14
I think this about covers it. There is even a video that shows each part of it.
http://mashable.com/2010/10/27/aislebuyer/
Article dated: Oct 27, 2010
AisleBuyer believes it can make the in-store experience more like its online counterpart. Its recently launched iPhone app enables customers to scan product bar codes for further information, reviews, and ...
12
I have been a GIS professional since 1969. I helped design and program two major GIS software packages. The first was a system called MOSS (Map Overlay and Statistical System). This fully interactive GIS package was deployed in 1978. MOSS had a command line interface that allowed the user to select map layers of interest (including attribute filters) and ...
11
Amazon's App?
Nov 2010
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/1899820/amazon-goes-store-sales-barcode-scanner-app-video
Using the app consumers can scan a product barcode, photograph a
product, or say its name into their handset to access instant pricing
information. They can then purchase the item through Amazon's
one-click ordering system within the ...
10
Design patents are often granted for relatively small changes but then they have a corresponding narrow scope. In this case Page 2 of this design patent D661296 lists all of the prior art the examiner took into consideration. The Sony X505 is listed as well as a couple of dozen other things.
All of those cited references are - by definition - not the same ...
6
Complete integrated self-checkout system and method
US 6507279, June 6, 2003
Seems seminal in that over 50 later patents cite it. I do not see it on the IDS already submitted by Apple.
From abstract
An integrated self-checkout system and method incorporates . . . and
pricing to be directed to a specific individual. The customer uses
either a cell ...
5
1987, William Shatner narrates a video about GRASS GIS, a system released in 1982 that covers:
Claims 1-7
Claims 10-15
Claims 17-21
NOT claims 16 or 22
Claims 23-28
Claims 50-54
4
OpenStreetMap was founded in 2004:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/History_of_OpenStreetMap
A 'plurality of the layers of information superimposed upon one another' is the normal display for this map. Information layers, such as highways, are defined through tags. Here's an example of the highway tag/layer and all the edits made to it since the year ...
4
George White nails all of the important points as usual.
US20120185456 is a Patent Application not a granted patent. Until and unless it is issued it does not prohibit you from doing anything. In some sense anyone can file a patent application which says anything. The patent which is allowed may be much narrower than what is described in the ...
4
US patent 6595417
Published Jul 22, 2003
Filing date May 17, 2002
Priority date Jun 26, 1996
A system and method for an information system for use by customers in a retail shopping environment are provided. The system includes a host computer and a portable terminal for use by a customer. The portable terminal is located within a retail environment and ...
4
I am the author of FlightMaster for PalmOS. It is a GPS mapping program for pilots, running PalmOS devices, and has been available since 2002. It is an example of prior art in the following ways:
Multiple layers of information, including airfields, various types of airspace etc, navigation aids and terrain.
Layers stored in multiple databases within the ...
4
It sounds amazingly similar to what we have been doing at Spamex (http://www.spamex.com) since 2000. Spamex has a browser plugin to create Disposable Email Addresses, Spamex is Bi-Directional (replies are routed through Spamex and ths re-anonymized), Spamex routes mail sent to Disposable Email Addresses to any of the Real Email Addresses registered with the ...
3
A marketing guide by CTIA from 2009 gives detail on how to use this technology to market:
http://files.ctia.org/pdf/CTIA_Final_Code_Scan_Mktg_Guide.pdf
3
Well, I can't write a perfect answer, but hopefully this is enough for people to get started:
AIM could display status and selectively block it as far back as 2004.
See http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=278608
3
Columbia Masterworks, now held by Sony, used a very similar logo on their 78 RPM records for a number of years. The following images have examples, visible at the top center of each image. While I have no hard release dates for these, the 78 fell out of common usage by around 1950, so they clearly predate Apple. (As this is my first post and I have little ...
3
Palm OS had a system-wide search that would call each program's main function with an argument to do a search (typed in a text field in a search dialog). The call to main was on the stack of the search system without even fully launching each application. Each program could display the results that it chose based on its own search.
