Bill Gates Seeking Patent To Make Shakespeare Less Boring

theodp writes "GeekWire reports that Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold are seeking a patent on making textbooks less boring by using a cellphone or other device to scan text on a page, parse its meaning, and automatically create suitable accompanying video or pictures to keep students engaged. From the patent application for Autogenerating Video From Text: 'A student is assigned a reading assignment. To make the assignment more interesting, the student may use his or her mobile phone to take a picture of a page of the textbook. The systems and methods described herein may then generate a synthesized image sequence of the action occurring in the text. Thus, rather than simply reading names and dates, the student may see soldiers running across a battlefield.' Furthermore, the patent explains, the experience may be tailored to a user's preferences: 'For example, in a video clip about a Shakespearean play, the preference data may be used to insert family members into the video clip instead of the typical characters.'"

Comments

Prior Art?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure the 'reduced shakespeare company' might have something to say about making the bard more interesting.
If the USPTO grant patents on this then I for one hope that a huge hole opens up and swallows the entire USA. Just adding 'by a computer' or 'in a network' really does not seem very original and non obvious.

Re:What problem

[readingaccount]

The problem is the mentality that something is only worth doing if it makes you feel better right now. This "solution" only makes things worse. It's like a parent trying to get compliance by bribing their toddler with candy.

I'd like to connect your quote with something another commenter said:

Why do we object so strongly to the idea of teaching children the value of deferred please; that hard work and effort now can produce greater rewards down the line?

Both of you have the same concern as I do - that as a society we only seem to be interested in short-term efforts if they bring immediate rewards (with the exception of perhaps college, but only because so many people have to these days to get a half-decent job it seems). Long-term investment in time and effort is seen as a waste because the payoff might take quite a while to eventuate... and the problem is that not only is this true, it's also not guaranteed that a payoff will even eventuate after all that work.

Short-term effort shows the results reasonably quickly, good or bad. Long-term effort is a difficult thing to justify in our busy lives, so many people avoid it, whether that be consistent exercise, working on a hobby that will take months to produce something half-decent, or indeed, building any skills that aren't strictly necessary to survive.

Re:Headline

[__aaltlg1547]

The computer is supposed to do the storyboarding. It hasn't been automated before. What's missing is the WHOLE PROGRAM. The patent office needs to start demanding working code for software patents. If you don't have working code, you don't have an invention, just an idea that you might eventually some day years from now turn into an invention -- if it's even an invention.

These devices will be great for a time in 20 years when kids don't bother to learn to read and can't even listen to a story but must have everything shown to them in video clips. In short, it's for the brave new world of subhumans.

Re:Prior art again Bill!

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

It did strange things, to my guitar building textbook.

I think it may have been the phrase "Ebony Stiffeners".