4 ms·
Is it possible to sue the patent office itself for crass incompetence? Here's the claims, and they are mental: 1. A system for automatically producing a video
by moocowduckquack 13y ago
Is it possible to sue the patent office itself for crass incompetence?
Here's the claims, and they are mental:
1. A system for automatically producing a video representation of a yoga class configured so a remote viewer enjoys the experience of being in a real yoga class, the system comprising: a studio having a front area and a rear area; an instructor position located in the front area and facing the rear area; a line of sight corridor disposed between the rear area and the instructor; a plurality of students at student positions, facing the instructor position, distributed across the studio between the instructor position and the image capturing device wherein the student positions do not impinge upon the corridor; an image capturing device for capturing video located in the rear area disposed to provide a participatory view from a height of about three feet by capturing through the line of sight corridor, an unobstructed video of the instructor in the instructor position including images of the students disposed along the sides of the line of sight corridor; and sound capture equipment to capture at least audio of the instructions given by the instructor disposed in the instructor position to the students disposed in the student positions.
2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising remote control systems whereby the image capture device pans and zooms.
3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for recording the video.
4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for streaming the video via the Internet.
5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for adding music to the audio.
6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the instructor position includes an instructor's mat and each student position includes a student mat with each student mat disposed normal to the instructor's mat.
7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the corridor becomes wider near the image capture device.
8. A method for automatically producing a video representation of a yoga class configured so a remote viewer enjoys the experience of being in a real yoga class, comprising the steps of: providing a studio having a front area and a rear area; placing an instructor position at the front area of the studio, the instructor position disposed to face the rear area; locating an image capturing device for capturing video in the rear area at a height of about three feet to allow for a participatory view disposed to provide a participatory view from a height of about three feet by capturing an image of the instructor in the instructor position; laying out a line of sight corridor between the image capturing device and the instructor; distributing a plurality of student positions, facing the instructor position, across the studio between the instructor position and the image capturing device wherein the student positions are distributed so as not to impinge upon the corridor; capturing at least audio of the instructions given by the instructor disposed in the instructor position; and capturing a video of the instructor through the line of sight corridor, which video includes images of the students disposed along the sides of the line of sight corridor.
9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising a step of remotely controlling the image capture device.
10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of recording the video.
11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of streaming the video via the Internet.
12. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of adding music to the audio.
13. The method according to claim 8, further comprising a step of placing an instructor's mat in the instructor position and a student mat in each student position with each student mat disposed normal to the instructor's mat.
14. The method according to claim 8, further comprising a step of increasing the width of the corridor near the image capture device.
link to patent - http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,605,152.PN.&OS=PN/8,605,152&RS=PN/8,605,152 http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=H...
- brohee 13y agoThe patent examiner looks like he specializes in highly technical video compression, image stabilizing and the like. This particular patent looks completely out of his usual field of expertise. See for yourself http://patents.justia.com/examiner/nhon-diep http://patents.justia.com/examiner/nhon-diep
- a3n 13y agoHe probably had to go to lunch, and it was faster to stamp "Approved" than to justify disapproval.
- CamperBob2 13y agoExactly. Just as with legislators and judges, there is no incentive whatsoever for a patent examiner to exhibit competence. They get paid the same, win, lose or draw. When they screw up, it's always somebody else's problem.
- moocowduckquack 13y agoI sometimes think that the people in the patent office decided to just pass the stupidest shit as deliberate sabotage in a noble attempt to destroy the system from the inside by making it all seem utterly ridiculous. And they decided that 30 years ago but unfortunately nobody was paying attention and now it just seems normal.
- josaka 13y agoThe claim says images must be captured "from a height of about three feet." Put your cameras at five feet or two feet and feel bad for these folks paying tens of thousands of dollars to own "about three feet."
- analog31 13y agoThis would be a situation where you have to look at the body text, not just the claims, because they could under certain circumstances file an amended claim set, so long as the new claims are anticipated by the body text. Note: I'm not a patent lawyer, but have a handful of patents and have helped my employer with addressing patent related issues.