|
Your Source for the Latest Patent Information |
 User Functions Categories
Archives
Search
Syndication
What is RSS?
RSS 0.92:
RSS 1.0:
RSS 2.0:
Atom:
Credits
|
|
|
GEN-ERIC Patent News
Your Source for the Latest Patent Information
02/22/05
6,857,210 Genetic identification system
Issued: February 22, 2005
Filed: May 8, 2003
U.S. Class: 40/124.06
Abstract: A genetic identification card having read only memory (ROM) for storing identity related information, a microcircuit, a magnetic recordable strip and an incorporated capsule adapted for storing a biological sample of the individual. The card is waterproof and may include a laminated or printed photograph, developed fingerprint, point of contact telephone number, magnetic recordable strip, and capsule containing a sample of biological origin. The identification system facilitates the production of a permanent identification card containing information necessary to positively identify a human being. The system will also include a means to check and verify the identity of the card owner through DNA sampling and testing.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:37:59 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/22/05
6,859,235 Adaptively deinterlacing video on a per pixel basis
Issued: February 22, 2005
Filed: May 14, 2001
U.S. Class: 348/448
Abstract: Adaptive deinterlacing of interlaced video to generate a progressive frame on a per pixel basis. Two consecutive fields of interlaced video are converted into a frame of progressive video. One of the fields is replicated to generate half the lines in the progressive frame. Each of the pixels in the other half of the progressive frame are generated pixel-by-pixel. For a given output position of the pixel in the other half of the progressive frame, a correlation is estimated between the corresponding pixel in the non-replicated field and at least one vertically adjacent pixel of the replicated field, and optionally one or more vertically adjacent pixels in the non-replicated fields. Also, three consecutive input fields of interlaced video may be converted into two output fields of interlaced video on a per pixel basis taking into consideration differences in the consecutive input fields.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:37:10 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/22/05
6,859,875 Diagnostic method and apparatus for business growth strategy
Issued: February 22, 2005
Filed: January 11, 2001
U.S. Class: 705/10
Abstract: A method and apparatus for quantitatively determining the optimal mix of strategies to drive growth (i.e., in company profits). The growth strategy mix includes a reenergize component, an adjacency component and a transformation component. Company data of companies exhibiting successful growth is obtained. From the obtained company data, a model that quantifies respective amounts of reenergizing activities, adjacency activities and transformation activities for different strategic growth mixes is defined. The model is applied to a given company such that respective quantitative amounts of a reenergize component, an adjacency component and a transformation component are defined and form a strategic growth mix for the given company. The invention may be computer implemented to provide an interactive questionnaire for quantitatively determining a growth strategy mix. A non-electronic questionnaire implementation provides a calculation tool of the present invention as well.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:36:11 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/22/05
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:10:38 am into the following categories: OG Notice Links
02/22/05
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:09:41 am into the following categories: OG Notice Links
02/22/05
Sughrue Mion, PLLC, a global intellectual property law firm, today announced that a U.S. District Court judge has dismissed in its entirety a claim by Tony Colida against Sughrue's client NEC USA, Inc. (NEC), for patent infringement in the design of NEC's Model 515 cellular phones. In a summary judgment ruling, Judge Richard J. Holwell of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found the design patents from Mr. Colida were "strikingly dissimilar" to the overall appearance of NEC's phone and stated that "no reasonable juror could find infringement" of either of Mr. Colida's two patents. "We are pleased with the Court's decision and to come away with a successful defense for NEC," said Howard L. Bernstein, a partner at Sughrue working on the NEC case.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 10:21:29 am into the following categories: In The News
02/22/05
Medtronic Inc. announced Friday that a Delaware jury ruled against the company in a patent infringement case with Guidant Corp. The jury found that Minneapolis-based Medtronic's S7 and Driver stents infringe on Indianapolis-based Guidant's Lau stent patents. Medtronic has a manufacturing plant in Fort Worth that employs 200 and makes powered surgical instruments. The Fort Worth plant does not make the stents at issue in the patent case.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:02:51 am into the following categories: In The News
02/22/05
