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  • Featured Idaho Patent: Chemical vaporizer for material deposition systems and associated methods

    U.S. Patent Number 8,225,745 – Chemical vaporizer for material deposition systems and associated methods

    Every Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office publishes newly granted patents. This blog post is part of a weekly series in which I pick an interesting new patent that has Idaho connections and briefly describe it.

    Inventors: Eugene P. Marsh  (Boise, ID), David R. Atwell (Boise, ID)

    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc. (Boise, ID)

    Micron is by far the most prolific patent-getter in Idaho. (Of the 29 patents granted today to Idaho inventors or assignees, Micron received 20 of them.) So, if I featured Micron’s patents on my blog at a frequency proportional to the number of patents it receives, I would be talking about Micron in 2/3 of these blog posts. I don’t do that because I like the variety I’ve seen from patent applicants all over the state. Still, every once in a while I see an interesting technology from Micron that I like to feature.

    Today’s featured patent is a chemical vapor deposition system for fabricating integrated circuits. Chemical vapor deposition is a process commonly used to deposit a very thin layer on a semiconductor or other substrate. This invention regulates the amount of solvent introduced into the vaporizer apparatus to optimize the equilibrium and minimize clogging within the vaporizer.

    Link:

  • Featured Idaho Patent: Miniature football helmet bottle liquid bottle pourer

    U.S. Patent Number D663,575 – Miniature football helmet bottle liquid bottle pourer

    Every Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office publishes newly granted patents. This blog post is part of a weekly series in which I pick an interesting new patent that has Idaho connections and briefly describe it.

    Inventors: Randal J. Carroll (Woodstock, GA), L. Holden Morgan (Ketchum, ID), Rex A.  Robinson (Hailey, ID)

    This week’s featured Idaho patent is a design patent for a “miniature football helmet liquid bottle pourer.” As is the case with all design patents, the claimed subject matter is what the patent drawings depict (as opposed to utility patents, in which the claimed subject matter is a text-based description.

    Traditionally, design patents have been rarely used. Recently, however, patent applicants have filed design patent applications in increasing numbers. Because design patents only cover ornamental qualities of an article, this type of patent can often overlap (and complement) copyright and even trademark-based protection. In some cases, a sound intellectual property protection strategy should take advantage of such overlaps to maintain product branding and distinctiveness.

    Link:

  • Featured Idaho Patent: Non-occluding audio headset positioned in the ear canal

    U.S. Patent Number 8,218,799 – Non-occluding audio headset positioned in the ear canal

    Every Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office publishes newly granted patents. This blog post is part of a weekly series in which I pick an interesting new patent that has Idaho connections and briefly describe it.

    Inventors: Matthew Stephen Murphy (Boise, ID), Mali Kristin Murphy (Boise, ID)

    If you ever wished that your earbud headset was even smaller and could be put even farther into your ear, then this is the invention for you. Each speaker is actually inserted into the ear canal and anchored in place with a spring. The speaker is small enough and shaped to not completely fill the ear canal so as to allow the wearer to also hear ambient noises.

    Link:

  • Featured Idaho Patent: Systems and Methods for Performing Wireless Financial Transactions

    U.S. Patent Number 8,214,298 – Systems and Methods for Performing Wireless Financial Transactions

    Every Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office publishes newly granted patents. This blog post is part of a weekly series in which I pick an interesting new patent that has Idaho connections and briefly describe it.

    Inventor: Steven Harvey McCown (Rigby, ID)

    Assignee: RFinity Corporation (Idaho Falls, ID)

    This invention deals with processing financial transactions using wireless technology, and specifically by authorizing a transaction using the respective mobile devices of a buyer and a seller. Essentially, the flow of such a transaction follows this process: The buyer’s device sends the details of the transaction, including the dollar amount and the buyer’s credentials, to the seller’s device using a local wireless network. The seller’s device then sends a request to the buyer’s financial institution for a transfer of funds from the buyer’s financial institution to the seller’s financial institution, after which the buyer’s device sends an authorization for the requested transfer. If the transfer was successful, an acknowledgement is sent to both buyer’s and seller’s devices.

    There is no doubt that the mobile computing sector will continue to increase on an exponential scale and innovators are aware of the huge potential value that a patent like this can hold.

    Link:

  • USPTO Announces New Satellite Offices

    A couple of years ago, the USPTO announced that it would open a satellite office in Detroit. (The Detroit office will open in less than two weeks.) Today, the USPTO announced three additional satellite offices–in Dallas, Denver, and Silicon Valley. It’s too bad that Boise wasn’t selected, but the regions that were selected seem like decent choices as well.

    Link:

  • Featured Idaho Patent: Strap Winder

    U.S. Patent Number 8,205,818 – Strap Winder

    Every Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office publishes newly granted patents. This blog post is part of a weekly series in which I pick an interesting new patent that has Idaho connections and briefly describe it.

