when i was a kid that was his default method of shutting us kids up.
Microsoft Patents Whacking Your Phone To Silence It
In other news, CNET reports that Apple patents "Giving your Phone a Reach-around to Check Voicemail", while RIM is rumored to be close to announcing a "Tongue the Screen Discreetly to Read E-Mail" feature. No word yet on Microsoft's rumored "Candles and Hot Wax Interface", designed to appeal to the S&M contingent of the Windows Phone userbase (which is most of them), or HP/Palm's "Necrophilia" WebOS initiative.
A game where you manage a group of soldiers and it's your mision to capture deserters by hitting them with chairs.
Optionally, if you got the right hardware, your movements will be sensed and that will enable you to throw real chairs, not simulated ones.
I'm not a patent expert, but I think patents need to be automatically rejected 3 times before they are even considered.
This stuff is crazy.
I've seen a movie from the 1920s where a guy ripped a phone off the wall and threw it to make it stop ringing. Same idea.
My Dad would throw phones in the house against a wall to stop them from ringing - 5 fairly attractive sisters - most nights the single phone line would ring over and over and over.
I wonder if the patent processors ever say "duh" to any filed patents?
How about a patent to whack the person who forgot to turn off their ringer?
My mother claims prior art!
Place nail here >+
Oh, so you want prior art?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=br.com.eversource.shake2silence&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImJyLmNvbS5ldmVyc291cmNlLnNoYWtlMnNpbGVuY2UiXQ..
Last update was on December 2010 - so it's a fair to assume the first version was submitted even earlier. And that's just one example I could find quickly, of course. It wouldn't surprise me it there are many more other apps (for Android or iOS alike) that does the same thing and was made before.
And yeah, as rolfwind said, just because the idea was implemented only after 10 years after Microsoft entered the smartphone market, doesn't mean it's patentable. The technology needed for this idea wasn't ubiquotous on smartphones until some 4 or 5 years ago anyway, so you should rather start making the math at that point in time.
CNET reports that Apple patents "Giving your Phone a Reach-around to Check Voicemail"
No, that'd be more of a Sony thing given the rear touch sensor on the PS Vita.
while RIM is rumored to be close to announcing a "Tongue the Screen Discreetly to Read E-Mail" feature.
That would fit in with RIM jobs.
long ago, when you had to have something that actually USED the patent able process, or item. And you couldn't patent an "idea" - that is where they went wrong, allowing the patent of an idea which you cannot make work. All ideas need to be deeded to the public, and the patent system should go back to what it was, and the time period needs to be reduced. At present it blocks innovation - for that reason alone it needs to be gotten rid of..
..A man who is being escorted by police from his house to a waiting police vehicle is also being watched by several onlookers, including his Son and Wife; painful handprint shaped bruises across both their faces. While officers try and get him into the squad car, the man is heard constantly yelling, But it works for microsoft... It works I tell YA, Microsoft patented it, MY FAMILY IS DEFECTIVE!!!!!1 WHY DIDN"T IT WORK!???
The title is misleading. The linked item is a "patent application".
What that means, since the dumbass submitter and dumbass editors can't see to figure it out, is that MickeySloth has asked to be given a patent on this concept. But they DO NOT HAVE A PATENT YES.
There's much bashing at the patent system for being counter-productive, yet not many consider a simple alteration which will fix it permanently and restore it's intended function - supporting the innovators. Instead of awarding the patent holder some sum of money as damages, issue a C&D against the infringing party with a threat of jail time if they don't obey, make them cover the costs of legal proceedings, and order the money you'd normally regard as damages to be paid to a special fund, that will then distribute the money among aspiring innovators via grants and scholarships. And everyone's happy: The patent holder reclaims their right to be the sole distributor of given technology, the lawyers get paid handsomely, the innovation flourishes under the much needed public funding, the infringing party gets punished and is ordered to stop selling the patented tech, patent trolls die out because it no longer makes sense to hold patents for technology you're not using (and innovation grows further with redundant technology hitting the realm of public domain much quicker). Still, the issue of using patents on obvious inventions to hit the competition remains unresolved, but hopefully we could fix that by making the patent awarding system more transparent and more restrictive.
But for that to happen, corporate lobbying must be made into a punishable offence (in other words, acting on behalf of a money-making scheme and against broad public interest should be punishable - people should make money using their skills and hard work and not by corrupting the law in their favour). Which, by the way, will never happen considering the corporate lobbyists that are already active will prevent that from happening.
The phone will slap you back!
I think I have seen other instances of people Whacking their phones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4wzDdU7GZk&feature=fvwrel
As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft invented whacking hardware! Pretty much every time I've wanted to whack some hardware, it's been running one of their products! I think they should get this one!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
just "squirt" on it.
This isn't even new for smart phones! I've got an alarm clock app which has an option to allow you to smack the phone in place of tapping the snooze button. I've been using it since well before March 11, 2011 (the patent's filing date).
We've all heard of planned obsolesence...this business of activly enlisting users participation in the destruction of their expensive device represents a novel concept deserving of a business methods patent.
Quite clever indeed..
"warranty void if whacked"
"whack to unlock"
This headline could have been so much better with just a tiny rearranging of words:
Microsoft Patents Silencing Your Phone By Whacking It
It's completely logical that if a tap is a zero-length swipe, a whack is a high force shake. Also, sarcasm is negative valued sincerity.
I have not looked into the spec - but I'm sure my blackberry stops ringing when I take it out of my pocket (not holster), pick it up or start shuffelling around in my bag for it. I have previously thought 'is this accelerometers or the ir detector' (same one that turns off the screen when i've got it at my ear).
Maybe I'm just imagining it, however my thoughts were that it would be fairly obvious to use accelerometer for this job. Not exactly a 'whack' but a marked change in accelerometer patterns of movement shortly after ringing starts, which would include a whack.
http://www.nokia.com/gb-en/support/product/6700-classic/userguide/?action=onlineuserguidepagechange&pFile=GUID-E98D1B3E-1D9B-4969-A883-6F377A3C4B47_FILE001.html
pointless
>This method is not recommended for controlling the audio output of animals or children.
Why'd you leave women off the list?
"If you're not passionate about your operating system, you're married to the wrong one."
It's time to patent "The patenting of software" and "The patenting of patenting of software"
Owners of Microsoft devices over the years have always felt more compelled to whack their machines. Their next patent application will be for a "kick" gesture and finally a "throw out of window" gesture.
The kick gesture will be determined by acceleration followed by the battery being displaced or the screen cracking.
The Throw out of Window gesture will be determined by a quick acceleration, loud audible sounds not found in the audible dictionary and the loss of gravity followed by a sudden deceleration.
The patent file date is 11 March 2011. I've been silencing my AlarmDroid (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.splunchy.android.alarmclock&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5zcGx1bmNoeS5hbmRyb2lkLmFsYXJtY2xvY2siXQ..) alarm with an acceleration of configurable intensity (and yes, that means sometimes I whack it, sometimes I shake it) since well before then.
once again, OP has posted a misleading article. This is not a granted patent. This is a patent application, as the text of the article states, but the title, what every reader sees first, is blatantly false.
Or does it just go to sleep after you whack it ?
Works for BABIES, amiright?!