back to article Google gets hands on 'glove-cam' patent

The next territory in the Great Patent Land-Grab is at the end of your arms: in a patent granted last year that’s just hit publication, the Chocolate Factory gets its hands on using gloves as a user interface. US patent 8,009,151 plants the Google flag on “methods and systems for gathering and conveying information, for …

COMMENTS

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  1. Rukario
    WTF?

    And the purpose is...?

    To send the patent back in time to 1988 in time to troll the following year's release of the Nintendo Power Glove.

    1. David 164

      Re: And the purpose is...?

      Did Nintendo power glove have built in camera?

      1. Voland's right hand Silver badge
        Devil

        Re: And the purpose is...?

        IIRC the power glove did not have a camera.

        However, if memory serves me right, surgical gloves with a camera on them have been around for a long time. It is just one of the many forms of an endoscope. You do not wave these though - you generally stick 'em in places known as "where sun does not shine".

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Prior art

    Spy glove camera, circa 2007

    http://blog.pcnews.ro/2007/02/09/spy-gloves-hidden-camera/

  3. ElNumbre
    Facepalm

    FTLoG

    Now we're officially into the stage of patenting attaching x to y, can I file a patent for attaching sharks to frikkin laser beams 'for the purposes of doing evil'.

    Or has someone already filed that one?

  4. Gene Cash Silver badge

    On the toes??

    I thought the upskirt folks had prior art on that one?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: On the toes??

      No, you just polish your boot's toecaps to a good shine.

      1. genghis_uk
        Coat

        Re: On the toes??

        Is that why it's called 'Patent Leather'?

        <shuffle, shuffle, slam>

  5. Eddy Ito

    In other news

    As expected, shortly following the release of Google's patented G-love a popular internet site known as YouTube, also owned by Google, has crashed. We understand the YouTube servers all simultaneously failed following a massive upload of videos consisting of hours of nose picking, arse scratching and other videos. Officials of YouTube didn't say twat those videos consisted of but we are confident our viewing audience will be able to finger it out.

    1. frank ly

      Re: In other news

      "Officials of YouTube didn't say twat ...", but many other people did after a few seconds of viewing.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    “methods and systems for gathering and conveying information, for example, such as with a hand of a user…"

    So, who do you think would win in the impending lawsuit, evolution or Google?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      I dunno?

      I think John Candy's character could have used one of these?

      On the other hand, isn't there a proctologists website around somewhere? <cough><cough>

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I think you will find that Michael Jackson had the patent for the all seeing glove!

    They could never prove it at his trial though.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Actually...

      It was an all-feeling glove.

      Yep, that's my coat, see ya.

  8. David 164

    I doubt the patent will hold up in court, seem overly broad to me but then Apple seem to get away with it, so you never know.

    1. LaeMing
      Unhappy

      It isn't a matter of if it will hold up in court. It is a matter of if you can afford to attend the court in the first place.

  9. Anonymous IV
    Joke

    Watch out, Max Bygraves

    Fingers Ain't Wot They Used T'Be...

  10. Matt Bradley
    FAIL

    I think you rather missed the (aha) point here

    " the method may include using a detector to record a series of images of an environment and detecting a predetermined motion by comparing two or more images in a series.”

    This is NOT a description of an aid for the visually impaired as you imply, but a method for capturing gestural inputs without the need for dedicated surface against which to perform them. Kind of an optical mouse built into the finger.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I think you rather missed the (aha) point here

      exactly what I was thinking. I assume this will infact be a form of controller/accessory to their google glasses.

  11. MrXavia
    WTF?

    Surely this is too broad for a patent?

    If not, i think its time to patent the process of seeing someone else's idea and patenting it...

    I've seen gloves designed to detect motion before.. so prior art me thinks.. .but if Apple get away with their pathetic patents, then we have to let Google have a few daft ones... So far Googles not as quick to sue as apple is... but we will see...

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In the future...

    "Talk to the hand!" 2.0

    "Are they waving or trying to interview me?"

    "Why's everybody always always pointing at me?"

    "Quit giving me the finger!"

    And something for you to patent; they left out the teleprompting screen.

  13. Purlieu

    FFS

    Sticking a camera on the end of your finger, glove or no glove, that's patentable ? Have they run out of things to patent ?

  14. Badvok
    Unhappy

    RTFP

    I do so wish commentards might spend a little time, Reading The F!£$%£^ Patent, before posting rubbish, especially since the reporter provided a nice handy linky.

    But then the comments sections might no be so much fun :)

    1. Vector
      Facepalm

      Re: RTFP

      Okay, I read the patent summary (don't have time to wade through the entire thing at the moment) and I still say that between obviousness (camera on finger? why, whodathunkit?!) and prior art (optical mouse, for one), this is just a prime example of the modern patent system gone awry.

      Is ANYTHING obvious anymore?

  15. Nev
    Stop

    Prior art

    Red Dwarf: "Terrorform"

  16. Michael Xion

    It's a pity a 10 year old can't patent ideas

    When I was about 10, I had to watch 'Blake's 7' on a B&W portable TV in the spare room as the main TV was being watched by the rest of the family for something else (can't rememberer what). The antenna was a bit dodgy and I found that by moving my hands in a particular way I could improve or degrade reception. At the time I thought this could be a really cool way to control devices. I figured that you could wear rings of various metals on your fingers and the EMF broadcast from a transmitter could be modified by moving your fingers in a certain predetermined way (ie touch thumb to little finger to change channel up) to alter the signal received at the nominated device. At the time I'd never heard of the Theremin, and it was many years later that I saw something similar in the Steven Spielberg film 'Minority Report'.

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