Opinionated comments on mobile phone industry news
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All entries are written by Anders Borg, CEO and Consultant of Abiro, that has a long experience in strategic planning, developing embedded and Java software, usability aspects, and the mobile phone industry in general. You can also read the latest Mobile News entries on your phone via wap.abiro.com, and we provide many News Feeds from popular news services. For advertising and contribution queries, please use the feedback form. News feed (local) FeedBurner Feed
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Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Dubious mobile patents
Here are three patents related to mobile phones that are of arguable value, practicality or technical complexity, but interesting all the same. It seems anything can be patented these days. You judge what might become really useful.
Method for simulating an incoming call on a mobile phone
This simply makes your own phone "call" you (at least that's the impression your audience will get), so that you can get out of boring, embarrassing etc moments. The described method is using a timer, but it would have been better if there was a button on your phone that would cause the simulated call, so whenever you see a need to "hide", you can just press that button while your phone is in your pocket. All that is needed is a small application that plays the ringtone. The rest is left to your acting skills and your audience's imagination.
Driver-attentive notification system
(the link is broken, so I point to the textually entry) Why need to press a button to return a message that I can't be disturbed? If I'm so attentive I can actually press a button then I'm probably not very busy. I'd rather like a profile setting called "very busy" or similar that would return a voice or SMS message about my status, e.g. advicing the person to send an e-mail instead. Some phones already have the SMS variety.
Neochroma mobile projector blows up cellphone screens
It seems all misunderstand what this is about, but based on the overexaggerated arguments for this solution and maybe that they say it will take two years to "productify" it (why two years? it's just some plastic and metal), it seems more complicated than it is. It's just a set of mirrors making you able to view the display like those old stereoscopic gizmos. It's all mechanical, and the only really unique thing about this is that it can be used for viewing real stereoscopic imagery by the phone's display showing two such images. Whether the gizmo will be able to change between "both eyes see the same thing" and "one part of the display per eye" is not mentioned. It all sounds bigger than life, but it's not.
Method for simulating an incoming call on a mobile phone
This simply makes your own phone "call" you (at least that's the impression your audience will get), so that you can get out of boring, embarrassing etc moments. The described method is using a timer, but it would have been better if there was a button on your phone that would cause the simulated call, so whenever you see a need to "hide", you can just press that button while your phone is in your pocket. All that is needed is a small application that plays the ringtone. The rest is left to your acting skills and your audience's imagination.
Driver-attentive notification system
(the link is broken, so I point to the textually entry) Why need to press a button to return a message that I can't be disturbed? If I'm so attentive I can actually press a button then I'm probably not very busy. I'd rather like a profile setting called "very busy" or similar that would return a voice or SMS message about my status, e.g. advicing the person to send an e-mail instead. Some phones already have the SMS variety.
Neochroma mobile projector blows up cellphone screens
It seems all misunderstand what this is about, but based on the overexaggerated arguments for this solution and maybe that they say it will take two years to "productify" it (why two years? it's just some plastic and metal), it seems more complicated than it is. It's just a set of mirrors making you able to view the display like those old stereoscopic gizmos. It's all mechanical, and the only really unique thing about this is that it can be used for viewing real stereoscopic imagery by the phone's display showing two such images. Whether the gizmo will be able to change between "both eyes see the same thing" and "one part of the display per eye" is not mentioned. It all sounds bigger than life, but it's not.
