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Waving to your television
This is an excerpt of an article on a future way to control your TV
without the old remote control:
"Television viewers will soon be able to change channels with a wave
of the hand. A new TV set with a chip-based infrared sensor embedded in its
front maps the depth of objects in the room, making it possible to detect hand
motions – even when the lights are low. A sharp wave powers up the set;
a circular motion flips the channel; an up-and-down motion controls volume. The
product is expected to be available in 2010."
Using esp@cenet try finding
patents relating to gesture based remote controls for devices like TVs.
Source: Canesta Press-Kit, available at
http://canesta.com/corporate/press-kit
Solution to the previous quiz
Patents everywhere
The author of the quiz never loses sight of patents, even on
holiday. The advertisement board depicted below was found in an American
supermarket. It shows a so-called "banana keeper" on which you can hang bananas
so they ripen more evenly. Additional advantages of this product, such as
keeping the bananas fresher for a longer period, are listed at the bottom of
the picture. This product is patented. Try finding patents covering this or
similar "hangers" using esp@cenet®.
Solution
Step one: To find similar patents, identify the most pertinent
aspects of the invention – common technical features that may be found
in related patents – and for each aspect, define a comprehensive set of
synonyms. To perform the search, the following set of synonyms can be combined
as keywords in the patent database.
In this case, the following concepts – groups of synonyms
covering the different aspects of the invention – can be defined:
- banana, fruit
- hang*
- ripe*, rott*
The combination “banana hang*" yields a
preliminary
list containing several relevant documents:
Banana hanger
JP2006296222
Simple assembly banana hanger
US2004124323
Banana hanger,
US5826843
Step 2: Use the classification assigned to relevant documents to
refine and complete the search.
One of the classification symbols assigned to the above documents
corresponds to hangers for perishable goods:
A47F7/00J1
Using this classification as a search criterion combined with
"banana*" yields this
list
of additional interesting documents, like:
Banana bunch support and suspension device
US6682032
Device for suspending object such as fruit
US6416026
This search cannot be presumed to be complete, but gives a first
indication on the availability of patents covering this type of product.
Additional documents could be found by extending the search strategy to other
keywords and other classification symbols. A Google Patents search covering
banana hanger indicates
further
documents.
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