(Mykland, Robert. Palm OS ...
3
The broadest claim of this patent is claim 1:
A circuit configuration for a capacitive touch switch, the circuit configuration comprising:
at least one sensor circuit containing:
a capacitive sensor element changing its capacitance value when touched;
a capacitor connected in parallel with said capacitive sensor element and defining a parallel ...
3
Whilst I have not found prior art, the "Alternative Embodiments" seems rather vague though may be common in such patents?
Although embodiments are disclosed herein, many variations are
possible which remain within the concept, scope, and spirit of the
embodiments described herein, and these variations would become clear
to those skilled in the art ...
3
How important is it that this is specifically "web pages" i.e. html loaded in a web browser as opposed to non www? And http versus other protocols? I ask for two reasons. First in 1996 the www had not yet won the day so if you read the academic work from that time www is clearly important and seen as the likely winner but a lot of attention is also give to ...
2
Tesco, in Korea had this QR Code based shopping in Subways.
Telegraph report dated June 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/8601147/Tesco-builds-virtual-shops-for-Korean-commuters.html
Youtube video of the same dated Jun 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGaVFRzTTP4
2
Windows NT since at least Windows 2000 has had search system built in that includes a plugin system so new types of documents can be indexed.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee805985(v=vs.85).aspx
It was not on by default and has an interface the looked like a web search results but it worked.
2
Consumer Reports's Consumerist.com described how to buy from Sears' online in-store pickup while standing in the Sears store...
http://consumerist.com/2011/07/21/its-cheaper-to-order-online-while-standing-in-sears-than-to-shop-at-sears/
2
IANAL, but wouldn't the famous IFTTT (If This Then That) qualify as prior art?
it acts as a "Relay Server", aggregating 'signals' and triggering 'actions' based on 'aggregated' data
This website allows you to define, from a broad range of triggers (on the internet) to define general actions.
These triggers include location-based triggers, such as ...
2
Obviousness of a design is judged in comparison to existing designs that are located in a search, not by the type of logic you are using. You are using arguments about functionality (users would want a large button) to address ornamentation. A single centered circular button doesn't look like an array of tiny buttons. A portable computing device could be ...
2
US Patent 4,428,057 from 1984, "Electronic Chart System"
"An electronic chart system in which charts of the earth are stored in digital representation and communicated to the operator by a visual display. Through the use of a Loran-C receiver or the like, the system additionally plots the carrier's position on the visual representation of the chart."
2
Guerillamail has an API for creating a new email address.
For example:
http://api.guerrillamail.com/ajax.php?f=get_email_address&ip=127.0.0.1&agent=Mozilla_foo_bar
https://www.guerrillamail.com/GuerrillaMailAPI.html
When this was reviewed by a journalist, the most obvious use was indeed what Apple is trying to patent:
http://blog.programmableweb....
2
There's also a ton of similar apps in the Windows Phone app store, which is still seen as the most backwards of app stores by most people. The oldest "last updated" date I was quickly able to find seems to be Transparant Message from the 21th of Januari 2012, more than seven months prior the date mentioned in the question.
2
A comment on an article about Autoprotect mentions an earlier program called CleverPin. There is a review of it dated April 21 2011 on the iJailbreak site. http://www.ijailbreak.com/cydia/cleverpin-tweak-make-your-idevice-ask-for-a-passcode-intelligently/
CleverPin allows you to make your iDevice ask for a passcode intelligently: you can choose to ...
2
"Locale" by Two Forty Four AM is a software that allows the user to set up actions in response to events, where one of the built in "event plugins" is GPS location (also available is a cell-tower location).
Event handlers can include a lot of things, for example:
...automatically enable your lockpattern. For example, disable your unlock ...
2
It the claim states media device - no. But in the case of the iPod, there are probably other rights protecting aspects of the design (trademarks, copyrights).
1
Here's one of our prior patents that might help.
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20110010674
Also remember, a pencil and an eraser can each be patented, but so can a pencil with an eraser.
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