Sick of walking into things while gawping at your iPhone? Apple has a patent app. for that Apple has applied for a patent for technology that will warn of oncoming dangers to users distracted by their text messages. An application submitted by the company to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) (rooted out by AppleInsider) describes a user interface that displays transparent text messages over a live video …
Or y'know... people could be held accountable for their own actions.
Nah: that'll never fly.
OTOH, maybe it's a cunning ruse to avoid being sued by people walking under buses: Provide a mildly mitigating piece of software (or 'app' as all the cool kids are calling them, I hear) and make the EULA basically say "By installing this software you are agreeing never to sue us for not looking where you are going". In which case it's quite a clever idea, because I bet they currently get sued at least fifty times a year by people flattening their faces against lamp-posts.
Is that not assuming thought processes are genetic? Last time I checked, they are down to personal actions. Evolution don't select for that, less your thinking of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_So_Stories
Though if no one left wishes to use phones, it leaves no one left using phones. That is not passed down genetically though, more social and economic reasons.
/pedantic.
"stream of the pavement."
No, the way I read the patent there is a third camera (marked 300 on the diagram) that points up out of the top of the camera, so if you're holding the phone flat it would face forwards.
Except, of course, if, like me, you hold the phone at a bit of an angle and all you would see is the tops of trees, signposts, tops of high-rises, sky etc. Or if, like many people I know, you hold the phone in landscape mode while texting to make use of a bigger kaypad, in which case you'll get a real close-up view of the car you stepped out in front of just before it clobbers you.
What they need is a fish-eye lens!!
EDIT: on checking teh link to teh actual patent it seems that the '300' label is referring to the whole phone itself, so no additional camera - therefore, as many posters have pointed out, it's both useless AND prior-arted.
Nonononono you don't get it. T's with tablets that it will be hillarious.
I really hope this hits the streets soon. Imagine how fun it will be, all these iPad users holding their shiny stuff vertical at eye tlevel to text. If you thought that people look a bit like dorks when they take pictures with their tablets, then this system will make you cringe so hard it'll become funny.
Not to mention that they'll need to shackle the thing to their wrist, as people holding a $800 piece of kit in front of them at arm's length will be a delight for hit-and-run thieves...
My idea to use echolocation to warn the user of incoming lampposts is much better.
And by the way, unless somebody filed a patent for that already, this post will count as prior art. I'll stuff a few keywords to make it easier for the experts to find it: Cell phone echolocation radar sonar detection lamppost wall advance warning system bullshit.
If it helps you, I thought that was what the patent was going to be about...
While you're calling prior art, feel free to add in this post - whereby I describe additional data from the GPS, accelerometers and other sensors to assist in determining various parameters relating to the object and it's position in relation to the phone.
Well.... I guess the next patent will be for a car battery in a rucksack that will need to be worn to keep the phone powered while the camera is live and drawing continuous updates to the screen.....
I know for the average user it shouldn't make a lot of a difference - but this is for texters - and they can easily spend 2 - 3 hours over the course of a day staring at the screen while texting..... but for fairness - let's say an hour. Well 1 hour of the camera process running is bad enough - but I'm sure you are all well aware than even having the camera open for a few minutes causes the device to get rather warm.
Ooo - I think I'll file a patent for a portable handwarmer app.
There's already an app for Android, called Transparent Screen, that does this by taking the entire phones screen - no matter what the app, so SMS apps are included - reduces its alpha by a user specified amount and composites it over the camera feed. And its been available since before 2012, when Apple submitted the patent.
I just may go and make a prior art claim with the USPTOs online service! *runs and hides from the incoming shit storm from Apple fanbois!* :D
The problem with that app is Apple have an army of weasels that would argue that black is white, up is down and that particular app is/was for email and not SMS; Email 'n Walk
The Android app meanwhile works with everything, including SMS apps, so is probably a better bet to claim prior art with.
Not only prior art, but brutally freaking obvious in design. They don't own the patent for the screen, camera, or app running, yet using all three at once somehow grants them a patentable design? Can I patent a system for walking while using an umbrella?