Rambus Inc., a designer of high-speed computer memory chips, destroyed documents knowing that competitors would need them to defend against the company's patent infringement lawsuits, a lawyer told a federal judge today. The lawyer, John Desmarais, is representing German chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG in a retrial of a patent infringement case initiated by Rambus before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne in Richmond, Virginia. Desmarais presented video-taped witness testimony that he said supports Infineon's defense. ``We are confident that the hearing will help to clarify and determine the facts surrounding Rambus's document destruction, false statements made under oath and other litigation misconduct,'' Infineon spokesman Sawato Das said. Earlier this month Payne said he wouldn't rule on Infineon's motion to dismiss Rambus's lawsuit until he heard testimony from witnesses about Infineon's ``serious charges'' that Rambus purposely destroyed documents and then made misrepresentations in court to ensure that chip companies couldn't challenge its patents.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:01:50 am into the following categories: In The News
02/15/05
6,854,976 Breast model teaching aid and method
Issued: February 15, 2005
Filed: October 29, 2003
U.S. Class: 434/273
Abstract: Medical personnel and lay persons are provided with a training aid to practice finding a cancerous lump in a human breast. A spherical ball is sized to simulate a cancerous lump. The ball is glued to the plunger of a microswitch. The microswitch is encased in a silicone insert which is molded inside a life like model of a human breast. When the ball is pushed down against the plunger, an alarm device such as light is activated.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:18:23 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/15/05
6,856,986 Answer collection and retrieval system governed by a pay-off meter
Issued: February 15, 2005
Filed: October 9, 2000
U.S. Class: 707/1
Abstract: The invention is a set of processes for improving the methods of a self-organizing database governed by a payoff meter process. The inventive set of processes processes enable a user who is seeking an answer not in the database to make a commitment to buy the answer if it is supplied within a period of time. A second set of processes enables a user who is seeking to supply an answer, to claim exclusive rights to supply that answer for a period of time.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:17:27 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/15/05
6,856,673 Targeted advertising in a telephone dialing system
Issued: February 15, 2005
Filed: March 13, 2002
U.S. Class: 379/114.13
Abstract: A system and method for providing targeted advertising to telephone callers in mid-dial. The invention monitors the dialing activities of a caller. When a caller enters a partial desired telephone number, an embodiment of the present invention receives the partial number and determines whether an advertisement should be presented to the caller. If all of the appropriate conditions are met, a selected advertisement is transmitted to the caller's telephony device and the caller is given the opportunity to respond to the advertisement before the dialing operation completes.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:16:32 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/15/05
6,856,249 System and method of keeping track of normal behavior of the inhabitants of a house
Issued: February 15, 2005
Filed: March 7, 2002
U.S. Class: 340/573.1
Abstract: A home control system for automatic detection and warning of abnormal behavior includes a unit for observing behavior in a predetermined area under surveillance, a unit for processing an output of observed behavior from the unit for observing, and a pattern recognition module for recognizing whether the observed behavior is associated with predefined normal behaviors. The detection of predetermined normal behavior in progress leads to a provision of an anticipatory action. Upon recognition that the observed behavior is abnormal, an alarm signal is triggered to remind the user.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:15:29 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/15/05
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 10:35:39 am into the following categories: OG Notice Links
02/15/05
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 10:33:07 am into the following categories: OG Notice Links
02/15/05
Software maker Ariba will pay ePlus $37 million to settle a patent infringement lawsuit.
Herndon-based ePlus won a court case against Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Ariba last week, when a federal jury in Alexandria ruled Ariba had deliberately infringed on ePlus patents. A hearing on damages was scheduled for Monday before the settlement was announced. Both companies agree to drop claims against each other. The two companies will also cross-license each other's patents. "This settlement is in the best interest of ePlus and our customers, as it eliminates the trial and the inevitable appeals process which can take several years," says ePlus chief executive Phillip Norton in a statement.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:15:06 am into the following categories: In The News
02/15/05
Permlight Products announced today that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Electraled in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The lawsuit alleges that Electraled's "FLEX" LED system infringes Permlight's patents, including U.S. Patent No. 6,712,486 entitled "Mounting Arrangement for Light Emitting Diodes" and U.S. Patent No. 6,846,093, entitled "Modular Mounting Arrangement and Method for Light Emitting Diodes". The patents are related to Permlight's popular RL, SL, DL, DL2, DL3, DSL, PaletteLight, PaletteLight MINI. Twister and EL Blanco White LED product families. The complaint requests damages and an injunction against infringement.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:14:03 am into the following categories: In The News
