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Fun patent application of the day: location history
It would appear that Apple has not just implemented a location database on
its devices; it is
trying to patent the entire concept. Claim 1 reads: "A
computer-implemented method performed by a location aware device, the
method comprising: configuring a processor of the location aware device to
collect network information broadcast from a number of network transmitters
over a time span; and storing the network information and corresponding
timestamps in a database as location history data."
Perhaps it is in everybody's
interest not to challenge this one.
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Fun patent application of the day: location history Posted Apr 27, 2011 15:21 UTC (Wed) by eMBee (guest, #70889) [Link]
"Perhaps it is in everybody's interest not to challenge this one."
why? just because this data can be abused, doesn't mean there is no good use for it. when i am traveling i want a record of the locatiosn i have been to so that i can later review my trip, add geolocation info to photos and what not.
currently i am doing this using gps, but that costs more battery, so if i can do this tracking by using cell-tower locations then i could go a lot further without draining the battery of my phone.
what is important is that the user is aware of what is going on and can turn this feature off. but please don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.
greetings, eMBee.
Fun patent application of the day: location history Posted Apr 27, 2011 15:26 UTC (Wed) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] Sorry, that was meant to be at least a little bit funny.The actual implications of such a patent could be unpleasant. If one reads "network transmitters" to include "GPS satellites," then any GPS tracking application would be in danger. That said, there might be just a wee bit of prior art out there for this kind of thing...
Fun patent application of the day: location history Posted Apr 28, 2011 6:09 UTC (Thu) by SecretEuroPatentAgentMan (guest, #66656) [Link]
#include TINLA
#include IANYL
Apple is not having much fun with this application though they evidently had sufficiently high hopes to bring it into international phase where they let the European Patent Office examine it. The public registers show that the EPO was fairly thorough.
The application comprises 26 claims, all of which were found to be lacking novelty over 2 patent application and lacking inventive step in view of 3 more patent application. Interestingly the examiner chose to cite only US patent applications which means that not only will these have to be reported to USPTO in an IDS but since all are from the US the USPTO Examiner is also likely to actually use these.
This does not mean that Apple cannot get at least something out of this application as it is normal to go broadly in initial stages. The question is if they went so broadly as to render the search reports mostly useless. Next stage for Apple is to decide if to proceed to national/regional phase where further documents can be cited. In some countries also third party observations can be made.
In a lot of countries State of the Art is wide ranging. I know even childrens comics has been used to sink a patent application.
Fun patent application of the day: location history Posted Apr 29, 2011 3:36 UTC (Fri) by eMBee (guest, #70889) [Link]
i'd actually hope that it is interpreted to include "GPS satellites", because then any GPS tracking application would be prior art.
greetings, eMBee.
Fun patent application of the day: location history Posted Apr 27, 2011 16:00 UTC (Wed) by dambacher (subscriber, #1710) [Link]
Is it prior art if google did this "by accident" in germany during it's street view drives?
Fun patent application of the day: location history Posted Apr 27, 2011 17:48 UTC (Wed) by jd (guest, #26381) [Link]
Basically, anything that logs handovers on a MobileIP or NEMO network will violate the patent, so under no circumstance install syslog on a device using WiMax.
Ooops, too late.
Fun patent application of the day: location history Posted Apr 27, 2011 22:07 UTC (Wed) by dmarti (subscriber, #11625) [Link] Hasn't "Wardriving" been around for quite a while?
Fun patent application of the day: location history Posted Apr 28, 2011 3:07 UTC (Thu) by Hausvib6 (guest, #70606) [Link]
I think this a great news for all people, we can stop worrying about devices logging someone's location for malicious intent. As the owner of the patent, I believe that Apple won't license it to anyone since only Apple can be trusted with such complicated and dangerous technology. Apple won't misuse this, they will use it to help people accomplish great things in their life with their magical iDevices.
Fun patent application of the day: location history Posted Apr 28, 2011 5:17 UTC (Thu) by ghane (subscriber, #1805) [Link]
(Pretending corbet was serious)
But what if someone uses this, and Apple does not sue? Then Apple's patent does not help me block everyone else.
Would I have standing to sue? Could I go to Court and ask for an injunction: "Sir, Android is stealing Apple's property, and Apple is doing nothing about it!"?
My head hurts.
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