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Peer To Patent and IP.com

snark — Thu, 05 May 2011 15:35:47 +0000

IP.com is already the best place to do free online patent and non-patent literature searching, and now IP.com has entered a partnership with Peer To Patent, in which “Peer To Patent peer reviewers will be provided direct access to many of IP.com’s valuable prior art databases by logging in here with their Peer to Patent project credentials.” This is a great step forward for the growing movement of public assessment of patent claims. Here’s a little more about Peer To Patent:

Peer To Patent is a historic initiative by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that opens the patent examination process to public participation for the first time. Peer to Patent is an online system that aims to improve the quality of issued patents by enabling the public to supply the USPTO with information relevant to assessing the claims of pending patent applications.

This is a great step forward for peer reviewers of patents and other intellectual property.

Today’s Patent Poem: get your orthogonal divisional multiplexing freq on

snark — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 22:41:00 +0000

Have yourselves a Friday Patent Poem, inspired by Systems and method for orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexing, in the Abstract, no doubt.

Orthogonal Freq

Systems and methods
systems and methods
what is the frequency of
systems and methods
when your orthogonal embodiment is in division
and you feel your modem go cold

De-modulate!

A true multi-carrier uprising
receiving symbols from the plurality
the spectrally overlapping modulations
signals coupled to the transmitter
processors controlling data controlling processors
Fourier on all fours with his symbols

Payload data!

If I ever get out of this orthogonal overlap
buy me a drink and give me a slap.

IP.com: the best free patent search service

snark — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:11:01 +0000

If you need to do a little patent searching, the best choice just keeps getting better: IP.com‘s free patent search engine. Not only is the design better and the page loading time faster than most other free patent search sites, but IP.com has more databases in place and more on the way (including China PRC and Chinese in English translation already in place), from patents and patent applications to prior art publications and now IBM Redbooks. And IP.com’s handy “more like this” feature on every patent page is a great semantic matching tool that no other search service has.

Here are a number of patents and patent applications that are all about the process of searching for patents:

I have tried a bunch of services for patent, non-patent and trademark searching, and IP.com definitely has the best free patent search service I’ve come across. Give it a try.

Top 12 Free Online Patent Search Services

snark — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:44:42 +0000

We get a lot of inventors here at Wordlab looking to name their new inventions, and we’re always studying the language of patents and trademarks. So, as a reference tool, here are Wordlab’s Top 12 free online patent search services:

Boring device and boring method

snark — Tue, 11 May 2010 22:09:48 +0000

Boring device and boring method

Word association method and apparatus

snark — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:40:46 +0000

Word association method and apparatus

A rose that will split your head open

snark — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:28:31 +0000

“Miniature rose plant named Poulvok,” meet “Automatic livestock head splitter.” I’m sure you two will have lots to talk about.

Raise high your glass of tortoise penis kidney-tonifying wine and prepare for the scourge

snark — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:51:04 +0000

I’ve been on a rampage though the patent database trolling for unusual names and language. Here is another gem: Tortoise penis kidney-tonifying wine. Betcha’ never thought you could patent such a concoction! In case you want to try to brew this baby up at home, the patent abstract lists the key ingredients:

The invention discloses tortoise wine for invigorating the kidney. The technical key points of the invention are that the wine is made by infusing live turtle, deer scourge, fur seal scourge and such Chinese herbal medicine as honeysuckle, osmanthus flower, codonopsis pilosula, angelica, morinda root, leatherleaf milletia, dodder, Schisandra, radix achyranthis bidentatae, Cherokee rose, barrenwort and grain wine. The wine for invigorating the kidney of the invention ahs the effects of invigorating the kidney, benefiting the stomach, strengthening the human immunity, resisting the fatigue and preventing the aging.

I was especially struck — after “tortoise penis” — by the ingredients “deer scourge” and “fur seal scourge”. I thought, is there another, more benign meaning of “scourge” that I’m not aware of? Nope, all the definitions of “scourge” are pretty grim:

noun: a whip used to inflict punishment (often used for pedantic humor)
noun: a person who inspires fear or dread
noun: something causes misery or death
verb: punish severely; excoriate
verb: whip
verb: devastate or ravage

This “kidney-tonifying wine” sounds even more inviting than the “turtle deer donkey wine” I posted yesterday, unless you’re a “live turtle”.

Basically what you’ve got here is “pureed tortoise penis and other animal crap that will cause you misery or death.” You see, it succeeds in “preventing the aging” by killing you outright. There, no more worries about aging.

Band name idea: Impregnated Monoliths

snark — Fri, 07 May 2010 00:41:43 +0000

Band name idea: Impregnated Monoliths

Care for a glass of turtle deer donkey wine?

snark — Wed, 05 May 2010 22:25:27 +0000

Drink up: Making process of turtle-deer-donkey wine

Apple granted patent for “smart garment”

snark — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:15:58 +0000

Patently Apple writes that Apple Wins Patent for Smart Garment, and shows this image from Apple’s “smart garment” patent:

Illustration from Apple's "Smart Garment" patent

What does this “smart garment” (“true shoe”?) do? According to Patently Apple’s analysis of the patent:

A sensor authenticated to a garment transfers information, either wirelessly or wired, to an external data processing device. Such information includes location information, physiometric data of the individual wearing the garment, garment performance and wear data (when the garment is an athletic shoe, for example). The external data processing device can be portable digital media players that are, in turn, in wireless communication with a server computer or other wireless devices. In the real world, Apple’s Patent is associated with Nike + iPod – Though the detail of the running shoe illustrated below actually suggests that Apple and Nike could be working on yet a more sophisticated runner.

[Apple credits Brett Alten and Robert Borchers as the inventors of the Smart Garment (Patent 7,698,101), originally filed in Q1, 2007.]

I guess Apple is “hitting the ground running” in the new smart garment market, working from “the ground up”. So, Wordlabbers, what names would you give to this “smart shoe” (from gum shoe to smart shoe?) and other potential “smart garments”? Use the comments on this post to share your suggestions. And don’t feel under any pressure to offer only good names — the worse the better, as long as they’re funny. We could could call them, “Dumb Names for Smart Garments”. Any takers? If you’re not yet a member of Wordlab, sign up for a free account, and then you can comment here and post to the Forums. Put on your smart garment and let ‘er rip.