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> So the novelty is that they separate R,G and B planes before compression? > Yeah, it's pretty fundamental and obvious now, but at the time no one was selling

> So the novelty is that they separate R,G and B planes before compression? > Yeah, it's pretty fundamental and obvious now, but at the time no one was selling a professional video camera with a single chip for that price. It was a different world. I don't see how no such cameras being on the market makes the software any less obvious, unless we are totally abdicating the meaning of "obvious" to reduce it to "non-novel". But if that were the law's intent, it wouldn't require non-obviousness and novelty - just one or the other would suffice.

Zak 4y ago
The obviousness test seems to vary by jurisdiction, but typically requires that someone with ordinary skill in the field would not likely come upon that solution[0]. It must also be novel[1]. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventive_step_and_non-obviousness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventive_step_and_non-obvious... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelty_(patent) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelty_(patent)
- DiogenesKynikos 4y ago
  > someone with ordinary skill in the field would not likely come upon that solution This requirement often appears to be effectively ignored, as in this case. Compressing the raw data (i.e., before transformations like de-bayering) is a pretty obvious thing to try out. This sort of run-of-the-mill development does not deserve a 20-year monopoly.
  - Zak 4y ago
    Amazon's one-click patent is probably the most famous example of this. Anyone with any database programming experience can figure out "store the customer's payment details and shipping address and use them later to complete purchases". That was also true in 1999. The patent office seems to evaluate the requirements in a manner very favorable to patent applicants/holders. I think that's a bad thing; the criteria for what counts as an invention should be stricter.

Zak 4y ago

The obviousness test seems to vary by jurisdiction, but typically requires that someone with ordinary skill in the field would not likely come upon that solution[0]. It must also be novel[1]. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventive_step_and_non-obviousness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventive_step_and_non-obvious... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelty_(patent) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelty_(patent)

DiogenesKynikos 4y ago
> someone with ordinary skill in the field would not likely come upon that solution This requirement often appears to be effectively ignored, as in this case. Compressing the raw data (i.e., before transformations like de-bayering) is a pretty obvious thing to try out. This sort of run-of-the-mill development does not deserve a 20-year monopoly.
- Zak 4y ago
  Amazon's one-click patent is probably the most famous example of this. Anyone with any database programming experience can figure out "store the customer's payment details and shipping address and use them later to complete purchases". That was also true in 1999. The patent office seems to evaluate the requirements in a manner very favorable to patent applicants/holders. I think that's a bad thing; the criteria for what counts as an invention should be stricter.