IBM Wants To Patent Restaurant Waits

theodp writes "If all goes IBM's way, it'll soon constitute patent infringement if Bennigan's gives you a free lunch for being inconvenienced by a long wait for your meal. Big Blue is seeking a patent for its Method and Structure for Automated Crediting to Customers for Waiting, the purported 'invention' of three IBM researchers, which IBM notes, 'could be implemented completely devoid of computerization or automation of any kind.' Can we count on IBM to withdraw this patent claim, or will Big Blue weasel out of its patent reform pledge again?"

Prior art

[Anonymous Coward]

I worked for Pizza Hut corporate in '85-86. We had a five minute or free deal on "Personal Pan" pizza. One of my coworkers analyzed the POS data and picked the best time to go to lunch. He was averaging about 60%.

Dale

Re:The old saying must be true.

[Anonymous Coward]

If you read the TFA, you'd realize that they're not patenting the free lunch as payoff for a long wait. they're patenting a system for automatically doling out the free lunch.

Re:quick

[SacredByte]

Alcohol is a diuretic--That'll just compound the problem of long bathroom waits.

Slashdot Sensationalism at its best

[Veramocor]

'could be implemented completely devoid of computerization or automation of any kind'

This statement is clearly shown in the disclosure not in the claims. The only thing that IBM is patenting is what is stated in the claims. You should not read limitations from the disclosure into the claims.

"The name of the game is in the claims" - Federal Circuit Judge Giles Rich

Remember that before you get your panties in a bunch.

Re:Automation IS required

[Frosty Piss]

The problem with this and other Patent Story Trolls here at Slashdot, is that the person who "writes" the summary (and the "editor" who approves them) looks at the TITLE of a patent and makes WILD INFERENCES and ASSUMPTIONS that are not supported by the ACTUAL claims of the patent. This is just such a case.

Re:Wow

[cybereal]

Performing the steps in a system is not prior art to defining that system.

That said, if the "waiter" was following written instructional guidelines on exactly when to start handing out free meals, that's a whole other issue entirely. Those instructions would have a chance at qualifying as prior art.

Re:Automation IS required

[optimus2861]

So read claim 1 and enlighten us. Where's the brilliant innovation in this legalese that demands a 17-year monopoly on implementing it? "1. A system for reducing customer dissatisfaction for waiting, said system comprising:a queue monitoring subsystem that detects an entry of a customer into a waiting queue;a reward computing subsystem that calculates a reward for the customer for being in the waiting queue; anda communication subsystem to communicate the reward to the customer,wherein at least one of said queue monitoring subsystem, said reward computing subsystem, and said communication subsystem is automated." I ordered a meal at Wendy's not too long ago. I waited a long time for some reason. When the guy brought me my meal, he also brought me a coupon for a free meal as compensation for waiting. In behind the counter at this particular Wendy's, I could see an order board, showing the orders and how long it has been since they were taken. Aka: an automated queue monitoring system. Prior art. Plain and simple. Which is what this garbage patent application is: plain and simple. It is not novel, it is not innovative, and granting it would in no way promote the progress of science.

This is just old operational research papers

[crovira]

from the fifties rewritten on a patent application form.

Total sham.

Re:No Shit Shirlock

[Anonymous Coward]

How's that? Just because an idea is obvious doesn't mean IBM's way of implementing that idea is obvious.

This needs to be said in every single goddamn patent story on slashdot: Patents are NOT for ideas. They are for METHODS of implementing ideas.

Even if IBM gets this patent, you or anyone else is free to use your own method to credit customers for waiting. You just wont be able to use IBM's fancy automated system without their permission (which no one currently uses anyway, so it really is a non story).