Microsoft's 911 Patent 391
The register is reporting "'Microsoft was today granted a patent for accessing data used by the emergency services.' They quote from the application 'In sum, what is needed is a way to provide users with access to needed emergency information. This should be simple from the user's perspective, so that even very emotional users can find what is needed in a straightforward, yet comprehensive process.' Apparently the patent was filed one month after 9/11."
New product in the works? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:New product in the works? (Score:5, Insightful)
Or did they file to patent to blackmail^Wpersuade the Government into buying their products because theirs is the only chip on the block?
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re:New product in the works? (Score:5, Insightful)
We recently had a tax levi on the ballot were i live and it failed. The schools started canceling certian popular after school activities like football and such (that or requiring outragious fees to participate). Some book keeper requested budget and expense information for the previous several years and pointed out that in the last fiscal quarter of each year, the schools were spending on average of 25% more money on supplies and other stuff that doesn't need approval for purchasing then the previous 3 quarters. Then in the begining of the next quarter they would respend on much of the same items. It apears that when school is being let out for the year, they go thru more supplies then when it is in session and they use all those supplies up while the children are on break. Some of the expenses appeared to be obvious budget burning too.
Its no wonder the government costs so much to run. Our local police and fire have threatened to strike for more pay and some idiot made the fire contract's payroll contingent on the police's pay so an increase in one automaticaly increases the other. We waist so much money that it isn't right.
Re:New product in the works? (Score:3, Insightful)
So... Let me guess. you didn't RTFA at all. did you. There is a diagram of a user interface that shows this patent is for software methods of letting someone on a palm pilot, web enabled cell phone, or other handheld device to access Emergency Services info to report an incident. It may also allow you to monitor the progress of the response, but it's clearly designed for civilians to use. The fact that you have to choose which type of emergency response (fire, police, medical, etc) shows that this is not th
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:New product in the works? (Score:3, Funny)
Press 1 to order this product now, delivery time 1 hour, payment directly on you phone bill
Re:New product in the works? (Score:4, Funny)
Hi! I'm Clippy!
You seem to be in a firefight with Muslim extremists. Would you like to:
Or do you want to change your Clippy Patriot Avatar into:
Re:New product in the works? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:New product in the works? (Score:3, Funny)
DEAR GOD NO!
Like OnStar? (Score:4, Interesting)
Would this be like OnStar? Not the navigational OnStar, the part where even if you don't have a subscription and hit the button they will supposedly guide you out of trouble or call for EMS?
Re:Like OnStar? (Score:2)
In post 9/11 world... (Score:3, Funny)
Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:2)
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:3, Interesting)
A man had brought her daughter for nice afternoon boat trip on lake, and had a stroke. The 5 years old girl managed to use his phone via the 1 button call feature to warn her mother of the issue, and the man was rescued in time.
So, yes, definitively, one button emergency is a good thing.
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:5, Funny)
>> to call the emergency services easily?
No, I'd much prefer to die if my child is the only one around.
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:3, Interesting)
And when your dog hits it?!?!
B.
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:5, Funny)
Well that's why you sit down with your dogs and educate them about the 911 system...
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:2)
Umm, they dispatch law enforcement to investigate, they discover it was a false alarm, and life moves on? Do a little checking about how many times over the years police have been dispatched to 911 calls where there was no response from the caller to the query about the nature of the emergency, only to find out the family pet has knocked the phone off the desk and the emergency autodial button did it's job.
False alarms are annoying, but that ease of use was importatnt when my
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:2, Interesting)
I often listen to my local police on my scanner. Dropped calls with no answer/busy on call back are a very common occurence. I would say at least 1 every 1-2 hours. An officer is dispatched to the location and checks it out. I have no idea how many more times a dropped call is answered on call back from the 911 opera
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:2)
Is it just me, or are airbags a basically wrongheaded idea as compared to, say, four point seatbelts? I know people don't like to give up their freedom of motion, but that is precisely what RESTRAINT systems are intended to do, and besides, someone turning around to hit their kids while driving deserves to be
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:3, Interesting)
The US had basically an Idiot Olympics between the "live free or die" bunch who felt that a law mandating the use of seatbelts in a moving vehicle was an affront to the principles that made America great, since seatbelts weren't mentioned in the Constitution nor the Bill of Rights.