    Inventors: Joseph Paul Gonzales (Chubbuck, ID), Donna L. Gonzales (Chubbuck, ID), Fernando B. Gonzales (Pocatello, ID)

    This invention can be used to wind cargo straps or cords. After cargo straps have been unsecured from cargo on trucks or trailers, the straps may commonly be left on the ground, which is generally dirty and therefore bad for the straps. The winder can be worn (slots on the chest plate can engage with a belt or harness) for added convenience.

    One interesting thing about the prosecution of this patent is that the patent was allowed only 11 months after the application date, which is unusually fast. A quick examination of the patent file history shows that the applicants filed a petition to make the application special, which was granted. In this case, the petition was made on the basis of age (one of the applicants is over 65 years of age).

    Link:

  • Featured Idaho Patent: Vector-Specific Haptic Feedback

    U.S. Patent Number 8,203,531 – Vector-Specific Haptic Feedback

    Every Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office publishes new granted patents. I thought some of you would like to read about Idaho-related patents–that is, patents having at least one Idaho inventor or assigned to an Idaho company. I’m going to do a weekly series of blog posts in which I will pick an interesting new patent that has Idaho connections and briefly describe it.

    Inventors: Cody George Peterson (Coeur d’Alene, ID), Andrew Parris Huska; (Post Falls, ID), James William Schlosser (Spokane, WA), Douglas M. Krumpelman (Hayden, ID)

    Assigned to: Pacinian Corporation (Spokane, WA)

    Current video game controllers provide haptic (tactile) feedback to gamers through vibration (using a mechanism similar to that found in most cell phones), which is a non-directional type of feedback. This patent discusses a type of controller feedback system that is directional. When a game system sends certain signals to the controller (the signals will indicate a direction and magnitude), electrically-deformable material move and deform the controller accordingly.

    Examples of devices into which this invention can be implemented include “game controller, hand-held computing device component, mouse, key or keyboard element, PDA component, smart phone component, remote or non-remote controller device, steering device . . .”

    Link:

  • Are You Intellectual Property-Aware?

    Many small and medium business owners don’t know the difference between trademark and copyright, patent and trademark, or design patent and trademark–much less which of these types of IP they actually own. As a result, many business owners miss out on the competitive advantages that come hand-in-hand with their IP rights. They miss out on potentially lucrative opportunities because they don’t know how to leverage their IP assets. The United State Patent and Trademark Office has recognized this common ailment and come to the rescue with the Intellectual Property Awareness Assessment Tool.

    The IP Awareness Tool assesses one’s IP knowledge, identifies holes in that knowledge, and then directs the participant to resources to help shore up those deficiencies. The tool is a great way for people to learn what they don’t know. As I took the assessment, I could see how each category of IP was assessed with simple, non-legalese questions. I would recommend to any business owner who is not sure of what IP she may own to take the assessment.

    The assessment includes the following categories:

    • IP Strategies & Best Practices
    • Trademarks
    • Copyrights
    • Design Patents
    • Trade Secrets
    • Utility Patents
    • Using Technology of Others
    • Licensing Technology to Others
    • International IP Rights
    • IP Asset Tracking

    After you have taken the assessment, please let me know through the Contact Page what areas you lack knowledge in (responses will be kept confidential), and I will write blog posts in the future to help you out!

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  • USPTO Deputy Chief of Staff in Boise Next Week

    I’ve blogged multiple times about the 2011 America Invents Act and how it will affect the U.S. patenting system. Now, those of us in or near Boise will be able to learn about the Act from someone inside the Patent Office. Azam Khan, Deputy Chief of Staff of the USPTO, will be speaking at an event on Wednesday, June 20.
    The event is titled “Making Business Easier – Improving Access to Capital & Protecting Intellectual Property” and will also feature Patrick Kelley, a senior advisor with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The meeting will go from 7:30 am to 9:00 am and will be held at the Grove Hotel in Downtown Boise.

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  • Published Patent Application Provisional Rights

    Last week, I blogged about how the US Patent and Trademark Office publishes pending patent applications under certain conditions. I would like now to build on that topic and discuss one potentially significant advantage for a patent applicant from having her application published.

    Title 35, Section 154(d) of the U.S. Code provides that a patent owner is entitled to a reasonable royalty from anybody who made, sold, used, or otherwise practiced the invention (as claimed in the patent application) while the application was pending if two requirements are satisfied:

    1. The accused infringer was provided actual notice of the published patent application, and
    2. the invention as claimed in the patent is substantially identical to the invention as claimed in the published patent application.

    This statute provides an anomalous result–one can receive compensation for patent “infringement” that occurred before any patent was granted. This statute can be very beneficial for a patent applicant, especially if the applicant’s claimed invention is already being used by another entity. In such cases, the applicant doesn’t need to worry as much about rushing through the patent examination process because he could be entitled to royalties no matter how long it takes for his patent to issue (as long as the two above requirements are met).

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