02/15/05
PalmOne has come to an out-of-court accord with Peer-to-Peer Systems (PTP), the technology holding company that sued the PDA pioneer in January 2003 alleging patent infringement. Terms of the settlement were not made public - or, rather, they'll tell you but you won't be able to tell anyone else. Back in 2003, PTP claimed that the ability of two or more PalmOne - then trading as Palm - devices to connect wirelessly for the purpose of multi-player gaming amounted to an infringement of US patent 5,618,045, which PTP maintains on behalf of Jerusalem-based inventors Michael Kagan and Ian Solomon. They filed the patent in 1995. It was granted two years later. It's a very general patent that covers pretty much any device that can connect wirelessly to another on an ad hoc basis for the purpose of playing games. When the PalmOne lawsuit was initiated, PTP was already in litigation with Cybiko, a designer of handheld games consoles. It recently reach a settlement with that company too. Again, the terms of the agreement are shrouded in secrecy.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:13:06 am into the following categories: In The News
02/08/05
6,853,980 System for selecting, distributing, and selling fonts
Issued: February 8, 2005
Filed: September 7, 1999
U.S. Class: 705/27
Abstract: A computerized system, such as one practiced with an e-commerce font server, enables a user to select one or more fonts. According to one aspect, a user can select a font from a multi-dimensional font space defined by the attribute values of a plurality of fonts. The system repeatedly 1) enables the user to select a spatial specification defined relative to the currently selected font in the space; 2) determines which fonts, if any, match the spatial specification; 3) displays character-font shapes of those fonts; and 4) makes one of the displayed fonts a new currently selected font relative to which a new spatial specification can be selected. The spatial specification can merely selects fonts which are closest in the attribute space, can select the nearest font in a selected direction, or can provide more complex spatial selection. According to another aspect of the invention, a server makes fonts available to clients over a network. The server uploads from a client an image of one or more shapes belonging to a given font and performs pattern matching to select which fonts stored on the server best match the uploaded font shapes. The server downloads displayable font shapes for each such best matching font so a user can select one or more of them. It uploads information from the client identifying one or more fonts selected for downloading, and then downloads the selected fonts to the client in a form suitable for use by the client's operating system.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:20:36 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/08/05
6,853,478 Color display with molecular light valve
Issued: February 8, 2005
Filed: June 13, 2002
U.S. Class: 359/296
Abstract: A molecular light valve mechanism is used for imaging on an adjacent pixel-patterned construct. An electrical fringe field or through field is used to transform targeted pixels by switching light valve molecules between a first non-transparent state and transparent state, providing information content on the adjacent pixel-patterned imaging layer.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:19:32 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/08/05
6,852,039 Golf ball with textual instructions positioned thereon
Issued: February 8, 2005
Filed: March 13, 2001
U.S. Class: 473/280
Abstract: The present invention includes an instructional golf ball including a spherical body having an outer surface with a plurality of dimples formed therein. Situated on the outer surface of the body is instructional indicia. Such instructional indicia include text for providing guidance as to the manner in which a user should play the golf ball. During use, a user might read the instructional indicia while addressing the golf ball, and address and/or strike the golf ball in the manner indicated by the instructional indicia.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:18:29 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/08/05
6,853,717 Method and apparatus for eliminating unwanted telephone calls
Issued: February 8, 2005
Filed: May 31, 2001
U.S. Class: 379/210.02
Abstract: In accordance with the principles of the present invention, unwanted calls may be prevented. In particular, information about a particular destination is stored in a registry at a clearinghouse server located within a network, e.g., the public telephone network. When a call is being made to the destination, it is routed to the clearinghouse server. Identifying information such as caller-id data is retrieved and the registry is searched. If the caller is registered as being approved, the call is forwarded with information indicating that the call is "approved". If the caller is not registered or is unknown, the call is forwarded with information indicating that call is "unregistered" or "unavailable". A user at the destination is then able to quickly determine if the call is unwanted. Alternatively, a user may be compensated for answering calls from an "unregistered" caller, thereby encouraging businesses to focus their telemarketing efforts by imposing a cost on them for unsolicited phone calls and providing compensation to users accepting calls from unregistered callers.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:17:42 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/08/05