Meanwhile in lane two, we had the social busybodies who figured out that if people were not smart
Re:Hold on, I need to type a message to 911... (Score:3, Insightful)
I commute in 5-point harnesses every day (and I've removed the 1st gen. airbag). There are submarining problems with 4-pts, but that's a different discussion.
I had exactly the blind spot problem you discussed until I adjusted my mirrors out a little bit more. Most people set up their mirrors with too much of their own car in view. I don't need a mirror to tell me my rear fenders are still there...I think there would be other cues if those suddenly went missi
Good and bad (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Good and bad (Score:3)
Re:Good and bad (Score:2)
Re:Good and bad (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Good and bad (Score:2)
I also recall somewhere hearing it will work without a SIM, and the phone/networks will do their best to gat a connection up. Anyone confirm/deny this (NOT by ringing to see if it works)?
Re:Good and bad (Score:2)
However if I power up the phone with the SIM removed, no such option is given.
Re:Good and bad (Score:5, Insightful)
If Microsoft DIDN'T make money off of this, the terrorists would be winning!!
See what happens... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Good and bad (Score:5, Interesting)
You mean, like the corporately made, and profitable rescue vehicles that are driven to the scene of the emergency? Or the corporately made, and profitable Motorola gear that the responders are using? Or the coporately owned and managed telecomm systems that actually carry the 911 calls? Or the countless consulting and systems integration companies that help build and run the emergency dispatch systems that handle 911 calls?
This Corporate = Inherently Bad sentiment has become an embarassment. So, if the exact same patent had been filed, and business plan had been dreamt up by just Little Old Me, would it be Bad then? How about if me and two other guys formed a small incorporated group to do it? Is it bad then? How about 30 of us? 300? 3000? What exactly is the inherently bad corporate number, anyway? There must be some cosmic constant that much of slashdot is working with, and it should be shared for peer review.
Re:Good and bad (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good and bad (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good and bad (Score:3, Insightful)
You are right, if a municipality wants a police cruiser or ambulance they have to pay for it. What they are paying for is the metal and labor that went into producing that vehicle. But what if the idea behind a police cruiser was patented as microsoft plans to patent this. Then a municipality that wan
Hmmm.... (Score:2)
You could say the same thing about curing cancer, but see how far that gets you with the pharm industry. Fact is that it isn't cheaper to solve important problems than it is mundane ones - usually the reverse. If you expect a solution, and the government can't do it alone, the private sector n
Re:Good and bad (Score:3, Insightful)
Wow (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wow (Score:2)
Re:Wow (Score:2)
Plus, you should be able to file a seriously profitable law suit because your iPod won't interact with the OnStar network, thus risking your life, which would have been, what, less risky before that product existed (and thus couldn't be used), and but is now more risky because there'll be a new product you don't want to use?
Good Lord.... (Score:2)
Oh my sweet lord, when will the madness end. (Score:4, Insightful)
Jeesh.
Re:Oh my sweet lord, when will the madness end. (Score:2)
Re:OT:Re:Oh my sweet lord, when will the madness e (Score:2)
That should be poster's :-)
Makes sense. (Score:5, Insightful)
My question: How, exactly, is a PocketPC application going to help with this? I mean, really - do they expect us to all rush out and buy one so that we can have access to emergency information? How would putting it in a rental car be of any use to the people who own the car they're driving when an emergency occurs?
I think the timing is pretty distasteful as well - almost as if they're saying "We could have done it better, and here's how!"
Re:Makes sense. (Score:2, Interesting)
Transcript (Score:5, Funny)
"HELP! There's a criminal trying to break into my house!"
"We will have someone there right away, Ma'am. Just tell me your name, your address, and your patent use approval identification number."
"This is Mary Smith of 123 Maple Drive, and what?-- patent thingamabob?"
"Your patent use approval identification number, the proof that you can properly use this protected 911 service."
"He's got a gun! Hurry!"
"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but this seems to be a patent violation. Our enforcement officers will be out there immediately to collect payment plus penalty."
Mod parent insightful (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Mod parent insightful (Score:2)
No it doesn't. It has no relation to reality. Patents don't inhibit end users, onlt manufacturers. It may be funny, but in order to rate an insightful or interesting mod it'd actually have to make a cogent point.
