Vehicle comprising a spring-mounted vehicle seat and a spring-mounted vehicle cab, and suspension
US Patent 8,265,832
September 11, 2012
There is described a vehicle comprising a spring-mounted vehicle seat (3; 13) in a spring-mounted vehicle cab (2; 12), wherein the vehicle seat (3; 13) is spring-mounted by means of at least one first spring element (24) and/or one first damping element (25) relative to the vehicle cab (2; 12) in the vehicle height and/or vehicle length and/or vehicle width direction, and the vehicle cab (2; 12) is spring-mounted by means of at least one second spring element (15) and/or second damping element (14) relative to a vehicle frame (11) in the vehicle height and/or vehicle length and/or vehicle width direction, comprising a control device (34) which, as a function of a first measured acceleration value of an excursion of the vehicle frame (11), causes a first application of force for regulating the excursion of the first spring element (24) and/or damping element (25) and a second application of force for regulating the excursion of the second spring element (15) and/or the functional element (14), in mutual dependence on one another. A method for the suspension of such a vehicle is also described.
Court Approves e-book Antitrust Settlement
September 7, 2012
| Intellectual Property News
The Southern District of New York has approved a settlement among electronic book publishers and distributors to resolve an antitrust dispute that may result in lower e-book prices.
The Justice Department filed the case earlier this year, complaining that several book publishers had colluded with Apple to inflate the price of electronic books. Before the introduction of the Apple iPad, Amazon typically priced its electronic books at $9.99 each. The Justice Department alleged that publishers approached Apple and Amazon in an effort to find a way to raise prices, ultimately reaching deals with Apple calling for “agency pricing” in which the publishing agencies, rather than Apple, set the retail pricing. Amazon later allowed publishers to set pricing as well, resulting in prices that were generally $2 or $3 higher than the prior $9.99 prices.
In the settlement, the accused book publishers must allow e-book sellers such as Amazon and others to set their own prices and may not enter into contracts restricting retailers from setting prices on their own. For the next five years, the publishers may not enter into contracts that prevent publishers from selling to retailers who sell at lower prices. The agreement is expected to result in more competition and lower prices for e-books.
As an aside, and a bit of levity in the proceedings, licensing attorney Bob Kohn filed an amicus brief in the form of a comic strip after being told that his amicus brief must be limited to five pages. Read the full brief at the link here. Comic Brief
AIA Provisions Effective September 16, 2012
September 6, 2012
| Intellectual Property News
Certain aspects of the America Invents Act are effective beginning September 16, 2012. The key provisions include:
Best Mode. The failure to disclose the best mode will no longer be a basis, in patent validity or infringement proceedings, on which any claim of a patent may be canceled or held invalid or otherwise unenforceable. Technically, however, the best mode still must be disclosed in the application.
Derivation Proceedings. In a derivation proceeding an applicant for patent files a petition stating with particularity the basis for finding that an inventor named in an earlier application derived the claimed invention from the petitioner. The petition must be filed within 1 year of the date of the first publication of a claim to an invention that is the same or substantially the same as the earlier application’s claim to the invention.
Inter Partes Reexamination. This process is no longer available after September 16, 2012.
Inter Partes Review. A party may seek an Inter Partes Review of a patent within 9 months of issuance (or reissuance), or by the date of termination of a post grant review. The “inter partes” nature of the process means that the requester and the patent owner both participate in the process, and both can submit arguments related to patent validity. The review is limited to questions of novelty and obviousness, and carries a hefty fee of $27,200 in order to challenge up to 20 claims. The request must demonstrate a reasonable likelihood that the claims are invalid. During the proceedings, the parties may submit evidence and engage in limited discovery.
Post Grant Review. A post grant review is a request that the patent office reconsider the validity of the patent; unlike the inter partes review, the requesting party does not participate after making the request. This request must be made within 9 months after the patent grant (or reissue), and can be based on grounds of novelty, obviousness, written description, enablement, and indefiniteness. As with all of the new review processes, it is expensive: $35,800 to review up to 20 claims.
Prioritized Examination. A patent applicant can request expedited review of the application in which the Patent Office seeks to complete the process within one year. This request currently costs $4,800 for a large entity, and is limited to 10,000 such requests at the USPTO per year.