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:11:09 am into the following categories: OG Notice Links
02/08/05
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:10:22 am into the following categories: OG Notice Links
02/08/05
Ruling Determines Metrologic Must Resume Paying Royalties to Symbol and Certain Metrologic Products Are Not Licensed Under Symbol IP. Symbol Technologies, Inc. today announced that an arbitrator in New York City has issued a ruling in an intellectual property licensing agreement dispute between Symbol and Metrologic Instruments, Inc. The arbitrator has ruled that certain Metrologic handheld bar code scanning products are covered by a Symbol license and, therefore, Metrologic must pay Symbol royalties, plus interest, for sales of those products. The ruling also determined that certain Metrologic products are totally unlicensed regarding Symbol's bar code scanning intellectual property.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:08:51 am into the following categories: In The News
02/08/05
In a twist on the classic David and Goliath formula, Web giant Yahoo is suing Menlo Park, Calif., start-up Xfire for patent infringement. The basis of the complaint, filed last week in a U.S. District Court in Northern California and served on Xfire representatives two days ago, alleges that Xfire is willfully infringing on a patent controlled by Yahoo. The patent, referred to as the '125 patent for the last three numbers of U.S. Patent No. 6,699,125, was granted to two then-Yahoo employees, Brian Gottlieb and Chris Kirmse, on March 2, 2004. As is typical, ownership of inventions by employees remains with the corporation the employees work for. Such ownership rights are usually sealed in hiring contracts signed by employees when they're hired.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:07:09 am into the following categories: In The News
02/08/05
OneSource Technologies, Inc. announced today that an agreement was reached with NCR Corporation to resolve a dispute and provide for the settlement of lawsuits that originated in 2003 between First Financial Computer Services, Inc., a private company that merged with OneSource in November 2004, and NCR. As a result of the settlement, OneSource has acquired licenses for all past, present and future use of all NCR's item-processing diagnostic software and manuals, and has become a fully authorized Independent Service Organization (ISO) and an authorized Associate Reseller of NCR Equipment. With the resolution of disputes and settlement of the lawsuits filed by each company against the other, neither First Financial nor NCR admit or have admitted any liability on the respective claims asserted against them in the lawsuits.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:05:33 am into the following categories: In The News
02/08/05
Shares of electronic bond trader eSpeed Inc. tumbled nearly 13% after a court ruled that technology used by its biggest rival did not infringe on an eSpeed patent. Manhattan-based eSpeed saw its stock shed as much as 12.8%, during afternoon trading. The ruling came in a pretrial motion Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Kent Jordan, before the beginning of a patent infringement trial. In June 2003, eSpeed, which is partly owned by Cantor Fitzgerald, sued Jersey City-based BrokerTec, claiming the electronic trading arm of ICAP Plc copied its patented trading system. BrokerTec denied the claim, saying the two methods differed--BrokerTec's gives a buyer and seller three seconds of trading exclusivity before allowing others to participate, while eSpeed's does not put a time limit on exclusivity. ESpeed says it will appeal the ruling and may also try to prove infringement by another Icap unit, Garban, according to Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal's online edition.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:04:29 am into the following categories: In The News
02/08/05
Lantronix, Inc. today announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Digi International, Inc. The suit, filed in the U.S. Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, states that Digi is infringing U.S. Patent No. 4,972,470 ("'470 patent") for a "Programmable Connector." The suit alleges that several of the Digi device server and other server products infringe the '470 patent. The patent holder, Acticon Technologies LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Patent Corporation International (GPCI), has joined Lantronix in the suit. The '470 Patent is for a programmable "smart" connector between two or more devices with at least one of the devices being capable of programming the connector through an interface. Lantronix is a pioneer in device servers that provide an easy and economical way to connect virtually any device with a serial port to a network and is the exclusive licensee of the '470 patent within the device server field of use.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:02:52 am into the following categories: In The News
02/01/05
Invented by Microsoft employees, and assigned to Mr. Gates, not Microsoft. Hmm.. I wonder if it was invented on company time?