Re:Mod parent insightful (Score:3, Insightful)
In fact, I was just fooling around with the concept, but yeah, in the back of my mind what I wrote is the type of scenario I could foresee happening someday if patent rights holders get as greedy as copyright holders have in recent years. I mean, who'd have thought back in the day when we were making cassette tapes of our favorite songs to play for our friends that one day we'd see record companies suing 8-year-olds? Or that a Russian programmer would
The future of emergency services (Score:5, Funny)
911: "You appear to be making an emergency call. Would you like me to set up a template?"
Caller: "A what? Help me!"
911: "Accessing help..."
911: "..."
911: "Socket timed out, retrying..."
Caller: "Augh!"
911: "Welcome to the 911 help system. Please say your search terms now."
Caller: "....... FIRE!"
911: "Searching..."
911: "FIRE up your browsing experience with the new MSN Search, your comprehensive portal to the web!"
Caller: "Augh!"
Re:The future of emergency services (Score:5, Funny)
Caller: "Augh!"
911: You seem to be referencing Charlie Brown. Accessing Peanuts archive...
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Where do you want to go today ? (Score:5, Funny)
[ ] Hospital
[ ] Police Station
[ ] E.R.
[ ] Fire Station
It's no joke. (Score:2)
Imagine Clippy popping up when your mother's leg has been torn off in a car wreck. There are some places that Microsoft shouldn't go on any day.
Uh ohh... (Score:5, Funny)
I'm confused kinda (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:I'm confused kinda (Score:5, Informative)
What's the non-obvious novel invention here? Answer (as far as I can tell): there isn't one. It's an IP land-grab that's an attempt to to gain a 20 year monopoly on computer-facilitated Emergency Service response.
Re:I'm confused kinda (Score:3, Informative)
Without Merit (Score:4, Funny)
That's okay. So is the patent.
location aware? (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't need to know that 911 is emergency number in USA if I need to call 112 for ambulance in rest of the world.
Yano.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think, in that case, it would crack the whole controversy wide open. Think about the field day the media would have the first time a county commissioner or a mayor gets on the national news and says that they have to spend ridiculous amounts of money, or forego upgrading at all because some private firm isn't allowing them to without first paying them extortion money.
And don't even start about if those systems were to fail at a critical time such as during a disaster. The fallout would be hugely destructive to MS.
Microsoft would be foolish to try to enforce this...but a certain part of me wants them to deny reason and try, if for nothing else but the huge media circus that would ensue.
I can't believe there isn't prior art for this (Score:3, Interesting)
Absurdity aside, what isn't patentable now? I'm getting more and more convinced that the limits on patentability are quickly dwindling to nothing. I'm not sure if it's the patent clerks trying to ensure job security or a misguided vision that the USPTO's job is to approve patents and that the courts should settle disagreements. Whichever it is, or both, needs to be addressed ASAP.
Financial emergancy?! (Score:5, Funny)
Now I agree that there are financial emergancies, but most do not require a first responder.
Unless maybe the program is sponsored by CapitalOne.
"We need a loan officer here STAT!"
The mind boggles.
Re:Financial emergancy?! (Score:2)
"We need a loan officer here STAT!" "
More like "Cancel the credit cards STAT!"
I canceled my Capitol One credit cards when I discovered that while my credit rating was good enough to be a Capitol One customer, it was not good enough to be a Capitol One employee.
Re:Financial emergancy?! (Score:2)
Patents and morality ("ordre public") (Score:2)
How precisely does a 20-year monopoly on ways of accessing emergency information benefit society at large? If it doesn't, it never ought to have been granted.
Clippy 911 (Score:5, Funny)
"Hey there, partner...it looks like you're trying to call 911!"
Does your emergency involve:
A car accident
Chest pains
A guy with an axe
None of these - search Microsoft
Oh holy stupidity (Score:5, Insightful)
What is claimed is:
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
maintaining a plurality of records in an emergency data store, each record comprising emergency data and having type of emergency information associated therewith that classifies the record as corresponding to at least one type of emergency;
providing an emergency page, the emergency page including a plurality of emergency type links, each emergency type link corresponding to a particular type of emergency;
receiving an indication that an emergency type link was actuated, and in response,
accessing the emergency data store to locate at least two records that are each associated with the type of emergency that corresponds to the actuated link;
aggregating the data from each located record into aggregated emergency data; and
providing an emergency sub-page based on the aggregated emergency data.
