Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Patents "Cartoon Face Generation"
theodp writes "The latest round of patents granted by the USPTO included one for Cartoon Face Generation, an invention which Microsoft explains 'generates an attractive cartoon face or graphic of a user's facial image'. Microsoft adds, 'The style of cartoon face achieved resembles the likeness of the user more than cartoons generated by conventional vector-based cartooning techniques. The cartoon faces thus achieved provide an attractive facial appearance and thus have wide applicability in art, gaming, and messaging applications in which a pleasing degree of realism is desirable without exaggerated comedy or caricature.' A Microsoft Research Face SDK Beta is available. Hey, too bad Microsoft didn't have this technology when they generated Bob from Ralphie!"
Has the definition of prior art changed? otherwise how are you claiming these completely different techniques are prior art? from my search of definition it is still "constitutes all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a patent's claims of originality.".
The patent isn't on automatic generation of the caricatures, it's on their particular algorithm for doing so.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
They're not patenting the entire concept of "cartoon face generation", just a particular approach to the problem that they worked on. Read the patent - they even refer to almost three dozen existing papers on the subject, so they're certainly not pretending to have invented the entire field. MS Research's algorithm tends to produce results that are recognisable and flattering at the same time, which I imagine they could find very useful for XBox Live.
I think the real problem here is the misleading "X patents Y" headings used on Slashdot to alarm people.
No, you shouldn't, because that's not an invention to be patented. The car already exists as prior art. You would patent the engine design used to make it so efficient. You would patent the material composition or internal cellular structure used to make it so light yet sufficiently strong. You would patent any special, novel manufacturing techniques used to produce either of those. The car manufactured using those patents is covered under copyright, or potentially trademark.