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Microsoft patents "avoid ghetto" feature for GPS
- gerggerg 15y agoWait, I thought you couldn't patent abstract ideas. This is a big bummer for more than just the businesses that will be routed around. The patent is essentially on just the thought of delivering a route based on anything other than shortest or fastest. No novel or non obvious inventions are described. In fact, no inventions are described at all. This is saddening.
- monochromatic 15y agoDid you read the claims?
- gerggerg 15y agoThey're comprised of a bunch of abstract ways of getting a route other than fastest or shortest to a pedestrian. States no inventions. Just the concept of route finding based on criteria other than shortest or fastest.
- monochromatic 15y agoThey seem relatively concrete to me.
- gerggerg 15y agoCare to elaborate?
- monochromatic 15y agoClaim 1. Computer storage media having embodied thereon computer-useable instructions that, when executed, implement a system, the system comprising: a search component that locates at least one information source, retains pedestrian history from a plurality of pedestrians and addresses of at least one information source that has a history of providing reliable information, identifies low quality information sources that do not provide information used in route generation, and blocks information obtainment for the low quality information sources; a gather component that obtains information related to pedestrian travel including security information, weather information, and terrain information, wherein the gather component obtains the information from the at least one located information source; an artificial intelligence component that makes at least one inference regarding a route based on a previous pedestrian behavior; a filter component that determines, based on the at least one inference, the information that is likely relevant and deletes information that is commonly of little value in part through examination of previously produced routes; an analysis component that determines an importance of the information to a user, estimates how likely the information is to change, and chooses if the user should reach a destination through a pedestrian route and/or through a conventional route; a generation component that obtains the information from the gather component and produces a direction set for use by a pedestrian based at least part upon the obtained information; and a resolution component that resolves a conflict between an information source with a financial interest and an information source without a financial interest and instructs the generation component to produce the direction set based upon the information source that does not have a financial interest in providing the direction set. That sure seems like an awful lot of structure and detail for a vague, abstract idea.
- wisty 15y agotl;dr: "A database of relevant information with a quality / spam filter, stuff which pulls in more information, some AI, a filter that throws out useless data, corrects itself based on previous performance, a bit which personalises the results based on the user, a bit which puts the data together in a useful format, and a bit that identifies and blocks SEO." Reddit and google are both prior art, I think. But they forgot to mention that you are applying this general approach to pedestrians.
- fierarul 15y agoIt has as much structure as a boring Sci-Fi book. I find it baffling that they accept patents where I just add "an artificial intelligence component" until I present something that might or might not actually exist but I get a chance to derive future revenues on it.
- monochromatic 15y agoThey're not supposed to. If the examiner has reason to believe that the patent's specification doesn't provide enough detail to allow a person of ordinary skill to make and use the invention, he should issue an "enablement" rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112. Note that I haven't read the specification of this patent, and have no opinion on its enablement or lack thereof.
- guard-of-terra 15y agoThe only non-obvious idea there is "a gather component..." and it's pretty abstract. Everything else is straightforward.
- ajross 15y agoParagraphs are not "structure" and words are not "detail".
- gerggerg 15y agoEvery one of those is an abstract component. Making up an abstract system. There are no algorithms, no methods, no inventions. It's a collection of abstract ideas. The purpose of patents is to give incentive for the inventors to publish their inventions publicly. So that after the patents expire the public can benefit from the knowledge contained in the patents. This patent circumvents that by only stating a collection of abstract ideas. Then they can actually invent something and have the best of both worlds. They get a legal monopoly on the concept as well as obscurity from the public of the actual invention.
- meepmorp 15y agoJesus. They really got a patent on abstractly using computers and data to route pedestrians places in scenarios beyond time and distance based routes. This isn't an invention. This is a conversation you have over drinks after work that maybe becomes a product idea.
- monochromatic 15y agoThey got a patent on the claims, not the abstract.
- meepmorp 15y agoI read the claims. That's still not an invention.
- fedd 15y agothey'd better invent 'minimize number of left turns', novice drivers would thank them
- Symmetry 15y agoI wonder if UPS's existing "minimize number of left turns" navigation programs would constitute prior art?
- fedd 15y agoyou mean it's already invented? than it should. (i just never met this function in programs i used)
- munin 15y agoUPS uses this in the direction software their delivery vans use. minimization of left turns means the vans get everywhere faster and more packages are delivered in a given day.
