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Mobile Sharing: "Bezos Beep" Vs. Smartphone Bump

Posted by samzenpus on from the talk-talk-talk dept.

theodp writes "GeekWire wonders if the 'Bezos Beep' could replace the smartphone bump for mobile content sharing. A newly-published patent application listing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as sole inventor describes the use of audio signals to share content and communicate between devices, eliminating the need for NFC chips and facilitating the simultaneous sharing of content with multiple people via a remote server. From the patent application: 'For example, a first device can emit an encoded audio signal that can be received by any capable device within audio range of the device. Any device receiving the signal can decode the information included in the signal and obtain a location to access the content from that information.'"

8 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. New and interesting technology by pryoplasm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Doesn't sound like a software based dialup modem at all...

    --
    Those who live by the sword, get shot by those who live by the gun...
    1. Re:New and interesting technology by ledow · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Seems like we have indeed come full-circle, except now the audio just encodes a link (presumably with no lengthy initial communication phase) and the rest of the content is actually on the Internet.

      Also seems less secure - now anyone can play one of those sounds and try to get you to go to it, or intercept the communication to work out what you're doing.

    2. Re:New and interesting technology by langelgjm · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, I read the claim (there's only one):

      1. A method of sharing information for accessing content on a computing device, comprising: generating, on a first device, an encoded information signal, the information signal including information associated with accessing the content; outputting the encoded information signal as an audible signal; audibly receiving, at a second device, the encoded information signal; decoding the information signal to identify the information associated with accessing the content; and accessing the content with the second device utilizing at least part of the information associated with accessing the content, wherein the second device accesses the content from a source other than the first device.

      So... if I take an acoustic coupler, amplify its volume, and put it near two handsets, then use the connection to access a URL, I'd be violating this patent. If this is granted, it will be (another) sad day for the USPTO.

      --
      "Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
  2. Yeah, and... by 6Yankee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...marketers won't use this to hijack my phone anywhere they can get hold of a speaker.

    1. Re:Yeah, and... by GrumpySteen · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Who needs surgery? Just listen to lots of loud music (or let yourself age for a couple of decades) and it'll happen on its own.

  3. Audio version of QR Codes.... by DontScotty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Audio version of QR Codes....

    Yet another failure brought to you by people targeting people unwilling to type in a URL.

    "The needs of the stupid outweigh the needs of the smart, or the sane"
    -Doctor Speck, Start Wreck

  4. R2-D2 by Misagon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    R2-D2 communicates with other devices (C-3PO) using beeps, ... and he can store and play back content in form of holographic messages.

    Besides, R2-D2 was made a long long time ago... Definitely prior art.

    --
    "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
  5. Zenith Space Command by SIGBUS · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The old Zenith TV remotes used ultrasonic signals to activate TV functions. There's nothing new here other than "on a computer."

    --
    Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!