5 ms·

Did he just describe a DVD/BluRay video recorder or a HD recorder which the harddrive is removable (basically all of them)? That patent is ridiculous.

by timc3 14y ago

ceol 14y ago
It describes a DVR-like device that has the ability to copy media from the Internet to some sort of flash drive to later view on a television. It can also function as a web browser and a video editor. It's quite specific, so I'm not sure why you find it ridiculous.
- Goronmon 14y ago
  Copying files, even a specific implementation, doesn't seem worthy of patent protection.
  - ceol 14y ago
    That would be true if this was just copying files. It's obviously not.
    - tensor 14y ago
      Would you mind explaining the hidden complexity in it? The claims certainly seem obvious and trivial to me as well.
      - ceol 14y ago
        Really? It's pretty specific, and I don't think anything like it exists right now. You would need a device made specifically to download videos from numerous sources onto an fixed internal drive. It would also need to be able to transfer the videos to an internal removable drive (not sure what this means, possibly SD card or removable HDD?) and play them back, edit them, and do additional processing to them. It doesn't sound like any Blu-Ray play I've ever seen. It's more like an Internet DVR device that also lets you edit videos and play them back on your TV from the device. That sounds pretty non-trivial to me.
        Goronmon 14y ago
        One of the things you can do with BitTorrent clients is to have the client look for new torrents in specific locations (new episodes of a show for instance). The client with download the show to whatever location you specified, which could include a USB device if you so chose. That seems pretty similar to me.
        Raphael 14y ago
        It sounds like a computer.
- mistercow 14y ago
  It's specific yes, but it is also obvious.
  - axly 14y ago
    In 2002, it was NOT obvious, and that is the point. Of course, we can look at something like PTZ or a bouncing edge and think, "It's so obvious, how else would you do this?" And Samsung or HTC or even Google could have figured it out and patented it - but they didn't. Apple did, and that is why we are here now.
    - mistercow 14y ago
      Different argument. The patent under discussion in this subthread is that of jury foreman Velvin Hogan, which was completely obvious back in 2001 when he filed it.

Did he just describe a DVD/BluRay video recorder or a HD recorder which the harddrive is removable (basically all of them)? That patent is ridiculous.

by timc3 14y ago

Did he just describe a DVD/BluRay video recorder or a HD recorder which the harddrive is removable (basically all of them)? That patent is ridiculous.

ceol 14y ago

It describes a DVR-like device that has the ability to copy media from the Internet to some sort of flash drive to later view on a television. It can also function as a web browser and a video editor. It's quite specific, so I'm not sure why you find it ridiculous.

Goronmon 14y ago
Copying files, even a specific implementation, doesn't seem worthy of patent protection.
- ceol 14y ago
  That would be true if this was just copying files. It's obviously not.
  - tensor 14y ago
    Would you mind explaining the hidden complexity in it? The claims certainly seem obvious and trivial to me as well.
    - ceol 14y ago
      Really? It's pretty specific, and I don't think anything like it exists right now. You would need a device made specifically to download videos from numerous sources onto an fixed internal drive. It would also need to be able to transfer the videos to an internal removable drive (not sure what this means, possibly SD card or removable HDD?) and play them back, edit them, and do additional processing to them. It doesn't sound like any Blu-Ray play I've ever seen. It's more like an Internet DVR device that also lets you edit videos and play them back on your TV from the device. That sounds pretty non-trivial to me.
      - Goronmon 14y ago
        One of the things you can do with BitTorrent clients is to have the client look for new torrents in specific locations (new episodes of a show for instance). The client with download the show to whatever location you specified, which could include a USB device if you so chose. That seems pretty similar to me.
      - Raphael 14y ago
        It sounds like a computer.
mistercow 14y ago
It's specific yes, but it is also obvious.
- axly 14y ago
  In 2002, it was NOT obvious, and that is the point. Of course, we can look at something like PTZ or a bouncing edge and think, "It's so obvious, how else would you do this?" And Samsung or HTC or even Google could have figured it out and patented it - but they didn't. Apple did, and that is why we are here now.
  - mistercow 14y ago
    Different argument. The patent under discussion in this subthread is that of jury foreman Velvin Hogan, which was completely obvious back in 2001 when he filed it.