Sounds Ghastly
It is. It all is.
Someone at the Chocolate Factory doesn't realise that Douglas Adams wrote satire, and has patented replaceable robot personalities. In US Patent 8,996,429, filed in 2012 and published on March 31, Google's Anthony Francis and Thor Lewis propose a robot that “may be configured to tailor a personality for interaction with the …
The obviousness and novelty of patents are judged, not by the patent's abstract (its introduction/summary), nor on media reports of that abstract, nor on commentards' interpretation of media reports of that abstract; but on the actual independent claims identified in the patent application.
Few people, even those who should (ie. media reporting on the patents), bother to actually read the most important parts of patents before criticising their obviousness.
"Few people, even those who should (ie. media reporting on the patents), bother to actually read the most important parts of patents before criticising their obviousness."
- Are you suggesting there is any actual genuine innovation in this patent? Personally this seems on a par with British Rail's fusion powered flying saucer.
Did you read them? They're bullshit.
>"We claim:
1. A method for providing a robot apparatus with a personality, the method comprising: obtaining, by a first device associated with a robotic apparatus, information from a second device, wherein the information relates to communication between a user and the second device containing personification indicators, and wherein the first device is configured to interact with the user; in response to obtaining the information, the first device processing that information to obtain data usable to modify the robotic apparatus so as to provide the robotic apparatus with a personality, wherein processing comprises accessing a cloud computing system and analyzing one or more data of the information selected from the group of (i) characters, (ii) word-choice, and (iii) sentence structure relating to the communication between the user and the second device; and based on the data, the first device modifying the robotic apparatus so as to provide the robotic apparatus with a personality. "
There's nothing concrete in that. A person skilled in the art couldn't implement anything based on that. It's not even a methods patent, let alone an actual invention, it's a claim on vague concepts. Totally invalid and worthless.
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This post has been deleted by its author
>"Patent applicatinos"
Applicatinos! The elementary particles that patents are composed of! Much like neutrinos, they are shadowy and insubstantial and can pass through thousands of miles of solid rock (the skull of a patent examiner) without interacting with anything at all... :)
No way, 25 comments down and none of you dirty-minded lot have suggested sex bots yet? Have another cuppa, you need to wake up.
Whatever else they have in mind, a partnership with RealDoll is obvious. Celebrities indeed!
And on the Unintended Security Flaw front, your personalized bot-behaviors will be hacked, and world+dog will know about your "I Dream of Jeannie" fetish. "Yes, Master!"