- moheeb 15y agoI wish the US/state governments would do the same thing. I hate how the green left-turn arrow is the first thing to light at a stoplight. This penalizes efficiency and rewards a behavior that costs us all time and energy. Why is it like this? The only valid reason I can think of is that turn lanes would tend to back up at most lights in busy cities. I would think correcting this behavior would help reduce the number of vehicles turning, to offset the backup.
- epikur 15y agoYou should check out the "Michigan left" which is being increasingly implemented around the country. A Michigan left prevents backup by having people turn right and then do a U-turn further down the road at a designated area.
- tryke 15y agoI would be interested to see if this works at all here in Baltimore.
- ChuckMcM 15y agoI was wondering if that was a statement on Baltimore :-) So if you're in the bayshore (a pretty rough part of SF) and you ask for directions does it simply say 'shelter in place'? Or maybe 'call for an escort'? I totally agree with the sentiment that this isn't a patent any more than patenting a TV that doesn't tune in Adult channels, oh wait, damn.
- seagreen 15y agoHow hard would it be to provide drone support to out of their depth pedestrians? That would be an interesting startup. ... Whoever does this please don't sell to Apple or FB.
- moheeb 15y agoYou mean kill the civilians nearby the pedestrians? That would be an interesting startup!! Someone has been beta testing in the Middle East for some years now...this tech can't be far off.
- seagreen 15y agoI was actually semi-serious, and thinking cameras and tear gas, not firearms. CONTINUED Basically a private protective service for people that don't have the money to afford live security guards.
- paulhauggis 15y agoAfter driving across the US this past summer (and finding myself in some not so nice areas), I thought of this exact same thing.
- lansing 15y agoLink-bait title conflates "ghetto" with "high crime areas". It's disrespectful to the millions of individuals of various groups who have been forced to live in ghettos.
- chc 15y agoThat is the common meaning of the term nowadays. Many people are actually surprised when they first encounter the original usage as the name for a place where Jews were forced to live. I'm sorry if you consider it disrespectful, but I don't think we should blame the editor for using words as they are commonly understood. The modern usage does derive from the traditional meaning, though — the idea is that certain groups are forced there by socioeconomic conditions over which they have very little control.
- lansing 15y agoI disagree. The respectable "modern" variant of ghetto is still to refer to people or things of a group that are constrained to a limited area. There is the "gourmet ghetto" in North Berkeley, for example. It seems like you're referring to the slang usage of the term, which is mainly used by upper middle class youth when referring to things outside their economic class and daily reality, is pejorative, and is often tinged with racism.
- freehunter 15y ago"From a statistical perspective, ghettos are typically high crime areas relative to other parts of the city." [1] [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghetto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghetto)
- lansing 15y agoNo doubt, but the converse is not necessarily true. There are many high crime areas that are not ghettos, in that they have no particular ethnic make-up. There are even relatively high crime areas that are neither ghettos, nor low-income communities.
- prodigal_erik 15y agoEVE Online would seem to be prior art. The system keeps statistics on players killed recently, and the autopilot has an option which avoids dangerous routes (or those where you are persona non grata for some local NPCs).
- hermannj314 15y agoThis patent was filed by Microsoft in December of 2007 and according to Wikipedia the feature you describe was added in March of 2009 to EVE Online (at least 'change to auto-pilot features...' [I don't play the game so I don't know]) Would that mean they are in violation of the patent?
- ovi256 15y agoOnly if the patent applies to general navigation technologies, and not only GPS.
- monochromatic 15y ago> The patent, written in a combination of tech-speak and legalese, was awarded to Microsoft earlier this week. This must seriously be the first patent the writer has ever looked at.
- lesterbuck 15y agoAt SXSW 2007, I attended a talk about Python code for Symbian phones. One idea that the speaker threw out was having the phone start to vibrate if you were approaching a high crime part of the city. I wonder if that counts toward prior art or public disclosure of the basic idea of routing around dangerous areas?
- larrik 15y agoFrom reading the title, I imagined a fix for Google's habit of telling me to get off the highway in the middle of the downtown of certain cities around here. I always think "no, Google, that is definitely NEVER the fastest route, no matter WHAT the speed limit supposedly is." This is just for pedestrians, though.
- zmonkeyz 15y agoI'm pretty sure it triangulates by a combination of liquor stores, nail salons and pawn shops.
- Canada 15y agoHow is stuff like this patentable? There should be fines for owning a patent that has claims revoked.