WTF patent office? Not only should they not get a patent, but they should receive a fine for attempting it, and the mouth-breather that gave them the patent should be fired.
WTF patent office? Not only should they not get a patent, but they should receive a fine for attempting it, and the mouth-breather that gave them the patent should be fired.
Ok, breathe, relax, ...7, 8, 9, 10. Good. This is only a patent application at this time, no patent has been granted, there is no reason to work up your blood pressure. There is a chance, granted very small, that this won't stick when thrown against the wall and it will be just a good laugh at Apple's blatant attempt at ripping off one of their app developers. Don't get me wrong, they'll still rip off the dev by incorporating the functionality into the iPhone and dump the app because it duplicates system functionality or whatever that particular hurdle is.
Is it April 1st already? Normally you'd have it facing down, so you can see your own feet. The moment something else appears on the screen, you've already bumped into it. And if you face it forward, then your peripheral vision will certainly work better than the camera.
This is about the biggest piece of bollocks I've heard about in a long time. Probably that's why nobody else has thought about patenting it before. Well played, Apple. Not.
If there was one angled at 45* forward from the back (or down from the side) it would be more useful.
But no, I don't want to see them waste money putting in a camera that is only for idiots who walk and text at the same time without looking up. If for no other reason than because it is funny seeing the occasional video where someone walks down a manhole or off a pier while texting!
I know they are busy with all those patent assertions of late, but there's at least one example of direct prior art here in the comments. Reckon a google search would have revealed that in about 10 seconds and thrown out this ridiculous iPatent as it should have been?
You're kidding. Man for instance have been walking into lamp posts while looking at an attractive member of the interesting sex since the invention of the lamp post.
Hey, there's a thought. An app that is capable of pointing out an attractive member of the interesting sex is walking by while you are looking at some boring letters.
Man for instance have been walking into lamp posts while looking at an attractive member of the interesting sex since the invention of the lamp post.
Exactly, they're approaching this from the wrong angle (HA)
It's obvious that lamp posts, telegraph poles, cars, buses and buildings should be outlawed immediately, and removed.
Don't they know that it's Man's god-given right to wander around wherever they want to whilst staring at pointless shit on their expensive toy, without fear of let or hindrance...
And that goes for the bloke who walked out into the road without looking, with his face buried in a burger, and gave me a dirty look for braking as hard as possible and saving him some considerable pain !
this is not going to help its just going to make people think its ok !
It's a self correcting problem. iZombies and ZombieDroids get mowed down and the gene pool benefits,....so those who have the prior art please submit all of it to the USPTO asap! That way I will get to continue watching people walk into lampposts, bus shelters and funniest of all into bollards which for many seem to be right at bollards height! <rotflmno>
Something that is really getting my goat (now there's a phrase that needs some explaining to foreigners) is the growing tendency for women - especially those with fat arses - to start texting the moment they step onto the stairs after getting off a train.
May be they've always done it - it's just that now I'm always behind one!
While this is a nice try, but I'm afraid it won't work very well. It *might* make a small difference, but I would surprised if it would be very large.
The problem isn't so much what you *see*, it's what you *pay attention to*. If you're paying attention to your text messages, you're not paying attention to whatever is in front of you. Our brains also can't really do two things at once very well. (many studies published on this).
To make matters worse, humans have a very limited vision, we only see a centimetre at arm's length in focus, the rest is composed of memory & expectations; our brain fools our conciousness rather well.
So I can mount the phone on the windscreen and never have to bother looking away from the phone ever again while I'm driving. That's been bugging me for ages because it's simply not possible to ignore a text and read it a few minutes later when it's safe and convenient to do so.
My boss is good at this - I'll be having a meeting with him to discuss something unimportant (next years projected sales, IT requirements) and we'll be interrupted because an important text from his wife about where they're having dinner tonight arrives.
...or perhaps it's incompetence?
Now Apple wants to patent things that are already available from third parties in their app store! Can you say "prior art"? I knew you could!
'Type and Walk' was reviewed almost two years ago. At the time, I thought it was a joke. And I know I've seen similar things for Android.
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