6,850,978 Method and system for property notification
Issued: February 1, 2005
Filed: November 18, 2002
U.S. Class: 709/224
Abstract: A method system for tracking the state of an entity (e.g., an object) on behalf of a client (e.g., an application program). The states of an entity include up and down. The tracking system of the present invention receives a request from a client to track the state of an entity. The tracking system then watches the state of the entity to detect when the entity enters the up state. When the entity enters the up state, the tracking system performs a behavior that is specified by the client to be performed when the entity enters the up state. When the entity, is in the up state, the tracking system monitors the state of the entity to detect when the entity enters the down state. When the entity enters the down state, the tracking system performs a behavior that is specified by the client to be performed when the entity enters the down state. When the tracking system receives a request from the client for a pointer to the entity, the tracking system determines the current state of the entity and either provides a pointer to the entity or indicates that a pointer is not being provided.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 11:01:50 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/01/05
6,850,862 Tactile kinesthetic assistant
Issued: February 1, 2005
Filed: September 7, 2000
U.S. Class: 382/312
Abstract: A tactile kinesthetic assistant is a device that allows a person to use the senses of sight, touch and hearing to gather information. Tactile kinesthetic assistants can be used, for example, to help a person retrieve information related to a specific word or phrase (e.g., a student learning to read), to allow a person to determine the status of a person or thing (e.g., a nurse retrieving medical records), to allow a person to obtain current information (e.g., a stock broker retrieving stock prices). In one embodiment, a tactile kinesthetic assistant includes a thimble and an ear piece. The thimble includes a scanner that allows the user to scan one or more words. The representations of the one or more words are used to retrieve information via a network and the retrieved information is provided to the user through an ear piece.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 10:59:49 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/01/05
6,850,225 Color-coded tactile data-entry devices
Issued: February 1, 2005
Filed: April 30, 1999
U.S. Class: 345/168
Abstract: A data-entry device having manually operable input means arranged in zones for operation by corresponding fingers of a user. The device includes means for color coding such that each zone is assigned a color and successive zones display colors ordered according to their relative positions within a spectrum-ordered color pattern. In one embodiment the device includes a keyboard, such as for a computer or typewriter, wherein the keys of the keyboard are color-coded according to a spectrum-ordered color pattern. The invention also provides a method of color coding a data-entry device.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 10:58:34 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/01/05
6,850,208 Apparatus and method of merchandizing products
Issued: February 1, 2005
Filed: August 6, 2001
U.S. Class: 345/1.1
Abstract: A display system for displaying products at a store, the display system includes a first module configured to display a first cleaning product, a second module adjacent the first module and configured to display a second cleaning product which is related to the first cleaning product, and an information display coupled to the first and second modules and configured to be visible when cleaning products are being displayed. The information display provides graphical information that associates the first cleaning product with a particular cleaning task and associates the second cleaning product with the first cleaning product. A method of merchandizing cleaning products includes the step of providing a plurality of cleaning products, organizing the plurality of cleaning products according to a particular cleaning task, providing one or more information displays configured to identify a particular cleaning product for the particular cleaning task, to pictorially display an associated work environment, and to provide related product information.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 10:57:40 am into the following categories: Patents of the Day
02/01/05
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), China's largest chip maker, has settled a legal battle with rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) over allegations of patent infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets, the two companies said Sunday. "We are pleased that the litigation has been settled peacefully and believe that the settlement is in the best interests of the company's long term development," said Richard Chang, SMIC's president and CEO, in a prepared statement. Under terms of the settlement agreement, SMIC will pay TSMC US$175 million over six years. SMIC will pay US$30 million each year for the first five years and US$25 million in the sixth year. In addition, TSMC and SMIC have agreed to license their patent portfolios to each other through December 2010 under a cross-license agreement, they said.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:10:22 am into the following categories: In The News
02/01/05
Shares of Merck & Co. fell more than 10 per cent on Friday after a U.S. court ruled that the company's patent on one of its top-selling drug was invalid. In reversing a lower court decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., said Merck's patent on its once-a-week version of the osteoporosis drug Fosamax is invalid. The court decision clears the way for generic competition against the drug possibly as early as 2008. Merck's patent isn't due to expire until 2018.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:09:14 am into the following categories: In The News
02/01/05
Universal Electronics Inc. and Universal Remote Control Inc. today announced their amicable resolution of patent litigation pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. While the specific terms of the settlement are confidential and cannot be disclosed, the settlement involves UEI's grant of licenses under certain of its remote control patents.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:06:31 am into the following categories: In The News
02/01/05
OutlookSoft Corporation, a leading provider of business performance management (BPM) solutions for Fortune 1000 and Global 2000 companies, today announced that it has filed claims of patent infringement against Hyperion Solutions. OutlookSoft's claim, filed as part of a counterclaim in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, charges that Hyperion is infringing on two OutlookSoft patents directly relating to OutlookSoft's Everest software application. OutlookSoft is seeking damages for past infringement, including treble damages for willful infringement, and an injunction against further infringement. Additionally, OutlookSoft filed its answer to Hyperion's previously asserted patent infringement claims, denying infringement. OutlookSoft also filed a declaratory judgment claiming that Hyperion's two asserted patents are not infringed, are invalid and unenforceable.
Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:05:11 am into the following categories: In The News
|
|
Calendar
Links
|