The abstract is even more vague. So, I don't see any invention here, nor any innovation. It sounds like a database with a simple user interface. I'm working on such a system right now. Am I violating Miscrosoft's patent? Sure, my system deals with proletariat efficiencies, but it's basically the same idea.
I don't see how a patent can be granted for this. Emergency services have been doing this for years, just on paper and with log books. Sure, it's good to have needed information in one convenient place, with a simple interface, but I fail to see any innovation or invention. How can one patent something that is simply logic? Can logic really be patented? I know it has been, but that doesn't mean it's not asinine. Maybe I read the patent wrong, but I just see this as simple logic.
Pen+Paper=Patent (almost) (Score:2)
A recent decision from the other side of the Pond says it all:
Re:Oh holy stupidity (Score:5, Insightful)
maintaining a plurality of records in an emergency data store, each record comprising emergency data and having type of emergency information associated therewith that classifies the record as corresponding to at least one type of emergency;
And this one:
maintaining a plurality of records in a data store, each record comprising data and having type of information associated therewith that classifies the record as corresponding to at least one type of event;
I chose the word "event" but you could probably substitute any number of words there. Either way, removing all the extra "emergency"s exposes this thing as a very transparent attempt, as you said, to patent a database with a user interface. (Is "emergency" even defined in the patent claim?)
And the USPTO bought it.
Sheesh.
Thanks, Microsoft (Score:2)
Potential abuse of emergency calls (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Immature person tries out the emergency call just to see what happens or if it really works.
2. Creative but malicious person writes virus that triggers this technology.
3. Someone triggers the emergency call in one place, using this as a distraction away from where a real emergency (burglary, for example) is taking place.
4. Creative but malicious person writes program that blocks this technology.
These are just a few random things that come to mind. Numbers 1 and 3 can be done today using a regular phone, but numbers 2 and 4 are what concern me--the idea that someone could potentially make it look like you or I were "prank-calliing" the police or fire station, or interfere with a real-life emergency.
This is all hypothetical, of course.
I can just hear this call now... (Score:5, Funny)
Caller: My wife is having a heart attack! Please send someone!!
Operator: It seems you are using 911 for the first time. Would you like some help?
Caller: YES!! Send someone NOW!!
Operator: In order to complete this call, you will have to restart your phone. Please hang up and call again.
Caller: WHAT??!!
Operator: Your phone is now restarting...(click!)
your call will be responded to in... (Score:5, Funny)
I love "With X" patents. (Score:2, Funny)
Everyone in the queue for "Walking on Mars" Patents. And they are discovering new planets every {day|week|month}. Get yours today!!!!
Maybe I should make a template patent and sell that!! All that's left is to say -
3. Profit!
Its broad, but... (Score:2, Informative)
We're only bithcing because it's Microsoft (Score:5, Informative)
One of the more well-known was the one that VoIP filed [techweb.com], meant to stabilize the usability of internet phones for emergency calls by rerouting VoIP calls to emergency numbers through the conventional phone system.
Microsoft's patent isn't quite like VoIPs but my point is that if this was, say, a patent being filed by Google, a number of you who decry this move would be celebrating their the foresight and genius.
Re-Register... (Score:2, Insightful)
Please, at least change the alarmist title... come on
Re: (Score:2)
you know... (Score:2)
Invention? (Score:5, Informative)
Needless to say, this is yet another patent that does not cover an invention (which is supposed to be the point of patents), but (arguably) a discovery--although it is more like common knowledge than something only Microsoft have discovered.
Once again like most U.S. patents:
The reason why patents were invented was to stop people keeping the workings of their inventions trade secrets which would never be released to the public (whereas--the then new-fangled--patents actually run out) thereby impeding the "progress of the science and the arts", therefore patents are only supposed to cover something that a company might be able to keep a secret. In this case, the idea (which is what they are trying to patent; as opposed to the specific invention that Microsoft has or has not yet--as the case may be--produced) would not be coverable by a trade secret as once they produced such a product it would be common knowledge (and thefore no longer a secret) that such a product could be produced. Whereas, if Microsoft were patenting the specific workings of their invention, these would be harder for someone with one of their products to hand to work out--thereby potentially patentable as they are potentionally able to be kept secret (while Microsoft sell the product).
