Welcome to Patent Bolt, a dedicated Intellectual Property news site that specializes in dissecting patent applications from leading industry players such as Microsoft, Google, Samsung and others. If you love to explore future inventions, you'll love our site.
Ever since Apple overtook the Walkman with the iPod, Sony has been looking for ways to introduce another wow-product that could put Sony back into the game. Sony has been trying to get their ebook readers to be a hit but keep getting out-maneuvered by Amazon's Kindle. Sony's latest eBook readers couldn't even make CNET's top five eBook readers for Christmas list last year and came in last on PC Magazine's list. To put Sony on top of everyone's eBook list will take one thing: Real innovation. Perhaps the kind of innovation that their latest patent on this subject is illustrating. Sony has designed a next generation e-Book that uses bendable displays in a unique 2-page styled ebook design that I think you'll find to be very cool.
On March 21, 2013 The US Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Sony revealing a general computing Head Mounted Display (HMD) or Glass project. While most of Sony's Head Mounted Display or Glass patent filings to date have been primarily aimed at future gaming, we now discover that Sony has been working on a different kind of Glass project since early 2008 for general computing.
The US Patent & Trademark Office recently published a patent application from Sony revealing a new universal design for 3D glasses that could work with Sony's Bravia 3D HDTV line up or other brands such as Panasonic, Toshiba, LG and others. The technology will work with spectacles or even a 3D gaming helmet. The timing to market for these next generation Head Mounted systems with their easy to use pluggable modules is unknown at this time. If we're lucky, we just might catch a glimpse of some of their patent pending technology showing up at either their upcoming special event in February or at the E3 Expo held in June. Time will tell.
On February 7, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Sony that is technically about the PlayStation Vita and their new and upcoming connectors. Sony states that the connectors are for "connecting the electronic apparatus to peripheral apparatuses" at the bottom and side surfaces of the device housing. Sony's patent filing specifically states that the next generation PS Vita will gain USB, HDMI and a power supply connector described as a parallelepiped connector.
This year's Intel keynote at CES was deadly focused on their "Game Changing Year Ahead." It's the year that they finally release their all-new from the grounds-up Haswell processor specifically designed to power the next generation convertible Ultrabooks. The convertible notebooks will allow the display to act as a tablet by turning it around on a pivotal hinge or to detach it altogether from the keyboard. I got to see HP's new Envy X2 last night and was totally taken aback as to how cool, how thin and how light the detachable display really was. It felt like it was about half the weight of a 9.7 inch iPad. The next generation Ultrabooks hold a lot of promise and in a new patent application filed by Sony this month, we're shown a couple of the ideas that they have up their sleeve for this new computer category. Their biggest revelation of all is their plan to use solar cells in quite an elaborate design.
In a recent patent application published by the US Patent and Trademark Office, we see that Sony has been working on a new hybrid PlayStation controller. The proposed hybrid gaming controller is described as integrating Sony's current "Move Motion Controller" accessory into this future controller. The new controller is additionally described as being able to split into two distinct parts for the gamer's right and left hands. This way games that require the gamer to engage in a fistfight could do so naturally with each part of the controller acting as the gamer's fists. Another example could be where one half of the controller could be used as a shield while the other half used as a sword. If you happen to be an enthusiastic gamer, then I'm sure you'll be able to use your imagination to envision other gaming scenarios for this future hybrid controller. While the hybrid controller could be viewed as a simple and natural evolutionary move on Sony's part, one has to keep in mind that Sony has several major patents for varying future gaming console components and/or concepts on the drawing board. Which of their advancements will eventually surface in the next PlayStation is anyone's guess at this point in time. Yet with "ultra-high definition" televisions displayed at CES this past week with resolutions that will blow Sony's Blu-ray 1080p standard out of the water, we should at least expect Sony to address these next-generation resolution advancements at E3 this summer.
It appears that the next generation of smart device form factors will include dual displays that will be both flexible and foldable. These new form factors will create very powerful hybrid devices that will truly function as highly advanced video-conferencing smartphones and higher end e-Books. The new devices will give new meaning to multi-tasking as users will be able to video conference using one display while taking notes or juggling a work app on the flipside display simultaneously. Powerful new trends usually start with a flurry of intellectual property activity as companies seek to protect their latest and greatest ideas for future devices and services from being copied. One of the most powerful trends that we see emerging at the ground level today involves dual display smartphones and e-Books. The new form factors will create killer hybrid device categories that will drive new service and application opportunities for savvy developers. In today's report we take a look at new patent filings from Microsoft, Samsung and Sony regarding their respective next generation dual display device form factors. Specifically, each company is focusing on how they could best provide these next-generational devices with a reliable book-like spine that could be a make-it or break-it feature for these next-gen devices.
First there was WALL-E the movie quickly followed by lookalike toys for Christmas 2008. The adorable robot obviously inspired engineers at Sony to work on a next generation mechatronic device that is specifically seen as a tool for future seniors and/or next generation nursing home facilities. This particular invention zeros in on safety issues as well as the mechanics behind the robotic limbs to include brakes and the use of actuators. Of course, Sony also has to ensure that the robots don't go haywire while in the care of seniors in their homes. Sony states that "In the case of an industrial robot, separating the working area with a fence generally ensures the safety. However, separating the working area with a fence is difficult in the case of a housekeeping or nurse caring robot because the robot behaves while physically in contact with an individual." Today's mega-capitalists are definitely driven to kill off more human filled jobs each and every year while trying to not kill off their future clients, the wealthy elderly.
Last month we reported on a recent Sony patent regarding the use of gaze based technology in future gaming. Today we present you with a really wild idea that's a creative offshoot of gaze technology. A gamer wearing the magnetized contact lenses will be tracked by certain role playing games (RPG) on a next generation gaming console so as to put the gamer right into the action at a much higher degree of intimacy. Next generation gaming as envisioned by both Sony and Microsoft definite paint a cool gaming future.
