Re: Gates Patents Flipping a Light Switch

[Two 8 Fluid Ounce Bottles of Arrowhead Water]

theodp wrote:

> Bill Gates is the assignee of a patent issued Tuesday for a 'Method
> and system for generating a user interface for distributed devices'
> [1], which can be used to control lighting systems, heating systems,
> elevators, and various electronic systems (e.g., monitors, cameras,
> and CD players) in a large environment, such as a large building, a
> factory, or a large house.
> 
> [1] http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=6,734,879

Even better is one of the patent references:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=
2Fnetahtml%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN
2F6434447

Which states in the Abstract:


An information processing system has an electronic device and a controller
for control of a functionality of the device. An abstract representation of
the functionality is provided to the controller. The abstract
representation exposes a modality of controlling the functionality. The
controller enables controlling the functionality through interaction with
the abstract representation. The modality controls associating the control
of the functionality with a modally compatible controlling capability of
the controller. The modality exposed can be, for example, "Boolean",
"float", "integer array". 

-- 
W '04 !