Inventor’s Declaration. The declaration is still required, but is trimmed down. Under the new rule, the inventor is no longer required to (i) state that he/she is the first inventor of the claimed invention; (ii) state that the application filing is made without deceptive intent; or (iii) provide his/her country of citizenship. In addition, the declaration can be filed much later (up to a point just prior to a notice of allowance, though late charges still apply), and the declaration language can be contained in the assignment.
Business Method Patent Challenge. For a limited time through September 16, 2020, business method patents may be challenged in a special form of review that will be substantially the same as the post grant review process but which allows the submission of a wider array of evidence.
Preissuance Submissions. Anyone may submit prior art of interest to the patent office that may affect the patentability of an application, so long as it is submitted by the required deadlines, which generally extend until six months after publication, the issuance of a notice of allowance, or an office action rejecting the claims.
Supplemental Examination. A patent owner may request supplemental examination to reconsider or correct aspects of the patent. The scope is much the same as a post grant review, and a key difference is that this is requested by the patent owner rather than a third party. The patent office will consider up to 12 items of information, which are not limited to patents and printed publications. The filing fee is again quite large: $21,260 for a large entity, though $16,120 of that is refundable if a substantial new question of patentability is found not to exist.
Systems and methods for affixing a silicon device to a support structure
US Patent 8,257,119
September 4, 2012
A plurality of ribbon suspenders affix a device to a support structure. Each ribbon suspender is defined by a thickness and a width that is greater than the thickness, and has a first connection portion affixed to the support structure, a second connection portion affixed to the device, and a support portion between the first and second connection portions. The support portion is elastic and flexes to accommodate thermal expansion and contraction of the support structure. A first bond affixes the first connection portion to the support structure and a second bond affixes the second connection portion to the device.
Systems and methods for real-time data logging of an enhanced ground proximity system
US Patent 8,258,983
September 4, 2012
Systems and methods for performing efficient, inexpensive data logging of aircraft sensor data. An example system on board an aircraft includes a plurality of data sources that provide sensor data associated with a plurality of avionic components, a line replaceable processing unit that is in signal communication with the plurality of data sources via one or more databuses, a wireless router connected to the line replaceable processing unit via a data cable and a portable data unit in wireless data communication with the wireless router. The wireless router receives at least a portion of the sensor data from the line replaceable processing unit and sends the received sensor data to the portable data unit.
Vehicle seat having a device for vehicle seat occupancy detection
US Patent 8,256,842
September 4, 2012
The invention relates to a vehicle seat having a device for vehicle seat occupancy detection, wherein a base frame which can be adjusted in the height direction of the vehicle seat and which is composed of at least two scissors arms which are connected to one another is arranged between a seat part of the vehicle seat and a vehicle body part, wherein the base frame can be adjusted in the height direction by means of at least one gas spring, wherein the gas spring is connected to a pressure sensor, by means of which an exceeding of a predefinable pressure threshold value can be detected upon a transition of the vehicle seat from an unoccupied state to a state occupied by a minimum weight due to a change in pressure within the gas spring which is brought about as a result of the transition.
Protocol link layer
US Patent 8,248,964
August 21, 2012
A link is a software abstraction that represents a direct connection between two CoCo nodes. The link layer detects the presence of neighboring devices and establishes links to them. A protocol abstraction layer converts data frames that arrive on network interfaces into packet objects used by the COCO Protocol Suite.
Bat conditioning device and method
US Patent 8,246,495
August 21, 2012
A bat conditioning device for breaking in or seasoning softball or baseball bats. A preferred conditioning device includes a handle having a first end and a second end, a grip attached to the first end of the handle, and a head attached to the second end of the handle having an impact response that mimics that of a regulation softball. In the preferred form, the head is a regulation softball. The bat conditioning device is of a length that allows softball bats to be broken-in by striking a bat held in one hand of a user, with the conditioning device being held in the other hand.
Modelling relationships within an on-line connectivity universe
US Patent 8,245,139
August 14, 2012
Enhanced presentation techniques for modeling a connectivity universe associated with a particular user or device are provided. Example embodiments provide a WorldView Display System (a “WVDS”), which automatically organizes a user’s online relationships with entities, such as devices, data collections, services, and people, and provides a user interface for accessing and interacting with these entities. The WVDS automatically determines the universe of objects that the user has relationships with, automatically groups objects having similar measures of access proximity, displays a multi-dimensional representation of these groups of objects on a display device, and provides a uniform user interface for initiating an interaction with any represented object.
Expanding colander
US Patent D665,234
August 14, 2012
The ornamental design for the expanding colander, as shown and described.
