Posted by: petteri
Microsoft gets into the game - 29/05/2007 23:52
Hmm, I wonder if this will turn into anything?
MS files for patent
Posted by: schofiel
Re: Microsoft gets into the game - 06/06/2007 21:26
Not sure how they can be awarded this - there was prior art.
But then, there's no-one around to sue any more...
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Microsoft gets into the game - 07/06/2007 12:00
I think the innovation is the ability to dock a "handheld computer" into it.
Posted by: larry818
Re: Microsoft gets into the game - 07/06/2007 13:32
I had read in a magazine about industrial patents that MS has a team of lawyers & engineers whose sole purpose is to patent anything they can think of. The reasoning is, that if they own the silly patents, they won't have to defend against them later. Given the insanity of the US patent office, it seems a reasonable course. This just may be one of those patents...
I designed the first "dry deck" fountain (the kind kids play in) over 20 years ago. I found out recently that one of my competitors patented it two years later... it never occured to me to patent it...
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Microsoft gets into the game - 07/06/2007 14:34
Oh, cool.
Yours was the fountain featured heavily in the last few episodes of
Heroes -- the
orange helix-y staircase one.
Somewhat on topic, though. If you installed one or advertised one or something, you should contest his patent based on evidence of prior art.
Posted by: schofiel
Re: Microsoft gets into the game - 11/06/2007 19:32
So an empeg isn't hand held?
Posted by: andy
Re: Microsoft gets into the game - 11/06/2007 20:09
It is, but the car battery you would need to carry around with you to use it wouldn't really be
Posted by: larry818
Re: Microsoft gets into the game - 12/06/2007 02:52
I never hijacked a thread before...
I sent one of my empegs off to a show control company to play with. I've asked them to look at it with an eye of building something similar, but for show (fountain) control. Essentally the same thing but with DMX out and time clocks coded in. The stuff available now is all overly big or complicated... The empeg seems almost ideally suited for such a use...
Posted by: altman
Re: Microsoft gets into the game - 18/08/2007 03:18
ISTR One of the ex-Rio germany guys, Martin Moerz, made an Xscale-powered linux running, DMX lighting system a few years after the Rio Central (he does freelance design for people). I remember thinking it looked pretty cool - think it had two Xscales actually, one to do the hard real-time stuff.
If you're interested pm me and I'll send you his email addr.... he could point you at who sold it in the end I'm sure.
Hugo