Making a (possibly poor) analogy with the field of consumer law, this is a bit like Microsoft trying to trademark the generic term for the class of their product as opposed to a name for a particular brand (e.g.: hypothetically, if Microsoft were in the automobile maunfacturing industry, trademarking the word, "car"; or, again hypothetically, if Microsoft were in the operating-system engineering industry trademarking the word "windows" for a windows system...o, nevermind...).
The patent is entitled "a method and system of providing emergency data"; however reading it one realises that (in common with most patents using those magic `method' and `system' words in their titles) it is not actually a patent on "a [particular] method and system of providing emergency data" but actually a patent that stops anyone else from producing any "method and system of providing emergency data".
This is backed up by the way that, throughout the patent, it says that "this invention [sic.] covers [foo], [bar] and [baz]" or similar language (where foo, bar and baz are sorts of inventions that might be made in the future by others) instead of describing the actual invention that Microsoft have produced (or, I suspect, have not actually produced) so that others can gain from this knowledge after the patent expires.
There are many other ways in which this, once again, goes against the basic principles of the patent system. However, as I suspect (hopefully) everyone will laugh at any (unlikely) attempts by Microsoft to enforce this patent, I will not spend more time analysing this drivel (that Microsoft and other large corporations produced by the dead-tree load on a daily basis).
Hideous interface (Score:5, Insightful)
I was a 911 dispatcher in L.A. (including during the riots) and I can tell you that in an emergency the average person sometimes forgets basic information such as: their address, vehicle type, child's name, etc.
If such a tool could ever be made to work it would need as few buttons as possible, as large as possible, with as few words as possible.
Maybe if you hit the good sized emergency button you immediately get two big buttons that almost fill the screen.
(POLICE)
(FIRE/AMBULANCE)
In a decent dispatch environment if someone hits the wrong one they can quickly be routed to the right one.
Anything else is basically not an emergency and doesn't belong on the tool.
Great... (Score:4, Interesting)
Way to go, Billy!
Huh? (Score:4, Insightful)
Either way it sounds much more cumbersome, error-prone, and generally distressing than "seize a telephone; press 9, 1, 1; tell the dispatcher what your problem is."
I don't want a UI! (Score:2)
No, I do not wanted the MS automated Emergency Sys (Score:3, Informative)
Please do not install this is my schools, in public places, or government offices.
Please do not install this in my place of work. Please do not install this in my residence, or any of my relatives/friends residences.
If there is someone out there dumb enough to use a Microsoft designed system for their emergency response, go ahead. The day my town starts pushing the Microsoft Emergency Response system is the day I move for the hills.
Statistics be damned. Test results be damned. I don't care if they prove that this system is perfect. I do NOT trust them enough to run my emergency services (or even be involved at all), and YES, it is purely a corporate trust issue.
There is good reason Microsoft is not involved in the design of mission critical life support medical systems.
Similarly, we saw how the Microsoft "next generation" naval warship (in conjunction with the U.S. navy) worked out (if you don't know, go check google).
There is good reason Microsoft should NOT be involved in the design of mission critical emergency systems.
Idea for toilet paper patent (Score:2)
Seems to be tagging, presentation, and alerting (Score:2)
The patent does not actually focus so much on the user interface, which seems to have the most comments, but rather on the idea that some "data" can be "tagged" in some manner as "emergency data", and pooled, presented, and then sent when a "emergency event" is invoked.
My favorate quote from the patent While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and have b
Re:seems valid (Score:5, Funny)
Re:seems valid (Score:3, Informative)
I think you mean <gerund noun> <noun> (e.g., smoking crack)
gerunds [commnet.edu]
Re:seems valid (Score:4, Interesting)
I admit I was distracted by the present progressive [commnet.edu] in my thinking.
English grammar--here to make Perl look consistent...
Re:seems valid (Score:2)
Sorry to dissapoint you, but the longer history of the English language along with the fact that Larry Wall was trained as a (natural) linguist before writing Perl suggests that you may have got the cause and effect the wrong way round there.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Stop! (Score:2)
The biggest strength of Linux is in the embedded market. Embedded Linux systems are REALLY good at this type of application.