The number of patents filed globally is increasing. WIPO’s World Intellectual Property Indicators Report (WIPI) also showed that patent and industrial design filing activity have seen a rebound in 2020 amid an array of global health challenges.
Trademark filing activity rose by 13.7%, patents by 1.6% and designs by 2% according to the WIPI. The WIPI, which compiles new data from some 150 national and regional authorities about intellectual property, shows that innovators and brands are more likely than ever to expand their markets and seek growth using protection tools like patents and designs.
The ability to prevent others from commercially exploiting an innovation for a specific amount of time without permission is granted to the patent holder by a state or by a regional office acting on behalf of multiple states. By giving these rights, patents encourage innovation by rewarding inventors for their ideas and allowing them to profit from their initial investments.
The ability to obtain exclusivity over a novel product or technique, establish a strong market position, and generate additional income through licensing are all possible benefits of obtaining a patent. If you are a tad bit curious about the number of creative and technologically advanced inventions that are coming up in the market, then read on!
Recent Interesting Patents You Should Know Of
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Virtual Reality Remote Valet Parking: Ford
This patent describes a procedure for enabling valet parking using a virtual reality system connected to a vehicle’s onboard cameras. Users may have access to a stream of visual pictures that gives them the ability to change the video stream being broadcast to their headset and control the vehicle. With the help of the developed virtual reality controls, the user may then park the vehicle.
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Detecting Fake Videos: Apple
For the purpose of identifying bogus videos using image processing methods, Apple has been granted a patent. In order to identify phoney videos, the procedure refers to previously validated, well-known videos of the subject.
The video is then evaluated to determine whether a recently found video is fraudulently using a machine learning model that has been trained on the verified videos. For instance, the procedure can examine the subject’s face traits using a machine learning model.
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Virtual Reality Head Stead Stands: HP
A virtual reality headset stand that serves as a docking station and controller system has been given a patent by HP. Avatar control in the virtual reality environment is made possible by the docking capabilities built into the pedestal for the virtual reality headset. This stand may occasionally be helpful for developers working in conventional computing environments to create virtual environments without donning a headset.
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Cognitive Scribe and Meeting Moderator Assistant: IBM
A meeting agenda analysis and effectiveness monitoring patent has been granted to IBM. The system may, for instance, use natural language processing, facial expression recognition, and other inputs to ascertain the meeting’s subjects of discussion and the participants’ general level of engagement.
The system can send out an alert to reroute the meeting when it notices a deviation from the meeting. The usage of the system to collect notes on the various subjects that were discussed and convert the themes into action items for the meeting’s participants is an intriguing feature of this programme.
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SoundBar: Bose
A soundbar that adapts its sound output based on the listener’s location has received a patent from Bose. The soundbar uses the reflection of sound waves to output sound that is customized for the user’s position rather than moving the speaker itself to direct sound at a listener. A common approach to combining left, right, and centre channel speakers into a single form factor is using soundbars.
In order to produce a more precise system that sounds like the speakers are installed higher up than the placement of the soundbar, something often present from the soundbar, Bose has configured the reflection of the emitted sound from the soundbar.
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Virtual Paper: Apple
Apple has recently won a Patent relating to Virtual Paper that will be used in Augmented and Virtual Reality Environments.
A stereoscopic computer-generated reality environment has a patent from Apple. The system bases the depiction of the visuals in the surroundings on the user’s coordinates. Using their own set of controls for the computer-generated reality environment, users can then further modify how the visuals are displayed.
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System and Method for Rapidly Changing an Accessory for an Amusement Attraction: Universal City Studios
This invention is for a quick-change accessory system for rides at amusement parks. The connection makes it possible for the attachment to be electrically connected to the car while also making it simple to replace the accessory in the event of a problem. The secured connection must be able to change fast and be robust enough to withstand the forces created by riders.
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Enabling Focus Time Based on School Assignment Completion Information: Microsoft
A technique for controlling the use of electronic devices depending on when assignments are due has been patented by Microsoft. As schools hand out more devices to pupils, motivating them to study by linking their screen time to unfinished projects may be effective.
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Parking Robot for a Transportation Vehicle with at least two Axles and Method for Operating a Parking Robot: Volkswagen
An automobile parking robot patent has been given to Volkswagen. The robot uses two autonomous secondary robots to position itself underneath the cars before parking them. This would not only provide a more manoeuvrable method of parking cars, but the robot would also be compact, allowing it to manoeuvre through a group of closely packed cars.
The secondary robots would first align themselves under the vehicle’s axle before lifting the vehicle and coordinating with the other secondary robots to position and park the car. These robots may result in the more effective use of parking spaces, which could eventually reduce the demand for vast lots since parking is always a problem.
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Determining Musical Style Using a Variational Autoencoder: Spotify
A patent for employing vector representations to analyse music has been granted to Spotify. The algorithm takes features from the music and converts them into vectors to identify other styles of music that are comparable to it. This data processing technique, for instance, might be used to evaluate a user’s listening history and identify their musical tastes based on data analysis of the extracted vectors from the user’s listening history.
Conclusion
Technology development and adoption depend heavily on innovation. A widely used framework for comprehending technology is based on the idea of the technology life cycle. A technology’s life cycle can be broken down into stages, starting with invention and progressing through RD&D, market development, and commercial diffusion. At every point of the life cycle, multiple processes take place, offering diverse chances to use tools that encourage creativity.
Patents honour and reward innovators for their innovations that are commercially successful. As a result, they encourage inventors to come up with new ideas. An innovator or small firm with a patent is aware that there is a good probability they will get a return on the time, money, and effort they invested in creating technology.
