[Freddy]

Makes me think we should all be applying for patents.

Microsoft has patented internet-connected glasses which can detect and interpret the emotions of people in the wearer's field of vision.
The application for a "wearable emotion detection feedback system" was filed in October 2012 and awarded this week in the US.
The filing says that the wearer can decide who in their field of vision to analyse - individuals or groups - without their knowledge.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/microsoft-patents-glasses-read-emotions-111125612--finance.html#GL4UEsn

[squarebear]

Do these things exist or are they just patenting ideas?

[Art]

SquareBear,

Years ago I used to think that in order to obtain a Patent, one had to have a Prototype (a working model). Such is not the case.
One can indeed Patent (or submit a patent) for an idea. The idea must meet certain criteria in order to be considered.

A few of these are:
Your idea needs to be New, not seen before.
Non-obvious, in that no one else has thought of now developed anything similar so far.
It must be useful to some degree.

These are a few of the requirements in the USA but your respective countries might certainly vary.

So if I tell you, "I'm going to build a dream machine that can transfer your dreams to magnetic media for later review", you might not be able to subsequently apply for a Patent for such a device. The idea would no longer be New.

That's why they have Patent Attorneys!
###############################

So, is Microsoft's version a copycat / enhanced similarity of the famous Google Glasses? Hmm...

[squarebear]

That seems odd. So I could patent a flying car and then reap in the royalties when one gets built in the future?

[Freddy]

Sorry SquareBear, flying cars have already been done....

[ivan.moony]

someone will patent breathing at the end.

[Don Patrick]

As with a lot of inventions, you can patent the design plans before you actually build it. However, patents have a limited duration and are increasingly expensive the more years you apply for, so normally one does not file a patent unless one is planning to start production and profiting asap.

The glasses may be new, but as far as I know visual emotion recognition isn't a new thing. Sounds useful for people with Asperger though. I always wanted glasses that could tell me whether someone was being sarcastic or not.

[Freddy]

Well I guess everyone saw Google's patent recently ?

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/google-patents-robots-with-personalities-in-first-step-towards-the-singularity-10151817.html

That article is just to highlight the story, not because of any qualities. For example this line :

We've still yet to create a robot that can convincingly walk up stairs, so an apocalyptic army is probably a long way off.

There's a few robots that can do this now. Even the Daleks can get up stairs these days